Some South American history from 1000-500BC

Skulls with cranial deformation from the Paracas culture

This is a post about South American history from 1000-500BC. Please remember that I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and still being discovered by archaeologists. However, notwithstanding these caveats, the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world, so the main sources will be entirely archaeological. While oral history is important, this particular time period is too far in the past for oral history to be useful here.

For the purposes of this blog, South America will comprise of the continent of South America, excluding the islands of the Caribbean, which have been dealt with briefly in the blog post about the history of North America.

Site of Chavin de Huantar

By the beginning of this time period pottery usage had become widespread. Thus the civilisations of this time are referred to as ceramic rather than pre-ceramic civilisations.

Around century of the 1000's BC, the site of Sechin Bajo, as part of the Casma-Sechin culture, may have been conquered by outside invaders, leading to a change in the tradition. The Casma-Sechin settlement of Las Haldas appears to have ceased building new monuments from around this time, possibly because of change in political circumstances. But this is mostly unproven however. Both sites continued to be occupied for much of the next millennium.

In the century of the 900's BC because of the change in material remains of the Casma-Sechin culture, the archaeologists assign the previous period as the Initial Period and speak of the Casma-Sechin culture after the possible conquest event as Early Horizon.

Lance idol at Chavin de Huantar

Around this time the religious site of Chavin de Huantar, a religious site further inland in the Andes, became important. It had existed some centuries previously, but began to flourish during this time period. The culture that used this site is referred to as the Chavin. The site was decorated with labyrinthine tunnels and intricate stelas, as well as a large pyramid. The site was probably ceremonial, as it was unwalled and there was no other similar site in the lands of the Chavin culture.

In the mid-800's BC the Chiripa culture along the southern shore of Lake Titicaca was flourishing. The Middle Phase of the Chiripa culture ended and the Late Phase began. The small town of Chiripa, which gives its name to the culture, appears to have expanded around this time, covering an area of around 7 hectares.

In the south of what is now the country of Peru, the Paracas culture began to flourish around this time in the arid deserts of the Ica region. The land is near the coast and mountains and even has rivers flowing through it, but is dry. The Paracas culture appeared to have understood the unforgiving topography and adapted to it. They mummified their dead, created spectacular ceramics and textiles, some of which have survived, and may have pioneered the practice of making geoglyphs in the region. They also practiced cranial deformation and many people in this culture would have very unusually high-shaped skulls as a result. Their culture would later merge into the Nazca culture in the same region, which would take these cultural traits and continue them.

Paracas culture textiles

Around the 700's BC pre-Muisca tribes may have settled in Colombia and engaged in agriculture. We know that the peoples of Colombia began to become more urbanised during this time period, but there were no major historical cultures noted there as yet.

Around the century of the 500's BC, the Cupisnique culture, on the northern Pacific Coast of Peru, began to decline. They may have been the cultural forerunners of the later Moche culture. The Cupisnique culture leave behind large numbers of ceramic objects, including many figures showing decapitators and decapitatees. This was also typical of the later Moche pottery. They may also have had some connections to the more inland Chavin culture and to their religious traditions.

Around this time Chavin de Huantar seems to have undergone major changes. The site itself was still occupied, but the people began to reuse the older monuments and the older temples and plazas were built over and turned into small dwellings. An elaborate relief stela, called the Lanzón Stela was erected around this time. It may have represented a new deity or a new method of worship. There are many interpretations of these events, but it seems reasonable to assume that there were major changes in the Chavin religious tradition around this time.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the rise of new cultures and the decline of older ones. The Paracas culture in particular would prove influential to later cultures in the region.

Paracas culture geoglyph

Related Blogs:
Some South American history from 4000-2000BC
Some South American history from 2000-1000BC
Before the Incas

Some South American history from 2000-1000BC

One of the pyramids at Caral

This is a post about South American history from 2000-1000BC. Please remember that I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and still being discovered by archaeologists. However, notwithstanding these caveats, the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world, so the main sources will be entirely archaeological. While oral history is important, this particular time period is too far in the past for oral history to be useful here.

