The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche, Trujillo, Peru from about 100 to 700 AD during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state. Rather, they were likely a group of autonomous polities that shared a common culture, as seen in the rich iconography and monumental architecture that survives today.
Cajamarca, also known by the Quechua name, Kashamarka, is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Peru at approximately 2,750 m (8,900 ft) above sea level in the valley of the Mashcon river. Cajamarca had an estimated population of about 226,031 inhabitants in 2015, making it the 13th largest city in Peru.
Chavín de Huántar is an archaeological site in Peru, containing ruins and artifacts constructed as early as 1200 BC, and occupied until around 400–500 BC by the Chavín, a major pre-Inca culture. The site is located in the Ancash Region, 434 kilometers (270 mi) north of Lima, at an elevation of 3,180 meters (10,430 ft), east of the Cordillera Blanca at the start of the Conchucos Valley.
The Chavín culture is an extinct, pre-Columbian civilization, developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru around 1000 BCE. It extended its influence to other civilizations along the Peruvian coast. The Chavín people were located in the Mosna Valley where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers merge. This area is 3,150 metres (10,330 ft) above sea level and encompasses the quechua, suni, and puna life zones. In the periodization of pre-Columbian Peru, the Chavín is the main culture of the Early Horizon period in highland Peru, characterized by the intensification of the religious cult, the appearance of ceramics closely related to the ceremonial centers, the improvement of agricultural techniques and the development of metallurgy and textiles.
Kuntur Wasi is the name given to the ruins of a religious center with complex architecture and stone sculptures, located in the Andean highlands of Peru. It is believed the inhabitants had a link with the Chavín culture.
Huaricanga is the earliest city of the Norte Chico civilization, called Caral or Caral-Supe in Peru and Spanish language sources. "It existed around 3500 BC and was the oldest city in the Americas and one of the earliest cities in the world." This Late Archaic site is located in the arid Fortaleza Valley on Peru’s north central coast. It is 14 mi (23 km) inland from the Pacific Ocean. The site covers a total area of 100 hectares, and is the largest Late Archaic construction in the Norte Chico region.
Julio César Tello Rojas was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was the first indigenous archaeologist in South America.
Federico Kauffmann Doig is a Peruvian historian, archaeologist, and anthropologist. He has made great contributions to the study of the civilizations of Ancient Peru, particularly on the Chavín culture and the Chachapoya culture.
Pikillaqta is a large Wari culture archaeological site 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Cusco in the Quispicanchi Province.
Ventarrón is the site of a 4,500-year-old temple with painted murals, which was excavated in Peru in 2007 near Chiclayo, in the Lambayeque region on the northern coast. The site was inhabited by the Early Cupisnique, Cupisnique, Chavin and Moche cultures.
Cerro Sechín is an archaeological site in Casma Province of Ancash Region in northern Peru. Dating to 1600 BC, the site was discovered by Peruvian archaeologists Julio C. Tello and Toribio Mejía Xesspe on July 1, 1937. Tello believed it was the capital of an entire culture, now known as the Casma/Sechin culture or Sechin complex. Notable features include megalithic architecture with carved figures in bas-relief, which graphically dramatize human sacrifices. Cerro Sechín is situated within the Sechin Alto Complex, as are Sechin Bajo, and Taukachi-Konkan. There is a small on-site museum. The slabs at Cerro Sechin may represent the central Andes' oldest known monumental sculpture.
Marcahuamachuco is an archeological site of Pre-Incan ruins in the La Libertad Region of Peru. Although less well-known than other sites, it is considered significant and has been referred to by archaeologists as "Machu Picchu of the North" and "The Jewel of La Libertad."
The Kotosh Religious Tradition is a term used by archaeologists to refer to the ritual buildings that were constructed in the mountain drainages of the Andes between circa 3000 and c. 1800 BCE, during the Andean preceramic, or Late Archaic period of Andean history.
San Jose de Moro is a Moche archaeological site in the Pacanga District, Chepén Province, La Libertad Region, of Northwestern Peru. The site served as a ceremonial funerary complex between the years 400 and 1000 AD.
Wichqana is an archaeological site in Peru. It is located in the Ayacucho Region, Huamanga Province, Ayacucho District. Wichqana lies on a western slope of Uma Urqu north of Ayacucho. Wichqana was during the early horizon time period which is one of the seven time periods used for Peruvian chronological construction.
The Recuay culture was a pre-Columbian culture of highland Peru that flourished from 200 BCE to 600 CE and was related to the Moche culture of the north coast. It is named after the Recuay District, in the Recuay Province, in the Ancash Region of Peru.
Caballo Muerto is an archaeological complex located on the northern coast of Peru, in the Moche Valley, in the Laredo District of La Libertad Region. It represents a series of mound sites that span both the Initial Period and the Early Horizon.
Richard Lewis Burger, Ph.D., is an archaeologist and anthropologist from the United States. He is currently a professor at Yale University and holds the positions of Charles J. MacCurdy Professor in the Anthropology Department, Chair of the Council on Archaeological Studies, and Curator in the Division of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. He has carried out archaeological excavations in the Peruvian Andes since 1975, publishing several books and many articles on Chavin culture, a pre-Hispanic civilization that developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru from 1000 BC to 400 BC. Burger is married to Lucy Salazar, a Peruvian archaeologist and long time collaborator on many research projects. His former doctoral student Sabine Hyland has become well-known as an Andean anthropologist.
The stela of the cactus bearer is a monolith or stele of a single piece of granite, belonging to the Chavín culture of ancient Peru, which remains in its original location on the northwest side of the circular plaza at the archaeological site known as the ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar in the Ancash region of Peru. It was discovered during the 1972 excavation season by Peruvian archaeologist Luis Guillermo Lumbreras.
Montegrande is an archaeological site in the Cajamarca department of Jaén province in Jaén District, Peru, a spiral temple or enclosure built c. 3000 BCE, by a culture that overlapped the current border with Ecuador. At 5000 years old, the site is as old as Caral.
