McNeish, Patterson y Browman. The Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere

THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN
PREHISTORIC INTERACTION
SPHERE
BY
RICHARD
PHILLIPS
MACNEISH, THOMAS C. PATTERSON

AND DAVID L. BROWMAN
S.
ACADEMY
ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS
PUBLISHED BY THE FOUNDATION

1975
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ROBERT S. PEABODY FOUNDATION

FOR ARCHAEOLOGY
PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER, MASS.
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IL The So-Called "Gorgets." By Charles Peabody and W.K.
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Explorations of Jacobs Cavern,
III.
etc.,
New
Mexico, Arizona, Indiana,

together with a Brief History of the Department. By War-
Narrative of Explorations of
ren K. Moorehead. (out of print)

IV. Part I. The Exploration of Bushey Cavern near Caveton, Maryland. By Charles Peabody. 1908. (out of print)
Part 2. Fort Ancient, the Great Prehistoric Earthwork of Warren
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Study of the Ceramic Art of the Etowans.
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PAPERS OF THE

FOR ARCHAEOLOGY
Volume Seven
PHILLIPS
ACADEMY

1975

SPHERE
PAPERS OF THE

FOR ARCHAEOLOGY
VOLUME SEVEN

SPHERE
BY
RICHARD
PHILLIPS
MACNEISH, THOMAS C. PATTERSON

AND DAVID L. BROWMAN
S.
ACADEMY

1975
COPYRIGHT,
1975
BY THE TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY
PRINTED BY
THE MERIDEN GRAVURE COMPANY

MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT
PREFACE
This paper started as an illustrated speech given by the senior
author on "The Central Peruvian Preceramic Interaction Sphere" at the
VIII International Congress of Protohistoric and Prehistoric Sciences,
in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in September of 1971.
It was heavily oriented
to the theme of the origins and spread of agriculture in central Peru.
It was about the right size for Science and the senior author thought
it could serve as a third annual report of the Ayacucho ArchaeologicalBotanical Project, much like an earlier article entitled "Ancient
Mesoamerican Civilization" done for the Tehuacan ArchaeologicalBotanical Project, in 1964.
However, the senior author felt somewhat insecure about some of

the data from the central coast of Peru so he consulted with the
second junior author, Thomas C. Patterson.
The latter expanded the
sections on the coastal preceramic and convinced the senior author
that the early ceramic periods were also relevant to the problems of
early agriculture.
Much
So, it was decided to rewrite the paper.
of this was done by Patterson and when it was completed it included
not only a new introduction but also a description of all the ceramic
periods, including those of the highlands which had been investigated
by the senior author. The manuscript was now about fifty pages too
long for Science but still could be printed as a third annual report
by the Robert S. Peabody Foundation.
However, neither of the authors
was fully satisfied with it.
,
First, the Ayacucho ceramic materials based upon the excavations

of the senior author's co-workers, Luis Lumbreras and Angel Garcia
Cook, were not adequately covered and, second, recent investigations
by a former student of Patterson's, David L. Browman, in the Huancayo
upper Mantaro seemed very relevant and had not been included. Thus,
it was decided to ask Browman to become a third author so that his
important data could be included. Once again, the authors rewrote a
steadily expanding manuscript. After a number of months it came out
so now it would
some ninety pages long (too big for an annual report)
have to be published as a small book that still needed some adequate
conclusions
,
Finally, by the spring of 1974, Patterson and the senior author

once again got together to finish this book and after an extended
weekend of arguments and writing, except for further work on the
conclusions by the senior author, this manuscript is the result.
None of the authors is totally satisfied with the results, but all
are losing their enthusiasm for this seemingly endless endeavor and
all feel there is a considerable amount of worthwhile information
that should be available to our colleagues.
Further, if we continue
Thus, here
as we have, none of it will ever be available in print!
it is
RICHARD
vii
S.
MACNEISH
Digitized by the Internet Archive

in
2013
http://archive.org/details/centralperuvianp07rich
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank at the outset our hosts, the Peruvians,
and not only just the officials but everybody Peruvian with whom we
were in contact. We were shown every courtesy and helped out at
every turn. Nevertheless, first and foremost, on an official level,
we owe a great debt of gratitude to Herman Buse de la Guerra, presidente del Patronata Nacional de Arqueologia during the periods we
were in the field, as well as to the then head of the Casa de Cultura
of Peru, Dr. Cesar Miro; Dr. Arturo Jimenez Borja, then sub-director;
and Dr. Carlos Guzman Ladron de Guevara, then director of the
Monumentos Arqueologicos
We also would like to thank Luis Lumbreras
and Ramiro Matos members of the Patronata, in whose archaeological
zone we worked, as well as Dr. Jorge Muelle C.
then director of the
Museo Nacional de Antropologia y Arqueologia, as well as his assistants, Antonio Espejo and Rogger Ravines.
.
The senior author, because he ran a somewhat larger interdisciplinary project for a longer period (1969-1972) in Ayacucho, is
indebted to a number of other people. First, he would like to thank
the National Science Foundation for its continued support of the
Peruvian work, as well as Fred Johnson who was director of the
Robert S. Peabody Foundation when the project started. Also, from
the home office, thanks are owed to Theodora George who so successfully administered the project with the help of our field administrators, Gordon Hadden and Raquel Chocano-Bryce.
In the field in Ayacucho, the senior author would like to express
his gratitude to the two who really ran the project Antoinette
Nelken-Terner of the C.N.R.S. of France and Angel Garcia Cook of the
I.N.A.H. of Mexico.
Fortunately, both of them were assisted by a
host of students to whom we are grateful.
This group would include:
Robert Vierra, Wayne Wiersum, Augusto Cruzatt, Urve Linnamae, Dennis
Price, Peter Jensen, Hernando Carillo, Willy Fajardo, Carlos Chahud,
Ulpiano Quispe, Victor Cardenas, Edmundo Pinto, S. Cutacora, Victor
Contreras, Freddy Ferrua, Alfredo Olivas, Oscar Parodi, Ernesto Saez,
Rubin Quinde, Fermin Fivera, Idilio Santillana, Elia Vasquez Juan
Villa, Theodoro Espino, Fernando Arce, Lucho Greta, Eduardo Tello,
Jaime Urrutia and Mario Vasquez. We also were very fortunate in
having Dr. Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, then of the University of San
Marcos and his students Berta Vargas, Rosa Mendoza, Fernandes and
Marcela Rios Rodriguez work with us, as well as Luis Benevides of
the University of Huamanga.
It was a pleasure working with them and
we were grateful for what they did for the project.
Beside these anthropological workers, the senior author would

like to thank a host of other scientists who worked with our interdisciplinary project. These would include Dr. Barbara Pickersgill, a
botanist from the University of Reading, England; Drs. Elizabeth Wing
and Kent V. Flannery from the Florida State Museum and the University
ix
of Michigan respectively the physicists , Drs Rainer Berger and Reiner

Protsch of U.C.L.A., and James Buckley of Teledyne Isotopes; Inc.,
our geologist, Dr. Nathaniel Rutter of the Geological Survey of
Canada; the botanists, Drs. Walton Galinat and Laurence Kaplan of the
University of Massachusetts; as well as Dr. Thomas Whittaker, then
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; paleontologists, Dr. Grayson
Meade then of the University of Calgary, Dr. Brian Patterson of
Harvard University, and Dr. Robert Hoffstetter of the C.N.R.S. of
France; and Dr. Vaughn Bryant of the University of Texas with his
;
coprolite studies.
In conclusion, we would also like to pay special tribute to
Dr. Eric 0. Callen who died during the pursuit of his specialized
studies in Ayacucho. We deeply regret that science has lost such
a worthy contributor and that we have lost a friend.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
Coping with Environment Diversity
The Chronological and
CHAPTER
II
Spatial
Frameworks
THE SEQUENCE OF PERIODS
12
Period
20,000
13,000
B.C
12
Period
13,000
10,000
B.C
13
Period
10,000
7000 B.C
Period
7000
5500 B.C
20
Period
5500
4200 B.C.
24
Period
4200
2500 B.C
28
Period
2500
1750 B.C
32
Period
1750
1050 B.C
37
Period
1050
450 B.C
42
16
A.D. 300
47
650
52
A.D. 650
850
57
Period 13
A.D. 850
ca.
Period 14
ca A.D. 1425
Period 10
450 B.C.
Period 11
A.D. 300
Period 12
CHAPTER
III
62
1425
-
68
1534
CONCLUSIONS
75
BIBLIOGRAPHY
93
xii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
1.
The major excavated

the Ayacucho Basin
Figure
2.
The
archaeological sites in the ecological zones of
a typical highland zone of ecological diversity.
principal investigated regions of the Central Peruvian Prehis-
toric Interaction Sphere.
Figure
3.
An
10
isometric view from the south of the southern part of the
Aya-
cucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

