El Niño resilience farming on the north coast of Peru

Ari Caramanicaa,1, Luis Huaman Mesiab, Claudia R. Moralesb, Gary Huckleberryc, Luis Jaime Castillo B.d,
and Jeffrey Quiltere
a
Departamento Académico de Administración, Universidad del Pacífico, 15072 Lima, Peru; bLaboratorio de Palinología y Paleobotánica, Universidad
Peruana Cayetano Heredia, 15102 San Martin de Porres, Peru; cDepartment of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; dDepartamento
Académico de Humanidades, Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú, 15088 San Miguel, Peru; and ePeabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138

Edited by Daniel H. Sandweiss, University of Maine, Orono, ME, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Dolores R. Piperno July 31, 2020 (received for review
April 8, 2020)

El Niño–Southern Oscillation has been treated as a disruptor of The Moche, Chimu, and to a lesser-known extent the Cupis-
environmental and socioeconomic equilibrium both in ancient nique (1100 to 500 BC), relied on irrigation for more than just
times and in modern-day Peru. Recent work in the coastal desert subsistence. The kinetic properties of channeled water, the main-
plain, known as the Pampa de Mocan, challenges this view by dem- tenance of canals, and maize (Zea mays), cotton (Gossypium bar-
onstrating that prehispanic irrigation systems were designed to bardense), and other crops played central roles in ritual life (26–30).
incorporate floods and convert them into productive waters. Archae- Social, economic, and ritual life on the north coast depended on
ological investigations in this landscape reveal a 2,000-y history of water management, making the threat of aperiodic destructive
floodwater farming embedded in conventional canal systems. To- floods a potential catalyst for systemic change.
gether with a pollen record recovered from a prehispanic well, these Groundbreaking work by Michael E. Moseley and his colleagues
data suggest that the Pampa de Mocan was a flexible landscape, in the Field Museum’s Proyecto de Riego Antiguo analyzed the
capable of taking advantage of El Niño floodwaters as well as river relationship between technology and natural disasters. Moseley and
water. In sharp contrast to modern-day flood mitigation efforts, an-

ANTHROPOLOGY
Parsons are credited as the first scholars to compare the effect of El
cient farmers used floodwaters to develop otherwise marginal land- Niño flood events in preceramic times (8000 to 3000 BC) to periods
scapes, such as the Pampa de Mocan, which in turn mitigated risk when a highly integrated irrigation system was in use (8, 31, 32).
during El Niño years. These archaeological data speak to contempo-
They found that as irrigation technology became more complex and
rary policy debates in the face of increasingly intense and frequent
required specialized labor, agricultural society became increas-
natural disasters and question whether El Niño Southern Oscillation
ingly vulnerable to floods. To model how society changed along-
events should be approached as a form of temporary disorder or as a
side technology, archaeologists borrowed a concept from systems
form of periodic abundance.
ecology—thermodynamic equilibrium—which posits that a given
system eventually reaches a state of homeostasis and remains stable
| irrigation agriculture | ENSO | pollen | floodwater farming
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archaeology
unless disturbed by an outside force (8, 33–40). In the context of the
ancient north coast, interactions between abiotic and biotic factors,
N atural disasters, and in particular, flood events, are pre-
dicted to intensify as the planet continues to warm. Much of
today’s disaster management strategies draw on a theoretical
such as population size, canal extension, erosion, salinization,
aridity, river volume, riparian vegetation, and temperature, were
viewed as constantly progressing toward equilibrium (39); however,
perspective that located the origin of catastrophes in nature, and
views them as external to society (1–7). Consequently, policy and
Significance
research efforts are largely directed at improving predictive
models and detection methods (2, 5, 8, 9). Yet, despite signifi-
Disaster management policies are aimed at system resistance:
cant advances in technology, the cost of disasters, both in human
Maintaining or quickly returning to operations established
lives and material damage, rises each year, prompting the need
during normal periods. The Peruvian approach to El Niño fol-
for further research (4, 10, 11). Archaeology is uniquely suited to lows this model, but the cost of reconstruction rises with each
address questions of diachronic processes and event-based event. Meanwhile, archaeological evidence demonstrates that
change. The environmental conditions and rich cultural history El Niño events were successfully managed by prehispanic
of the north coast of Peru makes for fertile testing ground for farmers, who developed resilient hybrid canal systems that
investigations of human–environment dynamics. utilized both river water and floodwater for agricultural pro-
The north coast of Peru is categorized as a hyperarid desert duction. Ancient farmers treated the El Niño phenomenon as
(12), yet some of history’s earliest complex farming societies part of the norm, and likewise accounted for floodwaters in
developed in this region. The coast is a relatively flat alluvial their irrigation technology. This study calls for a conceptual
plain interrupted by rivers, which descend from the high Andes shift as effective disaster management policy is developed in
and empty into the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1). Beginning at least as the context of the global climate crisis.
early as 5400 calBP, farmers in the region constructed small-
scale “gravity canals” to draw water off of these rivers and di- Author contributions: A.C. and J.Q. designed research; A.C., C.R.M., G.H., and L.J.C.B.
performed research; A.C. and L.H.M. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.C.,
rect it to gardens and fields (13). By AD 200, the Moche had L.H.M., C.R.M., G.H., and J.Q. analyzed data; G.H. and J.Q. contributed edits and text to
mastered irrigation agriculture and their extensive trunk canals the paper; and A.C. wrote the paper.
and branches extended across coastal river valleys and tributary The authors declare no competing interest.
alluvial fans (14–18). In the subsequent centuries, the Chimu This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. D.H.S. is a guest editor invited by the
(AD 900 to 1460) pushed the limits of hydraulic engineering, Editorial Board.
constructing an intervalley canal and building on earlier works to Published under the PNAS license.
extend a massive adobe aqueduct near the town of Ascope, See online for related content such as Commentaries.
measuring 13-m high in some places, and irrigating an area of at 1
To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: a.caramanica@up.edu.pe.
least 4,000 ha (16, 19–24). Some studies estimate that the pre- This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/
hispanic irrigated landscape was 40% larger than the area under doi:10.1073/pnas.2006519117/-/DCSupplemental.
cultivation today (25). First published September 8, 2020.

