first evidence for coca chewing appears in the Valdivia cuUure 

 on the Santa Elena Peninsula in southwestern Ecuador in the 

 form of small, ceramic lime containers, dating about 2000 B.C. 

 A small figurine representing a coca chewer was also found here 

 and dates to Late Valdivia (1500 1600 B.C.) (Lathrap et al, 

 1976). More recent artifacts from Ecuador, Colombia and Peru 

 demonstrate a long and continuous tradition of coca chewing 

 (Bray & Dollery, 1983; Plowman, in press). 



Archeological specimens of actual coca leaves are extremely 

 scarce, often poorly preserved, and usually lack stratigraphic or 

 carbon-14 dates. In many cases, leaves reputed to be coca from 

 archeological sites have not been preserved by archeologists for 

 later examination and verification by specialists. As a result, 

 many critical specimens are now completely lost or discarded. 



Most specimens of archeological coca originate from the dry 

 Peruvian coast, where preservation of plant remains is optimal. 

 The first suggestion of archeological coca dates to the end of the 

 Late Preceramic Period 6 (1800-2500 B.C.). Engel (1963) found 

 leaves "looking like coca" along with large deposits of burnt lime 

 (presumably used as an alkaline catalyst in coca-chewing) at the 

 site of Asia in the Omas Valley in central Peru. Asia is 

 radiocarbon-dated at about 1300 B.C. but probably dates to 

 about 1800 B.C. (M. Moseley, pers. comm.). Engel's report of 

 coca at this early site must be considered dubious since the 

 specimens no longer exist. Patterson (1971) excavated preserved 

 coca leaves at Las Gaviotas near Anc6n, a site dated between 

 1750 and 1900 B.C.; Cohen (1978) also reported coca from 

 Anc6n with a date of 1400-1800 B.C. Coca leaves were also one 

 of the items (along with maize and marine shells) stockpiled in a 

 group of storage structures at Huancayo Alto in the Chill6n 

 Valley, dating between 200-800 B.C. (Dillehay, 1979). None of 

 these earliest records of archeological coca have been botan- 

 ically identified. 



Preserved coca leaves from much later sites on the Peruvian 

 coast have been available for study and form the basis of the 

 present investigation (Table 1). These include specimens from 

 Vista Alegre in the Rimac Valley (ca. 600 1000 A.D.), which 



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