Aspero

Aspero is a well-studied site of the ancient Norte Chico civilization, located at the mouth of the Supe river on the north-central Peruvian coast. Monumental architecture, including large platform mounds have been discovered at the site; their significance was first determined in 1973, though research had occurred since the 1940s. The diet of Aspero is believed to have been primarily maritime. Research at the site led to the controversial "Maritime Foundations of Andean culture" theory, which suggests that the initial development of ancient Peruvian culture was based on seafood, rather than agriculture.[1] The idea is widely disputed.[2]

References

  1. ^ Moseley, Edward; Gordon R. Willey (1973). "Aspero, Peru: A Reexamination of the Site and Its Implications". American Antiquity (American Antiquity, Vol. 38, No. 4) 38 (4): 452–468. doi:10.2307/279151. JSTOR 279151.  "We see the site as a 'peaking' of an essentially non-agricultural economy. Subsistence was still, basically, from the sea. But such subsistence supported a sedantry style of life, with communities of appreciable size."
  2. ^ Mann, Charles C. (2006) [2005]. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Vintage Books. pp. 199–212. ISBN 1-4000-3205-9.