Huaca Prieta–Paredones
Huaca Prieta-Paredones · El Brujo Huaca Prieta North
Lithic to Preceramic 14500 BP–2000 BCE, monumental mound 3500–1800 BCE (Huaca Prieta period)·Preceramic Chicama (Huaca Prieta period) to Cupisnique-Chavín·🇵🇪 La Libertad, Ascope Province, Peru
About
About Huaca Prieta–Paredones
Compact mound-midden 12 m high 150×50 m 3 km north of Chicama River mouth beside Pacific: stratified 14.5 ka Lithic to Preceramic sequence with temple platform atop midden, preserving world's oldest cotton textiles (6000 BP) with twining and indigo dye, and early gourd/pyro-engraved decoration. Dumbarton Oaks excavations (Bird 1946-47) and later Dillehay-Tom Dillehay. Next-door Paredones mound extends complex.
Why it mattersEarliest maritime Andean settlement with oldest cotton textiles/indigo (6000 BP) and 14.5 ka Lithic occupation preceding ceramics.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How Huaca Prieta cotton predates Old World cotton by 2000 years
- 02Whether 14.5 ka Lithic occupants were maritime-adapted before Andean highlands
Theories
- 01Maritime foundation of Andean civilization before agriculture (Moseley revisited)
- 02Temple platform as shell-mound shrine to El Niño sea
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.14500 BCE–2500 BCE (Lithic to Preceramic with Formative 3500 BCE platform; earliest 14.5k BP)
- Period
- Lithic to Preceramic 14500 BP–2000 BCE, monumental mound 3500–1800 BCE (Huaca Prieta period)
- Culture
- Preceramic Chicama (Huaca Prieta period) to Cupisnique-Chavín
- Builders
- Preceramic Chicama
- Purpose
- Compact coastal midden-mound 12 m high with temple platform and earliest known cotton textiles (6000 BP) and indigo dye on Chicama shoreline
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.14500 BCE–2500 BCE (Lithic to Preceramic with Formative 3500 BCE platform; earliest 14.5k BP)
Initial construction
1800 BCE (Huaca Prieta period)
Major occupation / refurbishment
On the ground
Structures & features
7.9240° S · 79.3070° W · 10 m · 2 mapped features
Huaca Prieta summit temple
temple20×15 m temple platform atop 12 m midden-mound
7.9230° S · 79.3060° WParedones extension midden
moundAdjacent Paredones midden-mound with cotton textile caches 6000 BP
7.9250° S · 79.3080° W
Gallery