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Peru’s Platform Mound Builders

When eustatic sea level stabilized and warm El Nino conditions returned to northern coastal Peru ca 4000-3800 BCE [all dates calibrated],the resultant upsurge in marine life abundance provided sustenance for a greater density of people proximal to the Pacific Ocean coastline.From ca 3900-1900 BCE stone platform mounds were erected in some of the green river valleys,which flowed through the coastal desert of northern Peru [D Sandweiss,2009].The heavier rainfalls in this region,which can initiate devastating floods,and the Humbolt Current marine resources had contributed to a degree of sedentism along the seaboard prior to 3800 BCE.There are five superimposed layers of hamlet dwelling ruins [ca 4360 BCE] in Chilica  Canyon.The less extensive southern lowland river valleys are not as conducive to human occupation.Residents of northern coastal Peru initially obtained a large portion of their protein requirements from the sea,with supplements from fruit orchards and food crops.Preliminary irrigation projects were largely focused on food crops [ibid].

During the second half of the fourth millennium BCE coastal valley settlements in northern Peru began to expand.Aspera was located in a shallow basin,which was surrounded by hills,that jut out into Supe Bay,at the north end of a long sandy beach by the mouth of Rio Supe.Aspera covered an areal extent of 13.2ha and might have been a ritual centre.There were 11 small and 6 large platform mounds.External labour may have been conscripted to build these monuments [M Moseley,2001]. The people,who constructed the earliest public venues in the coastal Supe and Casma River valleys depended heavily on marine life for food.As populations expanded and people moved inland,a greater emphasis was placed on agriculture.Potatoes and yams had been introduced to coastal Peru by 3800 BCE,where they supplemented the existing squash and manico crops, [ibid].N White contends that maize was introduced to Aspero ca 2500 BCE,but there is not a great deal of archaeological evidence to support his assertion.Although there were flood land farms near Aspero the inhabitants of the coastal river valleys did not adopt intensive agriculture until after the ca 2200-1900 BCE cold,dry era [MMoseley,2001].The residents of the Rio Supe valley fished with nets,irrigated cotton, grew vegtables and harvested fruit [R Shady,2009].There were communities along the Pacific seaboard with a degree of central authority before 3000 BCE,that were not primarily dependent on agricultural produce.

The largest plarform mound at Aspero,with summit rooms and courts on the flat top,was Huaca de los Idoles.Itwas adorned with moulded and painted friezes.The mound was comprised of successive stages of stone walled rooms,which were infilled,when newer ones were constructed.Many of the basalt walls have some H style masonry,which was subsequently used by masons in the Lake Titicaca highland region.The summit structures at Huaca de los Idoles covered an areal extent of 30 by 20m with an access ramp to a high walled,spacious entry court,that had smaller courts and rooms behind it.The central compartment measured 5 by 4m.Thirteen broken clay figures were recovered during the 1970s excavations by a Harvard University team.There were three complex construction stages,which ranged in age from ca 3925-3300 BCE M Mosley,2001].

The nearby Huaca de los Sacrificias had similar dimensions with average radio carbon dates for the “upper stage” stage 4 construction phase of ca 3700 BCE +/- 100a.The basal level is considerably older.The rooms are more than 10m sq,with walls greater than 1m thick and about 2.5m high.Most of the stones are almost 1m square.It might have been the first platform mound at Aspero,because it appears to have been completed earlier than Huaca de los Idoles.The central court at the summit of Huaca de los  Sacrificias had a hemispherical fire pit 50cm across and 50m deep,which contained charcoal,that dated to ca 3200 BCE +/-100a.Two sets of human remains were recovered from the platform mound.An adult was probably sacrificed  and a two month old infant was interred with reverence and grave goods under an inverted stone basin with legs,which had been shaped with considerable skill [M Moseley,2001].Formation of the massive,sand-cobble,Media Mundo beach ridge,which can probably be attributed to the combination of El Nino events and tectonic activity along the northern shoreline region of Peru,appears to have sealed off the mid-Holocene bays and transformed them into lagoons and sand flats.This phenomena in conjunction with El Nino flooding and possibly localized earth quakes impacted adversely on the residents as Aspero and on some other seaboard communities and contributed to their demise as prominent cultural centres D Sandweiss,2009].

