SETTLEMENT, AGRICULTURE, AND PASTORALISM DURING THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN THE COLCA VALLEY, PERU

This article presents a preliminary view of the Formative occupation of the Colca Valley, located in the southwestern Peruvian highlands. Based on data recovered from a systematic survey of the central part of the valley, the Formative Period settlement pattern for the Colca Valley is defined for the first time in this valley. A summary description of a ceramic style associated with the Formative is presented, and the nature of agriculturalist and pastoralist settlements is characterized, together with a discussion of the associated agricultural complexes on the valley slopes and bottom. Overall, the settlement pattern is characterized by a dispersed occupation of small settlements, without indices of political centralization or economic inequalities. But there is evidence for early elaboration of the notable agricultural infrastructure of the valley during the Formative, in the form of large complexes of "agro-mortuary" wall on the valley bottom. These are characterized by wide and high walls with mortuary features (cist tombs) and silos, which enclose agricultural fields. In contrast to prior studies, which suggest that early agriculture in the Colca Valley was more focused on the upper slopes, these results confirm the initial anthropogenic modification of the extensive pampas of the valley bottom, and the elaboration of sloping fields on the valley sides.