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Fig. 1. The Pampa de Mocan canal and field system, with Insets of Peru and the Department of La Libertad and the Chicama Valley.

the system was prone to disruption or “punctuation” by El Niño colder, deeper water), which, in combination with the rain shadow
floods due its dependence on irrigation technology (39). from the nearby Andes, result in dry conditions on the Peruvian
coast (17, 47). Meanwhile, during the El Niño phase, trade winds
Environmental Conditions on the North Coast of Peru weaken and occasionally reverse, causing warm waters to migrate
Despite the apparent stability of the north coast environment, back across the equatorial Pacific to the east. El Niño results in a
the region undergoes near-constant intra- and interannual deeper thermocline, lowered SLP, and elevated the sea level along
change. Due to seasonal rainfall in the neighboring high Andes, the Peruvian and Ecuadorian coasts, which combine to cause un-
north coast river systems experience “wet” and “dry” seasons usually wet conditions in the eastern Pacific.
every year: Average monthly discharge of the Chicama River can Along the north coast of Peru and the southern coast of
be just 10.25 m3/s in the month of September, while in March Ecuador, the El Niño phase results both in diminished oceanic
volume can reach 469.84 m3/s (12). These fluctuations in dis- upwelling, which causes mass death events among marine and
charge combine with short- and long-term anthropogenic pro- near-coastal fauna, and intense rainfall (48). Precipitation events
cesses on the landscape to affect the microenvironment of each have a multitude of effects, depending, in part, on where they
valley, resulting in seasons of heavy cloud cover, high humidity, occur. Rainfall along the western flanks of the Andes collect and
and increased biotic activity (41–43). In addition to seasonal drain into the coastal rivers, causing water levels to rapidly rise
shifts, the north coast experiences the effects of El and rivers to overflow their banks, destroying canal intakes and
Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) every 6 to 20 y (44–46). farmland located on or near the floodplain. Meanwhile, when
However, while change in river volume occurs regularly, ENSO rainfall occurs on the coastal plain and nearby Andean foothills,
can manifest in a variety of ways that are difficult to predict. high-energy flow moves quickly down dry ravines or quebradas,
ENSO describes a continuum of shifting pressure cells be- triggering flash floods, damaging irrigation canals, fields, and any
tween the western Pacific (Australia) and the central (Tahiti) urban settlements in the path of the active drainage channel.
and eastern Pacific. ENSO has three phases that affect sea level Secondary effects include widespread disease, such as dengue
pressure (SLP) and, consequently, sea level, sea surface tem- fever, crop loss, sediment transport on a grand scale, and, in
perature (SST), wind direction, and precipitation in the eastern some localities, the influx of water can cause blooming events, a
Pacific: ENSO-neutral years, the cold phase La Niña, and El Niño. replenished water table, and ephemeral springs.
In ENSO-neutral and cold phase years, the eastern Pacific is Even with sophisticated forecasting technology, predicting the
characterized by strong trade winds blowing east to west, high SLP, location, timing, and scale of El Niño events is difficult. As
and a shallow thermocline (the boundary between warm SSTs and recently as 2017, a rare, localized event known as “El Niño

24128 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2006519117 Caramanica et al.