The “Hills” of Caral are located in the Rio Supe valley 22km inland and ca 194Km north of Lima Peru.S Solis [1994] excavated the largest “Hill”.Eventually a 65ha urban centre with six large and many smaller platform mounds,3 sunken plazas [one ca 45m in diameter] and 8 residential areas were unearthed.The base of Piramide Major measured ca 170 by 150m and it rose in steps to a 19-30m high flat summit [S Solis,2001].D Sandweiss [2009] contends that it was probably severely damaged by an earth quake during the occupation of Caral.It was constructed with quarried stone and infilled with cobbles.A red basket at Caral [ca2867 BCE +/-60a] is contemporary with the Los Ajas aceramic era.Administrators may have used the terraced area.The Caral mounds were erected in one or two phases,which infers a central control,with the capacity to mobilize a large work force,that probably included external labour [S Solis,2001].

In the general vicinity of Caral there are seventeen other ancient habitation sites,ranging in size from 10-70ha.Ten have areal extents greater than 24ha.Many were still obscured by over burden ten years ago [eg;the large Chupacigarro Hill proximal to Caral].The concentration of communities might be related to the shallow incision of the river system and the presence of many valley floor water springs,which had the capacity to supply basic irrigation requirements.This enabled the populace to cultivate sufficient crops in a relatively arid environment.From ca 3000-2200 BCE sea level and the average annual rainfall were higher than today.The adverse ca 2200-1900 BCE weather conditions initiated a log severe drough, the tectonically active area was abandoned and was not reoccupied [ibid].The wet land settlements of the La Plata Basin,Urugary were able to cope with this climate change.

S Solis [2005] identified Quipe with well preserved cotton strings wound around the sticks.It was among a series of offerings,that included fibre balls of various sizes,which were contained in nets and pristine reed baskets.They were placed under the stair case in a new structure.It pre-dates the Incas Quipu by  more than 3 Ka.The administrators of Caral could have used Quipu to maintain records.Bandurra north of Lima,Peru,by Huacho is coeval to and has an urban design similar to Caral [eg;a circular plaza with round borders and a civic/ceremonial centre].Excavations recovered a cotton fishing net [A Chu,2007].Caral’s population had no metal tools,ceramics,maize,or written documents.They cultivated guava,peppers,avocadoes,potatoes,squash,and cotton.Raw cotten piles and a ball of cotton thread were recovered at Caral.Cotten fish nets appear to have been traded for marine resources.There are indications of sporadic commodity exchange with people in the rain forests and the uplands.Investigations at Caral retrieved 25 large whale bone chairs,a cotton soled sandal and numerous musical instruments [eg;pipes and flutes].Clay figures depict people with two pigtails,a frontal fringe and short hair on top of the skull.Some of the early settlers from Caral may have come from Aspero.Both communities had six major platform mounds.The range of buildings and absence of fortifications at Caral implies a relatively peaceful,stratified society.The elite occupied stone houses [S Solis,2005].

The construction of platform mounds along the seaboard of northern Peru was not restricted to the Rio Supe valley.J Jacobs [2000] reported that there was an unexcavated platform mound at the Bandurria site,near the shoreline of the Huara River,which has been provisionally dated to ca 3210-2910 BCE +/-80a.Two 50 by 30m,10m high  pyramid type structures have been investigated in the Chancay valley 150km south of Caral.They appear to have been modified 7 or 8 times.The initial radio carbon age estimates for charcoal and fibres could be as early as 3565 BCE +/-100a [T Kata,2006].

Huaca Prietos was a village at the mouth of the Chicama River.Its residents included marine foragers,who were part time agriculturalists.It was first settled ca 3010-2580 BCE +/-300a.A round cobble stone accretion mound had a 150 by 120m base and was 12m high [Konbacher,1999].The inhabitants incised gourds with abstract designs,anthropomorphic/zoomorphic faces and human figures in a similar manner to the earlier Valdivia culture of Ecuador.The populace of Huaca Prietos shared aspects of their material culture with the residents of La Galgada.Both communities twined cotton textiles in geometrical shapes and made reed baskets,bags and gourd containers.Coastal dwellers often incorporated condors,fish,and double headed serpents in their abstract designs [N Saunders,2004].A fanged creature with a staff in both hands in the shape of snake’s head was engraved and painted on the gourd.It might represent “The Staff of God”,an important diety in later Andean cultures.It was recovered in a north Chico cemetery,where 27 sites date to ca 2700-2165 BCE [J Haas,2005].There seems to have been a degree of cultural continuity from over long periods of time in the general area of Peru.

The above indicates that the northern,coastal valley settlements of Peru did not develop in isolation and that there a degree of cultural exchange.Post 2500 BCE nonegalitarian societies continued to evolve temporally,greater reliance was placed on produce from domestic crops and ther was progressive expansion of marine/inland trade networks. Ceramics were introduced to the north coast ca 2100-2000 BCE [J Jacobs,2000].

