A 2000-year history of disturbance and recovery at a sacred site in Peru’s northeastern cloud forest

The last 2000 years in the tropical Andes was both a time of major pre-Hispanic and Hispanic period cultural developments, and increased climate variability. From c. AD 1000, Andean societies underwent significant transformation and many sites previously integrated under imperial Wari hegemony were abandoned. It has been argued that this sociopolitical reorganization was, in part, a response to the heightened climate variability of the late-Holocene. Here, we present a 2000-year diatom record from the cloud forest setting of Laguna de los Condores, in the Peruvian Andes. Cliff tombs overlooking the lake and a nearby abandoned village form one of the most important archaeological complexes in the Peruvian Chachapoyas region. The presence of diatoms that indicate high productivity (e.g. Planothidium frequentissimum and Amphora pediculus) from as early as 2000 cal. yr BP suggest the lake was impacted by human activity predating the construction of monumental architecture and the regional Chachapoya cultural ...