While Peru inevitably evokes images of Machu Picchu and the Inca empire, the country is also riddled with archaeological sites which are a legacy of even more ancient times, when great civilizations bequeathed a legacy of their art, customs and rituals, their wisdom and skills.
The Inca empire was a recent arrival during the process of cultural development in the Andes during the pre-Hispanic era, and the history of the Incas barely accounts for a century within the 20,000 years of human occupation of Peruvian territory.
Much earlier than the Incas and while civilizations like the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, and Chinese (3000 and 2000 B.C.) flourished, the city of Caral, located north of the city of Lima, was built; this was the first American expression of a Pre-Ceramic urban settlement with monumental architecture in an area greater than 10 hectares. Later, in the northern highlands, the Chavin (800 – 200 B.C.) achieved significant advances in architecture, engineering, and agriculture.
The Chavin civilization (1500-400 BC) achieved considerable prowess in architecture, engineering and agriculture in the northern highlands. Along the north coast, the Moche civilization (200 BC-700 AD) is famous for its realistic pottery (portraits carved into pots and gourds) and its pyramid-shaped temples. The same area was later controlled by the Chimu kingdom (900-1450 AD), who built Chan Chan, an immense mud-brick citadel featuring 12-meter-high walls and superb architectural work.
To the south, the Nazca people (200 BC-900 AD) etched an impressive series of figures etched into the desert floor known as the Nazca Lines, while graves belonging to the Paracas culture (800 BC-600 AD) have unearthed superb weavings which point to the magical and religious vision that governed the lives of this ancient civilization.
Centuries later, the Incas (1300-1500 AD) were to make Cuzco the center of their empire, building major constructions such as Sacsayhuaman, Pisac and Koricancha. It is here that myth and history merge, where the Inca roads, the towns, people and traditions are a living example of the Andean spirit, sacred and monumental.
Discover why Peru is for many the heart of South America's greatest civilizations.
When one thinks of Peru, the first thing that springs to mind is the wealth of its age-old cultures and the legendary Inca empire. The tour, however, continues past the Spanish Conquest and into colonial times, into the Peru where two visions of the world, time and of all things sacred came together, the Peru of the wars of independence and a republic built amidst bullets and bloodshed.
More than four hundred years have gone by, four centuries bringing together the pre-Hispanic legends with the Western raison d'etre. That era has left superb art and architecture in monuments which are a synthesis of the spirituality, imagination and creativity of Peruvians.
ARCHAEOLOGY PERIODS
INITIAL PERIOD 1800/1500 BCE - 900 BCE
Cajamarca culture - Cumbe Mayo is located southwest of the Peruvian city of
Cajamarca, at an elevation of approximately 11,000 feetThe location is best
known for the ruins of a Pre-Columbian aqueduct stretching approximately
five miles in length. The aqueduct collected water from the Atlantic
watershed and redirected it on its way to the Pacific Ocean. It is thought
to have been constructed around 1500 B.C. and may be the oldest existing
man-made structure in South America. The name Cumbe Mayo may be derived from
a Quechua phrase, kunpi mayu, meaning “well-made water channel,” or hunpi
mayo, meaning “thin river.” There are a number of petroglyphs on the
aqueduct and surrounding caverns.
This remote mountainous region is also the location of a "stone forest"
composed of natural volcanic rocks which have been shaped by erosion. These
formations of volcanic rock are also known as Los Frailones, or the Stone
Monks.
EARLY HORIZON 900 BCE - 200 CE
The Chavin were an early civilization that existed in present-day Peru. This
Early Horizon civilization is believed to have developed around 900 BC and
died out around 200 BC. The Chavins laid the cultural foundation for the
other Peruvian civilizations to come.
Archaeological artifacts from the Chavin period include textiles, metalwork,
pottery and religious items. The most well-known archaeological ruin of the
Chavin era is Chavin de Huantar, located in the Andean highlands north of
Lima. It is believed to have been built around 900 BC.