 Costero” went largely undetected until the warm waters had transitioning from river water distribution to floodwater farming,
already appeared along the coasts of Peru and Ecuador (49, 50). making it resilient to El Niño events.
Between the months of March and May 2017, the varied effects
of El Niño were distributed unevenly and often asynchronously Results
across the valleys of the north coast of Peru: While torrents of The Pampa de Mocan is a 5,800-ha coastal desert plain located
rain fell on Chiclayo, just two valleys south in Ascope skies were in the Ascope Province of the Region of La Libertad bordering
clear (50). The lack of uniformity across and within events makes both the Chicama Valley and the southern edge of the Pampa de
finding correlates in the archaeological record particularly Paijan. The area is comprised of coalesced Quaternary alluvial
challenging. fans and is crossed by ephemeral stream channels that are only
active during El Niño-related rainfall events (17) (Fig. 1). The
ENSO and the Archaeological Record present study is concerned with just under one-third of that area,
Records from glacial cores (51–53), thermally anomalous mol- a 1,707-ha area of interest in the northeastern extreme of the
luscan assemblages (54–58), and beach ridge stratigraphy (59, plain, adjacent to the Andean foothills and upslope of the
60) point to broad paleoenvironmental trends over time. El Niño highest present-day irrigation canal, beyond the limit of modern
events reappeared and north coast waters cooled at 5800 calBP agriculture. Cupisnique ceramic sherds point to agricultural
and were low frequency from 5800 to 2900 calBP (56–58, 61–64), production beginning by 1100 BC and features eight trunk canals
when event frequency increased to the modern-day regime supplied by the Chicama River that were active at different times
(ranging from every 6 to 7 y to every 10 to 20 y) (44–46). In other in the prehispanic past.*
words, early farmers on the north coast were encountering a The local ecology in this portion of the Pampa de Mocan has
significent shift in El Niño timing and frequency as they began to been described as marginal and unfavorable for agricultural
develop sophisticated irrigation technology (65–69). However, purposes: The soil is low in organic matter and mean precipi-
these regional-scale data do not necessarily correspond to evi- tation in the inner Chicama Valley is less than 2 cm per year (12,
dence of flood events at the local or site-scale, further compli- 96). Plant life in the Pampa de Mocan is characterized by xe-
cating attempts at identifying a causal relationship between rophytic communities of cacti, desert scrub, Capparis, or sapote

ANTHROPOLOGY
societal crisis and El Niño in the archaeological record (56, 64). trees, and scant Prosopis or algarrobo stands. The Pampa de
The human ecology model held that complex irrigation, the Mocan appears to represent a landscape in stable climax or in a
same technology that allowed coastal societies to thrive in an state of equilibrium; however, pollen evidence from an archae-
arid environment, exposed prehispanic and early colonial farm- ological context indicates that vegetation, and by extension the
ers to instability, and even collapse (8, 25, 39). Archival records local microclimate, was highly dynamic in the past. Observations
capture the reaction of both indigenous and Spanish inhabitants made in 2017, point to similar dynamism in the present.
of the north coast Lambayeque Valley to an El Niño event in
1578 (70). Accounts describe torrents of rain, rotting crops, Paleobotanical Environmental Reconstruction. The Proyecto Arqueo-
breached canals, flooded fields, and later, locusts, and disease ambiental de la Pampa de Mocan (PAAPM) excavated a formal
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(70). Similarly, in the archaeological record, some events had prehispanic water feature (P3) that was identified as a small
clearly devastating effects (48, 71, 72), while others had little or (175 cm × 86 cm) kocha or pozo: A well fed by underground
no detectable impact (73–76). seepage. Similar features, some just 1-m deep, have been studied as
Archaeological data also demonstrate prehispanic practices of components of the larger Nasca puquio system or subterranean
El Niño risk-management strategies. Dillehay and Kolata (77) water galleries (97). Agronomist Sabogal-Wiesse (98) recorded his
describe flood infrastructure, such as check dams, along the observations of kochas in the inner Chicama Valley in the 1970s
coastal hills in the Jequetepeque Valley, in and around irrigation and reported that these were used during periods of El Niño-
canals, and in the desert, suggesting that at times ancient pop- related water abundance. P3 is located in the southwestern end
ulations invested in opportunistic technologies. In the area of the of a long stone and adobe platform that leads to an ancient road
Osmore drainage, prehispanic farmers took advantage of ground segment (Fig. 2). The feature was sealed by extensive wall-fall,
aquifers replenished by El Niño events to support agricultural which was dated to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000 to
production (76, 78, 79). Instead of focusing on causal links be- 1476) using diagnostic ceramics.
tween evidence of sociocultural change and El Niño disaster, The platform and the opening of P3 were built up above the
scholars have increasingly directed their studies toward identi- active drainage channels, and therefore P3 has been unaffected
fying thresholds: The scale of events (45, 46, 80–84), the “con- by quebrada flooding. However, episodic El Niño rainfall and
vergence” of events with other disasters (85–90), or the social slopewash from the edges of the feature itself formed laminae
and environmental preconditions that, when combined with El near the base of the feature. Six strata, labeled A (top) to F
Niño, pierced equilibrium (91, 92). (bottom) of fine, water-lain sandy silt were sampled from P3 for
Collectively, these studies have recorded a wide spectrum of ancient pollen (Table 1). Historical El Niño frequency suggests
human-ENSO dynamics; however, the underlying laws of the that these six layers probably formed in less than 100 y (45, 47).
equilibrium concept classify data either as part of the “norm” or The samples were not directly dated; however, the horizontal
as “system noise” (93). In other words, this deeply embedded layers were undisturbed and, therefore, the data provide a time-
theoretical paradigm has the effect of flattening data into two, series of plant life change and, by proxy, environmental dyna-
often opposed categories, such as stable or unstable; and this mism in the Pampa de Mocan’s prehispanic past.
trend has far-reaching implications both for interpretations of The P3 pollen diagram is divided into groups based on the
the past and for disaster management policies of the present and typical environmental conditions of the identified taxa. Alnus
future. New archaeological evidence from the coastal desert and Podocarpus data were not factored into the reconstruction of
landscape of the Pampa de Mocan calls for a reconceptualization the local environment surrounding P3; the pollen of these taxa
of north coast Peruvian system dynamics. Rather than under- are capable of long-distance wind travel, and rather than
standing the local environment as one that exists largely in stasis reflecting local conditions, these genera likely represent broader
until punctuated by an El Niño event, paleobotanical results
from the Pampa de Mocan demonstrate that the local environ-
ment is almost constantly undergoing ENSO-related change. *Fields covered in Cupisnique sherds provide a limiting age for early agricultural activities
“Instability” is the norm and this prehispanic irrigation system in the Pampa de Mocan; this age coincides with contemporaneous canal building activity
was designed to account for instability: It was capable of flexibly in the broader area (94, 95).

