Wankarani culture

Last updated
Wankarani
Bolivia Oruro Cercado.png
Cercado Province (Oruro), the approximate location of the Wankarani culture
Period Formative stage
Datesc. 1500 BCE - 400 CE
Preceded by Chinchorro
Followed by Tiwanaku

The Wankarani culture was a formative stage culture that existed from approximately 1500 BCE to 400 CE on the altiplano highlands of Bolivia's Oruro Department to the north and northeast of Lake Poopo. It is the earliest known sedentary culture in Bolivia, as after circa 1200 BCE camelid hunters of the altiplano became camelid herders and sedentary lifestyle developed. The Wankarani culture was little researched before 1970, when Carlos Ponce Sanginés defined all the mound sites in the area as belonging to one culture that predated Tiwanaku and was contemporary with the Chiripa culture. [1]

Contents

Description

Wankarani villages typically consisted of fifteen to five hundred houses. Over the centuries, remains of the adobe bricks and trash created small mounds, on which new houses were built. The dead were buried under the floor of the huts. [2] Wankarani houses were small, round adobe huts painted red on the outside and yellow on the inside. Some villages had up to 4000 inhabitants, but the majority of villages had less than one hundred people. A site near the Chuquiña village has been considered one of the largest Wankarani villages. [3] Some of the settlement mounds grew to 5 metres (16 ft) in height and indicate that village life changed very little during this time, as Wankarani society did not advance into larger chiefdoms or a small state, yet formed independent village communities. The usual location of villages at the base of the hills, absence of village walls and minimal remains of weapons suggest that it was a peaceful society. [1]

Wankarani economy was based on herding llamas and alpacas, cultivation of potatoes, quinoa and qañiwa. The harsh climate and low rainfall meant that Wankarani economy remained at subsistence levels of natural farming and small regional trade. [4] Copper smelting was known to Wankarani as remains of smelters have been found. Artisans also made small stone heads sculpted after the llamas and alpacas. Wankarani pottery was undecorated, making it hard to understand the visual style of this culture. [1]

Wankarani culture ended as it was incorporated into the growing and expanding Tiwanaku empire. [5]

Contemporary cultures

In northern Chile and neighbouring areas of Peru and Bolivia, early ceramics started to appear during the 'Faldas del Morro' and subsequent 'Alto Ramírez' cultural phases, which are roughly contemporary with Wankarani culture. The Alto Ramírez phase dates to 1000 BCE-400 CE.

The Alto Ramirez phase seems to have been contemporaneous with Pukara and other Lake Titicaca Basin societies of the andean Early Intermediate Period, such as Qaluyu, Chiripa, Pukara, Wankarani and Early Tiwanaku. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llama</span> Species of wooly domesticated mammal

The llama is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiwanaku</span> Archaeological site in Bolivia

Tiwanaku is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and include decorated ceramics, monumental structures, and megalithic blocks. In AD 800 the site has been conservatively estimated to have been inhabited by 10,000 to 20,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aymara people</span> Indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America

The Aymara or Aimara, people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. About 2.3 million live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Their ancestors lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century, and later during the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 16th century. With the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1825), the Aymaras became subjects of the new nations of Bolivia and Peru. After the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile annexed territory with the Aymara population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guanaco</span> Species of mammal (camelid)

The guanaco is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Poopó</span> Saline lake in Bolivia

Lake Poopó was a large saline lake in a shallow depression in the Altiplano Mountains in Oruro Department, Bolivia, at an altitude of approximately 3,700 m (12,100 ft). Due to the lake's length and width, it made up the eastern half of Oruro, known as a mining region in southwest Bolivia. The permanent part of the lake body covered approximately 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) and it was the second-largest lake in the country. The lake received most of its water from the Desaguadero River, which flows from Lake Titicaca at the north end of the Altiplano. Since the lake lacked any major outlet and had a mean depth of less than 3 m (10 ft), the surface area differed greatly seasonally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingavi Province</span> Province in La Paz Department, Bolivia

Ingavi is a province in the La Paz Department in Bolivia. This is where the Battle of Ingavi occurred on November 18, 1841, and where the World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku is situated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiripa culture</span> Archaeological culture in Bolivia

The Chiripa culture existed between the Initial Period/Early Horizon, from 1400 to 850 BCE along the southern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atacama people</span> American indigenous people from the Atacama desert and altiplano region

The Atacama people, also called Atacameño, are an Indigenous people from the Atacama Desert and altiplano region in the north of Chile and Argentina and southern Bolivia, mainly the Antofagasta Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pumapunku</span> Terraced platform mound in Bolivia

Pumapunku or Puma Punku is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned man-made terraced platform mound with a sunken court and monumental structure on top that is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the Tiwanaku Site near Tiwanacu, in western Bolivia. The Pumapunku complex is an alignment of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound. Today the monumental complex on top of the platform mound lies in ruins.

