The earliest adobe monumental architecture in the Americas

The earliest adobe monumental architecture in the Americas

Adobe bricks, or mud bricks, are construction elements which have defined major architectural traditions in the Andes over thousands of years. From Moche pyramids and the ancient city of Chan Chan in pre-Hispanic times, to Spanish casonas of the colonial period and rural houses in contemporary South...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 118; no. 48; pp. 1 - 11
Main Authors: Mauricio, Ana Cecilia, Grieseler, Rolf, Heller, Andrew R., Kelley, Alice R., Rumiche, Francisco, Sandweiss, Daniel H., Viveen, Willem
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 30-11-2021
Series:From the Cover
Subjects:
Architecture
Brick construction
Bricks
Clay
Composition
Construction
El Nino
Experimentation
Historic sites
Pyramids
Rainfall
Residential areas
Social Sciences
Traditions
adobe
early monumentality
El Niño
preceramic
geoarchaeology
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Summary:Adobe bricks, or mud bricks, are construction elements which have defined major architectural traditions in the Andes over thousands of years. From Moche pyramids and the ancient city of Chan Chan in pre-Hispanic times, to Spanish casonas of the colonial period and rural houses in contemporary South America, adobe has been a central component in Andean architecture. Discovery of the remains of an early monumental building constructed primarily of adobes at Los Morteros (lower Chao Valley, north coast of Peru) places the invention of adobe architecture before 5,100 calendar years B.P. The unique composition, internal structure, and chronology of the adobes from Los Morteros show the beginnings of this architectural technique, which is associated with El Ni~no rainfall and the construction of the earliest adobe monumental building in the Americas. We propose that adobe architecture became a major Andean tradition after a long period of technical evolution and experimentation with both shape and composition.
Bibliography:Edited by Howard Tsai, University of Michigan Program in International and Comparative Studies, Ann Arbor, MI, and accepted by the Editorial Board September 27, 2021 (received for review February 12, 2021)
Author contributions: A.C.M., A.R.K., and D.H.S. designed research; A.C.M., R.G., A.R.H., A.R.K., F.R., D.H.S., and W.V. performed research; A.C.M., R.G., A.R.H., F.R., and W.V. analyzed data; and A.C.M., R.G., A.R.H., A.R.K., F.R., D.H.S., and W.V. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2102941118