Caramanica et al. PNAS | September 29, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 39 | 24129
 A B

C D

A
5cm B
C
D
E
F

1m

30cm

1.5m
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Fig. 2. The P3 water feature. (A) Drone photograph of P3 showing the feature itself in the lower left corner, the rectangular platform where P3 is located,
and their relationship to an ancient highway. (B) Ground view of P3 feature. (C) Excavation profile of southern face of feature with strata A to F indicated
with red rectangle. (D) Excavation profile of western face of P3 feature.

regional plant life patterns (99).† Therefore, the following results notable that throughout the pollen record, there is a negative
include only those taxa grouped according to their relative relationship between the presence of maize and weedy taxa—
humidity requirements. Asteraceae, Sonchus (synonym Picrosia longifolia), Poaceae
Principle component analysis and richness (S) scores of these >50 μm—and cattail. layer E also has the lowest richness score,
data confirm that the P3 record represents four different plant pointing to a decrease in species diversity in this phase.
communities or phases (SI Appendix, Figs. S1 and S2). The Cultigens diminish in layers D and C, while invasive species
stratigraphically lowest, and therefore earliest, layer F indicates a and hardy grasses including algarrobo, Alternanthera (Amar-
phase of abundant water. Layer E points to agricultural activity, anthus), Asteraceae (flowering shrubs and weeds), grasses
while layers D and C are best interpreted as a phase when nearby (Poaceae > 50 μm), Waltheria (flowering mallow), and So-
fields were fallowed. Finally, layer A, when compared to a lanaceae (nightshades) appear. Layer C has a high richness
modern-day collection created after the El Niño Costero in 2017, score, meaning plant diversity (although not necessarily crop
is proposed to represent an El Niño blooming phase. diversity) increased from previous phases. Meanwhile, layer B is
Layer F has a high concentration of Typha or cattail, a com- a transitional layer, exhibiting the presence of water-loving spe-
mon sedge of marshy and wetland areas on the Peruvian coast.‡ cies, alongside invasive plants.
Cattail is a useful proxy for the presence of abundant, standing Finally, layer A represents another increase in species diversity
water, conditions consistent with an El Niño event. Cattail is (S) and in humidity-loving species, including cattail (SI Appendix,
present in layer F, but decreases in the subsequent layer E and Figs. S2). Moreover, many of the plants that appear in this layer
disappears from the pollen record in layers D and C. are known as “first responders,” plants with extensive seed banks
Layer E witnesses a fall-off in water-dependent taxa, such as and long dormant periods that react when water suddenly enters
cattail and Asteraceae, alongside an increase in cultigens, in- the environment (103). In the P3 record, these include Sida,
cluding maize and Pachyrrhizus (jicama or “yam bean”) (62). It is Verbanaceae, and several members of Asteraceae.
Even today, the north coast deserts undergo spectacular veg-
etative transformations in the aftermath of El Niño flooding due
†
Ilex is native to the Eastern slopes of the Andes and Amazonian regions of Ecuador, to seed banks that have accumulated over time (103, 104).
Colombia, and Peru; however, at least one species has been identified in the Departa- During the 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 “El Niño” events, rainfall
ment of La Libertad, and evidence suggests it was traded as a medicinal product in the
prehispanic period. Therefore, Ilex was included in the statistical analysis of P3 (100–103).
reached 25 times the norm (103, 105). This pulse of water
‡
Although cattail can be used as a fiber and its edible rhizome may have been collected as
resulted in an over 100% increase in vegetative ground cover,
a food resource, there is little evidence that this plant was actively managed for its with staggered appearances of fast-growing herbaceous plants,
caloric value in the Pampa de Mocan (102). followed by shrubs, and finally trees (106).

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 Table 1. P3 pollen data

ANTHROPOLOGY
The y-axis labels the sample from each layer from the P3 feature. Taxa are grouped based on their typical environmental conditions. Bars represent the
relative abundance of each taxa (number of pollen grains of taxa/pollen sum of sample). Circles are used when the relative abundance is less than 1%.

