Paleoethnobotany of the Early Initial Period of Gramalote in Northern Peru

Abstract

The Gramalote site is an early Initial Period (1500–1200 B.C.E.) fishing village located in the Moche valley in northern Peru. Previous research assessed the social dynamics and economic interactions within that fishing settlement. The well-preserved animal and plant record facilitates the archeological study of diet and subsistence strategies through time. The examinations of faunal remains of seabirds, sea mammals, and mollusk shells support the expected marine-oriented subsistence strategy. However, the site also contains a long record of botanical remains suggesting that people had access to plant resources. For this reason, a paleoethnobotanical study was conducted with the focus on reconstructing the pollen record of Gramalote. Previously identified botanical remains were also considered. The analysis of diverse botanical proxies helped to study the relationships between humans and plants in this region of northern Peru during the second millennium B.C.E. Grasses; reeds; food, woody, and wild plants were identified suggesting an environment that allowed small-scale agriculture and a trading network during the Initial Period of Gramalote. © 2018, The New York Botanical Garden.