Grilling Clams and Roasting Tubers: Andean Maritime Foodways in the Second Millennium B.C.

Abstract

This research explores the significance of marine and valley crops processed and consumed at Gramalote, a fishing community in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru occupied 300 years and dated to 1500–1200 cal. BC. It was an organized settlement with a permanent occupation. Its inhabitants were also part-time artisans producing a number of local products such as basketry, matting, carved bones and shells, and processing red pigment using a nearby iron oxide mine. Marine resources have received serious attention in the literature but little efforts have been made to understand their density and diversity in early Andean prehistory. This research contextualizes the importance of marine resources in a fishing community and the way people obtained, processed, and prepared these products. This research also uses accounts of ethnographic studies of contemporary maritime communities to determine how the inhabitants prepared and consumed marine foods. Finally, the presence of abundant macrobotanical remains at Gramalote suggests that the inhabitants had access to plant resources that were cultivated in the vicinity of the site and in the nearby valleys. In a broad perspective, the data presented enhance our understanding of the social dynamics and economic interactions of the early civilizations of the Central Andean region.