Our long-term research goals in the Zaña and Jequetepeque valleys were aimed at addressing several general questions discussed in Chapter 1. Initially, the project in the Zaña Valley was concerned with site discovery, chronology, and the study of the late ceramic occupation (Dillehay et al. 1989; Netherly and Dillehay 1985). Research in recent years has focused largely on the interplay of early settlement patterns, broad-spectrum foraging systems, community development, agricultural productivity, and emerging complexity in both valleys. Subsistence data, when gathered in tandem with settlement data, have provided information regarding early foraging and agricultural systems and the changing organization of food production over time and space.

More specifically, the Zaña-Niepos-Udima Project in the middle and upper Zaña Valley was initiated by Netherly and Dillehay in 1976 for the purpose of investigating the presence of a tropical montane forest and an Inca occupation in the Nanchoc Valley, the southern tributary of the former. Netherly had discovered a Spanish account in an early chronicle that mentioned the presence of an Inca tambo (Nanchoc) in the forested Nanchoc area. Upon initial investigation of the area, we discovered the presence of the dense dry and humid forests and a large number of Preceramic and Formative sites. The presence of these sites broadened our interest in examining long-term culture change through successive pre-Hispanic and Hispanic occupations.