In 2017, the event known as the El Niño Costero affected the (AD 1000 to 1476), the Middle Horizon (AD 600 to 1000), and
north coast and the Pampa de Mocan (50). Floodwaters on the the Early Intermediate Period (AD 1 to 600), respectively.
Pampa were confined to incised channels in the proximal portion Agricultural practices in arid environments with a predictable
of alluvial fans, while the lower bajada experienced overbank rainy season often include floodwater farming, which involves
water capture and distribution through devices such as check-
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flooding and the deposition of sediment and organic detritus. In

the first months after the event, the Pampa de Mocan experi- dams, diversion canals, and prepared fields. On the north coast,
enced an El Niño blooming period and the PAAPM carried out rainfall occurs during particularly strong El Niño events and
the first systematic collection of El Niño-related plant species for these are both aperiodic and spatially unpredictable (47), oc-
this area. The collection consisted of 37 species, more than 80% curring as frequently as every 6 to 7 y or as infrequently as every
of which appeared in the aftermath of the 2017 El Niño Costero 10 to 20 y (44–46). The evidence collected from the Pampa de
(Table 2). El Niño-bloom plants included wild tomatoes, flow- Mocan suggests that floodwater farming technologies nonethe-
ering herbs, gourds, and legumes, along with sturdy shrubs, less were integrated into the perennial river-based canal system.
young trees such as Capparis (also known as caper bush or In the Pampa de Mocan, trunk canals carrying river water
sapote), and algarrobo. crossed numerous ephemeral stream channels that descended
Although the datasets differ in taxonomic precision, many from the adjacent quebradas. During El Niño events, these trunk
families and some species identified in layer A of the P3 feature canals would have been cut off from the river source due to flood
damage to intakes along the riverbanks. Over time, multiple
also appeared as part of the 2017 El Niño bloom. The overlap
trunk canals in the Pampa de Mocan became inactive. Inactive
exhibited between layer A and the 2017 plant collection suggests
canals were identified archaeologically by dating agricultural
that layer A can be identified as an El Niño blooming phase.
fields located in the canal bed or in stream channels that
The pollen data from P3 reflect the environmental dynamism
breached canal lengths. These defunct riverine canals—still
that resulted from El Niño flooding on the Pampa in prehistory.
monumental features on the landscape—were converted into
The presence of maize in each of the layers suggests that farming floodwater-diversion canals. As El Niño runoff flowed down the
activities continued even during the episodic appearances of bajada, it was captured, diverted using these inactive canals, and
runoff on the Pampa de Mocan. Farmers would have benefitted directed to prepared floodwater fields.
from the secondary effects of ENSO flooding: Higher water table, Evidence for El Niño floodwater farming, or El Niño agri-
flushing out of salts, faunal migration, and new plant growth. cultural opportunism, is embedded in three field types in the
However, the archaeological record also demonstrates that farmers Pampa de Mocan: Embankment fields, border-strip fields, and
directly benefitted from El Niño floodwaters on the Pampa. rockpile fields.
Archaeological Evidence of Floodwater Farming. Previous re- Field Types. Embankment fields are defined here as a level area of
searchers hypothesized that the Pampa de Mocan was never cultivation bordered by a bund, or low mound, where runoff flow
successfully developed for agriculture in prehispanic times, due and organic debris are collected (108). Floodwaters reached the
in part to challenging environmental conditions (96, 107). embankment via small ephemeral streams and an inactive trunk
However, the PAAPM identified habitation sites with stratified canal; the Late Intermediate Period embankment in Fig. 3A was
midden features, agricultural tools, such as clod-breakers, and a fed by Canal C, which had been inactive since in the Early In-
variety of field-systems with clear evidence of use and modifi- termediate Period, as evidenced by Early Intermediate Period
cation across the area that span a 2,000-y occupation. The ex- fields placed within the canal bed further upstream. In this same
amples presented below date to the Late Intermediate Period example, the organic-rich sediments and debris in floodwater

Caramanica et al. PNAS | September 29, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 39 | 24131
 Table 2. Plants collected in the Pampa de Mocan in the months after the 2017 El Niño Costero
event and potential overlap with pollen identifications from P3 layer A
Family Species collected in 2017 Possible overlap with P3 layer A

1 Amaranthaceae Althernanthera halimifolia Althernanthera sp#

2 Amaranthaceae Alternanthera peruviana Althernanthera sp#
3 Amaranthaceae Amaranthus haughtii Cheno-Am
4 Amaranthaceae Atriplex rotundifolia Cheno-Am
5 Apocynaceae Matelea aliciae
6 Asteraceae Encelia canescens Asteraceae
7 Asteraceae Isocarpha microcephala Asteraceae
8 Boraginaceae Heliotropium angiospermum
9 Boraginaceae Tiquilia dichotoma
10 Boraginaceae Tiquilia paronychioides
11 Bromeliaceae Vriesea cereicola
12 *Capparaceae *Cappacoricordis crotonoides
13 *Capparaceae *Capparis avicennifolia
14 *Capparaceae *Capparis scabrida
15 Cucurbitaceae Luffa operculata
16 Euphorbiaceae Chamaesyce serpens Euphorbiaceae
17 Leguminosae Dolichos purpureus
18 Leguminosae Hoffmannseggia viscosa
19 Leguminosae Macroptilium lathyroides
20 *Loranthaceae *Psittacanthus chanduyensis Psittacanthus chanduyensis
21 Martyniaceae Proboscidea altheifolia
22 Nyctaginaceae Allionia incarnata
23 Nyctaginaceae Boerhavia verbenaceae
24 Nyctaginaceae Commicarpus tuberosus
25 Nyctaginaceae Cryptocarpus pyriformis
26 Oxalidaceae Oxalis dombeyi
27 Plantaginaceae Galvezia fruticosa
28 Poaceae Aristida sp. Poaceae > 50 μm
29 Plantaginaceae Scoparia dulcis
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30 Polygalaceae Monnina herbacea

