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Variation in Holocene El Niño frequencies: Climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru

¹ Department of Anthropology and Institute for Quaternary Studies, South Stevens Hall, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
² Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Quaternary Studies, Bryand Global Sciences Center, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
³ Peabody Museum of Natural History and Department of Anthropology, 170 Whitney Avenue, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA
⁴ Section of Anthropology, O'Neil Research Center, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 5800 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206, USA, and Department of Anthropology, Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
⁵ Department of Geology and Planetary Science, Old Engineering Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
⁶ Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149, USA

Analysis of mollusks from archaeological sites on the north and central coasts of Peru indicates that between ca. 5800 and 3200–2800 cal yr B.P., El Niño events were less frequent than today, with modern, rapid recurrence intervals achieved only after that time. For several millennia prior to 5.8 ka, El Niño events had been absent or very different from today. The phenomena called El Niño have had severe consequences for the modern and colonial (historically recorded) inhabitants of Peru, and El Niño events also influenced prehistoric cultural development: the onset of El Niño events at 5.8 ka correlates temporally with the beginning of monumental temple construction on the Peruvian coast, and the increase in El Niño frequency after 3.2–2.8 ka correlates with the abandonment of monumental temples in the same region.

Key Words: archaeology • El Niño • global change • Holocene • paleoclimate • Peru

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