![ValleDeMoche](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/ValleDeMoche.JPG)
The Viru Valley is located in
La Libertad Region
La Libertad (; in English: ''The Liberty'') is a region in northwestern Peru. Formerly it was known as the Department of La Libertad ('). It is bordered by the Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Amazonas regions on the north, the San Martín Region on t ...
on the north west coast of
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
.
The Viru Valley Project
In 1946 the first attempt to study
settlement patterns
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
*Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fina ...
in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
took place in the Viru Valley, led by
Gordon Willey
Gordon Randolph Willey (7 March 1913 – 28 April 2002) was an American archaeologist who was described by colleagues as the "dean" of New World archaeology.Sabloff 2004, p.406 Willey performed fieldwork at excavations in South America, Central A ...
. Rather than examine individual settlement sites, Willey wanted to look at the valley as a whole and the way that each village interacted with the others. The study showed that villages were located in places which reflected their relationship with the wider landscape and their neighbours. The project emphasised the importance for archaeologists of viewing sites holistically and to take into account the economic, environmental, social and political factors acting on past societies.
Willey's groundbreaking study stimulated the work of a number of subsequent archaeologists in the valley. From 1992 to 1998 Dr. Thomas A. Zoubek embarked on a study of the earliest mid and upper valley sites in Viru concentrating specifically at the sites of Huaca El Gallo/La Gallina of
Virú culture
The Virú culture (alternatively known as the ''Gallinazo'') was a pre-Columbian, pre-Inca culture that flourished in the Virú Valley on the northwest coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly ar ...
, in the El Nino Quebrada. These excavations and later ones in the Susanga region completely redefined our knowledge of the earliest agricultural societies in the valley and resulted in the discovery of the earliest ceramics found in coastal Peru that have been dated to c.2400 BCE.
See also
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Virú culture
The Virú culture (alternatively known as the ''Gallinazo'') was a pre-Columbian, pre-Inca culture that flourished in the Virú Valley on the northwest coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly ar ...
*
Chavimochic
Chavimochic Special Project is an irrigation system that extends throughout much of the coast of the La Libertad Region, on the north coast of Peru. It was started in the 1960s by the National Development Institute (INADE), a Peruvian central gov ...
*
Chao Valley
Chao Valley is an area located at south of Virú Valley in La Libertad Region, northern Peru. It has significant agricultural resources, notably asparagus and blueberries. The valley rises up on both sides of the Chao River.
Description
Mainly It ...
*
Moche valley
The Valley of Moche, or ''Valley of Santa Catalina,'' is a large area of the La Libertad Region in northern Peru surrounding the Moche River. It has been farmed since the pre-Columbian era and currently contains rural and urban settlements. Truji ...
*
Chicama Valley
Chicama Valley is an area located at north of the Valley of Moche in La Libertad Region, northern Peru, it has agricultural resources where one of the main products is cane of sugar; this valley has been formed on both sides of the Chicama River.
...
*
Jequetepeque Valley
Jequetepeque River is a river located north of the Chicama valley in the La Libertad Region in northern Peru. Its valley has agricultural resources where one of the main products is rice.
In the Jequetepeque valley archeological sites of the Mo ...
References
Willey, G. R. (1953): ''Prehistoric settlement patterns in the Virù Valley, Peru''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 155. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Archaeology of the Americas
Archaeological sites in Peru
Archaeological sites in La Libertad Region
Valleys of La Libertad Region
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