7000-10,000 B.C.
patterns during Period 3
Figure
4.
An
isometric view from the south of the southern part of the
5.
6.
23
An isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interaction

Sphere showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence pat5500-4200 B.C.
terns during Period 5
Figure
19
Aya-
cucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

7000-5500 B.C.
Figure
An
isometric view from the south of the
27
Ayacucho Basin showing
the reconstructed settlement and subsistence patterns during Period

6
Figure
7.
4200-2500 B.C.
An
31
isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interac-
showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

2500-1750 B.C.
tion Sphere
Figure
8.
36
An isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interaction

Sphere showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence patterns during Period 8
1750-1050 B.C.
xn
41
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
1.
TABLE
2.
The sequence
of periods
Sequences of pre-ceramic and early ceramic phases in some

of the regions of the various life zones of the Central Peruvian
Interaction Sphere
TABLE
3.
11
Sequences of excavated and surface pre-ceramic and eany

ceramic components in the environmental zones of the Aya-
cucho Basin
22
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
Since the late 1940 's archaeologists have usually dealt with
long-term processes of socio-economic development in nuclear areas
of civilization like the Near East, Mesoamerica, and Peru
in terms
of a sequence of cultural stages through which all of the inhabitants
eventually passed at roughly the same time (Willey 1966)
Previously
it was thought that the earliest inhabitants of these areas were
hunters and gatherers, suspiciously reminiscent of the Great Basin
Shoshone described by Julian H. Steward, who eked out a living by
hunting large game or by wandering from one place to another as the
various seasonal food resources became available. Towards the end
of this stage of cultural development, some of the inhabitants were
already exploiting plants with the potential for domestication.
It
was speculated that eventually agriculture and animal husbandry were
developed for various reasons and the inhabitants were no longer
dependent on nature for their food. Therefore, since these foodproducing activities required them to spend more time each year in
one place than they had done previously, year-round settlements
eventually emerged. As their numbers increased it was assumed that
some of these settlements eventually grew into cities, markets
developed, and social stratification appeared between different
segments of the society as some individuals devoted their energies
exclusively to food production and others to full-time craft
specialities or to various political and religious activities.
Presumably as the population expanded, increasingly elaborate water
management systems were created to open up new farm lands to support
the growing numbers of people.
According to this argument, new levels
of political control were devised as water became a more precious
commodity and conflicts over its availability increased. As a result,
states of varying size and duration developed in response to these
conflicts, as the members of one community and then another imposed
their wills on the peoples they conquered.
In the New World, at least,
this natural process of socio-economic development was brought to an
end by European invasions during the first half of the sixteenth
century
In the early 1950' s, because of the interest in cultural ecology,

some noted that there was considerable ecological diversity in these
nuclear areas of civilization and that the inhabitants of various
regions might have had access to quite different kinds of resources
(MacNeish 1954; Coe and Flannery 1964). The recognition of interregional differences led them to focus on symbiosis as a mechanism of
Each
cultural development in these areas (Sanders and Price 1968)
environmental zone produced its own variety of goods, and the commodities of one zone were exchanged for those of another. Such
exchanges were usually seen as taking place in some kind of marketceremonial center, largely because of the emphasis that was placed
on Near Eastern and Mesoamerican data in formulating this model
(Braidwood and Willey 1962).
.
(3)
Peruvian Interaction Sphere
Further development of the regional interaction model was

severely hindered by the lack of archaeological data. Thus, in order
to overcome this limitation, some archaeologists combined data from
relatively well-known regions with any information they had about the
unknown regions to produce a single sequence of cultural development
that was applicable in all of the various environmental zones of the
As data accumulated rapidly in various
nuclear area (Willey 1966)
nuclear areas during the 1960's, it became increasingly apparent that
the processes of socio-economic development occurring in radically
different ecozones of the same nuclear area might be fundamentally
different from each other.
.
For instance, many of the investigators of the Natufian villages

in the Levant even into the mid- 1960's firmly believed that evidence
of agriculture would be found showing that this area developed like
those of the hilly flanks of the Near East (Perrot 1962, Kenyon 1960;
Braidwood 1968). However, Zeuner's opinion was that, "The economy
of the PPNA settlement is only an intensified form of food collection
Later invesin the Oasis and its peripheries" (Perrot 1962, p. 152).
tigation by Perrot in other Natufian sites (Perrot 1966) and by Van
Loon at Mureybit (Van Loon 1968) confirmed Zeuner's speculations.
MacNeish in 1964 on the basis of large pre-ceramic villages without
grinding stones found by Ford in Veracruz, and noting that the
Brushes on the Guerrero coast also wrote that these marine villages
did not have agriculture, although contemporaneous highland bands in
Tehuacan and Tamaulipas had domesticated a host of plants at the
same time, observed that these two separate developments were
interstimulating each other (MacNeish 1966). Patterson and
Lanning felt also that agriculture was intrusive into the marineoriented way of life on the central coast of Peru (Patterson and
Lanning 1964).
So, short circuits were beginning to occur in the
party line.
Until recently, it was not possible to verify these suspicions

or hypotheses, because data from adjacent regions in the same nuclear
area with significantly different ecologies were simply not available
However, in the 1970 's, as a result of intensive archaeological
investigations carried out during the past years on the central coast,
on the western slopes of the Andes, and in the upper and middle parts
of the Mantaro Valley in the central highlands, a new concept has
emerged
Central Peru is an ecological mosaic composed of a number of different environmental zones.
In fact, the area is one of the most
environmentally diverse regions in the world where even a few hours'
journey can take one through three or four very differnt environmental zones. Much of this diversity is patterned, however. Two important patterns exist. The first is a repetitive one consisting of a
series of zones that repeat themselves every twenty to thirty kilometers.
It is most apparent on the west side of the Andes, where
fertile river valleys with abundant food resources are separated from
each other by stretches of barren hills and desert.
It also occurs
Figure
1.
The major excavated archaeological sites in the ecological

zones of the Ayacucho Basin - a typical highland zone of
ecological diversity.
in the highlands, where river valleys at varying elevations are

separated from each other by stretches of gently rolling puna grassThe other pattern is a linear
lands and towering snow-covered peaks.
one consisting of a sequence of zones that never repeat themselves.
Again, it is most apparent on the west side of the Andes because of
Today, corn, cotton,
the steep elevation gradients that occur there.
and other crops requiring long growing seasons are planted at low
elevations; potatoes and other root crops are planted above the 3,000
meter contour; and grazing lands occur at higher elevations where the
number of frost-free days is too small to permit farming. This linear
arrangement of environmental zones also exists in other parts of the
highlands, where the variations are not only due to elevations but
also to other environmental factors as well climatic, soils, and
geological structure, to name but a few of the more obvious ones.
(See Figure 1)
Coping With Environmental Diversity

