Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Over the last decades, considerable effort has been directed towards the study of early complex societies of northern Peru, and in recent years archaeologists have expressed a strong interest in the art and archaeology of the Moche, Lambayeque and Chimú societies. Yet, comparatively little attention has been paid to the earlier cultural foundations of North Coast civilization: the Gallinazo. In the recent years, however, the work of a number of North Coast specialists brought about a large quantity of data on the Gallinazo occupation of the coast, but a coherent framework for studying this culture had yet to be defined. A round table, which gathered some thirty scholars from Europe and North and South America to discuss the Gallinazo phenomenon, resulted in this volume of fourteen chapters by authors with different perspectives and backgrounds who re-consider the nature of the Gallinazo culture and its position within Peruvian North Coast cultural history. Greater issues about the development of complex societies in this area and within the Andean region in general are also examined. The contributions reveal a diversity of perspectives on North Coast archaeology, something that is likely to stimulate methodological and theoretical debates among Andeanists, pre-Columbian specialists, and New World archaeologists in general.

Series: Monographs 66