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Science 18 January 1991:
Vol. 251. no. 4991, pp. 277 - 283
DOI: 10.1126/science.251.4991.277
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Articles

Subsistence Economy of El Paraíso, an Early Peruvian Site

JEFFREY QUILTER 1, BERNARDINO OJEDA E. 2, DEBORAH M. PEARSALL 3, DANIEL H. SANDWEISS 4, JOHN G. JONES 5, and ELIZABETH S. WING 6

1 An associate professor of Anthropology, Ripon College, WI 54971
2 An archeologist, at the Centro de Investigaciones de Zonas Aridas, C.P. 330, Lima 1, Peru
3 A research associate at the American Archaeology Division, Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
4 A research associate at the Division of Anthropology, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
5 A doctoral candidate at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
6 Curator of zooarcheology at The Florida State Museum, Museum Road, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611

Studies of food remains from the Preceramic monumental site of E1 Paraíso, Peru (1800 to 1500 B.C.), have shed new light on a debate regarding the relative importance of seafood versus terrestrial resources and the role of cultigens in subsistence economies during the early development of Peruvian civilization. Fish was the primary animal food at the site whereas plant foods consisted of a mixture of cultivated resources (squashes, beans, peppers, and jicama) with an additional reliance on fruits (guava, lucuma, and pacae). Wild plants, especially the roots of sedges and cat-tail, also may have accounted for a substantial part of the diet. Cotton was a chief crop, used in making fishing tackle and the textiles that served as clothing and items of high value and status. As an example of the beginnings of civilization, El Paraíso is a case in which impressive architecture was built on a relatively simple subsistence economy and energy was expended in the production of resources useful in local and regional exchange systems.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Gourd and squash artifacts yield starch grains of feasting foods from preceramic Peru.
N. A. Duncan, D. M. Pearsall, and R. A. Benfer Jr. (2009)
PNAS 106, 13202-13206
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Preceramic irrigation canals in the Peruvian Andes.
T. D. Dillehay, H. H. Eling Jr., and J. Rossen (2005)
PNAS 102, 17241-17244
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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