Feasting with Zea Mays in the Middle and Late Formative North Coast of Peru

Abstract

This work reports the presence of Zea mays microremains in three feasting episodes performed during the Middle and Late Formative Period in the North Coast of Peru. The remains of the Cerro Blanco de Nepeña feasts may represent a step toward the intensification of Zea mays consumption in ritual contexts, related to changes in the ceramic assemblages, and parallel to the transformation of ritual spaces during the second half of the Formative Period.