The Paracas culture was an important Andean society between approximately
750 BCE and 100 CE that developed in the Paracas Peninsula, located in what
today is the Paracas District of the Pisco Province in the Ica Region. Most
of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from
excavations at the large seaside Paracas necropolis, first investigated by
the Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello in the 1920s. The necropolis of Wari
Kayan consisted of multitudes of large subterranean burial chambers, with an
average capacity of about forty mummies. It is theorized that each large
chamber would be owned by a specific family or clan, who would place their
dead ancestors in the burial over the course of many generations. Each mummy
was bound with cord to hold it in place, and then wrapped in many layers of
incredibly intricate, ornate, and finely woven textiles. These textiles are
now known as some of the finest ever produced in the history of
Pre-Columbian Andean societies, and are the primary works of art by which
Paracas is known. They had extensive knowledge of irrigation and water
management.
EARLY INTERMEDIATE 200 CE - 600 CE
The Moche civilization (alternately, the Mochica culture, Early Chimu,
Pre-Chimu, Proto-Chimu, etc.) flourished in northern Peru from about 100 CE
to 800 CE. Today it is understood that they were not politically the same
people as the Chimu or the Lambayeque culture. Scholars have proved that the
Moche were not politically organized as monolithic empire or state but
rather as a group of autonomous polities that shared a common culture
expressed mainly in the iconography. Pre-Columbian years as expansive as 300
BC to 1000 AD are sometimes described as the era of the Moche. They are
noted for the elaborate painted ceramics and pottery, gold work, and
irrigation systems. Moche history is broadly categorized into five periods
based on the increasing complexity of pottery decoration including highly
detailed erotic pottery.
The Moche primarily were farmers, who diverted rivers into a network of
irrigation canals. Their culture was sophisticated, although they had no
written language. Yet, their artifacts document their lives with detailed
scenes of hunting, fishing, combat, punishment, sexual encounters and
elaborate ceremonies and harmony was a huge part of their celebrations.
The Moche lived in many valleys in the north coast of Peru: Lambayeque,
Jequetepeque, Chicama, Moche, Viru, Chao, Santa, Nepena. There are several
Moche ruins not far from the city of Trujillo, Peru. The Huaca del Sol, a
pyramidal structure on the Rio Moche, had been the largest pre-Columbian
structure in Peru but was largely destroyed when Spanish Conquistadors mined
its graves for gold. Fortunately the nearby Huaca de la Luna seems to have
been more important to the Moche and has remained largely intact. It
contains many colorful murals with complex iconography and has been under
excavation since the early 90's. Other major Moche sites include Sipan,
Pampa Grande, Dos Cabezas, Pacatnamu, San Jose de Moro, El Brujo complex,
Mocollope, Cerro Mayal, Galindo, Huancaco, and Panamarca.
Pottery
Moche pottery is some of the most varied in the world. They used molds in
order to mass produce huge quantities of it. But despite this, they had a
large variation in shape and theme. Virtually all vegetables and important
activities are documented in their pottery, including war, sex, metal work,
and weaving. They would apply figures onto pottery before it dried, which is
seldom done today because of the risk of explosion in the kiln if air gets
into the joints.
They also seemed to be obsessed with individuality. Many of the later of the
143,000,000 bricks in the Huaca del Sol had a maker's mark. Important
persons would have vases made to resemble their heads. The portrait vases
also show the personality of the subject: some are shown laughing, others in
deep thought, others angry, etc. Some Moche art is erotic in nature, showing
various acts including oral and anal sex.
The coloration of Moche pottery is not very varied, yellowish cream and
Indian red are used almost exclusively on elite pieces, with a white color
or black in only a few pieces. Their adobe buildings have mostly been
destroyed by looters and the elements over the last 1300 years, but the two
huacas that remain show that the coloring of their murals was much more
varied, with every color of the rainbow represented. Not much is known about
their clothing since most of it has disintegrated; the Moche lived in the
north of Peru, which may get flooded in El Nino years.
