Casma Hinterland Archaeological Project (PAIC-CHAP) 2014 Field Season Concludes

[4 September 2014: crossposted from www.PAIC-CHAP.com and PAIC-CHAP.blogspot.com]

The 2014 Field Season of the Proyecto Arqueologico del Interior de Casma - Casma Hinterland Archaeological Project came to a close in mid-August of 2014. It was a smashing success. 

In brief, I explored - without using any invasive techniques - over 30 archaeological sites in the Casma Valley that are hypothetically related to El Purgatorio and the Casma Polity. Accordingly, it is clear that there is great potential for the next phase of the project, which will include detailed mapping, excavation, architectural, and artifact analysis. 

Those analyses will help answer questions like the following. Who was living in the Casma Valley just before the settlement of El Purgatorio (ca. AD 700-1400)? How did their settlements change - demographically, occupationally, institutionally - during the occupation of El Purgatorio? More broadly, why did people move into (or avoid) and later move out of El Purgatorio? What can the case of El Purgatorio and its hinterlands tell us more generally about urbanism in the late prehispanic period?

A summary field report will be made available to the public as soon as possible. Following a summary analysis of observations made in the field, the next step is to design a multi-component archaeological and ethnographic project and seek funding for the 2015 field season that will address the previously-presented and additional questions about the Casma Polity, communities, and cities from a global and trans-historical perspective.

Dave in a quebrada on the Sechin Branch of the Casma River