The Chilchos Valley Revisited: Life Conditions in the Ceja de Selva, Peru

This book on the Chilchos Valley in the northeastern slopes of the Andes in Peru attempts to understand how human activities have changed the landscape in the montane forests during the last 500 years. Settlements and terraces from the Chachapoya and Inca cultures in the Ceja de Selva (the high jungle) were amply used in pre-Hispanic times. After a drastic decline in population during its colonial period, the Chilchos Valley was forgotten for hundreds of years and then rediscovered and revisited in 1900. During the rediscovery of the Valley, new socio-cultural processes of adaptation to the environment began with migrations from the Sierra. This book includes archaeological, historical, sociological and botanical studies of a corner of Peru, which has hitherto not been given much scientific attention.