31 Solanaceae Exodeconus postratus Solanaceae
32 Solanaceae Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium Solanaceae
33 Solanaceae Nicotiana glutinosa Solanaceae
34 Solanaceae Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Solanaceae
35 Solanaceae Solanum sp. Solanaceae
36 Verbenaceae Lantana svensonii Verbenaceae
37 Zygophyllaceae Tribulus longipetalus

Those taxa that were identified both as a part of the El Niño-related bloom and in pre-2017, non-El Niño years
are marked with an asterisk (*). Identifications carried out by Luis R. Huaman Mesia, Director of the Herbario
HUPCH “Magdalena Pavlich” of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Inistitucion Cientifica Nacional
Depositaria de Material Biológico y Registro de material biológico de flora silvestre: Número de Registro Nacional
004 y Resolución de Dirección General N 197-2016-SERFOR/DGGSPFFS del Ministerio de Ambiente del Perú).

settled out of suspension and crops were planted in fields placed allowed the water to reach the border strips at a lower velocity.
within the embankment. Embankment fields were also filled with This same field was sampled for microfossil analysis. Starch
rockpiles, used to slow the velocity of water before distributing it grains included Phaseolus sp. (beans) and phytolith analysis re-
to nearby fields (Fig. 3C). veal the presence of grasses (Festucoideae) and diatoms pointed
Border-strip fields were also designed for the application of El to the presence of standing water.
Niño runoff. In several examples of this field type, natural stream A third type, rockpile fields, are found throughout the Pampa
channels were cleared, and their banks reinforced with cobbles de Mocan (Fig. 3C). Rockpile fields, also known as mounded
and boulders to direct flow to these fields (Fig. 3B). Border-strip heaps or “grape mounds,” are known in the Sonoran and Negev
fields consist of long terraces, often arranged parallel to the di- deserts (109–112), although they have not been well-studied in
rection of slope, and separated by low bunds or stone-piled
the Peruvian context. While sometimes confused as the product
borders. Floodwater runoff was directed to these strips, where
of field-clearance, these fields serve several functions in the
the slowed sheet flow allowed silts and organic debris to settle in
each section. These fields are irrigated through a ditch at the top context of runoff farming. The clearance of stones and piling into
of the field and are more common in areas of low gradient (0.1 to mounds allows floodwater to move downslope in the desired
1.0%) (96). direction while minimizing water loss. The mounded stones also
In the Pampa de Mocan, these fields were laid out to ac- trap silts, sediments, and organic debris suspended in floodwa-
commodate the location of the alluvial fan channels, surface ters. Fish et al. (113), in their excavations of rockpiles in the
characteristics, and slope. For example, the border-strip field Sonoran Desert, found evidence for cultivation of Agave Amer-
system of Fig. 3B was fed from water first collected in an em- icana, also known as maguey (114). Evenari et al. (109) and
bankment field. Collecting the runoff first in the embankment Lahav and Steinberger’s (115) studies of rockpile fields in the

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 ANTHROPOLOGY
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Fig. 3. Floodwater fields of the Pampa de Mocan and Inset of preserved fields systems. (A) Embankment field with Inset showing serpent-shaped field
furrows within embankment and stone-reinforced banks of natural channel. (B) Border-strip fields with Inset highlighting stone-reinforced natural channel
banks. (C) Rockpile fields within an embankment field.