In order to meet their minimal needs, groups living in the
upper part of the Mantaro Valley, for example, used roughly the same
subsistence techniques that were available to groups living in
different environmental settings in the same or another valley. A
group that needed something that was not available or could not be
produced locally had to deal with the linear arrangement of food
resource areas.
Its members could acquire the particular resource
only by gaining access to land in an environmental setting where it
was available. A group wanting something that was in short supply
locally had to deal with the repetitive arrangement of resource
areas.
Its members could only acquire additional supplies of this
commodity by gaining access to lands in similar environmental settings
in adjacent areas.
Market places and market exchange are, of course, one way this
can happen; goods are brought from the various zones where they occur
to a central place, and the people determine the prices of the various
items in terms of the principles of supply and demand.
An individual
will sell his own goods and buy those that he cannot produce. However, ethnohistoric sources indicate that markets and the market
exchange principle were not very important in the Andean area prior
Even
to the arrival of the Europeans in the sixteenth century.
as
we
have
today, Andean markets are not as important economically
been led to believe by anthropologists who have emphasized their
similarities to those found elsewhere in the world, rather than their
differences. Nobody who has ever spent even a little time shopping in
Latin American markets for the essentials of life would confuse what
happens in an Andean market with what happens in those of Mexico. The
functions of markets and the behavior associated with them are very
different in the Andean area.
The Andean peoples worked out a distinctive way of coping with
the environmental diversity of their area.
This has been called the
"ideal of community self-sufficiency," "vertical control" of ecological zones, and the "archipelago model" (Murra 1972).
The first term
Introduction
7-
emphasizes what the people were actually trying to do:

to have access
they
needed
to sustain themselves throughout
to all of the resources
These groups range in size at the present time from the
the year.
individual nuclear family to the comunidad indigena and can include
virtually any social unit with intermediate numbers.
In the past,
these groups ranged in size from a few thousand individuals to kingdoms with populations of more than 100,000 according to ethnohistoric
information. The other two terms vertical control and the archipelago
model emphasize the spatial arrangement of resources in the Andean
area and of the people exploiting them. All of the resources utilized
by a group do not occur naturally or cannot be produced in a single
environmental zone; consequently, the members of a group must exploit
several different resource areas which are usually not contiguous
with each other. This means that various parts of a group lived and
worked in different localities and were often separated from each
other by several days' journey. As a result, their landholding patterns resembled a chain of islands of varying sizes, each located in
a different environmental zone where certain resources were available
and separated from one another by lands belonging to other groups.
The segments of a population, scattered over the landscape and

frequently separated from each other by considerable distances, were
interdependent and were bound together by kin ties and membership in
The modes of economic integrathe same social unit or ethnic group.
tion for most commodities involved reciprocity and redistribution,
The individuals in one
rather than the market exchange principle.
locality gave their goods and services to individuals in other localities where these commodities were absent or in short supply and, in
return, received what they could not provide for themselves.
These reciprocal transactions probably occurred in various ways:

sporadic traffic or regular traffic between kin-related aggregates or
between different segments of the population; redistribution centers
where goods were collected, stored, and reapportioned among the various localized segments of the group; kinship exchanges; and probably
ceremonies held at various times of the year which brought two or
more segments together in the same place. All of these mechanisms
can be documented in the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature.
In addition there was long distance traffic in certain commodiFor
ties that were processed by specialists in certain centers.
example, spondylus shells which grow in warm waters off coastal
Ecuador that were a favorite food in Peru occur at many prehistoric
Peruvian sites (Murra 1972)
Another example might be the making of
turquoise ornaments of imported raw materials in the Las Turquesas
compound at Huari that seem to have been redistributed through and
from that important center. Exactly how this traffic occurred is not
clear at the present time; however, it need not be based on the market
exchange principle, since there are many examples of pre-capitalist
societies where such traffic was administered by leaders of ethnic
Further, it seems
groups or through some redis tributive mechanism.
possible some of the mechanism may have pushed the balance of payments
in favor of dominant segments of Andean groups.
.
The Chronological and Spatial Frameworks

In order to present and discuss the evidence for interaction
patterns in central Peru, we have established chronological and
spatial frameworks that differ somewhat from those commonly used in
We have divided the time from about 20,000
the central Andean area.
B.C. to A.D. 1534 into fourteen periods that correspond in the following ways with the most commonly used chronological frameworks:
TABLE
Period
20,000 to 13,000 B.C.
Preceramic Period
(early)
Period
13,000 to 10,000 B.C.
Preceramic Period
(late)
Period
10,000 to 7000 B. C.
Preceramic Periods II and III

(early)
Period 4
7000 to 5500 B.C.
Preceramic Period III (late)
Period
5500 to 4200 B.C.
Preceramic Period IV
Period
4200 to 2500 B.C.
Preceramic Period V
Period
2500 to 1750 B.C.
Preceramic Period VI
Period 8
1750 to 1050 B.C.
Initial Period
Period
1050 to 450 B.C.
Early Horizon Epochs
Period 10
450 B.C. to A.D. 300
Early Horizon Epoch 7 to Early

Intermediate Period Epoch 3B
Period 11
A.D. 300 to A.D. 650
Early Intermediate Period Epocl

3C to Middle Horizon Epoch IB
Period 12
A.D.
Middle Horizon Epoch 2A to 2B
Period 13
A.D. 850 to A.D.
Period 14
A.D.
650 to A.D. 850
1425 to A.D.
1425
1534
to 6
Middle Horizon Epoch 3 to Late

Intermediate Period Epoch 7
Late Intermediate Period Epoch
to Late Horizon
There is no fundamental conflict between our chronological framework and the more widely used ones in the Andean area; we merely found
different moments in time more convenient for dividing one period from
the next.
The absolute dates assigned to these periods, particularly
the first twelve of them, are only approximations at the present time,
and will undoubtedly have to be revised somewhat as the correlation
between radiocarbon measurements and the Christian calendar is worked
out in more detail.
Introduction
We have divided central Peru into only four regions on the basis
of where archaeological field investgiat ions have been carried out
which give at least some data in all of our periods. These are the
Ancon-Chilca Region on the central coast, the Huarochiri Region on
the upper western slopes of the Andes in central Peru, the HuancayoJunin Region in the upper part of the Mantaro Valley in central Peru,
and the Ayacucho-Huanta Region in the middle Mantaro Valley and on
Obviously, considering only
the upper eastern slopes of the Andes.
four regions does not give a complete picture of the area nor does
Ideally,
it show all the interaction that may have been going on.
we would have liked to include in this study data from the selva,
montana and other parts of the western Andean flanks, such as the
Callejon de Huaylas, but we have not done so because complete
sequence, particularly on the crucial preceramic levels, does not
exist (Lynch and Kennedy 1970). We believe, however, that even the
data we shall present does give the outlines of the sort of processes
that were taking place over long-time periods in this interaction
Future studies, particularly in the other sort of environsphere.
mental or life zones of central Peru, we hope will not only test our
hypotheses about culture process, but also supplement them, modify
them, and even correct them.
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Figure
2.
Ocean
The principal investigated regions of the central Peruvian

Prehistoric Interaction Sphere.
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N
CHAPTER II
THE SEQUENCE OF PERIODS
Period
20,000
13,000 B.C.
Our evidence for this period in the Central Peruvian Interaction

However, we do have some excavated
sphere is woefully inadequate.
remains which are somewhat better documented than others of this time
period not only in South America but also in North America. Because
of the uniqueness of these remains, we are describing them rather
fully even though our evidence of Interaction at this period is nil.
The Ayacucho-Huanta Region
The Pacaicasa Phase from Zones k through il of Pikimachay Cave,

Bones of
has four radiocarbon determinations that pertain to it.
Zone j bear a determination at 17,650 + 3000 B.C. made by the UCLA
Laboratory (UCLA 1653A) that is confirmed by a date of 18,250 + 1050
B.C. (I5851A) made by Isotopes, Inc. on part of the same worked bone
while the overlying Zine i bears a bone collagen date of 14,100
+ 1200 B.C. (UCLA 1653B) and Zone il is dated at 12,750 + 1400 B.C.
(UCLA 1653C)
While there may be some doubts about the accuracy of
the UCLA dates that are neatly in stratigraphic order, the conformity
date of Zone j by Isotopes (1585 1-A) has only a - sigma figure of
The phase is represented by
919 + 10 that can hardly be questioned.
71 artifacts studied by our flint -knapping experts C. Phagan,
R. Knudson and A. Nelken-Terner
Also, there were about 100 flakes
and cores, some of which are foreign to the cave, in association with
96 bones of extinct animals, some (about 8) of which have been worked
in the four lowest cement-like strata, Zones k, j, il, and i of
Pikimachay Cave. The artifacts include four kinds, the most numerous
All but one are made of volcanic
(21) being a sort of chopping tool.
tufa, probably from the cave wall itself, and the majority of them
Two of these have straight, almost concave
(13) are made from slabs.
edges while eleven have convex edges.
Four others are bifacial
(chipped to a rough ellipsoidal form), and four have evidence of
their being used as a hammer and one of them is of basalt foreign to
the cave.
Also made from large chunks of volcanic tufa are a series
of
unifacial tools with deep concave edges. Of these, two have
(19)
two deep concave edges showing evidence of retouching and use.
These
we have called spokeshaves but they could very well have been used
to scrape meat or bone rather than wood.
The other major group (17
tools) are thinner unifaces with retouching and/or use along a
straight to convex edge; of these 17, two of the thinner ones are
pointed and could have served as projectile points, while one from
the top Zone i has a burin blow on it.
Of the other 14 large artifacts, two are of material foreign to the cave; one of these is
roughly piano convex, and both have chipping along one of their
narrow edges. Five have been chipped in such a way that there are a
series (2 to 6) spurs or denticulates on them. Microscopic study
of wear-patterns suggest they were used as choppers and scrapers.
s
(12)
The Periods
13
Although there have been expressed some doubts that these objects are
tools, this has only been done by those who have not studied all the
artifacts in question (Lynch 1974)
The associated bones are mainly of unidentified species of giant
ground-sloths and include a jaw, a tooth, 13 vertebrae, 4 scapular
fragments (two of which have been cut), a radius, 3 ulnae, 2 metapodials, 1 carpal bone, 1 phalanx, 2 ribs, and 4 fragments of long
bones, all of which had been shattered by chopping or hammering.
However, one tooth from Zone il has been identified as Scelidotherium
tarijensis , and a fragment of a jaw, sternum, humerus, and two medapodials, all but one from Zone i, belong to Scelidotherium sp. as
do nine bones (2 jaw fragments, 3 cannon bones, 2 femora, a carpal
bone and a metapodial) are of horse, identified as Equus andium
.
Also from the same zone are 3 femora and a jaw bone of the
rodent Phyllotis sp., and from Zone i is a vertebra and femur of a
There also was a single femur of a deer from
large carnivore.
Zone j
Although the sample of bones identified by Dr. Brian Patterson