Moche erotic pottery is fascinating, not only due to the vast number of
sexual activities represented, but also because procreative coitus was only
depicted in a limited number of circumstances. While anal intercourse,
fellatio, masturbation and cunnilingus were commonly depicted on Moche
pottery, vaginal intercourse was only depicted when the male involved wore
ceremonial garb, the female had two braids which ended in snake's heads, and
the copulation occurred under an elaborate roof of a ceremonial building. In
these scenes of procreative sex, additional figures are always depicted
watching the couple in the building and holding their hands as though in
supplication. The precise meaning of this has never been established.
Religion
Moche worship featured a figure called the Decapitator, mostly depicted as a
spider, but also depicted as a winged creature or a sea monster all three
features symbolizing land, water and air. When the body is included, it is
usually shown with one arm holding a knife and another holding a severed
head by the hair. It is thought to figure in the ritual human sacrifice of
foreign soldiers or tribal citizens. This human sacrifice may also have
included the consumption of human blood by the Lord of Sipan, who was a
Moche spiritual, military and civil leader. This act is believed to have
been done to appease the Decapitator. While some scholars, such as
Christopher Donnan and Izumi Shimada, argue that the sacrificial victims
were the losers of ritual battles among local elites, others, like John
Verano and Richard Sutter, suggest that the sacrificial victims were
warriors captured in territorial battles between the Moche and other nearby
societies. Burials in plazas near Moche pyramids have found groups of people
sacrificed together and skeletons of young men deliberately excarnated,
perhaps for temple displays. The sacrifices are believed to have been to
ensure the coming of the yearly rains.
Demise
There are several theories as to what caused the demise of the Moche
political organization. To understand this process of political collapse, we
need to consider it as separate historical events in the different valleys
where these Moche polities developed. Studies of ice cores drilled from
glaciers in the Andes reveal climatic catastophes between 536 to 594 CE,
possibly a super El Nino, that resulted in 30 years of unrelenting rain and
flooding followed by 30 years of drought.
These catastrophes would have disrupted the Moche way of life and shattered
their faith in their religion, which had promised stable weather through
sacrifices. However, these catastrophic events did not cause the final Moche
demise. Recent evidence uncovered by diverse archaeologists has shown that
the Moche polities survived beyond 650 CE in the Jequetepeque Valley and the
Moche Valleys.
For instance, in the Jequetepeque Valley, later settlements are
characterized by fortifications and defensive works. In any case, there is
no evidence of a foreign invasion, as many scholars have suggested in the
past (i.e. a Huari invasion). Evidence of a period of social unrest followed
the climatic changes, as the Moche civilization tore itself apart and fought
over the remaining resources
The Nazca culture flourished in the Nazca region between 300 BC and 800 AD.
They created the famous Nazca lines and built an impressive system of
underground aqueducts that still function today. Near the aqueducts open to
tourists, there is an overlook point which includes an Inca building added
after the Inca conquest of the area. On the pampa, on which the Nazca lines
were made, the ceremonial city of Cahuachi (1-500 AD) sits overlooking the
lines. Modern knowledge about the culture of the Nazca is built upon
studying the city of Cahuachi.
Pottery
The Nazca region is a desert that the Nazca turned into a viable
agricultural area using their aqueduct technology. Nazca pottery has been
divided into eight phases. Around 200 BC, at the end of the Early Horizon
drought, Nazca I began. Pottery from this era contains the mythical content
of Paracas art, but added realistic subject matter such as fruits, plants,
people, and other animals. Realism increased in importance in the following
three phases (II, III, IV) referred to as the Monumental phases. The pottery
from these phases includes renditions of their main subject matter against a
bold red or white background. In the next phase, Nazca V, the backgrounds
are filled in and the subject matter now included bodyless renditions of
both demons and humans. Nazca VI, and VII include the earlier motifs but
also add militaristic ones, and portraits of elite members of the society.
Nazca VI and VII also begin to show the influence of the Moche. Finally,
Nazca VIII saw the introduction of completely disjointed figures and a rich
iconography which has yet to be deciphered. The phases were created before
the advent of carbon dating and today have some problems. While the general
order did not change there is a great deal of overlap of the phases, and
while the Nazca IX phase ends c. 600 AD, some of the pottery in that
category was created at least as late as 755 AD.