<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">Pukara culture</span> South American archaeological culture

The Pucará culture was an archaeological culture which developed in Qullaw, along the north-western shore of Lake Titicaca. It was characterized by a hierarchy of smaller centers and villages scattered throughout the northern basin of the Titicaca. The name originates from the town of Pukara, one of the largest settlements in the region. The modern town of Pucará is located half a mile to the east of the archaeological site. The Pukara culture is unrelated to the stone fortresses, Pukaras, built across the Andes during the Inca Empire. Its sphere of influence reached as far north as the Cuzco Valley and as far south as Tiahuanaco. The culture had two phases of development within the Formative Period: the Middle Formative, and Late Formative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pucará, Puno</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Pucará, Puno is a town in the Puno Region, Lampa Province, Pucará District, Peru. It is located to the north-west of Lake Titicaca.

<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">Tiwanaku Empire</span> Pre-Columbian polity in Western Bolivia

The Tiwanaku Polity was a Pre-Columbian polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Tiwanaku was one of the most significant Andean civilizations. Its influence extended into present-day Peru and Chile and lasted from around 600 to 1000 AD. Its capital was the monumental city of Tiwanaku, located at the center of the polity's core area in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. This area has clear evidence for large-scale agricultural production on raised fields that probably supported the urban population of the capital. Researchers debate whether these fields were administered by a bureaucratic state (top-down) or through a federation of communities with local autonomy. Tiwanaku was once thought to be an expansive military empire, based mostly on comparisons to the later Inca Empire. However, recent research suggests that labelling Tiwanaku as an empire or even a state may be misleading. Tiwanaku is missing a number of features traditionally used to define archaic states and empires: there is no defensive architecture at any Tiwanaku site or changes in weapon technology, there are no princely burials or other evidence of a ruling dynasty or a formal social hierarchy, no evidence of state-maintained roads or outposts, and no markets.

The Huacaya alpaca is a breed of alpaca that has a unique appearance and fiber quality. This breed is the most popular alpaca breed with population numbers reaching 2.8 million in Peru alone. They share biological components with other species in the Camelidae family. Their digestive tract, nutrition requirements, and herd behavior mirror that of all camelids. They also survive amidst similar predation, poison, and disease threats that endanger all camelids alike.

<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.

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

The Chiribaya culture flourished near the coast of southern Peru and adjacent Chile from 700 CE until Spanish settlement in the late 16th century. The classic phase of the Chiribaya culture was from 1000 CE until 1360 CE. The Chiribaya culture consisted of both maritime settlements along 220 kilometres (140 mi) of the Pacific Ocean coast and agricultural settlements inland in valleys of the Osmore and Tambo rivers in Peru and the Lluta river and Azapa Valley in Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian Bolivia</span>

Pre-Columbian Bolivia covers the historical period between 10,000 BCE, when the Upper Andes region was first populated and 1532, when Spanish conquistadors invaded Inca empire. The Andes region of Pre-Columbian South America was dominated by the Tiwanaku civilization until about 1200, when the regional kingdoms of the Aymara emerged as the most powerful of the ethnic groups living in the densely populated region surrounding Lake Titicaca. Power struggles continued until 1450, when the Incas incorporated upper Bolivia into their growing empire. Based in present-day Peru, the Incas instituted agricultural and mining practices that rivaled those put in place many years later by European conquerors. They also established a strong military force, and centralized political power. Despite their best efforts however, the Incas never completely controlled the nomadic tribes of the Bolivian lowlands, nor did they fully assimilate the Aymara kingdoms into their society. These internal divisions doomed the Inca Empire when European conquerors arrived.

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

The Chinchorro culture of South America was a preceramic culture that lasted from 9,100 to 3,500 years BP. The people forming the Chinchorro culture were sedentary fishermen inhabiting the Pacific coastal region of current northern Chile and southern Peru. Presence of fresh water in the arid region on the coast facilitated human settlement in this area. The Chinchorro were famous for their detailed mummification and funerary practices. The area of the Chinchorro culture started to receive influences from the Andean Plateau around 4,000 BP, which led to the adoption of agriculture. Much later, it came under the influence of the Tiwanaku Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incan animal husbandry</span>

Incan animal husbandry refers to how in the pre-Hispanic andes, camelids played a truly important role in the economy. In particular, the llama and alpaca—the only camelids domesticated by Andean men— which were raised in large-scale houses and used for different purposes within the production system of the Incas. Likewise, two other species of undomesticated camelids were used: the vicuña and the guanaco. The guanacos were hunted by means of chacos.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Time and Process in an Early Village Settlement System on the Bolivian Southern Altiplano
  2. Bermann, Marc (14 July 2014). Lukurmata: Household Archaeology in Prehispanic Bolivia. Princeton University Press. ISBN   9781400863846 via Google Books.
  3. Bandy, Matthew S.; Fox, Jake R. (1 January 2010). Becoming Villagers: Comparing Early Village Societies. University of Arizona Press. ISBN   9780816529018 via Google Books.
  4. Quilter, Jeffrey (17 December 2013). The Ancient Central Andes. Routledge. ISBN   9781317935247 via Google Books.
  5. Bruhns, Karen Olsen (4 August 1994). Ancient South America . Cambridge University Press. p.  139 via Internet Archive. wankarani.
  6. Silverman, Helaine; Isbell, William (4 April 2008). Handbook of South American Archaeology. Springer. pp. 964–. ISBN   978-0-387-75228-0 . Retrieved 5 October 2016.