For the purposes of this blog, South America will comprise of the continent of South America, excluding the islands of the Caribbean, which have been dealt with briefly in the blog post about the history of North America.

View of the site of the city of Caral

At the opening of this time period, around the century of the 2000’s BC, the city of Caral was flourishing, as part of the Norte Chico civilisation, alongside other cities such as Huaricanga. The nearby civilisation of the Casma/Sechin culture, with its cities of Sechin Bajo and Sechin Alto, was also flourishing at this time. Bandurria may also have been significant along the Peruvian coast. This small section of the coast of present-day Peru saw a number of small cities and their hinterlands. Many of these cities may have only had a few thousand people in them, but they were undeniably cities. The largest of these was the city of Caral, which had a population of perhaps five thousand people and impressive monumental architecture.

Somewhat inland from the coast, another culture, known as the Kotosh Religious Tradition, had arisen and large ceremonial centres were constructed at Kotosh and La Galgada. This culture showed continuity with cultures that were to follow, but their relationship with the Sechin and Caral-Supe cultures is unclear.

While pottery had been independently invented in South America several millennia earlier, probably around 5500BC in the Amazon Basin, it had not yet spread as far as the Peruvian coast, meaning that these cultures are referred to as aceramic (meaning “without pottery”) or Pre-Ceramic.

Temple remains at Kotosh

Further to the south of the cities on the Peruvian coastline, the Chinchorro culture existed in and near the Atacama Desert and were noted for their mummification processes. The bodies of the dead were elaborately treated and partially preserved, allowing many of them to survive to the present day.

Around the century of the 2000’s BC the earliest dated murals in the Americas were made on the walls of the temples of Ventarron, along the northern coast of Peru.  One of the murals depicted a snake like creature being caught in a net; perhaps a scene from mythology or perhaps simply an illustration from the lives of a fishing people. Sadly, at least one of the murals was destroyed in a fire in 2017.

Around the century of the 1800’s BC, the unlikely urban site of Las Haldas began to expand. This was situated on a completely barren piece of shoreline, possibly far away from even any sources of fresh water. Yet here the peoples of Las Haldas, part of the Casma/Sechin culture had settled over a millennium previously, and now eventually began to build temple mounds and ceremonial architecture. It is also around this time that the Pre-Ceramic phase of the Casma-Sechin culture ends and what is known as the Initial Period begins. This merely means that archaeologists have noted the occurrence of pottery and other ceramics from around this time onwards.

Chinchorro Mummy

Also around this time, the Chinchorro culture appears to die out or change. This means that the mummies, which had been made for so many millennia previously, were made no more. It is probable that increasing contacts with the agriculturalists to the north brought changes to the culture. Perhaps new religious ideas came to the fore and the mummies of the ancestors were of less importance. Mummification was certainly important to later cultures in the Andean region, so it is likely that the Chinchorro traditions, and others like them, were remembered.

Around the century of the 1700’s BC the Norte Chico culture appears to have begun to decline. It is probable that the land that the civilisation was built one was too poor to support population increases. Excess people would have left the region and taken their knowledge to the surrounding areas, which would then have eclipsed the city of Caral and the other Norte Chico sites. But this would suggest that other greater civilisations should have arisen in the outlying areas. In fact this does not seem to happen. While the emigration and overshadowing hypothesis is a good one, I feel that we just do not know for sure what caused this civilisation to decline. By the end of the next century, by around 1600BC, the city of Caral itself was mostly abandoned, only to be discovered by archaeologists in the 1990’s.

Cumbemayo Aqueduct

Around the century of the 1500’s BC in the Peruvian highlands near the present-day city of Cajamarca, the aqueduct of Cumbemayo was dug into the rock. This aqueduct is carved into the rock and is around 9 km in length. A number of petroglyphs are evident in the area but they are not clearly shaped and their meaning is unclear. Perhaps the people who created these had once come from the Norte Chico civilisation and had brought their methods of irrigation to different lands.

