In 1946 a multi-disciplinary team, headed by Gordon R. Willey, embarked upon a comprehensive project of survey and excavation in this Peruvian north-coast valley. Isolated archaeological work had been carried out in the valley before, but this was the first settlements pattern study conducted in the New World. The settlements pattern approach uses locational and environmental interrelationships between sites (over a broad region) as a means of interpreting prehistoric cultures. The published results were for some time after used not only as a basis for generalizing about other Andean cultures but also as a model for archaeological investigations in other parts of the world.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied