TY - JOUR
T1 - Paleoenvironmental catastrophies on the Peruvian coast revealed in lagoon sediment cores from Pachacamac
AU - Winsborough, Barbara M.
AU - Shimada, Izumi
AU - Newsom, Lee A.
AU - Jones, John G.
AU - Segura, Rafael A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We dedicate this paper to the people of northeastern Japan as we are reminded by their struggles of the extent and magnitude of the havoc caused by the recent tsunami , and of the effects that a similarly severe tsunami could cause in relatively flat coastal river valleys of Peru. Our research was generously supported by grants to I. Shimada from the National Science Foundation (grant no. BCS-0313964 , 0411625 ), National Geographic Society (grant no. 7472-03 , 7668-04 , 7724-04 ) and John Heinz III Foundation , and to L. Newsom (The MacArthur Foundation ) The successive fieldworks of the Pachacamac archaeological Project (2003-5) were authorized by the Resolución Directorial No. 166-2003, 622-2004, and 919-2005 of the National Institute of Culture of Peru. We are also grateful for the help provided by local workers of the project in extracting sediment cores. The map of the site of Pachacamac ( Fig. 1 ) was expertly prepared by project member Go Matsumoto as was Figure 3 by Logan Kistler of Newson's lab, whom we also gratefully acknowledge for his laboratory assistance. BW thanks Eric Grimm and Phil Winsborough for technical support and Pedro Tapia for field assistance. We all appreciate the thoughtful, constructive input of two anonymous reviewers.
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - Paleoenvironmental reconstruction combining data from diatom, pollen, macrophytic, and archaeological analyses had not been attempted previously for coastal Peru. We analyzed two radiocarbon-dated sediment cores extracted from the " sacred" Urpi Kocha Lagoon at the pre-Hispanic religious center of Pachacamac (ca. AD 350-1533), near Lima, to characterize the paleoenvironment of the site. The data reveal an environmental history characterized by alternating periods of severe drought and catastrophic flood. Recurrent pulses with distinctive sediment, diatom, pollen, and macrophytic characteristics reflecting variations in water depth, substrate, turbidity and salinity, usually contain a thick basal sandy storm deposit overlain by thin organic accumulations of peat, gyttja, and snails. The most intense of these disturbance pulses, when correlated with pollen, plant macrofossils, radiocarbon dates, and regional proxy data, provide local evidence of four major floods associated with sustained, catastrophic El Niño events, tsunamis and/or severe storms in the Andean highlands over the last 2000 years.
AB - Paleoenvironmental reconstruction combining data from diatom, pollen, macrophytic, and archaeological analyses had not been attempted previously for coastal Peru. We analyzed two radiocarbon-dated sediment cores extracted from the " sacred" Urpi Kocha Lagoon at the pre-Hispanic religious center of Pachacamac (ca. AD 350-1533), near Lima, to characterize the paleoenvironment of the site. The data reveal an environmental history characterized by alternating periods of severe drought and catastrophic flood. Recurrent pulses with distinctive sediment, diatom, pollen, and macrophytic characteristics reflecting variations in water depth, substrate, turbidity and salinity, usually contain a thick basal sandy storm deposit overlain by thin organic accumulations of peat, gyttja, and snails. The most intense of these disturbance pulses, when correlated with pollen, plant macrofossils, radiocarbon dates, and regional proxy data, provide local evidence of four major floods associated with sustained, catastrophic El Niño events, tsunamis and/or severe storms in the Andean highlands over the last 2000 years.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.018
DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.018
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:83655163678
SN - 0305-4403
VL - 39
SP - 602
EP - 614
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science
IS - 3
ER -