Archaeological Insights from Coastal Peru

People build and move to cities for various reasons, often to seek opportunities, proximity, and security. Times of armed conflict can also lead to spontaneous urban nucleation and rural exodus. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. In the Nepeña Valley on the north-central coast of Peru during the second half of the first millennium BC, people also sought out urban life. It was a period of increased armed violence that saw the development of fortified towns and warrior cultures. In this talk, LSU Professor of Archeology David Chicoine shares 20 years of archaeological field research, comparing different forms of community arrangements and how those shaped people’s daily lives in urban-like settings. Chicoine says his findings might help us better understand ourselves and imagine alternative forms of existence.

Photo credit: David Chicoine

About the Speaker

David Chicoine is the W. G. Haag Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Geography & Anthropology. Trained in anthropology, his archaeological research explores the ancient societies that developed in the Andean region of South America. Since the early 2000s, he directs archaeological excavation projects on the north-central coast of Peru, documenting ancient lifeways in all their diversity and complexity. His publications have explored early urban life, architecture, material culture, visual arts, mortuary practices, and foodways, among other things.