El Paraíso

El Paraíso (Chuquitanta), a Late Preceramic-period monumental site on the central coast of Peru. Among the many archaeological treasures of the desert coast of Peru are massive stone and adobe architectural complexes, which served as ceremonial or administrative centers, dating to the Late Preceramic and Initial (early ceramic) periods (ca. 2000 bce–1400 bce). Among the most impressive of these is the El Paraíso site, a complex of eight or nine stone buildings covering about 125 acres in the Chillón River valley north of Lima. The site, which was occupied between 1800 and 1500 bce, has been investigated by the archaeologists Frédéric Engel (mid-1960s) and Jeffrey Quilter (mid-1980s).

El Paraíso is the largest of the early monumental sites of the Peruvian coast. Complexes of rooms that make up the site are constructed of fieldstone laid in clay; walls were often covered by clay plaster, now disintegrated. The two largest architectural units are 1,320 feet long and parallel to each other, about 594 feet apart. The area between these units may have been a plaza. Other room complexes are smaller; the presence of architectural units and public spaces of different sizes suggests that a variety of ceremonial, administrative, and residential activities were carried out at the site.

Quilter and colleagues focused their research on recovering food remains from residential areas of the site. They found that fish was the most important animal consumed along with a variety of cultivated and wild plant foods. Cotton remains were abundant at the site—the Late Preceramic of the Peruvian coast is traditionally called the Cotton Preceramic—and researchers propose that El Paraíso controlled and developed cotton production in the Chillón-Rímac region.

See alsoArchaeology .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frédéric-André Engel, "Le complexe précéramique d'El Paraíso (Pérou)," in Journal de la société des américanistes 55 (1966):43-95.

Jeffrey Quilter, "Architecture and Chronology at El Paraíso, Peru," in Journal of Field Archaeology 12 (1985):279-297.

Jeffrey Quilter, Bernardino Ojeda E., Deborah M. Pearsall, Daniel H. Sandweiss, John G. Jones, and Elizabeth S. Wing, "Subsistence Economy of El Paraíso, an Early Peruvian Site," in Science 251 (1991):277-283.

Additional Bibliography

Moseley, Michael E. The Incas and their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Quilter, Jeffrey, et al. "Subsistence Economy of El Paraíso, an Early Peruvian Site." Science Vol. 251, No. 4991 (Jan. 18, 1991): 271-283.

Silva, Jorge. "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Chillón River Valley, Peru." Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1996.

Stanish, Charles. "The Origin of State Societies in South America." Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 30. (2001): 41-64.

                                     Deborah M. Pearsall