FLOOD MITIGATION AND WATER UTILIZATION THROUGH ANCIENT EARTHWORKS IN THE RIO CHICAMA VALLEY, PERU

The majority of Indigenous investment in water management infrastructure along the hyperarid northern Peruvian coast involved canals tapping into perennial rivers draining the western slopes of the Andes. This includes the largest prehistoric canal systems constructed in the Americas. However, recent archaeological investigations have identified canals and diversion structures dating as early as the Early Intermediate Period (AD 1 to 600) in the Río Chicama Valley that were designed to take advantage of and mitigate damage caused by less predictable and more spatially variable runoff on hillslopes and alluvial piedmonts associated with El Niño and El Niño-like convective storms. Some of these features are monumental in scale and are good examples of large labor investment and landesque capital. Research designed to better understand the history and function of these earthen features is currently underway. I will review evidence for these ancient water harvesting and flood mitigation structures in the Río Chicama Valley and present preliminary results of the 2024 geoarchaeological field season.