Table Of ContentA Comparative Analysis of the Cultural
Remains from Early Ancon and Early Supe, Peru
by
John Maxwell Corbett
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy, in the Faculty of
Philosophy, Columbia University
PREFACE
In 19U1, from July through December, under the auspices of the
Institute of Andean Research, the author engaged In excavations along
the Central Coast of Peru. Under the directorship of Dr. William
Duncan Strong and the supervision of Dr. Cordon R. Willey, several
coastal sites were investigated. Work was conducted first at Pacha-
eaaac, then, after the return of Dr. Strong to New York in September,
Dr. Willey and the author moved to some sites in the Chancay valley.
Following these excavations and accompanied by Dr. Marshall T. Newman,
we moved to the shell mounds at Supe.
War having broken out in December 19U1, the author returned to
the United States after the completion of the Supe digs, while Dr s.
Willey and Newman moved to the Ancon Shell Mounds for a brief period.
Upon the excavations conducted at Supe and Ancon the following report
is based.
The Problem
Since Uhlo first excavated in the Ancon Shell Midden (in 1901*) and
in those near Supe (in 1905)> the placement of their cultural remains in
relationship to other known Peruvian cultures has never been completely
demonstrated* Uhle felt that the material remains from the Ancon-Supe
shell middens were manifestations of a different culture than others in
Peru, for they did not fit into his schematic arrangement of Peruvian
prehistory* Therefore, he placed the material excavated from the shell
middens earlier than any other and added the conclusion that it repre
sented a "primitive fisherfolk" - a conclusion based on the archaic ap
pearance of the remains. (Uhle 1913)
Strong and Kroeber carefully examined the Uhle collections from
Ancon and Supe and arranged the material chronologically an a basis of
art styles and grave superpositions* Strong, like Uhle, placed the
Ancon shell midden material as earliest and designated it as Early Ancon
(Strong, 1925, p. 152). Kroeber likewise felt that the Supe shell midden
material was early, though he said its antiquity was "indicated, yet not
necessarily very great". (Kroeber, 1925, p. 255)• He and Uhle both
pointed out that these fisherfolk had cloth, cotton, com, beans, basketry,
and pottery, hence their culture was a "relatively advanced one, though
still retarded as compared with the cultures which have fVimished the mass
of collected Peruvian remains" (Kroeber, 1925* P* 255)* Only Uhle was
able to see any relation between the Proto-Nasca of the south Coast and
the Supe-Ancon shell midden material, neither Strong nor Kroeber coo-
concurring in this view (Kroeber 1925> p. 256) though Strong did say the
Early Ancon material might represent a vide spread Peruvian type from
which Proto-Nasca arose (Strong, 1925, p. 183)*
Tello, as early as 1929, recognized the similarity of Ancon-Supe
pottery designs and Chavin designs (Tello, 1929, p. 155)* Later, in
investigating Chavin de Huantar culture in the north highlands of Peru,
he again noticed strong similarities between the Ancon-Supe shell heap
ceramics and the "classic Chavin pottery" (Tello, 191*3, P* 136). Fur
ther investigations led Tello to postulate a widespread Chavin horizon
extending from Southern Highland Ecuador on the north to Ocucaje and
Paracas on the South Peruvian Coast and including inland portions of
the Uaranon drainage and Pucara in the Titicaca Basin (Tello, 191*3,
pp. 157-8).
Sporadic finds of a Chavin-like style on the north coast led
Rafael Larco Hoyle to the great finds in the Cupisnique quebrada of
the Chicama Valley (Hoyle, 191*1, pp. 7-11). At first these Chavin re
semblances from coastal Peru were considered to be Mochica (Proto-
Chiaru of Kroeber) and to attest to the great antiquity of Mochica
(Kroeber, 1926, p. 36). But in 1933 Tello uncovered "Chavin" remains
in the Nepena valley, consisting of sculptures resembling those of
Chavin de Huantar and ceramics like those of the Ancon-Supe shell
middens (Tello, 191*3, PP. 136-139). Later (circa 1938) larco Hoyle
showed that the Chavin-like ceramics from the Chicama Valley consti
tuted a period earlier than Mochica. He labeled this new period
Cupisnique (Hoyle, 191*1).
These finds of an early and rather spectacular culture on the
coast of Peru called attention again to the problems of the Ancon-
Supe shell sounds* It was in an attempt to clarify some of these points
that the Andean Institute undertook excavations in the shell heaps of both
Ancon and Supe* On a basis of what was desired from the excavations and
what was actually uncovered, fdur problems were posed:
1. The securing of more and better controlled data from the
Ancon and Supe sites)
2. That was the temporal and cultural relationship between
Early Ancon and Early Supe ceramic material?;
3* That, if any, was the growth within itself of the culture
entity known as Early Ancon-Supe?;
I;* lhat was the status and relationship of the Early Ancon-
Supe shell mound material to other Peruvian cultures?
The first of these, the securing of more and better controlled data
was accomplished by the excavations conducted by Dr* Willey at both Ancon
and Supe* Answers to the other three were sought through an examination
of the material recovered in the excavations* The description of this
material and subsequent discussion of the above three points is the major
task of this paper*
Since the 19hZ excavations were completed and this study commenced,
new grave finds have been uncovered by Dr* Rebecca Carrion Cachot in the
Ancon area which cast further light on the Early Ancon period* A brief
description of this material appears in la Cultura Chavin, Dos Nuevas
Colonial Kuntur Iasi jr Ancon, published in Peru, 19U8* Evidently the
ancient graveyard for which Tilley and Newman hunted in vain has been
uncovered, for most of the artifacts described by Carrion are grave goods*
Other notices concerning these finds appeared in 31 Conercio, daily
Lina paper, in March of 191*9. Lacking a fall and detailed report of
these new discoveries, mention concerning them wherever appropriate
is made in the following text.
