Early civilization in the Casma Valley, Peru

Pozorski, Shelia Griffis; Pozorski, Thomas George

article

Early civilization in the Casma Valley, Peru

Antiquity • 66 (253) • Published In 1992 • Pages: 845-870

By: Pozorski, Shelia Griffis, Pozorski, Thomas George.

Abstract
The authors discuss major finds from their fieldwork in the Casma Valley on the north coast of Peru, covering the early rise of social complexity from the Cotton Preceramic through the Early Formative/Initial Period (only data pertaining to the Initial Period is indexed for content). Their interpretation that two polities in the valley were states depends on the definition employed. They argue for the potential for rapid changes in social complexity are not predicted by standard evolutionary models, and that complex societies in the past may lack historical analogues: early states could have held unfamiliar priorities, preferences, and value systems. Complexity in the valley is demonstrated by monumental architecture, planned settlement layout, indications for a developed bureaucracy and elites, and possible secondary administrative centers with their own respective subsidiary sites. Another remarkable finding is the apparent separation of religious and secular power as seen in separate buildings for religious activities and bureaucratic structures devoted to storage.

Government institutions

Territorial organization

Public structures

Religious and educational structures

Social relationships and groups

General character of religion

Settlement patterns

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Coastal Andean Early Formative

HRAF PubDate

2014

Region