Resilience and Climate Instability at the Beginning of the Middle Horizon (550–800 A.D.): An Analysis of Violent Trauma in Huaca 20 (Peruvian Central Coast)

This article presents a study of the relationship between violence and climate stress in the Lima culture, a pre-Hispanic society of the Peruvian central coast, which developed approximately between 200 and 800 A.D. Different investigations have shown that around 550–750 A.D., the Peruvian coast experienced strong El Niño events that created environmental and social stress scenarios for coastal pre-Hispanic societies. Our data show that although evidence supports the presence of at least one powerful El Niño event on the central coast around 600 A.D., this episode of climatic stress related to extensive flood deposits seems to have not had a direct effect on the levels of interpersonal and intergroup violence recorded at Lima culture sites during this period. The prevalence of cranial trauma seems to have decreased during this time compared with the previous phase (from 50% to 25% in males and from 40% to 15.7% in females). The pattern and lethality of the lesions suggest that they were primarily produced in nonlethal face-to-face encounters, although some individuals could have also been victims of raiding. However, even though interpersonal/intergroup violence did not rise during this period of climatic stress, more complicated and ritualized manifestations of violence arose instead. Further comparisons of these findings with other Andean regions showed that coastal pre-Hispanic societies reacted in different ways to these challenging climate events. Through cooperation and an effective social, political, and economic reorganization, the Limas coped with a challenging period.