Around this time the Cupisnique culture began to flourish around the northern coast of Peru. As the knowledge of ceramics had very definitely reached the Peruvian coast at this time, they left behind striking and beautiful pottery. They had a number of monumental sites, but as with the Kotosh Religious Tradition and perhaps the Norte Chico civilisation, it is likely that Cupisnique culture was perhaps more of a religious tradition than a culture per se. Aside from the pottery, little distinguishes it from the periods that precede it, and very little distinguishes it from the later periods. The Cupisnique culture almost certainly influenced the later Chavin and Moche cultures. They left the remains of several sites, such as the complex of ruins at Caballo Muerte and the highland temple platforms of Kuntur Wasi (also near Cajamarca).

Rock carvings at Cerro Sechin

In the Casma-Sechin culture, the Cerro Sechin reliefs date from around this time. These are perhaps the first monumental sculptures in South America and show what might be the scene of a bloody battle, with dead and dying warriors perhaps being depicted. Sadly, without writing, we may never know what these represent but they are certainly graphically portrayed. Cerro Sechin may have been abandoned not long after this time period. The nearby complex of Sechin Alto may have also been abandoned, or at least gone into decline around this time.

Around this time, further south in what is now Bolivia, the Wankarani culture began. These were farmers of alpacas and llamas high on the Bolivian altiplano, particularly near the now dead lake of Poopó. The land was not rich however, so the population levels remained low and most settlements were village rather than city-sized.

Around the century of the 1400’s BC the Chiripa culture began to emerge around the southern edges of Lake Titicaca. This was a farming culture that used quinoa and other grains to practice subsistence farming. The type site at Chiripa, which gives its name to the culture, consists of a raised platform with clusters of houses and graves surrounding it. The town seems to have been quite small, although the quality of the grave goods seem to show class distinctions between the townspeople. Some researchers believe that the site of Tiwanaku, near Lake Titicaca, was founded around this time, but if this was the case it is likely that this was just another village for around a millennium.

Site of the arid lands of Las Haldas

On the Peruvian coast, the desert site of Las Haldas expanded, with the inhabitants building a number of mounds around a central plaza. It is possible that the decline of the Casma Valley sites, such as Sechin Alto allowed the city of Las Haldas to expand.

Around this time the Machalilla culture may have begun to thrive in the coastal region of Ecuador. The people of this culture stretched their skulls by moulding them in childhood. They left behind pottery remains but no cities. They lived in villages and practised small-scale agriculture, supplemented by fishing and occasional hunter-gathering. They are really best known to archaeologists because of their relatively elaborate ceramic burial goods that were left in the graves of their deceased.

Terracotta statuary of the Chorrera culture,
but probably some centuries later

In the next century, around the 1300’s BC, the Machalilla culture in Ecuador seems to have begun to merge in with the Chorrera culture, which was very similar but spread over a much larger extent of land, covering much of Ecuador and stretching into Colombia. The Chorrera culture would have incorporated not just the Machalilla culture but also the Valdivia culture, which had been predominant in the region now known as Ecuador.

Around the century of the 1200’s BC, the Kotosh religious tradition appears to have either gone into decline or to have changed into a belief system that required different rituals. It would seem to have been influential in moulding the iconography of the religious traditions of the later Chavin culture.

Around the end of the time period, around the century of the 1000’s BC, the site of Sechin Bajo, as part of the Casma-Sechin culture, may have been conquered by outside invaders, leading to a change in the tradition. The Casma-Sechin settlement of Las Haldas appears to have ceased building new monuments from around this time, possibly because of change in political circumstances. But this is mostly unproven however. Both sites continued to be occupied for much of the next millennium.

Plaza and platform at Kuntur Wasi

So, the period ends, with the initial Andean cultures of Norte Chico and Casma Sechin either declining or disappearing. Pottery usage had become widespread, religious traditions had risen and fallen. The Cumbemayo aqueduct had been built and the last of the Chinchorro mummies had been made. As in North American history, it is so difficult to know what exactly what happened and we are left baffled with conflicting evidence and the mute evidence of archaeological digs. But the variety of finds allow us to know that much had once happened here.

