UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Huaca Soto and the Evolution of Paracas Communities in the Chincha Valley, Peru A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology by Benjamin Thomas Nigra 2017 © Copyright by Benjamin Thomas Nigra 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Huaca Soto and the Evolution of Paracas Communities in the Chincha Valley, Peru by Benjamin Thomas Nigra Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles, 2017 Professor Charles S. Stanish, Chair Paracas was an autochthonous sociocultural tradition that emerged on the south coast of Peru during the early first millennium BCE. Beginning as a constellation of independent villages, by the final centuries BCE Paracas peoples had coalesced into two politically complex, non-state peer-polities with evidence for permanent socioeconomic inequality, dedicated craft industries, and leadership that exercised stable control over non-kin labor. Recent research in the Chincha Valley suggests that intensification of large-scale ritualized events was integral to this transition. Indeed, Chincha contains the largest and most labor-intensive buildings on the Formative south coast. These include more than a dozen massive sunken court structures that form at least five discrete settlement clusters. Excavation in one of these structures, Huaca Soto (PV57-26), ii demonstrates that the site was utilized for ritualized processions between the 8th and 5th centuries BCE. Drawing on an analysis of architecture, fineware ceramics, ceremonial offering deposits and comestibles, this dissertation traces the evolution of Huaca Soto from its initial Early Paracas construction episodes through its abandonment at the onset of the Middle Paracas (Cavernas) period. As Paracas complexity reached a regional apogee during Late Paracas (Necropolis/Topará) times, Huaca Soto’s sunken courts hosted a series of quotidian domestic occupations. Over the next 1,500 years, the site reemerged as a classic coastal huaca that received ritual offerings from local Middle Horizon communities, Late Intermediate Period visitors, and Inca Period contributors. Data from Huaca Soto offer a new perspective on the evolution of Chincha’s Paracas communities, the emergence of political complexity on the Formative south coast, and the reuse of sacred space in late antiquity. iii The dissertation of Benjamin Thomas Nigra is approved. Jeanne E. Arnold Gregson T. Schachner Stella E. Nair Charles S. Stanish, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2017 iv This work is dedicated to my grandparents, Andrew and Mary Nigra William and Jeanne Csonka v Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... xi List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................... xvii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... xviii Curriculum Vitae .................................................................................................................................. xxi Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... xxii Early Complex Society on the South Coast ........................................................................................... 1 On Paracas in Chincha ......................................................................................................................... 7 Huaca Soto as a Test Case .................................................................................................................. 13 Order of the Work ............................................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2: Regional Settlement History and Chronology ...................................................................... 23 Reconciling Paracas Chronologies ...................................................................................................... 23 A Regional Synthesis for Paracas Development .................................................................................. 30 ‘Early Paracas’................................................................................................................................ 31 ‘Middle Paracas’ ............................................................................................................................ 37 ‘Late Paracas’ ................................................................................................................................. 46 Paracas Development from a Regional Perspective ............................................................................ 55 Chapter 3: The Evolution of Political Complexity .................................................................................. 57 Political Complexity and Evolutionary Process ................................................................................... 59 Drivers of Organizational Change ....................................................................................................... 63 Economic Anthropology and Individual Interests ............................................................................... 68 Mechanisms for Pro-Social Economic Behavior .................................................................................. 71 Scaling Up Cooperation ..................................................................................................................... 76 Ritual Institutions and Political Complexity ........................................................................................ 81 In Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 4: 20th Century Research on Paracas in Chincha ...................................................................... 91 Chincha and the Peninsula Cemeteries .............................................................................................. 91 Fineware Seriation and Relative Chronology for Formative Chincha ................................................... 94 The Pozuelo Style........................................................................................................................... 95 The San Pablo Style ........................................................................................................................ 96 The Jahuay 3 Style ......................................................................................................................... 97 Pinta and Tambo Colorado ............................................................................................................. 98 vi Settlement Survey in Formative Chincha............................................................................................ 99 The Fulbright Commission Survey ................................................................................................ 100 The CIZA Database ....................................................................................................................... 102 The INDEA Surveys ....................................................................................................................... 104 Formative Architecture in Chincha ................................................................................................... 110 Uhle on Huaca Alvarado and Other Early 20th Century Observations ............................................ 113 Wallace on Cerro del Gentil (PV57-59) ......................................................................................... 115 Isla on El Mono (Chococota, PV57-63) .......................................................................................... 116 Velarde on Pampa de Gentil (PV57-64) ........................................................................................ 118 Bendezú on Huaca Santa Rosa (PV57-87) ..................................................................................... 120 Chincha as the Elephant in the Room ............................................................................................... 122 Chapter 5: Investigations of the Programa Arqueológica Chincha ...................................................... 124 PACH Investigations at Cerro del Gentil (PV57-59) ........................................................................... 125 Surface Contexts around the Principal Structure .......................................................................... 127 Excavations in ‘Sector B’ .............................................................................................................. 131 Excavations in ‘Sector A’ and the Uppermost Tier (2012) ............................................................. 134 Sunken Court Architecture ........................................................................................................... 136 Ceremonial Deposits .................................................................................................................... 142 Funerary Bundles ......................................................................................................................... 144 Comestibles