Holocene coevolution of the physical landscape and human settlement in northern coastal Peru

Humans are constrained by the hyperarid environment of the Peruvian Desert, which they have occupied throughout the Holocene Epoch. Habitats amenable to human occupation are limited to the riparian oases and the high-productivity coastal zone. Dramatic cultural and technological evolution was coincident with landscape evolution that responded to climatic and sea level variability. Occupation sites of hunter-gatherers older than 8,000 years are rarely found, as much of the landscape from this period is drowned and unexplored. Seven-thousand years ago, sea level stabilized and coastal middens of this age attest to exploitation of the now stationary marine resource. In response, rivers backfilled and the population became progressively more dependent upon terrestrial resources. The shift to an agricultural economy resulted in a migration of settlements inland along the river valleys. Extreme events (sea level stabilization, droughts, El Niño floods) have likely facilitated periods of rapid technological and cultural innovation.