Related Blog Posts:
Some South American history from 4000-2000BC
Some South American history from 2000-1000BC
Some South American history from 1000-500BC

Some South American history from 4000-2000BC

Tierra del Fuego in Argentina

This is a post about South American history from 4000-2000BC. Please remember that I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists, but the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological. While oral history is important, this particular time period is too far in the past for oral history to be useful here.

For the purposes of this blog, South America will comprise of the continent of South America, excluding the islands of the Caribbean, which have been dealt with briefly in the blog post about the history of North America.

As with North America, prior to the year 4000BC the majority of South America was inhabited. Even the wilds of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego seem to have been reached by humans quite swiftly upon the initial arrival in the Americas.

The exact date for the arrival of humans in the Americas is a mystery, but most agree that there was an arrival around 10,000BC where the most recent glacial maximum had lowered the sea levels to allow a land bridge to emerge in the Bering Strait. This connected North America and Asia and allowed for small groups of foragers to cross. There may have been earlier settlements but it is unclear. The group that arrived around 10,000BC was referred to as the Clovis culture (named after their flint weapons that were first found in the city of Clovis in the state of New Mexico in the United States). Within around a millennia humanity had spread all the way down to the southern tip of South America. The large mammals that had lived in the Americas disappeared, possibly because the humans hunted them, but possibly due to the pressure of climate change, combined with food competition from humans.

Cueva de las Manos in Argentina

Around 7000BC in a cave in southern Argentina, cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers would place their hands against the wall of the cave, known as Cueva de las Manos, and blow a type of paint over the hands, leaving an imprint that would last for millennia. Humans using art to say to future generations that they were there.

The original inhabitants of the Americas were hunter-gatherers, but as the populations expanded and the larger animals disappeared, it would seem that the dwellers in the warmer climates began to rely more on gathering food. Some foodstuffs were cared for and replanted and gradually this turned into gardening and from gardening to agriculture. Many of the main crops of the Americas, such as maize and beans, were domesticated in Mexico, but some, such as cotton and the potato, seem to have been independently domesticated in the area that is now known as Peru.

The guinea pig was domesticated by the inhabitants of the Andes, probably as a source of meat rather than because they are cute. Around this time the alpaca and the llama were also domesticated. These were primarily useful for the meat and for their wool. While it is possible for llamas to carry loads, their capacity is quite limited in comparison to a horse or a camel.

Pottery was first developed in the Americas in the Amazon Basin, possibly around 5500BC. There are pottery items from Guyana that appear shortly after this time. Pottery appears to have slowly spread northwards to Colombia, where it is particularly evident at the San Jacinto site. However, the later traditions of elaborate pottery making had not yet developed. These items were not widely used as of yet and these time periods are often referred to as aceramic, meaning, “Without pottery”, or pre-ceramic. From Colombia pottery would spread both north and south, into Mesoamerica and Ecuador and from Ecuador to Peru.

Chinchorro Mummy

The Chinchorro culture, spanning the northern regions of Chile and the southern regions of Peru, is also of interest. It predates the time period that we are looking at and possibly goes back to 7000BC. This was a fishing culture that managed to survive in the extremely arid region of the Atacama Desert by fishing in the coastal waters. The dryness of the land meant that sometimes the dead members of this culture would be preserved. The natural dessication and high salt content of the soil would preserve the tissue of the deceased in a natural mummification process. This happens in many dry regions of the world and is unusual, but not unprecedented. Taking advantage of this process, the Chinchorro people buried their dead with ritual goods and allowed nature to take its course. The Chinchorro people may have been the first people in the world to attempt to preserve and mummify their dead.

Later, around 5000BC, the Chinchorro people attempted to ensure that their dead would be mummified by removing the soft tissue of a person and then reassembling it, placing the skin (or replacement seal skin) back on top of ashen paste to ensure that the likeness of the dead was preserved. The skin was then painted black. The resulting mummy was now mostly ash rather than human and I wonder if perhaps a different term rather than mummy would be more accurate. The care shown to the dead would perhaps suggest that the Chinchorro worshipped their ancestors, but this is speculative. Plenty of cultures treat their dead elaborately, but do not worship them. By the year 4000BC the Chinchorro were still using the black mummy technique and would continue to do so for around a thousand years.