is small, there is a suggestion of climatic change during Pacaicasa
times.
Analysis of the soils of these deposits by N. Rutter is not
complete, but even chemical analyses from the various zones tends to
confirm the climatic change by hypothesis, for Zones k and j are less
acidic (pH of 6.7 to 7.7) than are i and il (pH of 7.85 to 8.15) and
also have traces of organic matter, while Zone i has traces of
organic matter, while Zone i has traces (.83 and .42) of carbonates.
The deer bone plus the evidence of lower acidity and organic
matter in the soils suggest Zone j was perhaps at a wet climatic
period when there was vegetation of a more woodland-type near the
cave, while the bones of horse, rodents, and cat, plus the soils,
suggest Zones i and il were at a drier period when the vegetation
was of a more grassland-type. What this means in terms of more
general geologic periods is difficult to determine on the basis of
our present analysis, and the two opinions now given are dramatically
opposed to each other. N. Rutter and T. Patterson suggest the earlier
wet-period, roughly from 22,000 to 17,000 to 15,000 B.P., are of an
interstadial, while MacNeish takes the opposite view. Either interpretation has an obviously wider implication concerning glaciation
not only in the Andes but also in the world, and much more study of
this problem is needed (Martin 1972) and the existence of the complex
cannot be ignored because of incomplete ecological data (Lynch 1974)
Period
2}
13,000
10,000 B.C.
Again materials of this time are relatively sparse for not only
Peru but much of South and North America.
It is rather surprising
from three of its
materials
that the Central Peruvian area has some
Since the
four regions where there is some evidence of interactions.
ecofacts and artifacts from the Ayacucho complex are perhaps the most
14
fully documented for any region in the New World, we again will be
giving proportionately more descriptions of them than we shall for
other manifestations written about in this volume.
The Ancon-Chilca Region
The Red Zone Complex was isolated in the lowest layer of a

stratified quarry-workshop at Cerro Chivateros in the Chillon Valley.
The artifacts, including a river cobble hammerstone, probably date
between 11,500 and 10,500 B.C., judging by the geological context in
which they occur. The Oquendo Complex was isolated at a site about
four kilometers south of Cerro Chivateros and possibly has an age
The Tortuga Complex, found in the lower
of 10,500 to 9,500 B.C.
Lurin Valley, shares tool types with the Red Zone and Oquendo Complexes and as a result has an estimated age of possibly 11,000 to
10,000 B.C.
The only evidence for subsistence activities comes from the
and large quantities of
Tortuga site.
It is located in the lomas
beach-dwelling marine molluscs occur there. Presumably, the Tortuga
population ate marine shellfish and lomas plants during the coastal
They may also have consumed game that
wet season (June-October)
lived in the lomas during the wet season and on the valley floor
during the dry season (November-May)
,
The Huancayo-Junin Region
A small assemblage of obsidian tools and flakes was found at

Hurpac, which is located on the edge of a small glacial lake near
Jauja in the Mantaro Valley. Judging by the similarities between
these tools and those of better dated complexes in the central Andes,
the assemblage has an estimated age of 11,000 to 10,000 B.C.
Our second phase, Ayacucho from roughly 15,500 B.P. to 13,000
B.P., as well as the seven artifacts from an unnamed complex , roughly
in the period from 13,000 to 11,000 B.P. also, have more bearing on
the problem of early man in America than they do on the early domestication of plants and animals. However, unlike most areas of the New
World, there is sufficient material even at this early period from a
number of regions in central Peru to furnish hints of interactions
between various spheres of the area a process that is of key importance in the understanding of the origin and spread of domesticates
in later periods.
,
The Ayacucho complex also comes from Pikimachay Cave, specifically from Zones hi and h. A bone from Zone h bears the date of
12,200 + 180 years B.C. (UCLA 1964).
These two zones have produced
209 artifacts, over a thousand chips and cores (about one hundred of
which have been worked) in association with 517 animal bones, and a
relatively large sample of pollen. Tools are a continuation of most
The Periods
15
of the older type albeit in very different proportions except slabchoppers, but now almost as many of them were made of chalcedony, pebbles, basalt, etc., all foreign to the cave, as from local material.
New types of tools occur and include split-pebble scraper-planes (5)
and spokeshaves (6) , pebble-choppers (3) , a series of flake sidescrapers or knives (22), unifacial projectile points (9), projectile
points made from horse metapodials (2), a point from a sloth's rib,
seven burins and a fluted wedge, two fleshing tools made from sloth
ribs, an ulna-awl, an antler-punch, and an ornament, cut from a
Distributions of bones and artifacts in Zone h show
camel's phalanx.
five concentrations suggesting five forays into the cave when a number
of activities were undertaken, although the initial purpose may have
been to beard the beast (sloth) in his den.
Bones include many (168) sloth bones from almost every part of
the body, while two jaws and a humerus are of a large species of
Scelidotherium, a tooth is of a small species of this genus, and a
humerus, carpal, femur, and nine radii are of Megatherium tarijense
Deer bones (25) occur, and there are six limb fragments and a
tooth of Equus andium 27 bones of the rodent Phyllotis three limbbones of a large cat, 13 limb-bones of a puma ( Felix concolor )
a
skull and radius of Pus icy on sp., a jaw and vertebrae of Conepatus
limbs of Lagidium peruanum , and six bones of llama, all the latter in
doubtful contexts.
It might be added that there is also a child's
jaw with teeth, a radius, some phalanges and ribs the oldest remains
of man himself in South America.
,
The kinds of animals uncovered suggest a wet climate and more

woodland environs around the cave. This is confirmed by the pollen
that includes Alnus (47 grains), Salix (3), Compositae (15),
Dodonaea (28), sedge (11), Gramineae (73), 8 Chenopediaceae,
2 Ephedra, 2 Caryophyllaceae
and 2 Amaryllidaceae.
,
This complex of pollen and other materials contrasts with that

in the overlying Zone h_ which contained a scraper-plane, four flake
side-scrapers, a prismatic blade, and a fragment of a lenticular
point with a diamond-shaped cross-section associated with a horse
The
medapodial, three llama bones, and two bones of Phyllotis
pollen contains mainly grass (127), some Compositae (25), sedge (17),
Artemisia (1)
and Alnus (19)
as well as Dodonaea viscosa (2)
Rosaceae (3), Cruciferae (3), Ranunculaceae (3), Polemoniaceae (2),
Alternanthera (5), Gentianaceae (1), and Bromeliaceae (2).
.
Again, there are different interpretations with our geologist

