Cerro Arena: Early Cultural Complexity and Nucleation in North Coastal Peru

Abstract

Extending over 2.0 sq. km. of the lower Moche River valley and including a minimum of 2,000 separate structures, the site of Cerro Arena constitutes the earliest large, nucleated, predominantly residential site now known on the Peruvian North Coast, and the first large Salinar Phase residential site to be extensively excavated. A comprehensive program of site mapping and selective excavations revealed a diversity of specialized architecture, including elite residences, public ceremonial architecture, possible specialized administrative facilities, and ordinary domestic architecture. The results of these investigations are described and applied to reconstructing elements of Cerro Arena's social, political, and economic organization. The significance of this reconstruction is assessed relative to what is known of the character of Salinar settlement in the remainder of the Moche Valley and the neighboring Viru Valley, and of the preceding and succeeding cultural phases on the North Coast.