Around 3700 ceramics were found at Puerto Hormiga in Colombia, showing the adoption of the new technology. Pottery was still not widely used in this region at the time however.

Archaeological site in the Casma Valley

Around the year 3500BC the first signs of urbanisation appear in South America. The site at Huaricanga was inhabited from this period by people of a culture that is sometimes referred to as the Norte Chico culture (meaning “Little North” in Peru; confusingly there is also a separate Norte Chico region in Chile). The site at Huaricanga was situated in a dry region, but archaeology reveals that they were using crops to supplement their diet of fish. The combination of nascent agriculture combined with sea fishing appears to have sustained the people of the Norte Chico culture. The early site at Huaricanga was small, but may not have been the only site occupied around this time.

Around a hundred kilometres further north the Casma River and its tributary, the Sechin River, flows from the mountains towards the sea. Along the banks of these rivers another culture, possibly related to the Norte Chico culture, was developing. The close proximity of these two cultures makes it likely that there was some form of interaction between them and it would very strange if they had not known of each other. It is an open question as to which culture was the earliest, but the Casma-Sechin culture also seems to have begun to urbanise around this time. The archaeological site of Sechin Bajo has what are possibly the earliest monumental carvings in South America. This site was occupied for millennia afterwards however, so the carvings that visitors will see nearly all date from later.

A later temple from Bandurria

Another site, around a hundred kilometres to the south of Huaricanga, was the settlement of Bandurria. This was very close to the coastline and may possibly date to as early as 4000BC but the evidence is unclear and the site has been damaged. However, it is clear that a number of cultures were beginning to emerge along the northern Pacific coast in South America. Once urbanisation begins to occur it is quickly copied and so we see areas in the Middle East all beginning to move towards urbanisation at around the same time. A similar process must have occurred along this coast.

Around 3400 the Valdivia Culture emerged in what is now Ecuador. Like the Chinchorro, Casma-Sechin and Norte Chico cultures this was based along the coastline and the inhabitants were primarily reliant on fish from the sea. Because all of these cultures would have had access to some form of coastal boats they may have been in contact with one another, but this is not clear and there are no trade goods that could definitively point this out. The people of the Valdivia Culture lived in circular villages, growing crops to supplement their diet of fish and using nearly all the same crops as were later important in the region, such as maize, beans and squash. This meant that the Three Sisters of Mesoamerican agriculture had already reached the Pacific Coast of South America.

A pyramid from the city of Caral

Around 3100BC the Norte Chico culture began to expand, as did the other cultures in the region, such as the Casma-Sechin culture. Their urban sites grew larger and could now begin to be called cities, although the difference between a small city and a large town is really academic. The rivers began to be more important than the coastlands, although fishing was still important.

Around 3000BC the Preceramic Period in the Casma-Sechin culture begins. This saw the continued expansion of settlements and the founding of new ones, such as the coastal city of Huaynuná. Canals were also built to allow for more agriculture from the rivers.

Around this time the Chinchorro people began to use a style other than the Black Mummy technique. This new method of mummification was called the Mud Coat technique and involved coating the dead with a mud coat of mud, sand and a type of mortar that functioned as a type of cement. This method did not remove the organs of the deceased and left them almost as types of statues.

Pottery has been found from the Valdivia Culture dating from 2700BC. This shows that the use of pottery was spreading gradually through South America, primarily along the coastlines. Around this time small settlements also begin to grow in what is now Colombia.

Around 2500BC the people of the Chinchorro culture began to also use the Red Mummy technique. This was used for around five hundred years and involved removing the internal organs of the dead, drying the remaining body cavity, stuffing the remains with straw and covering it over with a mask, artificial hair and skin and then painting the remains with red ochre. The Red Mummy and Mud Coat techniques seem to have overlapped in time. This was probably just a change of technique rather than a change of culture or religion.