Negev prove that these features encourage biotic activity by in- those components previously considered outside noise, random
creasing moisture retention and preventing erosion. fluctuations, or external disruptions, as part of the norm. The
During El Niño events, floodwater runoff flowed down ephem- equilibrium concept—once so pervasive that it was considered a
eral alluvial fan channels. Ancient farmers directed floodwater paradigm (93)—has been largely replaced in the environmental
runoff using inactive riverine trunk canals, small dams and rock- sciences, but it continues to dominate theoretical approaches to
piles, and even stream channels reinforced with stone-piled bunds, human–environment interactions (6, 7, 40, 119).
toward the three types of floodwater fields. Unlike fields prepared Instability is the norm in the Pampa de Mocan. Long-term
for the delivery of river water in canals, these fields were con- processes of erosion, aggradation, and aeolian transport occur
structed to withstand and take advantage of the unique character- in the landscape alongside aperiodic events, such as El Niño,
istics of alluvial fan flooding, such as its high energy, rich silts, and seasonal changes in river volume and cloud cover, anthropogenic
organic debris. These floodwater fields would have been under effects, tectonic uplift, and in recent decades, global warming.
production precisely at a time when parts of the active river-based Moreover, these processes combine with the enduring effects of
irrigation system would have been disrupted. Pampa de Mocan landesque capital, such as canals, ditches, fields, and dams, to
farmers, and likely ancient farmers elsewhere in coastal Peru, built form constantly new landscapes, which are in turn encountered
flexible irrigation systems that allowed them to alternate between and managed by each subsequent generation of farmers (67, 120,
river water distribution and runoff harvesting. 121). In light of these ongoing and concurrent factors, El Niño
appears to be less of a system-outlier, and instead, a part of the
Discussion normal conditions of the north coast environment (116–118, 122,
The equilibrium concept casts society and the environment in 123). The archaeological remains of the Pampa de Mocan irrigation
passive roles, while El Niño is considered a disruptive, external system reflect this reality: Ancient agriculturalists constructed canal
force capable of up-ending otherwise stable conditions. Conse- networks that incorporated floodwater farming technologies. The
quently, scholarly debate has centered on the scale of events as a irrigation system was designed to flexibly transition from river water
proxy for thresholds, rather than on the variability of responses distribution during non-El Niño years to floodwater diversion and
or their historical contingency. However, in recent decades, harvesting during coastal flood events.
ecologists have moved toward a so-called ‘new ecology’ that Despite the dominant belief that arid lands are marginal and
models nonequilibrium dynamics rather than closed systems vulnerable to natural disasters (93), evidence from the Pampa de
progressing toward stability (116–118). This approach recasts Mocan suggests that these landscapes are highly pliable,

Caramanica et al. PNAS | September 29, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 39 | 24133
 including during El Niño events. Ancient pollen data demon-
strate the dynamism of human–environment interaction on the
Pampa de Mocan and confirm that, rather than resulting in
widespread system disruption or collapse, El Niño was an inte-
gral part of the system. El Niño events can range from weak to
strong and their effects vary accordingly. Very strong El Niños,
with 7 to 12 °C warmer near-coastal water temperatures, have
long-lasting impacts on the rural and urban landscape, fisheries,
and agriculture (45, 46). These aperiodic events can cause ex-
tensive damage to canal systems, destroying intakes, breaching
canals along their length, flooding fields, and changing the
course of the river (91, 124). But El Niño can also provide a flux
of water and sediment in an otherwise desiccated environment
and bring about blooming events that stimulate dormant eco-
systems. Ancient farmers in the Pampa de Mocan engineered
interventions to convert high-energy flow into productive re-
sources, including fine sediments, organic material, and irriga-
tion water, which further modified local conditions, even long
after abandonment. Twenty-eight percent of the prehispanic
fields recorded in the PAAPM project universe were developed
for floodwater or opportunistic farming; if that metric were true
for the entire expanse of the Pampa de Mocan, it could be es-
timated that 1,600 ha of this segment of the Chicama Valley was
dedicated to floodwater farming. Meanwhile, according to the
Peruvian authority INDECI (Instituto Nacional de Defensa
Civil), the Ascope Province lost a total of 7,661 ha of agricultural
land during the most recent 2017 El Niño (125). The archaeo-
logical data from the Pampa de Mocan suggest that large areas
of the modern coastal landscape represent untapped risk-
management resources.
Today, the lower Chicama Valley is dedicated to sugarcane
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(Saccharum officinarum) farming. Almost all remaining small-

holders are dependent on a single industrial producer for the
distribution of water via canals. Consequently, the 2017 El Niño
Costero temporarily brought agricultural activity in the valley to
a halt. In fact, the widespread destruction caused by the 2017
event, and the state’s policy for economic recovery in the after-
math, embody the idea of “punctuated equilibrium” (39). During
recent El Niño events, however, examples of floodwater farming
were observed (15, 126). Similarly, the PAAPM recorded several
modern-day floodwater fields in the months after of 2017 El
Fig. 4. Modern-day examples of floodwater fields located upstream
Niño Costero. southeast of the Pampa de Mocan. (A) Unmanned aerial vehicle photograph
During the 2017 ENSO event, first- and second-order of erosional gullies filled with floodwater from the 2017 El Niño Costero
ephemeral streams formed small ponds as floodwater collected dammed by the prehispanic Ascope aqueduct. (B) View of 2017 floodwater-
behind the ancient adobe construction of the Ascope aqueduct. fed field from the Ascope aqueduct. (C) Ground view of 2017 floodwater
As waters receded, local farmers established fields of maize, field of maize, beans, and squash.
beans, and squash in the sedimentary build-up (Fig. 4). These are
modern-day versions of embankment fields, fed entirely by
runoff and planted in the layers of silt and organic detritus car- Materials and Methods
ried by floodwater. The 2017 event offered two insights: That the The PAAPM was carried out over 5 y (2012 to 2017) to record the prehispanic
equilibrium concept may better describe the modern-day sce- agricultural landscape and irrigation system of the Pampa de Mocan. Ar-
nario, one of highly centralized and industrial-level agriculture; chaeological fieldwork, including a first phase of complete pedestrian survey
and that some of the strategies of resilience farming identified in and surface collection, followed by a second phase of 18 excavation units
the ancient Pampa de Mocan continue to relieve stress caused by focused on irrigation features, domestic contexts, and field systems.
Archaeobotanical samples from field systems and one water storage feature
El Niño floods on the conventional irrigation system today. (P3) were analyzed; field systems were tested for microbotanical remains,
On the north coast, when ENSO is modeled as one variable including phytoliths and starch grains, and P3 was processed for pollen re-
among many in a local environment characterized by the con- mains (127, 128). Finally, the results of environmental reconstruction from
stant reorganization of variables, a suite of technologies, adap- ancient fields and P3 were later compared to modern-day vegetative com-
tations, and water management strategies become evident and munities in the area, both in non-ENSO years (2016) and in the midst of the
these have implications for interpretations of the past and for 2017 El Niño Costero-related blooming event.
preparing for natural disasters in the present and future. The
Dating in the Pampa de Mocan. Fluvially active landscapes such as the Pampa
Pampa de Mocan represents a highly flexible, hybrid riverine-
de Mocan present unique challenges to absolute dating. Water transport
floodwater irrigation system that can serve as a model for makes determining the origin of organic material found in canal beds and in
modern agricultural systems as they are forced to adapt to a new canal cleaning features extremely difficult. While optically stimulating lumi-
environmental “normal” in the face of climate change. nescence sampling can yield solutions to the issue of canal dating (129), the

