With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Jerry D. Moore and a binational team of colleagues will conduct two seasons of archaeological research in the Tumbes region of far northern Peru, one of the least-studied regions in prehistoric South America. The research area is located on the modern "and historically contested" frontier between Peru and Ecuador. The prehistoric Tumbes region has been viewed as a marginal zone, peripheral to better understood ancient societies in the Central Andes and Ecuador. Preliminary research, however, has shown that Tumbes was enmeshed in long-distance exchange systems and political networks from circa CE 500 - 1500. Rather than a cultural backwater, the Tumbes region was in the center of a complex web of ancient political and economic interactions.
In 2006 and 2007 eight months of fieldwork will result in the first extensive excavations of prehistoric architecture in the Tumbes region. The research is a comparative study of public and domestic architecture at two sites associated with the Late Garbanzal/Jambeli culture (ca. CE 500 - 1400), and two sites coeval with the intrusive Chimu Empire (CE 900 - 1470). Una de Gato is thought to be the seat of the Late Garbanzal/Jambeli chiefdom with four platform mounds interpreted as public architecture, perhaps chief's houses. El Porvenir is a Late Garbanzal/Jambeli hamlet, consisting of six housemounds grouped around a small plaza or open space. Santa Rosa appears to be a small, intrusive Chimu center consisting of three walled compounds. Loma Saavedra is a small hamlet with an upper level coeval with Chimu influence ca. CE 1450 - 1500 and a lower local occupation dating to ca. CE 1200 - 1450. Excavated data from these four sites will allow for testing five hypotheses relating to the organization of prehistoric Garbanzal/Jambeli settlements and society, strategies of Chimu statecraft in far northern Peru, the comparative use of architecture in Garbanzal/Jambeli and Chimu societies, and broad patterns in the political and social uses of architecture and the built environment in ancient societies. In turn, this research contributes to an emergent body of theory regarding power and the built environment.
This research will result in new data and insights into the archaeology of Andean South America. The proposed archaeological research will significantly expand archaeological knowledge of far northern Peru; this is the most extensive program of research ever conducted in the Tumbes region. The investigations will clarify pivotal chronological issues, produce new archaeological data, and allow for significant insights into the relationships between political and social processes and the built environment in prehispanic Andean societies. Finally, the project represents an advance in archaeological approaches to ancient architecture.
This investigation will result in broader impacts by integrating research and education. The research will involve undergraduate students from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the sciences and engineering. Undergraduates will be selected from California State University Dominguez Hills, a Hispanic-Serving Institution of Higher Education and a non-Ph.D.-granting institution with over 77.6% of its students from underrepresented groups. Further, an extensive dissemination program will communicate research results to audiences in the U.S., Peru and Ecuador. In coordination with the Instituto Nacional de Cultura and ministries of Tourism and Education, project staff will present public lectures, organize a small exhibit, arrange site visits for local teachers, and maintain a bilingual Web page. In addition to reporting on scientific results, this project contributes to the Peruvian and Ecuadorian publics' understanding of their common cultural heritage.