Excavations at Ventarron

Around 2500BC the temple complex at Ventarron was inhabited. This was a site on the northern Pacific Coast of Peru, about ten kilometres from the sea and further north than the Casma Valley. Here, a large temple complex was founded with some indications that the people here were trading with the civilisations both north and south of them.

Also around this time, the city of Caral was inhabited. Caral lay on the Supe River, not far from Huaricanga. While previous settlements resembled large towns, Caral was unquestionably a city. The city covers 150 hectares and contains large public squares and buildings. Some of these are formed like low pyramids and were almost certainly temples. The people of Caral traded extensively with the nearby coastlands and their hinterland, which consisted of at least nineteen smaller settlements, even going so far as to import the vertebrae of blue whales to use as stools. The population was probably not very large however. The city itself may have had a population of just three thousand people. But the valley probably had around twenty thousand and more may have come from even farther afield to attend religious ceremonies.

The magnificent remains of the city of Caral

Religious ceremonies were probably held there regularly. Buildings that were built to preserve fire were dotted around the city, possibly suggesting a fire cult. A geoglyph, a carving scratched onto the ground, similar to the later Nazca Lines, was created near the city, and has some resemblance to carvings at Casma-Sechin. What its meaning was is unclear. Bone flutes have been found that may well have been used in religious ceremonies.

If Caral was a religious centre, as seems likely, then it was also a trading centre. Items have been found there that show that by this point, the peoples of Caral had contact with the Valdivia culture of Ecuador and with the higher Andean regions, with some goods even coming from as far afield as the rainforest on the far side of the Andes.

While the history of Caral is a mystery and will probably always be so, it is possible that even at this early stage the peoples of the region had progressed to proto-writing. Knotted strings have been found that resemble later Incan quipu. Quipu are knotted ropes that can be carried swiftly by runners from place to place and the number and positioning of the knots on the ropes will carry messages. But it is not likely that these strings would tell us much even if they are in fact quipus. Quipus were generally more like tally sticks in certain ways. They were very good for detailing transactions but not for handling more complex content. So the dealings of Caral are likely to remain a mystery forever.

The temples of Kotosh

Around 2300BC the Kotosh site was inhabited. This was a small site, further inland, to the southeast of the Casma River valley and further into the mountains. This is the type site for a culture that is referred to as the Kotosh Religious Tradition. It may have been a ceremonial centre for the people of the mountain valleys. The site itself is not large, but a nearby site called La Galgada may have been larger. It was continuously inhabited, perhaps by a class of priests. The temples in Kotosh had reliefs of crossed hands, but it is not certain what this signified. The Kotosh tradition would form a link to later cultures in Peru.

Around 2250BC a broken gourd showing a staff wielding deity was found. While it can never be exactly certain that this is a symbol of a deity it is almost certainly the same Staff God that was worshipped later in Peru. The Incas knew the Staff God as Viracocha and worshipped him as the creator of the world. If this broken gourd does indeed depict a god and if it is the same god, it shows that there was a cultural continuity from the time of the Norte Chico civilisation until the fall of the Inca Empire.

The mural of Ventarron, destroyed by fire in 2017
Image from the BBC

Around 2000BC the earliest dated murals in the Americas were made on the walls of the temples of Ventarron, along the northern coast of Peru. One of the murals depicted a snake like creature being caught in a net; perhaps a scene from mythology or perhaps simply an illustration from the lives of a fishing people. Sadly, at least one of the murals was destroyed in a fire in 2017.

This brings our survey of South American history for this period to an end. I will write more in a later post. Before closing I would like to take some time to briefly address a misconception. There is a city in Bolivia called Tiwanaku, sometimes called Tiahuanaco that is sometimes stated as being extremely ancient. An explorer from the early 20th Century believed that the site was at least 11,000 years old and, more plausibly, it has been said to date from around 1600BC. More recent estimates suggest that the city should be dated as being occupied from around 300BC onwards. Some older publication may include the earlier dates for the city, so one should be aware of this while reading about South American history. Some conspiracy websites have also taken up this line, speaking of the Tiwanaku civilisation as being the oldest city on earth and probably to do with aliens or something. This diminishes the real achievements of the earlier civilisations such as the ones at Casma Sechin, or Caral.

