Survey Project Director:
Dr. Kit Nelson, Tulane University

Dr. Kit Nelson teaching lithic analysis to students Lyra Haas and Kasia Szremski.

The Proyecto Arqueológico Norte Chico Survey is a multiyear project focused on locating and record prehistoric and historic sites located in the Norte Chico Region of Peru. The survey project is part of a larger ongoing project of archaeological and cultural research focused on documenting the cultural sequence in the Norte Chico Area. The cultural swquence of this area is important because, not only does it include the earliest evidence of monumental architecture in the Americas (Shady, Haas and Creamer 2001), but it also marks the transitional zone between the northern and southern zones of cultural influence through time. For much of prehistory this area appears to be a boarder land between cultural areas (Haas and Dillon 2003; Billman 2001).

Students standing on Preceramic Mound, Pativilica Valley

The survey project includes walking survey of the valleys that form the Norte Chico Region, the Huaura, Supe, Pativilca, and Fortaleza. As part of this project, a new survey methodology was developed during the 2003 field season for the Andean terrain of deep flat valleys and steep mountainous valley boarders. Sites are recorded using digital photography and incorporated into a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) database using global positioning (GPS) recording. The GIS database is the link between the various projects of the Proyecto Arqueológico Norte Chico. The integration of a wide variety of information including archaeological site survey data, flora and fauna mapping, and archaeological excavation data, will provide the foundations for establising the cultural sequence of this area.