10.6: Early Andes
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After migrating through North and Mesoamerica, humans began to craft small campsites and fishing villages along the Pacific coast in South America. Around 3,000 BCE, the villages were replaced by residential and ceremonial centers. This transition was made possible through a new focus on irrigation and communal agriculture.
The Pacific coast and Andean cultures left an incredible amount of material culture (much of it well-preserved because of the dry climate) for archeologists to analyze. The evidence shows that parts of the Classical Andes—modern Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia—possessed the same level of cultural complexity as did China, Persia, and India during the same period. Through this material culture, the Classical peoples begin to separate from their ancient and often less complex ancestors.
This section begins with the end of the archaic period and the rise of a group of civilizations referred to as the Norte Chico.
10.6.1: Norte Chico
The Pacific coast developed large ceremonial and residential centers, which were organized around distinct status and rank among citizens. This area resembled other areas like the Deh Luran Plain of Iraq, the Nile in Egypt, and the Olmec heartland. While similarities with the early civilizations exist, the Norte Chico stands out for three reasons.
- First, it was politically “pristine.” Scholars find no evidence that any outside polity influenced its development.
- Second, it endured for more than 1,300 years. This longevity gave the Norte Chico great influence in what would ultimately become a distinct Andean civilization. For example, large platform mounds of Norte Chico would also appear later in the highland center of Chavín de Huantar.
- Last, the Norte Chico development happened very quickly. By 2800 BCE, there were a number of similar large sites all with residential complexes, plazas, and platform mounds.18
The Aspero site is an example of a center. It covers 37 acres (fifteen hectares) and contains six platform mounds. While there are a number of large sites like Aspero, there doesn’t seem to have been a central Norte Chico chiefdom or state. There was no Norte Chico capital and no real evidence of conflict or warfare. In addition, scholars find no indication of mass distribution of goods, such as jewelry, clothing, and exotic trade materials. Even shell beads and stone are extremely rare to find.
Usually, a cultural area requires some centralization and large-scale agriculture before scholars refer to it as a civilization. The Norte Chico at least tried to centralize, and may have combined or merged agriculture and fishing in some manner. A number of coastal sites contain remnants of cotton fishing nets and inland products like avocadoes and corn. These remnants suggest that internal canal building was likely possible with the assistance of the coast’s more plentiful labor force. Evidence of communal cooking and eating exists, along with that of communal building.
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10.6.2: Chavín de Huantar
Chavín de Huantar is the iconic representation of The Late Initial Period (1800 – 800 BCE), where Peru saw the beginnings of a mix of Andean, coastal, and Amazon cultures. Chavín is located at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters in the Callejon de Conchucos, the easternmost basin between the Cordilleras Negra and Blanca in the Peruvian Andes. It is also midway between the coast and jungle, giving it access to the culture and resources of the greater Andean region. This access made it a pilgrimage center, an importer of luxury goods, and a disseminator first unifying Andean style.
Chavín’s “Old Temple” is 330 feet across the back and more than fifty feet high at its highest. The temple is U-shaped with a sunken court in the middle, and harpy eagle, jaguar, and parading shamans surround it. The temple is also built around the lanzón (great lance) which was a kind of supernatural conduit.
The Tello obelisk contains carvings on all of its sides, which primarily represent tropical and mythical origins or “gifts of the cayman.” Many dualities appear: male-female, plant type, ecological zone, sky-water, life-death, etc. These dualities and their meaning were reinforced by the pilgrimages made to Chavín and the ceremonies contained within them.
Archaeologists have found marine shell trumpets in the tunnel complex under the city and have attempted to replicate how sound would contribute to the mind-altering rituals undertaken at the complex.
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The images and rituals have helped establish what scholars refer to as the “Chavín cult.” The Chavín cult presents a universalist message based on the combined elements of coast and highlands that helped bring people to these sites for ceremony and construction. In other words, these ideas helped move the Andes into the state phase. At Chavín, it also seems that there was a leader/priest, like in Egypt. Therefore, it was through spiritual power that the state congealed and grew.