Later relief of the Staff God from Tiwanaku

Related Blog Posts: 
Some South American history from 4000-2000BC

Some South American history from 2000-1000BC

Some South American history from 1000-500BC

Before the Incas

Chimu Ear Flares

I have previously written about certain early civilisations, such as Sumer or Egypt, mainly because I find them interesting but partly because knowledge of them is useful in understanding later historical developments. I will now spend some time looking at some civilisations in South America. The great watershed event in South American history is the arrival of European culture in the 1500’s and the destruction associated with this, combined with degradable materials comprising the settlements of many existing civilisations mean that our knowledge of ancient societies in the region is fragmentary and the remains of entire civilisations may lie buried for future generations to find. I will focus mainly on the region of the northern Andes (Peru, Bolivia etc.) and sketch the civilisations in broad strokes. I apologise in advance to enthusiasts of the subject if I make occasional generalisations or errors and the omissions due to space constraints.

Pyramid at Caral

The first notable South American urban society is the Norte Chico culture in northern Peru, dating from around 3000 BC to 1700 BC. Most early civilisations begin in river valleys, where pottery and irrigation allow increased populations that morph into urban areas. Despite impressive irrigation undertaken, the people of this culture did not use pottery. They did however build stepped pyramids and create impressive textiles. Their main city, Caral (an alternative name for the culture) was unfortified and may have been primarily a ceremonial centre. Lacking ceramics, their main artistic outlet was in textiles but if archaeologists are correct, the Norte Chico civilisation may have made a striking leap forward in this area by (pardon the atrocious pun) turning textiles to text.

Quipu

The threads shown in the picture are known as “quipu”. The Incas used them until the 1500’s to record numerical data but many scholars believe that the intricate systems of knots do not merely carry numbers but can denote linguistic content as well. If so, these knotted strings were in fact a writing system. Similar remains were found in the Norte Chico settlements, which would imply that this system of writing is truly ancient. It should be noted however that not all scholars are convinced that the quipu are a true writing system and the identification of them at Norte Chico sites is not entirely proved.

Interior of tunnel at Chavin de Huantar

Around 1800 BC the Norte Chico culture went into decline and the unfortified cities were abandoned. The next notable culture arose nearly a thousand years later in central Peru. This culture was referred to as the Chavin. Again, the cities are unfortified and evidence of warfare is very scarce. The culture centred on a site known as Chavin de Huantar near Lima, which contained impressive architecture and was worked upon and improved for hundreds of years. It is very speculative exactly what their religion comprised of, but it is almost certain that Chavin de Huantar was a place that held religious significance for the culture and the site held labyrinthine tunnels and intricate stele. Chavin artwork is found throughout the region but the fact that only one major centre of the culture has been found and the fact that this centre, Chavin de Huantar appears to be more ceremonial than urban, might suggest that the Chavin culture was more akin to a religious phenomena than an empire or state in the traditional sense.

Moche Pottery

Around 100 AD, in Northern Peru, the Moche culture rose to prominence. While the Moche do not appear to have been a single state but rather a set of highly organised states that existed in parallel. They were skilled metalworkers and built massive pyramidal monuments. One of these monuments was so large and contained so many tombs with grave goods that the Spanish later diverted a river to aid in mining it mining it for gold. This obviously caused (severe) damage to the structure, but prior to its destruction this pyramid (Huaca del Sol) was probably the largest building in Pre-Columbian America. The Moche flourished until around the year 500AD when their society went into decline.

