The Las Pircas populations of the Zaña and Jequetepeque valleys began the process of experimenting with new technologies, subsistence strategies, burial practices, increased food production and water management (i.e., shallow ditch irrigation), and communal space (i.e., the initial layers of the CA-09–04 mounds). By Tierra Blanca times, people intensified their commitment to these and other developments, which led to other changes that are reflected in the material culture, construction and use of architecture, and socioeconomic organization. The social and cultural patterns that characterized the Tierra Blanca phase are summarized in this chapter.

ENVIRONMENT AND SETTLEMENT PATTERN

In the lower and middle Zaña and Jequetepeque valleys between 7,800 and 5,000 years ago, a semi-arid to seasonally dry forest setting existed with slightly increasing aridity, approximating the modern environment. In the Nanchoc area in particular, the climate during this period was warm and humid and associated with seasonally dry and humid montane forests. The appearance of canal technology by 6000 bp (Dillehay et al. 2007) in the Zaña Valley and 6800 bp in the Jequetepeque Valley (Stackelbeck 2008) may indicate attempts to harness water resources depleted as a result of increased aridity in some areas.

Tierra Blanca phase occupants committed themselves more strongly to the idea of growing much of their own food and living together in more permanent communities than did their El Palto and Las Pircas predecessors.