10.6.3: Moche
Later, other groups in Peru would build on religion and ceremony to help with state formation. The Moche began to conquer the North coast valleys in 200 BCE. By 250 CE, they had begun to construct the Huaca del Sol or temple of the sun and the Huaca de la Luna or temple of the moon at their capital. The Huaca del Sol seems to have been a royal residence, and the Huaca de la Luna was a place of worship. The Huaca del Sol contained over 143 million bricks, arranged into columns and marked with symbols perhaps of who made them. Each column probably represented a tax-paying Ayllu (kinship-based community), meaning that the Huaca or temple was a literal representation of how the empire was held up by its individual units.
Scholars are unsure of how much centralization existed at the upper echelons of Moche politics. Undoubtedly, there was a leadership class with several administrative levels. The first administrative level was that of the divine kings who are depicted in murals and ceramics. The second was of noble administrators. Below that were bureaucrats who organized the already extant clan system. Next came the long-standing clan leaders. The lowest level was composed of commoners, who lived in single-story adobe houses and mastered some craft like metallurgy or weaving. Others were highly skilled and perhaps worked exclusively for the rulers.
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Outside of the capital were almost exclusively farmers who lived along the Moche’s extensive irrigation canals. (In the Chicama Valley, there is a 74 miles (120 km) long canal still in use today.) They used the llama, a domesticated mountain pack animal to journey to the coast and gather guano at the Chincha Islands for fertilizing their valley farms.
By 600 CE, the city of Moche covered an area of a square kilometer and probably had a population of 15,000. Each conquered valley outside of the capital had its own huaca, and each one was connected to Moche by relay runners who carried messages written in the form of lines and dots on Lima beans.
Perhaps the most notable Moche legacy was their art. Buildings, murals, and pottery reflected their great skill and the high level of societal stratification. The Huaca del Sol at Cerro Blanco contained millions of bricks and more than 100 types of geometric symbols. Moche murals consisted of a unique series of squares depicting both abstract and mythological concepts involving themes of creation, combat, sacrifice, and men-jaguars. As already mentioned, the use of sacrifice may have had a functional explanation.
10.6.4: Huari
The Huari were able to build a successful empire in nearby areas combining intimidation and militarism with diplomacy, trade, and ideology. Archaeologists have found textiles and ceramics far from the capital. Likewise, their architecture was highly influential throughout the region. The Huari Empire carved out a centralized state in a region where none had previously existed by coordinating local irrigation and labor systems. By 700 CE, Huari maintained a population of 25,000 and an over 434 miles (700 kilometers)-wide “zone of influence” connected by a road network that may have been the model for the Inca road system. In fact, it was ultimately Huari diplomacy and organization, rather than Moche violence in ritual killings, that provided a more useful precedent for the Inca.
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10.6.5: Chimu
The Chimu Kingdom was more directly influenced by remnants of the Moche, occupying more or less the same geographic area. The Chimu capital of Chan Chan was established circa 1000 CE. Through a system of split inheritance, the Chimu forced the newly-ascended ruler to build his own material wealth, which led to the conquest of new territory and an increase in taxes. It also meant the construction of a new palace where each ruler would be buried along with hundreds of his attendants and llamas who were sacrificed to accompany him in the afterlife. Also, in the burial was a sample of his wealth in the form of textiles, wood carvings, pottery, or jewelry.
Earthquakes meant that the Chimu had to work hard to reclaim or make any use of Moche irrigation canals. They did manage to revive and extend the Moche system to eventually provide Chan Chan with diverse agricultural products from maize to cotton to peanuts. The Chimu also employed violence in their rise to power. However, their conquest by the Inca cut short any means for scholars to see if they intended to follow or rather eventually break from the Moche legacy.
10.6.6: South Coast peoples
The south coast of Peru developed somewhat distinctly because it is extremely arid. In certain areas along the coast, there has never been recorded rain. Surviving there meant accessing and controlling Andean runoff that sometimes went underground. As a result, the south coast’s population was much smaller, but in many ways was culturally richer.