suggesting Zone h is of a glacial advance and Zone h as the first
postglacial phase, while MacNeish is of the opinion that Zone h of
14,000 B.P. is of an interstadial and Zone h of 13,000 to 11,000 B.P.
represents the final glacial advance. Again more study is necessary.
16
Interactions
On a regional basis, obsidian which does not outcrop on the
central coast, occurs at the Oquendo quarry site in the lower
Chillon Valley.
Its presence suggests that some raw materials were
exchanged between coastal and highland populations. The occurrence
of burins in the Oquendo, Hurpac and Ayacucho complexes suggests that
flint-knapping techniques were also shared by coastal and highland
populations in central Peru.
On a more general level these central Peruvian complexes with
their emphasis on unifacial tools including burins as well as the bone
tools in Ayacucho have similarities to other early complexes in
In the immediate area these would be the poorly
Latin America.
analyzed Guitarrero la materials from the Callejon de Huaylas which
bear at least one date of 12,560 + 360 B.P. (Gx 1859) (Lynch and
Kennedy 1970) while the materials from El Abra Cave in Colombia dated
at 12,400 + 160 (Gx 5556) (Hurt and Van der Hammen 1972), the materials
from 11 and 12 of Los Toldos Cave, Patagonia dated at 12,600 + 600
(BUA-1) (Cardich, Cardich and Hajdak 1973), the Valsequillo materials
from Puebla, Mexico dated at 21,850 + 850 (W1895) (Irwin-Williams
1973), and Tlapacoya from the Valley of Mexico dated at 23,150 + 950
(Gx 959) and 24,000 + 400 (A794B) (Mirambell 1973), and, perhaps, the
lower levels of the Alice Boer site in Brazil might also be related.
,
Period
3j_
10,000 - 7,000 B.C.
The kinds of relationships that existed between coastal and highland populations in central Peru, as well as their intensity, appear
to have changed significantly from the preceding period.
There is
evidence that raw materials continued to be exchanged and flintknapping techniques were still shared by highland tool assemblages
during this period; however, they are less striking than before.
The
tool assemblages of coastal populations have closer ties to ones
found in arid and semi-arid environments elsewhere in western South
America than to those found in the highlands of central Peru.
The Chivateros I (ca. 9500-8500 B.C.), Chivateros II (8500-7000

B.C.), and Pampilla (7500-ca 7000 B.C.) Complexes have been isolated
at the stratified quarry -workshop on Cerro Chivateros and at other
localities in the lower Chillon Valley. The Conchitas Complex from
the lower Lurin Valley has its closest relationships with the Chivateros II materials from the north.
.
The best evidence for subsistence admittedly inadequate comes

from the Conchitas site and indicates that the population consumed
marine shellfish and lomas resources during the coastal wet season.
Judging by the large numbers of projectile points in all of the complexes, the central coast populations hunted game that lived in the
lomas during wet season and on the valley floors during the dry
The Periods
season.
17
If their predecessors in the area made projectile points out
of perishable materials rather than stone, which seems likely given

the nature of the tool assemblages, then hunting may have been no more
important than it was earlier.
The Huarochiri Region
Radiocarbon measurements from the lower levels of Tres

Ventanas Cave indicate that it was occupied during this period
(Engel 1970).
The abundance of projectile point and end scraper
types, some of which are similar to those of the Puente Complex in
the Ayacucho-Huanta Region, suggest that hunting was one of the main
activities of the earliest known inhabitants of this area. No data
are available on the size of the occupation or on the seasonality of
their activities.
Matos has excavated a high elevation cave called Panalagua,

which is located southwest of Lake Junin. There are vast quantities
of large mammal bones in the lower levels of the cave which indicate a
series of specialized hunting camps.
The artifacts are very similar
to those of the Puente Complex; however, there are more Lauricocha I
type points and leaf -shaped points like those of Chivateros II than
occur in the Puente and early Tres Ventanas Complexes.
Similar sites,
occurring at lower elevations, have been found north of Lake Junin
and suggest that some sort of seasonally scheduled hunting activities
may have played an important role in the subsistence economy of this
region
R.
Components containing Puente Complex (9000-7100 B.C.) artifacts

have been excavated and found on the surface in three of the present
day environment zones of the area. However, soil profiles and
pollen suggest that one of the present environmental zones the thorn
forest was much diminished by the wet conditions and that much of
its area was covered by forests.
Mammal bones found in these assemblages indicate that the Riverine thorn forests were occupied during
the wet season (October-March) and that the much expanded humid woodland environment zone was occupied during the dry season (AprilSeptember)
The main activity of the dry season camp was hunting deer
and camelids, although there was also some trapping and plant collecting being done.
This contrasts with the activities being carried out
at the excavated wet season camps which contain proportionately fewer
deer and camelids and more cavia and other small mammals probably
obtained by trapping. Although the evidence is not conclusive, it
strongly suggests that there was some kind of seasonally scheduled
subsistence system in the area. All of the six excavated components
are uniformly small in size and suggest that the base group was a
microband composed of not more than a couple of families.
18
Interactions
Several conceptually distinct processes seem to be taking place
during this period. For descriptive purposes, it is convenient to
divide them into two groups, one of which is concerned with what is
happening on a continent-wide scale and the other of which is concerned with what is happening in central Peru partly as a result of
the first group of changes.
On a continental scale, two processes seem to be taking place in

late glacial and early postglacial times. The first which is very
poorly understood is a change in the distribution and configuration
of major environmental zones after the glacial maximum pattern toward
something resembling their modern distribution and configuration. The
second is the distribution of certain point types in South America
which seem possibly correlated with the distributions of their illdefined environmental zones during this period.
Fluted or basically thinned projectile points occur mainly in

relatively moist grassland environments and include ones from highland
and coastal Ecuador, the El Inga I Complex (Bell 1965) and the isolated fluted point fragment from Carolina on the Santa Elena Peninsula; Panama, the unassociated points from Madden Lake (Sanders 1959);
the southern tip of South America, the Magellan I (Bird 1969) and Los
Toldos, level 9-10 (Cardich, Cardich and Hajdak 1973) Complexes, and
eastern South America, various isolated Magellan I type points found
in eastern Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.
The second group of tools are characterized by nonstemmed
percussion-flaked bifaces that have been referred to as the Andean
Biface Horizon (Lanning 1967)
Assemblages assigned to this tradition
occur mainly in arid or semi-arid environments and include all of the
coastal complexes mentioned above as well as ones from Venezuela (the
late Joboid Series)
coastal Ecuador (the Manantial Complex) northern
Chile (possibly the Talabre, Loma Negra, and Aguas Verdes Complexes),
northern Argentina (possibly the Altoparana I Complex from Lomada in
northeastern Argentina) and along the Parana River in Paraguay
(Willey 1971).
.
The third complex would be characterized by straight and incipient stemmed points with weak shoulders and this complex seems to
have occurred in the forested area of Venezuela, Brazil and highland
Colombia.
The Toquendama complex of Colombia (Correal 1974) Casitas
of Venezuela (Rouse and Cruxent 1963) the Lagoa Santa (Hurt and
Blasi 1969) and middle levels of the Alice Boer site of Brazil
(Conceicao 1973) might be examples of such an adaptive complex.
The fourth group characterized by relatively large incipient
stemmed points with sharp shoulders seems to correlate with wetter
environments of high elevations. Perhaps it should be divided into
two groups based upon environmental adaptations.
Lauricocha I as
found in cave L2, layer R-Q (Cardich 1964), Guitarrero Ila-Ib (Lynch
SETTLEMENT PATTERN
Spring-Summer (October-March) Microband Camp

Fall-Winter (April -September) Microband
Camp
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES
BHHunting
C
]Trapping
Plant Collecting
Figure
3.
An isometric view from the south of the southern part of the

Ayacucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and
subsistence patterns during Period 3:
10,000-7000 B.C.
20
and Kennedy 1970), Peru, Puente of Ayacucho (MacNeish, Nelken-Terner

and Garcia Cook 1970), the lowest level of Tres Ventana Cave (Engel
1972) and others would be examples of this somewhat better defined
group
On the other level, four processes seem to be occurring in

central Peru. First, the presence of obsidian in all of the highland
regions, even those where it does not outcrop, as well as Chilca and
Paracas sites on the coast indicates the continuing exchange of raw
Second, in the lowest levels of Tres Ventanas Cave there
materials.
are shells and plants definitely imported from the coast (Engel 1970)
but this is hardly the transhumance process Lynch writes of (Lynch
Apparently, food resources were moved from at least one region
1967).
Third, the
to another seemingly for the first time in central Peru.
similarities between some of the Early Panalagua and Puente projectile
points and lithic techniques and those of the Chivateros II Complex
on the coast indicate a continuing relationship between the coastal
Fourth, all of the groups are apparently beginand highland regions.
ning to practice some form of seasonally scheduled subsistence system.
Period 4:
7000 - 5500 B.C.
This period is characterized by a number of features.