The reasons for this decline are disputed. One popular theory suggests that there was a change in the climate and that the culture was battered by storms for decades before suffering decades of drought. If this was the case it should be noted that this did not destroy the culture. There are Moche settlements dated to 800 AD, (300 years after the extreme climate event). However, the later settlements display major fortifications and the excavated walls have revealed caches of sling stones (the bow was not used by the Moche). A foreign invasion has been suggested but another plausible scenario suggests that the culture survived the climate event but that the city-states then turned against each other in an increasingly desperate competition for resources before the urban populations eventually abandoned the cities to move towards more fertile lands. Another scenario postulates that the city-states were temporarily abandoned but that the population simply shifted to different urban centres around 800 AD and that later cultures in the area should be viewed as extensions of the original Moche culture.

Pyramid at Cahuachi

At the same time as the Moche were flourishing in Northern Peru, an enigmatic culture existed along Peru’s southern coast. These people are referred to as the Nazca and while they left behind few physical remains, the remains in question are quite startling. The region is quite arid and agriculture is difficult to this day, however, the farmers of the region are able to water their crops by using underground aqueducts that have been there for an unspecified period of time. The identity of the builders is disputed and some maintain that these were built by early Spanish settlers. They could possibly have been built by an altogether unknown civilisation but the most likely candidates are the Nazca. The primary Nazca ceremonial centre was a site now known as Cahuachi, where the relatively well preserved (and partially reconstructed) remains of a pyramid stand.

Nazca Lines

More famously, they also constructed the Nazca lines. These are lines that stretch across the desert, seemingly insignificant when viewed from the plains on which they lie, but forming coherent shapes when viewed from local hills or the air. As the Nazca left no direct records (like all Pre-Incan Peruvian cultures) no one really knows what these lines are for (suggestions range from maps of the aqueducts to alien landing strips) but they do make for interesting viewing. The picture shown reveals (on close examination as it is a poor quality picture) a thick straight line and a stylised picture of a bird.

The Nazca were contemporary with the Moche and seem to have suffered the same fate, whether from climate change or invasion, as their culture fades out around 800AD. The Moche and the Nazca may have been centrally organised, but the Wari and Tiwanaku cultures were empires. The Wari, also known as the Huari, were a culture based in central and northern Peru, who controlled an extensive empire bound together by a corvee (taxes were paid in communal labour at the behest of the rulers) style tribute system and an intricate system of road.

Reconstructed Central Plaza in Tiwanaku

Meanwhile, in Southern Peru, a culture referred to as Tiwanaku (also known as Tiahuanaco) arose near Lake Titicaca. These were contemporary with the Wari and shared cultural links and trade ties but were almost definitely separate. The remains of the city at Tiwanaku show the skill of the architects and stonemasons who planned an executed the design. Certain people who were interested in the site believed that possible astronomical alignments of the buildings proved that the city of Tiwanaku was over 9,000 years old (as the alignments of stars shift slightly over time this is actually a semi-valid method of dating). This would have made Tiwanaku the oldest city on earth but most archaeologists are convinced that these calculations were in error and the evidence suggests that the Wari and Tiwanaku states existed roughly between 600-1100AD.

Decorated Wall in Chan Chan

The Chimu culture arose roughly around 900AD in the area that had been occupied by the Moche and there are many cultural similarities between the two. The Chimu left behind many artefacts and their immense adobe capital of Chan Chan still partially exists today. The Chimu were an organised state based around a narrow coastal strip. They worshipped the moon and their intensive agriculture supported a large population that was able to wage war effectively. Around the year 1300AD the Chimu state expanded rapidly until it controlled most of north and central Peru. However, their state was matched by a rising state to the south and around the year 1470AD the ruler of the Incan Empire, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, marched into Chan Chan and put an end to the Chimu empire and civilisation. Tupac Inca Yupanqui was the grandfather of the last Inca, Atahualpa and also the namesake of Tupac Amaru, whom Tupac Shakur was named after (a little bit of trivia for you there).

This has been a long post but it has covered, albeit briefly, a period of four thousand four hundred years and has hopefully given a glimpse into some of the civilisations that thrived before the famous Incas and the eventual Spanish conquest.

Related Blog Posts:
Some South American history from 4000-2000BC
Some South American history from 2000-1000BC
Some South American history from 1000-500BC