Since the Nazca were a coastal people, who depended on the sea for their
livelihood, archaeologists are fortunate that they portrayed aspects of
their everyday lives in and on their pottery. The motifs generally seen on
Nazca pots are those of animals and plants used and seen by the ancient
people. These include sea birds, hummingbirds, whales, sharks, fish, snakes,
seeds, flowers, and cacti. Also, more gruesomely, the Nazca portrayed
severed heads, presumed to be trophy heads, on their pottery. This is
supported in the archaeological record with the the discovery of caches of
actual severed and ritually prepared heads. Over one hundred examples are
known to exist. (Silverman)
Textiles.
The Nazca are also known for their textiles. They began using llama and
massive quantities of alpaca a thousand years before the north coast
cultures began to esteem the camelid wool. The source of the wool is
believed to be from the Ayacucho region. The motifs that appeared on the
pottery appeared earlier in the textiles. Textiles may have been as
important to other cultures in the region as to the Nazca, but the desert
has preserved the textiles of both the Nazca and Paracas cultures and
comprise most of what we know about early textiles in the region.
The Tiwanaku culture. Spanish spellings: Tiahuanaco and Tiahuanacu, is an
important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in Bolivia. Tiwanaku is
recognized by Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the
Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major
state power for approximately five hundred years. The ruins of the ancient
city state are near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca, about 72 km
(44 miles) west of La Paz, Bolivia
Some have hypothesized that Tiwanaku's modern name is related to the Aymara
term taypikala, meaning "stone in the center", alluding to the belief that
it lay at the center of the world. However, the name by which Tiwanaku was
known to its inhabitants has been lost, as the people of Tiwanaku had no
written language.
The site of Tiwanaku was founded in approximately 200 BC as a small
agriculturally-based village, with a number of similar neighbors. The high
altitude Titicaca Basin required the development of a distinctive farming
technique known as "raised-field" agriculture, which are only found in
today's South America as experimental, government-funded projects. In
antiquity, they comprised a significant percentage of the agriculture in the
region, along with irrigated fields, pasture, terraced fields and cocha
(small lake) farming. Artificially raised planting mounds (known as "suka
kollus" in the local Aymara language) are separated by canals filled with
water. The canals supply moisture for growing crops, but they also absorb
heat from solar radiation during the day. This heat is gradually emitted
during the bitterly cold nights, providing thermal insulation. Over time,
the canals also were used to farm edible fish, and the resulting canal
sludge was dredged for fertilizer. The use of various agricultural
techniques allowed local communities to grow and population to increase.
Though labor-intensive, suka kollus produce impressive yields. While
traditional agriculture in the region typically yields 2.4 metric tons of
potatoes per hectare, and modern agriculture (with artificial fertilizers
and pesticides) yields about 14.5 metric tons per hectare, suka kollu
agriculture yields an average of 21 tons per hectare.
Significantly, the experimental fields recreated in the 1980s by Kolata and
Rivera suffered only a 10% decrease in production following a 1988 freeze
that killed 70-90% of the rest of the region's production. This kind of
protection against killing frosts in an agrarian civilization is an
invaluable asset. For these reasons, the importance of suka kollus cannot be
overstated.
The community grew to urban proportions between AD 600 and AD 800, becoming
an important regional power in the southern Andes. According to early
estimates, at its maximum extent, the city covered approximately 5.0 square
kilometers, and had as many as 40,000 inhabitants. However, satellite
imaging was used recently to map the extent of fossilized suka kollus across
the three primary valleys of Tiwanaku, arriving at population-carrying
capacity estimates of anywhere between 285,000 and 1,482,000 people.
More narrowly, the proposed population range is between 570,000 and
1,111,500. This is based on 1) 19,000 hectares of suka kollus discovered so
far; 2) the Bolivian and Peruvian experimental staple tuber production rates
of 21 and 10.65 metric tons per hectare respectively; 3) 533kg of tuber
consumption per person per year; and 4) assumptions of 75% utilization and
double cropping.
