Abstract

LEIVA GONZALEZ, Segundo et al. Flora and fauna of El Brujo Archaeological Complex, Ascope, La Libertad Region, Peru. Arnaldoa [online]. 2018, vol.25, n.1, pp.195-226. ISSN 1815-8242.  http://dx.doi.org/http://doi.org/10.22497/arnaldoa.251.25112.

El Brujo Archaeological Complex, located in Chicama Valley (province of Ascope, region of La Libertad, Peru), is formed by different pre-Columbian structures as Huaca Prieta, Huaca Cao Viejo and Huaca Cortada; some of them have an occupation history that began much before the Moche Culture. It is known that the ancient Peruvians learned to coexist with nature and that diverse species of plants and animals were used in different aspects of their daily life. We determined the vegetal communities that exist in the area and indicated their biotypes and floristic and faunal components. The study was based on botanical collections and field direct observations of flora and fauna made in five visits to El Brujo Complex with irregular periodicity between 2016 and 2018. We defined the following vegetal communities: A) pond, B) bulrushes, C) cattails, D) Cyperaceae field, E) grassland, F) wetland shore or riparian, G) drainages and canals. In flora, we registered 63 species distributed in 29 families and 57 genera, eight species of them are cultivated. In fauna, we determined 42 species, distributed in one amphibian, four reptiles and 37 birds, one of them is endemic (Geositta peruviana) and six are migrant. We remark the ancestral use of Gossypium barbadense L. (Malvaceae) "native cotton" and Cucurbita moschata Duchesne (Cucurbitaceae) "loche squash" in Huaca Prieta

Keywords : El Brujo Archaeological Complex; vegetal communities; flora; fauna.

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