Expanded agroecological niches and redistributed risks in northern Peru’s Chicama Valley during late-Holocene ENSO climate changes

What is it about?

El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climatic phenomenon that periodically impacts ocean and precipitation conditions in the tropical Pacific, with teleconnection effects throughout the world. ENSO is usually described as having disastrous effects for the desert regions of Pacific coastal South America. We show that there is a significant arid-adapted vegetation response to these events, and that the productive potential of this landscape increases dramatically. Using paleoclimatic models and proxy data we reconstruct the frequency of ENSO+ (or el Nino) events over the past 1700 years. These reconstructed frequencies are compared with archaeological data. During periods when ENSO activity is more frequent, we see an expansion of archaeological communities into areas that are productive only during modern el Ninos. This suggests that past communities likely took advantage of temporary vegetation and/or water resources that appeared following ENSO events.

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