Tiwanaku's unique art style is found in vast areas covering modern highland
Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. It is difficult to tell, however, whether these
areas were part of an empire in the political sense, under cultural and
commercial influence, or independent trading partners.
Tiwanaku collapsed around AD 1000, possibly due to environmental reasons,
from an invasion of new people from the south, a loss of faith in the
Tiwanaku religion, or a combination of all three. The area around Tiwanaku
was not abandoned, but the city fell into decay and its characteristic art
style vanished.
Architecture and art
Tiwanaku architecture is characterized by large stones, weighing up to 200
tons, with stone cutting, squaring, dressing, and notching exceeding even
the Inca in artisanship. The stones are set without mortar, so closely
together that a razor blade cannot penetrate the seams. The stones are cut
irregularly (unlike Egyptian square stone blocks), with each stone matched
uniquely to its neighbors, possibly to resist lateral motion due to regional
earthquakes. Supporting this notion is the use of elaborate "double-T"
copper clamps to hold stones together in the critical drainage and
irrigation tunnels.
The stone used to build Tiwanaku was quarried and then transported (without
the aid of the wheel) 40km to the city and includes the largest cut stone
block in the world weighing 200 tons. Although many large buildings were
still intact when the Spanish first arrived, only three remain today, the
Akapana (fortress), the Kalasaya (temple) and the Palace of the Ten Doors.
The Tiwanaku art style is distinctive, and, together with the related Huari
style, defines the Middle Horizon of Andean prehistory. Both of these styles
seem to have been heavily influenced by that of the earlier Pukara culture
in the northern Titicaca Basin.
Religion
The name of the religion of Tiwanaku is unknown because they had no written
language.
Their myths have been passed down to the Incas and the Spanish who in turn
took that part of South America. They worshipped many gods, and one of the
most important gods was Viracocha, the god of action, shaper of many worlds,
and destroyer of many worlds. He created people, with two servants, on a
great piece of rock. Then he drew sections on the rock and sent his servants
to name the tribes in those areas. In Tiwanaku he created the people out of
rock and brought life to them through the earth. The Tiwanaku believed that
Viracocha created giants to move the massive stones that comprise much of
their archeology, but then grew unhappy with the giants and created a flood
to destroy them.
Viracocha is carved in the Gateway to the Sun, to overlook his people and
lands.
Much of the architecture of the site is in a poor state of preservation,
having been subjected to looting and amateur excavations attempting to
locate valuables since shortly after Tiwanaku's fall. This destruction
continued during the Spanish conquest and colonial period, and during 19th
century and the early 20th century, and has included quarrying stone for
building and railroad construction and target practice by military
personnel.
Detailed study of Tiwanaku began on a small scale in the mid-nineteenth
century. In the 1860s, Ephraim George Squier visited the ruins and later
published maps and sketches completed during his visit. German geologist
Alphons Stubel spent nine days in Tiwanaku in 1876, creating a map of the
site based on careful measurements. He also made sketches and created paper
impressions of carvings and other architectural features. A book containing
major photographic documentation was published in 1892 by engineer B. von
Grumbkow. With commentary by archaeologist Max Uhle, this was the first
in-depth scientific account of the ruins.
In the 1960s, an attempt was made at restoring the site, but by very
uninformed parties. The walls pictured to the right, of the Kalasasaya, are
almost all reconstruction. The original stones making up the Kalasasaya
would have resembled a more "Stonehenge" like style, spaced evenly apart and
standing straight up. Unfortunately, the parties that made the
reconstructions decided to make the Kalasasaya be enclosed by a wall that
they themselves built. Ironically enough, the reconstruction itself is
actually much poorer quality stoneworking than the people of Tiwanaku were
capable of. It should also be noted that the Gateway of the Sun, that now
stands in the Kalasasaya, is not in its original location, having been moved
sometime earlier from its original location, which is unknown.
