Proyecto Arqueológico de Lugar, Plantas, y Animales de los Collaguas Antiguos (ALPACA) is a multinational archaeological research project centered in the Colca Valley (Arequipa, Peru). Our interdisciplinary team is examining prehistoric farming practices of the Collaguas to understand how wealth is generated under conditions of crisis.
The research focuses on the Late Intermediate Period (ca 1000 – 1450 CE), a period in which farmers in the valley faced numerous uncertainties, including drought, warfare, and political instability.
This research is built in collaboration with the local Indigenous descendant community, which includes many farmers who continue to work the agricultural terraces built over 1000 years ago. Farmers today face their own climate uncertainties. Together, we are looking for ways to leverage our knowledge of the past to support farming resilience in the region today.
In 2024, we began our fieldwork by surveying agricultural terraces to understand when they were built, their construction techniques, and their relationship to local ecotopes. We also complete semi-structured interviews with local farmers to learn more about their local ecological knowledge and farming techniques.
In 2025, we continued our work with test excavations at the site of Achomani, a major fortified hilltop settlement dating to the Late Intermediate Period. Our work here focused on households, where we collected data that will provide us with information about what people ate, how they procured their food, and how the community was structured. Analysis of these materials, including animal bones, carbonized seeds, ceramic fragments, and tools, is ongoing.
In 2025, we also collected peat cores from a nearby wetland that will allow us to model past climate conditions in the valley. Finally, we embarked on a weather monitoring program by installing remote weather stations. The data from these stations is broadcast in real-time to the community through an online dashboard.
Proyecto Alpaca is led by Lauren Kohut (Winthrop University), BrieAnna Langlie (Binghamton University), and Matthew Velasco (Cornell University) and directed by Lic. Nelly Antonella Rivera Tames and Lic. Manuel Mamani Calloapaza.
Fieldwork is carried out under the approval and supervision of Peru’s Ministry of Culture (Resoluciones No 000277-2024-DCIA-DGPA-VMPCIC/MC, No 000081-2024-DGM-VMPCIC, No 000233-2025-DCIA-DGPA-VMPCIC/MC) and with the support of the Achoma community.
This project is funded by a National Science Foundation Senior Research Grant (Award Nos. 2243116, 2243117, 2243118) and an Archaeological Institute of America Site Preservation Grant
