Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [9]
Coastal peoples generally lived in simple one-room dwellings lined with stone or made from branches and reeds. These early Peruvians also built many structures for ceremonial or ritual purposes. Some of the oldest – raised temple platforms facing the ocean and containing human burials – date from the 3rd millennium BC, indicating a prosperity based on the rich marine life of the coast. Some of these platforms were decorated with painted mud friezes.
In recent years, studies at archaeological sites have revealed that these early cultures were far more developed than previously imagined. Ongoing excavations at Caral (Click here), roughly 200km north of Lima, have uncovered evidence of the oldest civilization in the Americas – existing at roughly the same time as the more famous ancient cultures of Egypt, India and China. The 626-hectare site was a city that once housed about 3000 people, with structures that are estimated to be up to 5000 years old. It contains irrigation systems, sunken circular courts and pyramidal structures, all indications of a society that had a powerful central government and established religious beliefs. In June of 2009, Caral was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
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The erratic climate system of El Niño has likely been responsible for the rise and fall of various pre-Columbian civilizations. For more on this phenomenon, turn to Click here.
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Roughly contemporary with the coastal settlements of this period is the enigmatic Temple of Kotosh (Click here) near Huánuco, whose structures are roughly 4000 years old. The site features two temple mounds with wall niches and decorative friezes – some of the most sophisticated architecture produced in the highlands during the period.
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CLAY & CLOTH
The period from 1800 BC to about 900 BC – referred to as the Initial Period by some scholars and the Formative Period by others – was when ceramics and a more sophisticated textile production came into being. Some of the earliest pottery comes from coastal archaeological sites at Las Haldas in the Casma Valley, south of Chimbote, and the Huaca La Florida, an unmapped temple structure in Lima. During this time, ceramics developed from basic undecorated bowls to sculpted, incised vessels of high quality. In the highlands, the people of Kotosh (which had remained continuously inhabited since the late Preceramic Period) produced similarly straightforward ceramics fashioned from black, red or brown clay – though a few rare examples of more complex double-spout bottles do exist from this era.
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It is illegal to buy pre-Columbian antiquities and take them out of the country.
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This period also saw the introduction of looms, used to produce plain cotton cloths, as well as improvements in fishing and agriculture (such as early experimentation with the terrace system).
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THE CHAVÍN HORIZON
Named after the site of Chavín de Huántar (Click here), east of Huaraz, this was a rich period of development for Andean culture – when artistic and religious phenomena appeared, perhaps independently, over a broad swath of the central and northern highlands, as well as the coast. Lasting roughly from 1000 BC to 300 BC – Chavín was a period when more efficient agricultural methods led to greater urbanization, and therefore a greater cultural complexity.
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Tejidos Milenarios del Perú: Ancient Peruvian Textiles is a weighty, beautifully illustrated bilingual encyclopedia of the magnificent textiles produced by every Peruvian culture from Chav