Cultural Epochs and Refuse Stratigraphy in Peruvian Archaeology

Abstract

It is the purpose of the present paper to discuss, as briefly as possible, the manner in which major Peruvian cultural periods or epochs have been determined to the present and to suggest certain modifications as the result of recent objective, refuse-heap, stratigraphic studies, particularly those in the Virú Valley of Peru. It must be obvious to all students in the Peruvian field that our present terminology for major cultural epochs in prehistoric Peru is inconsistent and unsatisfactory. That this is due in considerable part to the recent great increases in stratigraphic knowledge makes such a re-evaluation even more necessary. Assuming, with Kroeber, “That the foundations of scientific archaeology in Peru were laid by Max Uhle,” and that, “the only general scheme of interpretation … not founded essentially on Uhle's” is that of Julio Tello, we will, very briefly, discuss these two major theoretical approaches.