LACIS | Ritualizing Redistribution? Late Pre-hispanic Settlements in the Middle Sechin Valley, Peru

Presented by Dr. David Pacifico, Director, Mathis Gallery, and Assistant Professor, Latin American Art, UW–Milwaukee.
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IN PERSON: 206 Ingraham Hall
Virtual: via Zoom
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About the presentation:

This paper proposes that late pre-Hispanic settlements (ca. 1000–1400 CE) in the Casma Valley’s Sechin River branch anchored a social landscape in which administrative installations ritualized the collection, storage, and redistribution of agricultural and marine goods. Collection and redistribution were essential to the Casma State’s political stability, and ritualization underscored leaders’ authority. Multiple lines of evidence collected between 2018 and 2023 clarify the distribution and nature of Late Intermediate Period settlements in the study area. Subsequently, we are better able to characterize the social, political, economic, and ritual landscape in which El Purgatorio – capital of the Casma State – was settled, reached an apogee, and was overtaken by expanding Chimu rule. Two main clusters of sites – at Cerro Sechin and at Tucushuanca – emerge as Late Intermediate Period focal points within a long, dense, and broad history of occupation and politicking in the valley.

David Pacifico is an archaeologist with more than 20 years of experience in Andean archaeology. He specializes in spatial and architectural analysis of late pre-Hispanic sites corresponding to the Casma, Chimu, and transitional political eras. He is currently an assistant professor of art history and director of the Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery and UWM Art Collection at the University of Wisconsin – Milwauke