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Quake triggered collapse of an ancient Peru society, scientists say

An earthquake 3,800 years ago, followed by heavy rains, led to a chain of
events that wiped out rich fishing grounds and farmland that sustained the
people of the Supe Valley, north of Lima.

   January 21, 2009|Thomas H. Maugh II
   (Page 2 of 2)

   Caral is one of seven sites in the region being excavated by Peruvian
   archaeologist Ruth Shady Solis, director of the Caral-Supe Special
   Archaeological Project and a co-author of the report.

   The region has been subject to many earthquakes over the millenniums
   because it is where a tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the
   Nazca Plate, crashes under the South American Plate. But evidence from
   Caral and other sites shows that an especially strong temblor struck
   the region about 3,800 years ago. Moseley estimates that it was at
   least magnitude 8 or that there were two or more quakes, each greater
   than magnitude 7.2.
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   The Caral pyramid was severely damaged and the structures atop it were
   devastated. The evidence is unusually well preserved because the
   structures were not rebuilt. Strata in the soil and damage to other
   pyramids in the region confirm the severity of the earthquake.

   The quake also loosened soil on the hillsides upriver from Caral and
   other communities, and dumped it into the rivers. When El Ninos --
   which had been quiescent for centuries before making a coincidental
   return after the quake -- brought heavy rainfall to the region, the
   sediment washed into the bay, where currents formed it into a
   60-mile-long ridge in the ocean that is now known as Medio Mundo.

   The ridge sealed off the formerly rich coastal bays, which rapidly
   filled with sand, eliminating one source of food for the Supe society.
   As the bay filled, strong, near-constant onshore winds blew the sand
   inland, burying the farmland.

   The environmental catastrophe "had an astonishing impact on the
   landscape over quite a wide area," said archaeologist James B.
   Richardson III of the University of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of
   Natural History, who was not involved in the research.

   The lesson of the tale is that, in piecing together historical events,
   "we've got to pay attention to what is happening across all parts of
   the landscape," said archaeologist Daniel H. Sandweiss of the
   University of Maine, another co-author.

   This was a complex chain of events "that took decades to begin to
   affect people's livelihood," he said. "By not being able to look
   decades ahead, they were not able to cope with it" and their society
   collapsed.

   Their organization collapsed and their faith in their religious system
   probably faltered, he said. "They stopped building monuments, and they
   never regained the prominence they had early on."

   --

   thomas.maugh@latimes.com