Renewed in-depth multi-disciplinary investigation of a large coastal mound settlement in Peru has extended the occupation back more than 7000 years to a first human exploitation ~13720 BP. Research by the authors has chronicled the prehistoric sequence from the activities of the first maritime foragers to the construction of the black mound and the introduction of horticulture and monumentality. The community of Huaca Prieta emerges as innovative, complex and ritualised, as yet with no antecedents.

Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) is among the world's most important and ancient domesticated crops. Although the chronology of its domestication and initial dispersals out of Mexico into Central and South America has become more clear due to molecular and multiproxy archaeobotanical research, important problems remain. Among them is the paucity of information on maize's early morphological evolution and racial diversification brought about in part by the poor preservation of macrofossils dating to the pre-5000 calibrated years before the present period from obligate dispersal routes located in the tropical forest. We report newly discovered macrobotanical and microbotanical remains of maize that shed significant light on the chronology, land race evolution, and cultural contexts associated with the crop's early movements into South America and adaptation to new environments. The evidence comes from the coastal Peruvian sites of Paredones and Huaca Prieta, Peru; dates from the middle and late preceramic and early ceramic periods (between ca. 6700 and 3000 calibrated years before the present); and constitutes some of the earliest known cobs, husks, stalks, and tassels. The macrobotanical record indicates that a diversity of racial complexes characteristic of the Andean region emerged during the preceramic era. In addition, accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon determinations carried out directly on different structures of preserved maize plants strongly suggest that assays on burned cobs are more reliable than those on unburned cobs. Our findings contribute to knowledge of the early diffusion of maize and agriculture and have broader implications for understanding the development of early preindustrial human societies.

This is a study of a Middle Horizon temporary campsite located in the peruvian north coastal desert of the Huarmey Valley. The excavation was undertaken in the central part of the site since it contained the largest quantity debris and evidence of two bonfires. Its age was established using pieces of ceramic found on the site. A few artifacts were founded, probably due to the brief occupancy of the site, but were able to study the abundant botanical and animal remains, as well as llama and human coprolites. We present the results of tests for pollen in both the llama and human coprolites, as well as of tests for plant, animal, and parasite content in the human fecal remains are presented here.

Se hace una revisión de todos los yacimientos arqueológicos de los Andes Centrales en los que se ha encontrado maíz precerámico. Se presentan los contextos y las pruebas que certifican los hallazgos, descartándose los sitios dudosos. Al mismo tiempo se indican y se discuten las evidencias botánicas de los maíces en cuestión. Se llega a la conclusión que no cabe la menor duda de la existencia de maíz precerámico con características muy claras que lo diferencian del mesoamericano.

In a series of articles Robert McK. Bird systematically has denied that preceramic maize has been discovered in the central Andes. The authors consider Bird's methodology to be unscientific and illustrate this by demonstrating the value of a significant body of archaeological evidence in support of preceramic maize.

AN archaeological site, located near the beach line in a desert part of the Huarmey Valley, 292 km north of Lima, in the department of Ancash, province of Casma, district of Huarmey, 78°10′21″ W, 10°02′45″ S in Peru, was first observed by D. H. Kelley in 1957. It had been previously found by E. P. Lanning who identified it as a pre-ceramic site. It was first designated Huarmey North 1 and it appears as such in previous literature; we are assigning it its real name, Los Gavilanes. We report here 14C dating of maize plant, tassel and cob material from this pre-ceramic site in Huarmey, Peru, at 3,750±100 yr BP.