Pre-Columbian Peru

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Peruvian territory was inhabited 14,000 years ago by hunters and gatherers. Subsequent developments include the appearance of sedentary communities that developed agriculture and irrigation, and the emergence of complex socio-political hierarchies that created sophisticated civilizations, technology and monumental construction.

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Andean cultural formations

These cultures developed advanced techniques of cultivation, gold and silver work, pottery, metallurgy and weaving. Some of the social structures that later (around the 12th century) formed the base of the Inca Empire may be traced back to these previous periods.

Archaeological findings

Archaeologists led by Gabriel Prieto revealed the largest mass child sacrifice with more than 140 children skeleton and 200 Llamas dating to the Chimú culture after he was informed about some children had found bones in a dune nearby Prieto’s fieldwork in 2011. [5] [6]

According to the researchers' notes in the study, there was cut marks on the sterna, or breastbones some of the children and the llamas. Children’s faces were smeared with a red pigment during the ceremony before their chests had been cut open, most likely to remove their hearts.Remains showed that these kids came from different regions and when the children and llamas were sacrificed, the area was drenched with water. [7]

“We have to remember that the Chimú had a very different world view than Westerners today. They also had very different concepts about death and the role each person plays in the cosmos, perhaps the victims went willingly as messengers to their gods, or perhaps Chimú society believed this was the only way to save more people from destruction” said anthropologists  Ryan Williams. [8]

Ancient cultures in Peruvian history time line

Peruviantimeline.png

Related Research Articles

Peruvian culture is the gradual blending of Amerindian cultures with European and Asian ethnic groups. The ethnic diversity and rugged geography of Peru allowed diverse traditions and customs to co-exist. Peruvian culture has been deeply influenced by Native culture, Spanish culture, and Asian culture. Other minor influences on their culture are Chinese, Japanese, and other European peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric art</span> Art produced in preliterate cultures

In the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate, prehistorical cultures beginning somewhere in very late geological history, and generally continuing until that culture either develops writing or other methods of record-keeping, or makes significant contact with another culture that has, and that makes some record of major historical events. At this point ancient art begins, for the older literate cultures. The end-date for what is covered by the term thus varies greatly between different parts of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moche culture</span> Culture that flourished 100 to 700 AD in Peru

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Lambayeque</span> Departments of Peru

Lambayeque is a department and region in northwestern Peru known for its rich Moche and Chimú historical past. The region's name originates from the ancient pre-Inca civilization of the Lambayeque. It is the second-smallest department in Peru after Tumbes, but it is also its most densely populated department and its eighth most populous department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazca culture</span> Civilization in southern Peru, c. 100 BC–800 AD

The Nazca culture was the archaeological culture that flourished from c. 100 BC to 800 AD beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley. Strongly influenced by the preceding Paracas culture, which was known for extremely complex textiles, the Nazca produced an array of crafts and technologies such as ceramics, textiles, and geoglyphs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimor</span> Political grouping of the Chimú culture in early Peru

Chimor was the political grouping of the Chimú culture. The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate Period, encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas</span> Pottery produced by Indigenous people of the Americas

Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in the Americas. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian art</span> Art of the Pre-Columbian civilizations

Pre-Columbian art refers to the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European conquests starting in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The pre-Columbian era continued for a time after these in many places, or had a transitional phase afterwards. Many types of perishable artifacts that were once very common, such as woven textiles, typically have not been preserved, but Precolumbian monumental sculpture, metalwork in gold, pottery, and painting on ceramics, walls, and rocks have survived more frequently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paracas culture</span> Archaeological culture of Peru

The Paracas culture was an Andean society existing between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management and that made significant contributions in the textile arts. It was located in what today is the Ica Region of Peru. Most information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas site on the Paracas Peninsula, first formally investigated in the 1920s by Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huanchaco</span> Popular seaside resort town in the city of Trujillo, Peru

Huanchaco is a popular seaside resort city in province of Trujillo, Peru. Huanchaco is known for its surf breaks, its caballitos de totora and its ceviche, and is near the ancient ruins of Chan Chan. Huanchaco was approved as a World Surfing Reserve by the organization Save The Waves Coalition in 2012 This historic town is part of the tourist circuit called the "Moche Route" or "Ruta Moche".

Peruvian art has its origin in the Andean civilizations. These civilizations rose in the territory of modern Peru before the arrival of the Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Brujo</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Located in the Chicama Valley, the El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient archaeological site that was occupied from preceramic times. Considering the broad cultural sequencing, the Chicama Valley can be considered as an archaeological microcosm. Research at the site benefits from the favourable environmental and topological conditions for material conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael Larco Hoyle</span>

Rafael Larco Hoyle, raised at Chiclin, his family's estate, was sent to school in Maryland, United States, at the age of twelve. He later entered Cornell University to study agricultural engineering and by 1923 returned to Peru to work on the family's sugar cane plantation. After spending most of his youth abroad, Larco Hoyle arrived to Peru with the eyes of an outsider. With this foreigner's curiosity he explored the country and discovered an ancient cultural patrimony in the north coast. Larco Hoyle recognized the need to house these objects in a safe place. It was at that point, Larco Hoyle dreamt of a museum, one like he had seen in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean textiles</span> Textile tradition indigenous to South America