Modern, academically-sound archaeological excavations were performed from
1978 through the 1990s by University of Chicago anthropologist Alan Kolata
and his Bolivian counterpart, Oswaldo Rivera. Among their contributions are
the rediscovery of the suka kollus, accurate dating of the civilization's
growth and influence, and evidence for a drought-based collapse.
Today Tiwanaku is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is administered by the
Bolivian government
Recently, the Department of Archaeology of Bolivia (DINAR) has been
conducting excavations on the Akapana pyramid. The PAPA project, or Proyecto
Arqueologico Pumapunku-Akapana (Pumapunku-Akapana Archaeological Project),
run by the University of Pennsylvania, has been excavating in the area
surrounding the pyramid for the past few years, and also conducting Ground
Penetrating Radar surveys of the area. An archaeological field school,
offered every summer through Harvard's Summer School Program, offers
archaeology students the chance to learn to excavate in the residential area
outside the monumental core. The program directors are Dr. Gary Urton of
Harvard, expert in quipu, and Dr. Alexei Vranich of the University of
Pennsylvania.
MIDDLE HORIZON 600 CE - 1000 CE
The Wari (Spanish Huari) was a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished
in the Andes in the south of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1200 A.D.
The capital city of the same name is located near the modern city of
Ayacucho, Peru. This city was the center of a civilization that covered much
of the highlands and coast of modern Peru. Early on, their territory
expanded to include the ancient oracle center of Pachacamac, though it seems
to have remained largely autonomous. Then later it expanded to include much
of the territory of the earlier Moche and later Chimu cultures. The
best-preserved remnants of the Huari Culture exist near the town of Quinua
at the Wari Ruins. Also well-known are the Wari ruins of Pikillaqta ("Flea
Town") a short distance south-east of Cuzco en route to Lake Titicaca, which
date from the Wari period before the Incas rose to power in the region.
The Wari are historically important for a number of reasons. They were
contemporaries of the Tiwanaku and shared similar artistic styles. Contact
between the two cultures appears to have been limited to a span of 50 years
in which there was sporadic fighting over a mine first occupied by the
Tiwanaku. The mine straddled the border between the two cultures' spheres of
influence and the Wari attempted, but failed, to secure it for themselves.
Not much is known about their government, as they did not leave behind any
written records. The Wari state established architecturally distinctive
administrative centers in many of its provinces. Some 300 years after the
Wari empire collapsed, the Incas became the dominant power in the Andean
region. The Wari terraced field technology was adopted by the Incas when
they began a major push to improve the agricultural productivity of their
lands. The Wari had a major road network set up throughout their sphere of
influence, which may have become part of the Inca road system.
The native language of the Wari area in recent times has been Quechua,
though the comparative and historical study of the Andean languages suggests
that the language of the Wari culture may have been a form of Aymara. The
Wari culture is not to be confused with the modern ethnic group and language
known as Wari', with which it has no known link.
The Wari had access to many natural resources, including minerals, fish,
cotton, and wool. This is perhaps why the Wari civilization was
comparatively so successful.The Wari was a great empire and though the Inca
Empire is more well-known, the Wari lasted four times as long and it may
have been the reason that the Inca Empire had cultural unification. During
the time of the Wari Empire, the people put an end to cultural regionalism
and began cultural unification.
Tiwanaku (Spanish spellings: Tiahuanaco and Tiahuanacu) is an important
Pre-Columbian archaeological site in Bolivia. Tiwanaku is recognized by
Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire,
flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power
for approximately five hundred years. The ruins of the ancient city state
are near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca, about 72 km (44 miles)
west of La Paz, Bolivia, centered.
Some have hypothesized that Tiwanaku's modern name is related to the Aymara
term taypikala, meaning "stone in the center", alluding to the belief that
it lay at the center of the world. However, the name by which Tiwanaku was
known to its inhabitants has been lost, as the people of Tiwanaku had no
written language.
Late Intermediate 1000 CE - 1476 CE
The Wari (Spanish Huari) was a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished
in the Andes in the south of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1200 A.D.
