Coastal Ecosystems and Economic Strategies at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Study of a Late Intermediate Kingdom

Joyce Marcus, ed.

Cerro Azul, a pre-Inca fishing community in the Kingdom of Huarco, Peru, stood at the interface between a rich marine ecosystem and an irrigated coastal plain. Under the direction of its noble families, Cerro Azul dried millions of fish for shipment to inland communities, from which it received agricultural products and dried llama meat.

In this richly illustrated volume, a team of paleoethnobotanists and zooarchaeologists analyze the molluscs, crustaceans, fish, birds, mammals, edible and “industrial” plants, and coprolites from Cerro Azul. Making use of recent studies by Peruvian and Chilean ecologists, they reconstruct Cerro Azul’s strategies for linking the marine and inland ecosystems.

Order from  the University of Michigan Press.

Read more about the excavations at Cerro Azul in the Cañete Valley of Peru here.

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology

Year of Publication: 2016

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Pages: 410

Price: $45

Print ISBN: 978-0-915703-88-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-951519-67-4

Monograph Series / Number: Memoirs No. 59

Tables / Illustrations: 350+ illustrations, including 19 color plates

Purchase