The Andean textile tradition once spanned from the Pre-Columbian to the Colonial era throughout the western coast of South America, but was mainly concentrated in what is now Peru. The arid desert conditions along the coast of Peru have allowed for the preservation of these dyed textiles, which can date to 6000 years old. Many of the surviving textile samples were from funerary bundles, however, these textiles also encompassed a variety of functions. These functions included the use of woven textiles for ceremonial clothing or cloth armor as well as knotted fibers for record-keeping. The textile arts were instrumental in political negotiations, and were used as diplomatic tools that were exchanged between groups. Textiles were also used to communicate wealth, social status, and regional affiliation with others. The cultural emphasis on the textile arts was often based on the believed spiritual and metaphysical qualities of the origins of materials used, as well as cosmological and symbolic messages within the visual appearance of the textiles. Traditionally, the thread used for textiles was spun from indigenous cotton plants, as well as alpaca and llama wool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lima culture</span>

The Lima culture was an indigenous civilization which existed in modern-day Lima, Peru during the Early Intermediate Period, extending from roughly 100 to 650. This pre-Incan culture, which overlaps with surrounding Paracas, Moche, and Nasca civilizations, was located in the desert coastal strip of Peru in the Chillon, Rimac and Lurin River valleys. It can be difficult to differentiate the Lima culture from surrounding cultures due to both its physical proximity to other, and better documented cultures, in Coastal Peru, and because it is chronologically very close, if not over lapped, by these other cultures as well. These factors all help contribute to the obscurity of the Lima culture, of which much information is still left to be learned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean civilizations</span> Civilizations of South Americas Andes Mountains

The Andean civilizations were South American complex societies of many indigenous people. They stretched down the spine of the Andes for 4,000 km (2,500 mi) from southern Colombia, to Ecuador and Peru, including the deserts of coastal Peru, to north Chile and northwest Argentina. Archaeologists believe that Andean civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The Caral or Norte Chico civilization of coastal Peru is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE. Andean civilization is one of the six "pristine" civilizations of the world, created independently and without influence by other civilizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Andean South America</span>

The history of human habitation in the Andean region of South America stretches from circa 15,000 BCE to the present day. Stretching for 7,000 km (4,300 mi) long, the region encompasses mountainous, tropical and desert environments. This colonisation and habitation of the region has been affected by its unique geography and climate, leading to the development of unique cultural and socn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean preceramic</span>

The Andean preceramic refers to the early period of human occupation in the Andean area of South America that preceded the introduction of ceramics. This period is also called pre-ceramic or aceramic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casma–Sechin culture</span>

The Casma–Sechin culture of Peru refers to the large concentration of pre-historic ruins in the valleys of the Casma River and its tributary the Sechin River and along the nearby coast of the Pacific Ocean. The ruins include major archaeological sites such as Sechin Bajo, Sechin Alto, Cerro Sechin, Mojeque, Chankillo, and Taukachi-Konkan, as well as other smaller sites. Most of these inland sites are found in the river valleys about 20 kilometres (12 mi) distant from the ocean. The seaside sites of Huaynuná and Las Haldas are found about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north and south of the mouth of the Casma River on the coast.

The Chotuna Chornancap Archaeological Complex is an archaeological site in San Jose district, Lambayeque Region, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north-west of Chiclayo, Peru of a set of truncated pyramids and compounds, highlighting two pyramids: Chotuna and Chornancap, the first of them believed to be related to the legend of Naylamp. Chotuna was a ceremonial center of the Sican culture, one of the cultures of Pre-Columbian Peru, which developed between the years 700 to 1300 AD. Later the Chimu and then the Inca occupation followed. In 2011 the tomb of the so-called priestess of Chornancap was discovered.

References

  1. Heather Whipps, "Peruvian Canals Most Ancient in New World", LiveScience, 23 December 2005, accessed 3 November 2010
  2. JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, "Evidence Found for Canals That Watered Ancient Peru", New York Times, 3 January 2006, accessed 1 November 2010
  3. "Oldest Urban Site in the Americas Found, Experts Claim", National Geographic News, Feb 26, 2008, , accessed 20 Jan 2016
  4. Mann, C. C., ed. (2005). 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus . University of Texas. ISBN   1-4000-3205-9.
  5. "Exclusive: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice May Be World's Largest". National Geographic News. 2018-04-26. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  6. March 2019, Laura Geggel 06. "Hearts Ripped from 140 Children and 200 Llamas in Largest Child Sacrifice in Ancient World". livescience.com. Retrieved 2020-04-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. "World's Biggest Mass Child Sacrifice Discovered In Peru, with 140 Killed in 'Heart Removal' Ritual | ARCHAEOLOGY WORLD" . Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  8. EST, Hannah Osborne On 3/6/19 at 2:00 PM (2019-03-06). "World's biggest mass child sacrifice discovered in Peru, with 140 killed in "heart removal" ritual". Newsweek. Retrieved 2020-04-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

See also