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Apart from the materials and archaeological contexts excavated at Hacha in the Acarí Valley, until now evidence for the Initial Period along the southern coast of Perú were limited to some isolated findings that lacked well-defined contexts, e.g. from sites like Erizo in the Ica Valley, Mastodonte in the pampa of Villacurí (Ica) and Disco Verde on the Paracas Peninsula. There were no reported findings from the Río Grande of Nasca region. Only very recently, with the development of the Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project, were sites and evidence for the Initial Period in the Palpa Valleys encountered. These provide new insights into and new perspectives on the process of cultural development for this part of the south coast. In this paper we present and discuss the numerous finds and findings of the Initial Period that have been recovered in the excavations at Pernil Alto, which include architectural structures, ceramics and other associated materials. The analysis of these findings indicates that already in this moment in time the conditions for the stable and permanent development of the populations settling in the Río Grande drainage were given. Twenty radiocarbon dates confirm the chronological position of the contexts excavated in Pernil Alto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple ceremonial centers dating to the Formative Period have been discovered in the middle Jequetepeque Valley, especially in the region of the Hamacas Plain. However, the relationships among these centers have not been discussed with appropriate chronological control. The author conducted an archaeological study during three field seasons mainly in the region of the Hamacas Plain, and an area near the modern village of Tembladera, located approximately 5 kilometers to the southeast. In this article, previously collected chronological data from these sites are evaluated for the middle Jequetepeque Valley. New data provide insight into the relationships between these centers, now making it possible to establish a fine-grained chronology over three phases: the Hamacas Phase (1500-1250 cal BC), the Tembladera Phase (1250-800 cal BC) and the Lechuzas Phase (800-550 cal BC). The results of this research suggest that the location of the ceremonial centers gradually shifted to the east. An attempt is made to explain why local populations abandoned the previous centers in favor of new locations to the east, from both an ecological and an ideological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]