violence during the final Formativein the Peruvian North Coast

The processcs involed in increasing social complexity have been studied archacologicallythrough several approaches.One of them is the study of interpersonal violence. Violence has beenassociared with nwe forms of social structure, inter-community competition for scarce resources and new forms of political practice. In the Central Andes, it is likely that tha¿e process of transition from egalitarian to ranked societies would have occurred during the Formative perios(1800-1BC). Using osteological markers, this paper approach's the rypes of violence ande their impact on 30 individuals of the Salinar phase(400-1BC) of the puemape site on the Peruvian north coast.For comparative issues,we analyze two earlier populations at the site (Early Puemape,MNI=26 and Middle Puemape,MNI=29) adn others of the region. Higher frequencies of trauma in males (25%cranial and30% facialinjuries and other types)and some contextual data are consistent wwith intercomunitary violence and conform the archacological interpretations which have srated that the Salinas period was a violent epoch at the pnset of the development of clearly stratified societicsEl proceso de complejización social ha sido abordado arqueológicamente desde varias persl,ec­ tivas, una de elbs es la de la violencia interpersonal asociada a nuevas formas de organización de las comunidades ylo la competencia intercomunitaria por los recursos de un territorio. En la Costa Norte de los Andes Centrales este proceso se habría afianzado durante el Período For­ marivo (1800-1 a.C) y estudios de patrones de asentamiento coinciden en apuntar que hacia finales del período, durante la fase Salinar (400-1 a.C), la violencia se habría incrementado dramaticamcnrc. Utilizando indicadores bioantropológlcos, este trabajo evalúa el impacto de la violencia sufrida por 30 individuos de la fase Salinar de Puérnape. Altos índices de traumatismos en la población masculina (25% de lesiones craneales y 30% de lesiones faciales, entre otras) asociados con violencia inrcrcomuniraria 'f algunos indicadores contexrualcs confirmarían el carácter violento de las postrimerías del Período formativo