Archaeology and Development: the Tembladera Sites of the Peruvian North Coast

Abstract

Utilizing the example provided by a major water-control project planned for construction in the Jequetepeque Valley on the Peruvian north coast, this paper emphasizes a number of problems in the implementation of cultural resource-management programs in the Third World. The impact of this particular economic development program on the archaeological record is demonstrated by focusing on the project's most devastating aspect, the construction of a large dam in the up valley region just south of the town of Tembladera. Special attention is given to the threatened Chavin-related sites in this region, sites about which little is known other than that they are characterized by a highly valued ceramic style often found in private and museum collections.