free download - University Press of Colorado

Chapter 5
Collation, Correlation, and Causation in
the Prehistory of Coastal Peru
Daniel H. Sandweiss and Jeffrey Quilter
University of Maine and Harvard University
Chapter Abstracts
The coast of Peru is subject to a multitude of hazards occurring at different
temporal and spatial scales and often working synergistically to create major
disasters for the region’s human inhabitants. The best known of these hazards is
El Niño, a recurring climatic perturbation that brings torrential rain, erosion of
landscapes and infrastructure, loss of marine biomass, and plagues of diseases
and insects. Earthquakes are also common and can prime the terrain with sediment
that is set in motion by El Niño and cycled through the landscape by subsequent
littoral and aeolian processes. The final round in the sediment cycle is
sand swamping of agricultural systems, complementing the initial destruction
from El Niño but on a longer timescale. All of the components of this system
of synergistic hazards continue to operate today in the context of population
growth and high-investment agrarian expansion. In this chapter we review several
case studies involving El Niño, earthquakes, and sand, with attention to
frequency and predictability, temporal and spatial scales, and human impacts.
We conclude by considering the potential role of hazards across the long sweep
of cultural development in ancient Peru and drawing lessons for the future.
Chapter 6
Silent Hazards, Invisible Risks: Prehispanic Erosion
in the Teotihuacan Valley, Central Mexico
Emily McClung de Tapia
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
This chapter provides a case study of risk and resilience from the Teotihuacan
Valley in the northern Basin of Mexico. Between 100 BC and AD 600, the
prehispanic city of Teotihuacan grew to occupy an area of roughly 20 km 2 , with
at least 100,000 inhabitants in the urban zone alone. The city had an enormous
impact on the surrounding landscape, and the city’s development was associated
with adaptive strategies in which inhabitants modified the landscape to
deal with the increased vulnerability to natural hazards created by rising population
densities.
Results from recent geoarchaeological research in the Teotihuacan Valley
suggest a complex history of landscape development closely associated with
human impact. Clear evidence for alternating periods of landscape stability
and instability is related to periodic erosion. Evidence for severe erosion
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