The Setting - Ancon
Ancon ie located in a small dry central-coastal valley about 25
kilometers north of Callao, which is the seaport town for the Capital,
lima. Today there is no stream or important source of water other
than a small spring near the foot of the slope in which the midden is
located. The central coast of Peru is almost rainless, varying between
two even seasons— one hot, dry, and sunny; and the other warm, but damp
and foggy. The former lasts from Oetober-November to Apri 1-Hay, while
the fog rolls in over the coast from May to October. The bay of Ancon
is protected from the sea winds and currents, and the ocean abounds in
sea life so that today, as evidently formerly, the nuclear town is a
small fishing community. Lately it has become a popular bathing resort
and construction of buildings is seriously encroaching on many of the
antiquities (Carrion, 19U8, p. 7U).
The valley is hemmed in on the north by the steep hills of the
Loma Ancon, a sandy, ever-shifting, desolate stretch of desert which
makes travel across it to the Chancay valley difficult. To the south,
the valley is open and access to Lima is easy in several stages across
dry flats interspersed by small green valleys. The Ancon valley is
small, shaped like a bowl, about seven kilometers across (north to
south) and eight kilometers deep (east to west).
The shell middens excavated by Uhle, and later by Willey and
Newman, lie on the hillslqpe above and south of the present day town.
They are on the "protected or north slope of the sand hills which form
the western end of the rim defining the southern edge of the Ancon
- 6 -
Valley* (Willey, unpublished manuscript). From a distance, the midden
forms a centrally located white streak against the darker sandy back
ground of the hill. It extends up and down the slope of the hill 200
meters and along the slope (east and west) 300 meters (Willey, Ibid).
From the excavations of both Uhle and Willey it is apparent that the
shell middens represent an old habitation site.
Below the midden, in the valley bottom and extending partially
under the present town, are the remnants of the Necropolis or burial
ground, which for years has been consistently looted by huaqueros.
Here Reiss and Stubel (1880-87) conducted their excavations without
ever investigating the shell midden nearby. Uhle gathered a large col
lection of grave goods from the Necropolis (Strong, 1925), and Willey
conducted test excavations (Willey, 191*3) • Recently, during construc
tion work near the beach, remains of Chavinoid pottery types, bones,
wood and graves have come to light (Carrion, 191*8, pp. 65-71*)* Strong
felt that the closest local affinities to the Ancon shell midden material
lay in the incised wares of Middle Ancon I. This was the next Ancon
period subsequent to his Early Ancon (Strong, 1925, p. 157)*
The setting - Supe
The Supe shell middens are located near a very small seaport town
of the same name, about 125 kilometers north of Ancon. Here the coast
resembles Ancon, rocky shore and heavy surf with desert hills extending
down to the ocean interspersed by fertile valleys. Climatically, the
two valleys are also similar.
The town of Supe lies in an arid gone, though there la a fertile
valley closer to Supe than at Ancon, for only three kilometers south
is the valley of Supe from which the town derives its name. The sites
investigated at Supe were in three separate, though closely related,
localities. Two of these were the same as those investigated by Uhle,
and one is either new or unmentioned by him. These three sites in the
order of excavation were the Lighthouse site, the Aspero site, and the
third one, designated simply by its survey number, Li-31.
The Lighthouse site lies closest to the town, just over the ridge
of hills southwest of the port and extends down a slope almost to a small
inlet of the ocean. An abandoned lighthouse on the promontory overlooks
the site on one side and the bay of Supe on the other. The inlet or cove
in which the site lies is about 50 meters wide and long and projects onto
a small santy beach which in turn slopes gradually upward into a small
ravine, or rincon. This rincon extends back 300 to U00 meters from the
beach and ends in low sandy hills on three sides. The midden deposit at
this site centers in the lower two-thirds of the rincon, starting near
the beach and extending back from it for about 200 meters. Knolls of
shell, blackened soil, ash and potsherds mark the site clearly. Rocks
are scattered around this debris and seme sera to be aligned with each
other.
.....and some of these alignments appear to form con
joined rectangles. It is most likely that these are
the ruins of old, rock walled buildings, probably
dating from the period of the surrounding midden.
There is also an interesting circle of several meters
in diameter (approximately four) formed by partly
buried rocks. (Willey, unpublished manuscript)
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No spring or source of fresh water is known for this site today,
though one may have existed in the past* The Ancon and the Lighthouse
sites are quite similar in location and general appearance, though the
Lighthouse site shows superficial evidence of structures, which is
lacking at Ancon* Evidence of possible structures were encountered in
the excavations at Ancon but do not appear on the surface*
The locally named Aspero site is on the coast two or three kilo
meters southward from the port of Supe (Strong and Ailley, 19ii3, P* 11)*
Uhle has left a rather full description of the site in Kroeber, Appendix,
1925* It is located on the "eastern slope of a range of hills facing the
valley of the hacienda San Nicolas" • It is enclosed on three sides and
faces the open valley on the fourth* Roughly circular in form, the
Aspero quebrada, or larger ravine, is about 250 meters wide at its
mouth and 300 meters deep* The floor slopes gradually upward away from
the valley and into the surrounding sandy hills. The occupation area
fills the lower portion of the quebrada. An abrupt bank separates the
quebrada from the valley and cultural debris was not found below this
bank (Villey, unpublished manuscript). The beach and ocean are on3y
a kilometer or less away to the south*
The Aspero site is characterized by a very blackish, ashy appear
ance, the presence of burnt rock, and the complete absence of sur
face pottery. Though pottery-bearing sites lie just to the north and
south of Aspero, no sherds were recovered from Aspero itself, and only
pots in association with burials in the grave area on the northern side
of the site*