First,
the pattern of tool kits that were closely correlated with the distribution of major environmental zones in the preceding period broke
down rapidly, presumably as populations of different parts of these
biomes gained greater understanding of their local regions and developed different economic orientations.
Second, there were closer ties
between the coastal and highland populations of central Peru. Raw
materials and some food resources continued to be exchanged between
the highlands and coast, and there was an increased exchange of
technological ideas.
There are no known archaeological assemblages from the central

The lomas
coast that date to the first millenium of this period.
began to expand significantly along their lower edges after 6000 B.C.
because of increased precipitation; consequently, lomas food resources
were more plentiful than they had been earlier. The lomas between
Ancon and the lower Chillon Valley was occupied during the wet season
This
that manufactured the Arenal Complex ( ca 6000-5300 B.C.).
group utilized the abundant plant resources of the lomas, hunted game
that grazed in the area, and supplemented these foods with rockdwelling marine shellfish that were brought from the ocean which is
an hour and a half's walk at the closest.
Gourd used for containers
was also present in refuse at the site. During the dry season, the
population presumably returned to the floor of the Chillon Valley and
exploited the seasonal resources that were available in these
habitats
.
The Periods
21
The middle levels of Tres Ventanas Cave date to this period

Many of the artifacts are similar to those of the
(Engel 1970).
Junin Complex, and the large numbers of projectile points and scrapers
may again be taken as evidence for the importance of hunting in the
subsistence economy of the region.
Coastal materials such as marine
shellfish and possibly stone suggest either some sort of exchange
network or transhumance pattern involving the coast during this
period
The Huancayo- Junin Region
The middle levels of Panalagua Cave in the high puna the lower
levels of Pachamachay Cave near Lake Junin in the lower puna and the
lower levels of Cuchimachay Cave on a stream at the base of the puna
have all yielded a single artifact complex the Junin Complex that is
not radically different from the Jaywa Complex of the Ayacucho-Huanta
Region in terms of its projectile point and scraper types.
Camelid
It is possible that the
bones are abundant in all three localities.
population of this region hunted on the basis of some sort of seasonal
round; however, the exact nature of these activities still remains to
be worked out.
,
The Jaywa Complex (7100-5800 B.C.) is represented by many ecofacts and artifacts from 12 excavated components and one surface site.
Jaywa sites occur in five of the six environmental zones of the
region. A site excavated in the Humid Woodlands zone contained five
living floors that represent dry-season microband camps, judging by
the large quantities of dry-season mammal bone and projectile points.
Furthermore, there were achiote seeds on one of the floors, and two
of the three human feces recovered contained the stem of a berry, a
grass seed, and monocot and dicot plant fibers in addition to meat
Thus, the dry-season hunters of the Humid Woodland were also
debris.
collecting some plant foods. Two sites in the low puna seem to have
had similar subsistence patterns. One excavated site then in a wetter
thorn scrub contained bones and seeds and probably represents a
microband occupation of hunters and plant collectors during the latA slightly later floor
ter part of the dry-season (August-September)
at the same site, about 5600 B.C., contained Piki Complex artifacts
and yielded the rind of a gourd.
One site in the Riverine thorn
forest zone was composed of a series of living floors representing
Each
microband occupations during the wet-season (October-March)
floor was covered with literally hundreds of cavia some of which may
have been tamed, small mammal bones, a few deer and camelid bones.
The kinds of bones recovered suggest that trapping was more important
than hunting.
The occurrence of some charred seeds and a grinding
stone suggest that plant collecting was also more important than
hunting during this season. Microband and at least two macroband
camps were found in the area of the present dry thorn scrub which
.
22
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SETTLEMENT PATTERN
^Summer (January-March)
Q^Fall
Microband Camp
(April-June) Microband
^) Winter (July-September)
^Spring
Camp
Microband Camp
(October-December) Microband
Camp
Hunting
EH Guinea
Trapping
QUID Plant
Pig Domestication
Collecting
An isometric view from the south of the southern part of the

Ayacucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and
subsistence patterns during Period 4:
7000 - 5500 B.C.
24
was then a woodland zone.

The presence of grinding stones in them
suggests that they were also wet season occupations.
Evidence indicates that the populations of this region moved

from one micro-environment to another as the seasonal food resources
They exploited these resources with
of each zone became available.
different subsistence techniques, and their diet varied somewhat from
It is clear that the inhabitants of the
one season to the next.
region were not only experimenting with and perfecting their techniques for acquiring both plant and animal foods but were also gaining a much greater knowledge of their ecosystem as a whole.
Interactions
The inhabitants of each region were beginning to develop slightly,

different economic orientations. At the same time, they were bound
together by an exchange network that provided everyone with raw mateThe widespread use
rials, food resources, and technological ideas.
of obsidian in the highland regions provides evidence for the continued
exchange of raw materials. Coastal shells and jicama roots occurred
The close similarity
in Tres Ventana indicating exchange of foods.
of the tool kits in the three highland regions and the greatly increased resemblance of coastal tools to highland ones suggest that
flint-knapping techniques and presumably hunting techniques were
shared throughout the entire area.
Gourd was introduced to the coast
and in Ayacucho perhaps from the Selva while achiote and tree gourd
were brought to the Ayacucho-Huanta Region from their native habitats
in the tropical lowlands
Period 5:
5500 - 4200 B.C.
Four distinctive features stand out during this period.

First
there is incredible variation in the settlement-subsistence systems,
even in the same region.
Second, the kinds of variation that exist
in these systems in one region are very different from those that
exist in the other regions. Third, there is the first clear evidence
for domestication of plants and animals in two of the highland
regions.
Fourth, the use of wide variety of plant species began to
appear in it. This is not particularly surprising since all of the
available evidence indicates that the inhabitants of each region probably participated simultaneously in several more or less independent
interaction spheres. Fifth, there was some lag involved in the spread
of ideas and commodities from one region to another.
The duration of
this lag was highly variable and depended not only on the item involved but also on the inhabitants of the regions involved.
Occupation sites containing artifacts of the Canario Complex

have been found in all of the areas between Ancon and the Chilca Valley (Patterson 1971).
The Canario sites in the Lurin and Chilca
Valleys elate from 5300 to 4200 B.C., while those to the north are
The Periods
25
somewhat later, dating from ca. 5000 to 4200 B.C., and are preceded
by Luz Complex (5300-5000 B.C.) occupations in the interfluvial area
between Ancon and the lower Chillon Valley and near Cajamarquilla in
the Rimac Valley.
Subsistence was based on collecting wild plants from the lomas

during the wet season and valley floor resource areas during the dry
season. Hunting, shellfish gathering, and fishing (possibly only in
the Lurin Valley) occurred throughout the year.
The proximity of seasonal food resource areas played a major role
in determining the location and permanency of settlements on the cenIn the few localities where all of the resource areas
tral coast.
are close to each other, permanent settlements occurred.
A clear
example of this pattern occurred in the southwest corner of the Lurin
Valley and in the Paloma quebrada of the Chilca Valley where the
inhabitants exploited all of the seasonal and permanent food resources
from a single location that was occupied continuously throughout the
year. While the Lurin may have been a base camp, the Paloma site was
a hamlet with a number of oval pithouses (Engel 1971).
Two sites located in the lomas one in the Lurin-Chilca interfluvial area and the other on the north side of the Lurin Valley,
have yielded radiocarbon dates of ca.. 5000 B.C.
,
When the seasonal resource areas were too widely separated from
each other to be conveniently exploited from a single locality, the
populations lived in wet-season camps along the rivers or on the
valley floors. The one dry-season camp known from the area is
located in the lower part of the Chilca Valley, which has never been
extensively farmed, a fact that probably accounts for the preservation of the site.
It may well have been paired with the wet-season
settlement in the Lurin-Chilca interfluvial area mentioned above.
Wet-season camps at Ancon were presumably paired with dry-season
camps in the Chillon Valley that have been destroyed either by nearly
4000 years of intensive cultivation or the encroachment of modern
industries from Lima.
The upper levels of the Tres Ventanas Cave, as well as another

