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The Casma Valley on the north-central coast of Peru is well known archaeologically because of early cultural developments there during the Late Preceramic (Fuchs et al. 2009; T. Pozorski and S. Pozorski 1990), Initial period (Fuchs et al. 2006; S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 1998, 2011a), and Early Horizon (Ghezzi and Ruggles 2006, 2011; S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 1987:51-70, 86-103). The Initial period (2100-1000 cal BC) was an especially dynamic time characterized by the construction of carefully planned cities dominated by large platform mounds that established site axes and orientations for most of the larger structures at each site (S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 1989, 1994a, 1994b, 1998). We used data from these three large sites plus over half a dozen smaller sites to define the Sechín Alto polity based on shared architectural forms, orientation, and artifacts (S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 2011a; T. Pozorski and S. Pozorski 2005, 2012). Within the northern, Sechín branch of the Casma Valley, we grouped four contemporary sites into the Sechín Alto Complex based on proximity and consistent orientations of E32oN (S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 1987:82; Pozorski and Pozorski 1992). The Sechín Alto Complex is dominated by the Sechín Alto site, which contained the largest platform mound in the New World during the Initial period, as well as the sites of Taukachi-Konkán, Sechín Bajo, and Cerro Sechín (Figure 1; S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski 2012). Figure 1.
Map of Casma Valley showing the locations of Initial period sites of the Sechín Alto Polity. Map by S. Pozorski.
Previous Fieldwork at Taukachi-Konkán
Taukachi-Konkán, the second-largest site within the Sechín Alto Complex, lies slightly northwest of the Sechín Alto site on an expanse of plain bordered by Cerro Taukachi on the west and Cerro Konkán on the east. Based on early site surveys of the area, clusters of platform mounds and associated plazas on either edge of the plain were initially treated as two separate sites (Thompson 1961:211-217). Subsequent examination of air photographs and surface evidence revealed connected and associated architectural features forming a single large site that spans the pampa (Fung and Williams 1977:116-118) and occupies an area of about 1,250 by 500 m (Figure...