One of the earliest complex societies in the Americas, centered in the Casma and Sechin river valleys of coastal Ancash, Peru, whose monumental architecture — including the massive platform complex of Sechin Alto and the gruesome carved warrior reliefs of Cerro Sechín — attests to organized political power and ritual warfare centuries before the Chavín horizon.
The dominant Sechin Alto polity of the Casma-Sechin culture declined around 1400 BCE, creating a power vacuum exploited by the Las Haldas polity, with the wider cultural complex fading out by approximately 900 BCE.
Key synthesis of Andean prehistory; covers the Casma-Sechin complex and its role in early Andean civilization development.
Contextualizes the Casma-Sechin culture within the broader trajectory toward the Chavín horizon, addressing questions of continuity and influence.
Classic survey of Peruvian prehistory; provides foundational coverage of the Initial Period cultures of the coast.