Marine shellfish exploitation as a means of reducing vulnerability to resource uncertainty in southern coastal Peru (200 BCE–150 CE)

Abstract

The effects of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are notoriously hazardous for human populations of the hyperarid Peruvian coast. Yet, ENSO climate fluctuations are fundamental to the ecology of desert plant and animal resources that have been incorporated into human subsistence economies for millennia. We examine marine shellfish exploitation among early complex societies in southern coastal Peru at the end of the first millenium BCE to better understand the subsistence vulnerability of communities in arid environments with variable resource availability and productivity. We analyze new shellfish data from Jahuay, a shoreline fishing settlement in the Topará Quebrada occupied amidst new regional social hierarchies and intensifying inner-valley agriculture. We compare mollusk taxonomic diversity and taxa rank order with published assemblages from four near-contemporaneous sites to assess local and regional trends in resource exploitation. At Jahuay, a unique focus on foraging plentiful Donax obesulus clams resistant to ENSO effects may reflect a local buffering strategy to ensure a resource supply through interannual and decadal climate oscillations. Our comparative results suggest regional reliance on intertidal resource patches, especially rocky habitats, for consumable shellfish. The relative convenience of gathering sessile intertidal taxa that form dense settlements may partly explain their regional popularity. The potential to dry and exchange mollusk meat as a protein source likely enhanced diet diversification while supporting economic and social relationships between communities. Overall, our findings imply that mollusks and intertidal foraging landscapes were important within a broad-spectrum subsistence strategy suited to maintaining and coordinating food availability in a dynamic environment.

A Case for Trans-Regional Intertidal Research in Unstudied Areas in the Northeast and Southeast Pacific: Filling the Gaps

“…Elaborate pottery detailed with fine line drawings depict beach seining for fish and portray traditional coming-of-age rituals between young Mochican warriors and juvenile South American sea lions; shell middens and the remnants of hand-crafted fishing rafts reveal a rich and integral relationship with their coastal environment that paralleled the Tlingits' relationship with the sea [77]. Reportedly, intertidal biota might have provided subsistence for coastal populations even through challenging climate conditions from El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) [78]. Currently, intertidal communities are affected not only by ENSO cycles but also by pollution and overfishing for bait and human consumption [79,80].…”

Reassessing the Chronology of Topará Emergence and Paracas Decline on the Peruvian South Coast: A Bayesian Approach

“…Chronology of Topará Emergence and Paracas Decline 935 permanently occupied settlement of maritime specialists who fished, hunted marine birds and mammals, and collected shellfish, while also practicing limited horticulture to grow gourds and cotton. Maritime products were preserved through drying so that they could be traded with nearby sites in exchange for agricultural food products and ceramics goods (Osborn 2022;Weinberg et al 2022;Weinberg 2023). In contrast with nearby Topará sites in the Chincha Valley (Wallace 1972;Fernández et al 2017;Nigra 2017;Orccosupa Ccapcha et al 2022), we do not identify evidence of a pre-Topará occupation at Jahuay.…”