On Peru’s dry coastal plains, where farming has always depended on careful management of scarce resources, an unlikely material appears to have played a major role in shaping one of the region’s most influential pre-Inca societies. Seabird guano, collected from offshore islands and carried back to fields, may have helped the Chincha kingdom transform difficult desert landscapes into productive farmland. New archaeological evidence suggests that this natural fertiliser supported larger maize harvests, strengthened trade networks and contributed to the wealth that made the Chincha a major force along Peru’s Pacific coast before their incorporation into the Inca world.
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