located nearby, have yielded abundant remains of projectile points
and scrapers similar to those of the Canario Complex (Engel 1970)
Furthermore, radio carbon measurements date these remains to this
period. Again, marine molluscs and plant remains in the refuse
indicates contact with the coast, either through exchange or some
sort of seasonal transhumance pattern.
The settlement and subsistence
patterns of the region are not clear; however, they do not seem to
have differed significantly from those of the preceding period.
26
Artifacts belonging to the Pachamachay Complex have been recovered from the upper levels of Pachamachay Cave and from Curimachay
and Tilarnioc Caves.
The complex is dated to this period on the
basis of the similarities between its chipped stone artifacts and
those of the Piki Complex in the Ayacucho-Huanta Region; however, it
lacks most of the grinding tools and scraper types occurring in the
latter.
The fact that the caves occur in different micro-environments
suggests that the inhabitants of the region followed some kind of
seasonal round that related to the movement of animals, particularly
camelids.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of this period is some
evidence of domesticated or tamed llama and probably alpaca among the
vast quantity of camelid bones in the upper layers of Pachamachay
Cave
Artifacts belonging to the Piki Complex (5800-4550 B.C.) were

recovered from 18 surface sites and seven excavated caves which
yielded 24 living floors (MacNeish, Nelken and Cook 1970). These
sites are located in all of the environmental zones of the region.
Furthermore, five excavated components containing early Chihua
Complex (4550-4200 B.C.) artifacts are also relevant to this discussion.
All of the excavated Piki and Chihua components contained
faunal remains of particular importance; in addition, there were
nine preserved human feces and several identifiable plant remains.
Dry-season camps were represented at two excavated sites in the

low puna one in the humid woodlands, and another in the Riverine
thorn scrub, where the inhabitants supplemented their predominantly
meat protein diets with plant foods presumably collected in much the
same way as they were in the preceding period.
However, a series of
seven wet-season (November -March) living floors excavated in Pikimachay Cave located in the slightly wetter dry thorn scrub zone, represented a sequence of microband occupations, and yielded a very different subsistence pattern.
There were very few bones of either
large or small mammals in these layers, but the presence of wild
seeds, gourd remains, and the seeds of domesticated quinoa, and
squash suggest a wet-season subsistence pattern based mainly on plant
collecting and agriculture, incipient as it may have been, where
hunting and trapping were of little importance. Two microband camps,
one in a canyon in the present-day dry thorn forest (pollen indicates
it was then woodland) and another in a cave in the lower part of the
humid woodlands, contained relatively few bones, grinding stones, and
some seeds; the inhabitants of these localities may have had a similar incipient agricultural subsistence pattern as those of Pikimachay
A third
Cave.
One of these contained the remains of a. tree gourd.
living
microband
subsistence system is represented in a series of 18
Twelve
floors excavated at Puente Cave in the Riverine thorn scrub.
floors showed clear evidence of wet-season occupation; all of them
contained a few camelid or deer bones and hundreds of small mammal
,
<'
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27
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28
bones, including those of seemingly tamed guinea pig. Many of them

also yielded grinding stones, pebble rocker manos, ma j una for digging
sticks, and unidentified charred seeds.
This subsistence system was
apparently composed of trapping and guinea pig penning, some plant
collecting and/or incipient agriculture, and little, if any, hunting.
During this period, there was a calendar-round cycle in which

populations shifted their camps from one micro-environment to another
as the seasonal resources of each became available.
The subsistence
activities practiced during each season and in each micro-environment
were different. Furthermore, there was a continually increasing
tendency for wet-season camps to become larger in size and longer in
duration as storeable domesticated plants and guinea pigs played
continually growing roles in consumption patterns.
Interactions
The data for widespread contacts among the various regions of
central Peru are even more abundant and convincing than they were for
Obsidian artifacts occur in all four regions.
the preceding period.
Coastal shells and plants in Tres Ventanas came from the coast. The
inhabitants of the central coast during the time of the Luz Phase
were borrowing ideas about projectile point styles that seem to have
their antecedents in the Pampa de Paijan Complexes of the north
coast, and they were utilizing, on a small scale at least, a very
distinctive kind of chert known only from the Cuzco region to make
blades. The tree gourds, gourds, and possibly squashes in the
Ayacucho-Huanta Region were all imported from elsewhere.
It is in
this period that lima and common beans occur in Guitarrero Cave, II
b-e (Kaplan, Lynch and Smith 1973), and there is a possibility that
camelid were domesticated near Junin and guinea pig in the Ayacucho
region; but these do not start to spread until the next period
(Wing nd.).
The chipped stone tools in assemblages belonging to
the Canario, Late Tres Ventanas, Late Pachamachay, and Piki Complexes
show many similarities. Furthermore, the ground stone tools of the
coastal Canario Complex resemble those of the earlier Jaywa Complex
in the highlands.
Period
6:
4200 - 2500 B.C.
First,
This period has several outstanding characteristics.
there is still considerable intra-regional variation in settlementsubsistence systems.
Second, the amount of inter-regional variation
in settlement-subsistence is significantly greater than it was in the
preceding period. Third, agricultural production begins to play a
continuously increasing role in the subsistence activities of populations living at medium elevations in the highlands, while animal
husbandry seems to be increasingly important in the activities of
populations living at higher elevations in the Andes. Fourth, a
greater quantity and variety of domesticated plant and animal species
were exchanged between the four regions than in the preceding period,
and new plants were brought in from outside regions.
The Periods
29
Wet-season camps containing artifacts of the Corbina Complex

(4200-3570 B.C.) have been found in the lomas near Ancon. The fact
that the contemporary Lachay Complex from the Rio Seco region, about
70 kilometers to the north, has a slightly different range of tool
types suggests that there was local technological variation on the
central coast during this five-century period. Encanto Complex (37502500 B.C.) sites have been found at Ancon and in the Lurin and Chilca
Valleys.
Subsistence was based on wild plants, hunting, shellfish gathering, and fishing, which was much more important than it had been during the preceding period.
After ca. 3000 B.C., two species of cultivated squash (C. f icif olia and C^. moschata ) and one wild species
(C. andreana ) were added to the diet of the Ancon-Chillon population.
The proximity of seasonal food resources continued to play the

major role in determining the location and permanency of settlements.
Chilca Monument I was an Encanto village occupied continuously
throughout the year because of the spacing of resource areas in the
lower Chilca Valley (Engel 1966)
Virtually all of the resource
areas exploited by this population were contiguous with each other.
Seasonal resource areas in the Ancon-Chillon region were not contiguous, and the population continued to reside in separate wet- and dryseason camps.
Cultivated squash from an Encanto wet-season camp,
located in an area where agriculture could not have been practiced
under any conditions, indicates that the population used the valley
floor environments for limited farming.
The presence of a camelid
perhaps tamed guanaco, at the same camp suggests that this group has
at least some contact with highland populations.
.
It seems likely that the growing reliance on fish,
the continuing
reliance on flour from wild grass seeds, and the new reliance on cultivated squashes during the later part of the Encanto Phase apparently
increased the nutritional level of some central coastal groups, which
ultimately set off a period of sustained population growth at a time
when the prevailing climatic conditions were effectively reducing the
size and extent of the lomas
Isolated projectile points, which resemble those of better known

and dated complexes in the highlands, have been collected at several
localities. They indicate that the region was inhabited at least on
a seasonal basis during this period, but they tell us virtually
nothing about settlement and subsistence patterns, except that hunting
played some role in the subsistence economy of the region.
Surface collections indicate that the region was inhabited during
30
this period; however, only one site has been excavated Tilarnioc
Cave, the upper levels of which yielded domesticated llama and alpaca
bones and possibly some tamed guinea pig remains. The available
evidence is slim but suggests that herding was probably important
perhaps more important than in any other region in central Peru;
otherwise, little if anything, can be said about the settlementsubsistence system of the region.
Eight excavated and 29 surface sites with artifacts belonging

