Gradiometer and Ground‐penetrating Radar Survey of Two Reducción Settlements in the Zaña Valley, Peru

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, we utilize ground‐penetrating radar and gradiometer survey to map buried architecture and investigate the political dimensions of the built environment at two Spanish colonial period archaeological sites in Peru's north coast region, Carrizales (C123) and Mocupe Viejo (74). Based on historical sources, we argue that both sites were founded during the Toledan reducción movement – a large‐scale attempt by Peru's viceregal government to forcibly resettle indigenous populations into planned towns in the 1570s ce. Coupled with excavations, geophysical survey has revealed diversity in how these planned towns were constructed. At Carrizales, domestic architectural features revealed through gradiometer survey and confirmed through excavations suggest that the town's layout broadly conformed to the prescriptions of reducción plans, centring on a large plaza and following a rectilinear layout. Ground‐penetrating radar results at the site were limited by high soil salinity. In contrast, at Mocupe Viejo, ground‐penetrating radar, gradiometer survey, and excavations have recovered no evidence of a gridded street plan, and demonstrate that the church was located in an idiosyncratic position. Together, these results suggest that the resettlement process was contested and that plans were modified to serve more proximate political, ecclesiastical, and practical concerns, illustrating the limited reach of colonial state power in the sixteenth century. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.