Cultural impacts of severe droughts in the prehistoric Andes: Application of a 1,500‐year ice core precipitation record

Abstract Late in the sixth century, Andean peoples experienced major cultural upheavals, including a notable settlement shift of the classic Mochica culture on the northern Peruvian coast. A recently established annual precipitation record derived from ice cores from the Quelccaya glacier in southern Peru allows assessment of the possible role of climatic disturbances in northern Peru. Both areas are in the same tropical climatic regime. A comparison between the archaeological record and the Quelccaya data suggests the Mochica upheaval was conditioned by a series of severe sixth‐century droughts, including one of the severest droughts of the past 1,500 years, spanning AD 562 to 594.