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A Postulated Tsunami and Its Effects on Cultural Development in the Peruvian Early Horizon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert McK. Bird
Robert McK. Bird*
Affiliation:
Box 5142, Raleigh, NC 27650
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Abstract

While investigating the archaeological background of early maize on the coast of Peru, I realized that several factors affect interpretation. The estimated date for the start of common use of maize there is close to the apparent dates of a large tsunami, the abandonment of many coastal sites, and the start of occupation at Chavin de Huantar in the highlands. While investigating the possible relations between the principal pre-tsunami coastal culture and Chavin, I discovered that depictions of a monstrous head link the two cultures. Dating of first millennium B.C. materials is complicated by changes in the atmospheric 14C level, so iconographic, stylistic, and material linkages are even more important in thinking about cultural development in this period. Inconsistencies between older inferences and newer observations can be resolved by a new model.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 285 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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