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   Los Angeles Times Articles 

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

   Archaeologists generally argue that the Maya civilization and others
   in South and Central America perished as a result of intense warfare
   or prodigal consumption of resources.

   But for one early society, the cause was more elemental -- earth, wind
   and water.
   
   The residents of the Supe Valley on the central coast of Peru thrived
   for more than 2,000 years, building the first massive pyramids on the
   continent, fishing, farming and extending their hegemony for more than
   60 miles along the coast and through five river valleys.

   Then they disappeared over the course of a few generations;
   researchers said Monday that they now know why. About 3,800 years ago,
   a massive earthquake struck the region, toppling buildings and, more
   important, loosening soil upriver.

   Massive rainfall triggered by El Nino weather patterns washed the
   sediment into bays, destroying the fishing grounds. Constant winds
   then blew a steady rain of sand ashore, burying farmlands and
   rendering population centers virtually uninhabitable.

   "These people did quite well for 2,000 years, they were quite
   successful, then 'Boom!' they just got the props knocked out from
   under them," said archaeologist Michael E. Moseley of the University
   of Florida, one of the authors of the paper appearing in the
   Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

   It took 200 years for the population to begin to rebound as the people
   developed more sophisticated ways to respond to the climatic
   alteration.

   The story of the Supe Valley shows that some catastrophes are not
   preventable, said archaeologist Thomas D. Dillehay of Vanderbilt
   University, who was not involved in the research.

   The Supe Valley, about 120 miles north of Lima, lies in Peru's coastal
   desert. When the first humans -- a group that has no formal name but
   is often called the Supe society -- occupied the region about 5,800
   years ago, the bays along the coastline provided an abundant source of
   fish and shellfish. Fresh water carried by rivers from the inland
   mountains provided water for drinking and irrigation.

   The early residents did not make pottery or weave cloth, but they grew
   cotton for fishing nets, as well as a variety of vegetables and
   fruits. They built large stone pyramids thousands of years before the
   Maya.

   The best known of these was 100-foot-tall Piramide Mayor at Caral,
   about 12 miles inland. Walled courts, rooms and corridors covered the
   flat summit.