A Late Preceramic site on the desert coast of north Peru with a radiocarbon date of c 2300 BC and probably occupied from c 3500-1800 BC. It was the first preceramic village to be excavated in the country and one of the first sites dated by the radiocarbon method. Evidence of a sedentary life is seen in subterranean houses, gourd containers, and reliance on sea food, wild plants, and cultivated beans, peppers, and squashes - the earliest agriculture in South America. The people made patterned cotton textiles by twining without the aid of a loom and also produced basketry.