The Casma valley had one of the largest concentrations of lowland Peru river valley sites [ibid].He cited an early date of 3370 BCE +/-95a for the initial settlement of Pampa de los Llamos-Moxebe [PM]It might have been contemporary with the Sechin Baja sunken,ceremonial plaza centre [P Fuchs,2008] PM was on a south branch of the Casma River and encompassed an area of 2 sq km.It had an estimated population of 2500 people..There is no evidence of significant urban renewal. Central PM was comprised of two aligned platform mounds.a plaza and a substantial residential zone.The aligned Moxebe mound [160x170x3m] and Huaca mound [140x140x9m] demarcate high wall enclosures[S Pozorski,2003].J Telle uncovered several huge,high relief,abode friezes of human figures and large heads on the Moxebe mound front,which were adorned with brilliant colours.Mud mortar held granite stones in place,walls were white,mats covered clay-plaster floors and some walls had elaborate designs.The Huaca mound could have been a commercial/warehouse complex.It had the capacity to store at least 4400 cubic m of agricultural produce.There was no domestic garbage. However there were fine textile,cotton,bean,potato,peanut,and rodent [etc] remains.Traces of luxury items include tourquoise beads,a unique wood figurine,ceramic stamps and cylinder stamp seals,which are rare in Andes sites.Woven textile samples were associated with complex hand twined textiles and cultivated crops were abundant at PM.Behind the platform mounds the elite resided in plastered,stone wall homes,with storage areas and niches.Commoners lived in small, crowded,irregular clusters of rooms,with mud coated or wood walls,that contained minimal domestic artifacts,when compared to the elite dwellings [S Pozorski,2008] PM society was definitely stratified.

The cool,dry ca 2200-1900 BCE era did not impact on all of coastal Peru to the same extent.Settlements proximal to the Pacific Ocean coast with an abundance of marine resources were in a better position to with stand and in some instances make considerable progress during this inclement period.

El Paraiso was 2km inland from the Chillon River mouth south of Lima,Peru.The settlement was adjacent  to a flood plain,which provided land for agriculture It was approximately three times larger than most of its contemporary urban centres.El Paraiso extended over 58ha and was occupied from ca 2255-1270BCE +/-100a.Seven of the 14 platform mounds formed a U shape,which contained a 7.2ha plaza.The rubble ruins are about three stories high.About 100,000 tons of stone,which was quarried in the nearby hills,was utilized to construct the nine main structures at this non-Aspero tradition site.There was a variety of cultural traditions along the seaboard of Peru from 3500-2000 BCE,that were not solely dependent on agriculture.El Paraiso edifices contained circular depressions which could have been burnt offering pits [?].Buildings on top of the platform mounds may have been used for civic and ritual purposes.It has been proposed that the two largest might have been residences,but no domestic artifacts were recovered.Refuse was deliberately burnt and buried in trash pits.The U shaped structure faced the mountains and the rising sun,which was a departure from usual tradition.Evidence of feral and domestic fauna is sparse at this site [J Quilter,1988.1991]. C Williams [nd] suggested that the U shaped El Paraiso structure could have been a precursor for the U shaped ceremonial centres,that dominated the inland valleys and that had associations with the interior irrigation systems,which contributed to the centralization of authority.

Las Hallas,which had affinities with Aspero,was located on the Pacific shoreline 20 km south of the Casma River mouth.It was first occupied ca 2475 BCE +/-50a and work on the monumental structures commenced ca 2270 BCE +/-40a [S Pozorski,1987]. It eventually had 18 mounds, courtyards and two circular sunken courts.Large stele faced the buildings,which are on the shore,but faced towards the circular structures,that had yellow and red clay floors.Middens contained the remains of deep sea fish,which indicates that the inhabitants had watercraft,which could survive the Pacific Ocean swells.A 2km long,60m wide was constructed by the residents.Burnt Tillandsia,a type of moss,was used as a fuel [N White,nd].

“If’”the Harvard University chronology [1970s] at Aspero is reliable,the Aspero platform mounds appear to pre-date the southern Mesopotamia ziggurats and the Egyptian pyramids.In contrast to Egypt and Mesopotamia,there is no definitive evidence of warfare or the written word along the seaboard of northern Peru during the principal mound construction phase.The three regions developed their own unique type of water craft.Egypt and Mesopamia relied heavily on agricultural and pastoral produce,while the residents of coastal Peru were initially more dependent on the bounty of the sea.They did not use metal tools or beasts of burden.The cold,dry ca 2200-1900 BCE era severely affected portions of all three regions,which exposed their vunerability.During the relatively favourable climatic conditions from ca 4000-2200 BCE the expanding populations of the three areas and the Indus River valley developed their own distinctive cultures,with a number of common components,which included momumental structures,social stratification, and community exchange networks.

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