The capital city of the same name is located near the modern city of
Ayacucho, Peru. This city was the center of a civilization that covered much
of the highlands and coast of modern Peru. Early on, their territory
expanded to include the ancient oracle center of Pachacamac, though it seems
to have remained largely autonomous. Then later it expanded to include much
of the territory of the earlier Moche and later Chimu cultures. The
best-preserved remnants of the Huari Culture exist near the town of Quinua
at the Wari Ruins. Also well-known are the Wari ruins of Pikillaqta ("Flea
Town") a short distance south-east of Cuzco en route to Lake Titicaca, which
date from the Wari period before the Incas rose to power in the region.
The Wari are historically important for a number of reasons. They were
contemporaries of the Tiwanaku and shared similar artistic styles. Contact
between the two cultures appears to have been limited to a span of 50 years
in which there was sporadic fighting over a mine first occupied by the
Tiwanaku. The mine straddled the border between the two cultures' spheres of
influence and the Wari attempted, but failed, to secure it for themselves.
Not much is known about their government, as they did not leave behind any
written records. The Wari state established architecturally distinctive
administrative centers in many of its provinces. Some 300 years after the
Wari empire collapsed, the Incas became the dominant power in the Andean
region.
The Wari terraced field technology was adopted by the Incas when they began
a major push to improve the agricultural productivity of their lands. The
Wari had a major road network set up throughout their sphere of influence,
which may have become part of the Inca road system.
The native language of the Wari area in recent times has been Quechua,
though the comparative and historical study of the Andean languages suggests
that the language of the Wari culture may have been a form of Aymara. The
Wari culture is not to be confused with the modern ethnic group and language
known as Wari', with which it has no known link.
The Wari had access to many natural resources, including minerals, fish,
cotton, and wool. This is perhaps why the Wari civilization was
comparatively so successful.
The Wari was a great empire and though the Inca Empire is more well-known,
the Wari lasted four times as long and it may have been the reason that the
Inca Empire had cultural unification. During the time of the Wari Empire,
the people put an end to cultural regionalism and began cultural
unification.
The Chimu were the residents of Chimor with its capital at the city of Chan
Chan, a large adobe city, in the Moche valley of Trujillo, Peru. The Inca
ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui led the campaign which conquered just fifty years
before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Spanish chroniclers were
able to record accounts of Chimu culture from individuals who had lived
before the Inca conquest. Archaeological evidence suggest that Chimor grew
out of the remnants of the Moche culture; early Chimu pottery had some
resemblance to Moche pottery. Their ceramics are all black and their
metalwork is very detailed and intricate.
The Chimu were also known for worshiping the moon, unlike the Inca who
worshiped the sun. The Chimu viewed the sun as a destroyer. This is likely
due to the harshness of the sun in the desert environment they lived in.
The Chimu are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and
fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and tumbago (copper and
gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature, or has a human
figure sitting or standing on a cuboid bottle. The shiny black finish of
most Chimu pottery is not achieved by using glazes, but instead is achieved
by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln which prevents
oxygen from reacting with the clay.
LATE HORIZON 1476 CE - 1534 CE
Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor) was the political grouping of the Chimu
culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru, beginning around 850 AD and
ending around 1470 AD. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late
Intermediate period, encompassing 1000 km of coastline and including up to
2/3 of the people of the Andes. The greatest surviving ruin of this
civilization is the mud city of Chan Chan.
The Chimu grew out of the remnants of the Moche culture. The first valleys
seem to have joined forces willingly, but Sican was acquired through
conquest. They also were significantly influenced by the Cajamarca culture
and the Huari. According to legend the capital Chan Chan was founded by
Taycanamo who arrived in the area by sea. Chimor was the last kingdom that had any chance of stopping the Inca. But
the Inca conquest was begun in the 1470s by Tupac Inca, defeating to the
local emperor Minchancaman, descendant of Tacaynamo, and was nearly complete
when Huayna Capac assumed the throne in 1493 AD. Their ceramics are all
black. They are also known for their exquisite and intricate metal-working. |