24134 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2006519117 Caramanica et al.

 PAAPM relied solely on relative dating with diagnostic ceramic types in secure However, during El Niño years, the desert converts to an herbaceous
contexts to establish the chronology referenced in this study (18, 130–137). meadow-like environment, a phenomenon known as a blooming event.
Archaeobotanical sampling in the Pampa de Mocan revealed diachronic
Irrigation System of the Pampa de Mocan. The PAAPM identified eight trunk patterns of both environmental change and agricultural practices. Field
canals (A to H) in the Pampa de Mocan, each of which had been modified at systems were sampled for both phytoliths and starch grains, while P3 was
different times in prehistory (Fig. 1). Seven of these canals had been previ- tested for pollen grains. The modern-day irrigation landscape just west and
ously identified by Richard Watson through observations of aerial photo- south of the Pampa de Mocan is dominated by the agro-industrial produc-
graphs (96). Claude Chauchat et al. (138), Leonard and Russell (139), and tion of sugar cane, however, no sugar cane pollen or other nonindigenous
Thomas Pozorski (107) also confirmed the existence of these trunk canals. plants were identified in the samples.
The PAAPM determined that each canal had several distinct use-lives and
were deemed unreliable chronological proxies. Instead, diagnostic ceramic Data Availability. All study data are included in the main text and SI Appendix.
material derived from fields surfaces and excavations were the sole
reference for evaluating age. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank the many individuals and institutions that
Field systems across the Pampa de Mocan were covered in ceramic sherd provided support for this research, including the National Science Foun-
scatter, possibly deposited with household middens, and in some cases as a dation, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University,
strategic method for moisture retention, known elsewhere as “lithic mulch” and the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, Dumbarton
Oaks Research Library and Collection, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano
(140, 141). Overall, the field systems exhibited shallow time depth. Over the
Heredia, the University of Arizona, the Pontificia Universidad Católica del
235 ha of field systems studied in detail by the PAAPM, none exhibited more Perú, and the Universidad del Pacífico. Special thanks to John Yellen and
than one archaeological-culture ceramic type, and excavations revealed in- Anna Kerttula de Echave, Carlos Wester, Jorge Wester, Luis Alberto San-
frequent reuse of the same field. The combination of shallow use-lives and chez Saavedra, Solsire Cusicanqui Marsano, Ana Tavera Carito Medina,
discrete ceramic types indicates that fields were used and discarded over Enrique Estrada Mariluz, Roxana Tornero, Fiorella Villanueva Rojas, Ger-
short periods, likely after a few seasons, and rarely if ever cross-culturally aldine Borja, Gabriel Prieto, Noa Corcoran-Tadd, Michele Koons, Yadira
reused. This characteristic of field-use also allowed for the recognition of Rivera, Marianne Fritz, and Linda Ordogh. This work was supported by
inactive trunk canals that were used in floodwater irrigation. the National Science Foundation, Long Term Human Ecodynamics in
Coastal Peru: A Case Study of Polar-Tropical Teleconnections, Award
1152156, 2011-2016; and the National Science Foundation (Archaeology
Archaeobotanical Collection and Analysis. Plant life in the Pampa de Mocan in Program), Characterizing El Niño Runoff and Sedimentation in Small

ANTHROPOLOGY
ENSO-neutral and cold-phase years is restricted to xerophytic communities of Drainage Basins along the North Peruvian Coast: A Case Study in Geoarch-
cacti, desert scrub, sapote trees (Capparis), and algarrobo (Prosopis) stands. aeology, Award RAPID Grant, 1611881 ($18,333), 2015.

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