to the middle and late Chihua Complex (4200-3100 B.C.) and four early
living floors with early Cachi Complex (3100-2500 B.C.) artifacts are
Three components excagermane to the discussion of this period.
vated in the low puna environmental zone indicate that the older system of microband dry-season camps where hunting was important continued; however, there is one piece of evidence (a human feces containing a possible potato eye and hoe fragment) that suggests the inhabitants of these localities were supplementing their diets with
agricultural produce grown during the dry season. One site in high
puna was found in survey. An excavated living floor from the humid
woodlands yielded a hoe, grinding stone, and a few large mammal bones
suggesting the subsistence patterns of this environmental zone were
much the same as the ones described above.
Information from the dry
thorn scrub environmental zone shows different subsistence patterns.
Here, there is evidence of potato-growing, domesticated corn, squash,
gourd, common beans, lucuma, quinoa and perhaps coca, all of which
are associated with the remains of a few domesticated guinea pigs, a
few large mammal bones, and wild plants.
The sites in these micromainly
environmental zones are
wet-season camps, a few of which extend
well into the dry season; furthermore, a few of the surface sites are
large enough to be considered macroband camps.
Still another subsistence pattern is represented at sites located in the Riverine thorn
scrub zone.
Small excavated floors produced some guinea pig remains,
a few large mammal bones, relatively large numbers of scraper planes,
digging tools, and seed-grinding implements. These sites were apparently occupied during various seasons.
The evidence suggests the most important settlement unit was
the base camp in the Riverine or dry thorn scrub zones with an agricultural or horticultural system that permitted groups to grow
limited food surpluses during the wet season. These surpluses were
not large enough to last the entire year, so groups supplemented them
by hunting in the humid woodlands and upper and lower puna zones and
by collecting in the dry thorn scrub zones.
Interactions
Food remains provide the evidence for exchange between the
regions during this period. The tamed camelids, perhaps representing
incipient herding, found on the coast as well as the meager evidence
of such in Ayacucho, probably came originally from the Huancayo-Junin
SETTLEMENT PATTERN
Summer
Fall
(January -March) Microband
(April-June) Microband
Macroband Camp
Camp
Camp
Hamlet
Winter (July-September) Microband Camp

Spring (October-December) Microband
Camp
I Huntinq
Trapping
D Plant Collecting
^Guinea
Pig Domestication
Seasonal Aariculture
Figure 6.
An isometric view from the south of the Ayacucho Basin

showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence
patterns during Period 6:
4200 - 2500 B.C.
32
Region of the highlands. The bones of tamed guinea pigs from the
Junin caves as well as the coast may have spread from the AyacuchoHuanta Region as did the cucurbits. Common beans may have spread in
from centers like the Callejon de Huaylas to Ayacucho, while the
latter 's potatoes may have come from the south highland zone. The
Ayacucho corn perhaps moved in from the north, although the evidence
of teocinte intergression in these cobs suggests its ultimate origin
The lucuma and coca in the Ayacucho components in
was Mesoamerica.
all probability came from some Selva or Montana region or regions.
In fact, the presence of these Selva plants in Ayacucho plus the
earlier evidence of cucurbita crescentia (tree gourds) and achiote
as well as the presence in this same period of a number of other
domesticates that grow in the tropics, such as beans and cucurbits,
may be a far more secure basis for reconstructing the earliest plant
domestication in the tropical lowlands than speculations based upon
the presence of an undomesticated species of Manihot in Mesoamerica,
age-area hypotheses based on modern plant distribution of tropical
cultigens or guesses about early transatlantic diffusions or flights
of fancy.
Other evidence of interactions are the presence of foreign raw

materials in each of these regions as well as common use of similar
artifact types, such as small leaf and triangular points, rocker
manos, and majanas and various kinds of twined weaving.
Period
7:
2500 - 1750 B.C.
Perhaps the most significant feature of this period was that the
inhabitants of the various regions were beginning to work out the
ideal of community self-sufficiency in different ways.
In at least
exchange networks that linked together populations which were residing
more or less permanently in different environmental zones and were
exploiting the food resources immediately available to them. The
period also has other important features. First, the amount of
intra-regional and inter-regional variation in settlement-subsistence
has not changed significantly from the preceding one.
Second, the
variety of foodstuffs exchanged between the regions appears to have
increased significantly from earlier times. Finally, the whole tempo
of cultural change has increased considerably.
This was a period of rapid cultural change on the central coast.
The cultural sequence for the Ancon-Chillon sector is:
the Pampa
Phase (2500-2300 B.C.), Playa Hermosa Phase (2300-2100 B.C.), Conchas
Phase (2100-1900 B.C.), and Cayiota Phase (1900-1750 B.C.). The
three earlier phases are known only from the Ancon-Chillon sector at
the present time.
Gaviota Phase occupation sites occur not only in
this sector but also in the Rimac and Lurin Valleys.
For descriptive
purposes, it is convenient to divide the period into earlier (25001900 B.C.) and later (1900-1750 B.C.) parts.

The Periods
33
A major change that occurred at the beginning of this period was

how populations spaced themselves with respect to the resources they
were exploiting in order to maintain their self-sufficiency. Previously, many resources were utilized on a calendar-round basis, with
the population moving from one resource area to the next as the resources of each became seasonally available.
This involved the actual
movement of populations when the resource areas were widely separated
from each other or exploiting areas in different directions from the
same base camp or hamlets when the resources were contiguous with
each other, as they were in Chilca and Lurin. During the earlier part
of the period, the location and permanency of settlements were
governed by other factors the availability of marine products and
the availability of arable land in the lower parts of the valley that
Large year-round fishing vilcould be farmed during the dry-season.
the
immediate
vicinity of rich fishing
lages were established in
grounds and shellfish beds at Ancon and Ventanilla which are located
in the coastal desert zone where agriculture cannot be practiced under
Small, year-round hamlets were established in areas
any conditions.
of the Chillon Valley, where single-crop farming could be carried on.
What had formerly been one population was now divided into two distinct segments: a large coastal fishing group and a small, inland
Both groups apparently remained in or near the same
farming group.
resource area throughout the year, in contrast to what had happened
The fishermen sent marine protein foods into the valley and
earlier.
The self-sufficiency of
received cultivated plant foods in return.
the original population was maintained through this exchange
mechanism.
Cultivated plant foods became increasingly more important during

Canavalia, achira, pacae, guava, chili
this period (Patterson 1971).
peppers, corn, lima beans, lucuma, and sweet potatoes appeared during
These plants were largely, if not
the early part of the period.
entirely, first brought under domestication elsewhere and were then
imported into the central coastal region. This is also true for peanuts and coca the two cultigens that appeared during the later part
Cultivated plants became much more important dietary
of the period.
items after 1900 B.C., judging by (1) the significant increase in both
the quantity and variety of cultivated plants found in refuse deposits
at coastal fishing settlements, (2) the tremendous increase in the
proportion of the total population that resided in the valley where
farming could be practiced, (3) the appearance of small hamlets in
the middle parts of the river valleys where the prevailing environmental conditions favor the high productivity of certain crops
particularly coca and (4) the appearance of these middle valley crops
in low valley and coastal settlements.
During the early part of the period, settlement size was governed
largely by proximity to marine resource areas. Consequently, the
larger proportion of the population lived in coastal fishing villages
and the smaller proportion near agricultural lands in the low valley.
By the later part of the period, another factor the position of the
settlement in the exchange network played an equally important role
34
in determining settlement size.

Consequently, the largest sites were
those that had (1) a "monopoly" on marine products, (2) a central position in the exchange network, or (3) both.
The major settlement in
each valley exchange system Chuquitanta, Rio Seco, Canto Grande, and
Pachacamac all have large public architecture (Engel 1966).
The population of the Ancon-Chillon sector grew steadily during

this period from an estimated 50 individuals at ca. 3000 B.C. to more
than 1500 by the time of the Gaviota Phase.
Similar rates of population growth probably occurred in both the Rimac and Lurin Valleys,
where substantial numbers of Gaviota Phase settlements have been
found.
The existence of Gaviota Phase farming hamlets in the middle
parts of the Rimac and Lurin Valleys has interesting implications concerning the agricultural technology of this coastal region. Given the
gradients of the rivers and the amount of postglacial river cutting
that has occurred, it is virtually impossible to farm anywhere in the
middle elevations of these valleys without some form of water diversion system. The locations of the four middle valley settlements
discovered so far suggest that short canals were used to divert water
from the rivers to areas where arable land was available. The location of farming settlements in the lower parts of the Chillon, Rimac,
and Lurin Valleys does not suggest that water diversion systems were
being used in the low valleys.

No sites to this period have been excavated, but surface collections of isolated projectile points indicate that the region was inhabited.
There are some non-ceramic sites in the region, which may
date to this period.
A large number of sites dating to the second half of the local

Tinyari Phase date to this period.
Seasonal utilization of different
environmental zones continued. Wet-season base camps are situated in
riverine or lacustrine zones, such as the sites of San Juan Pata,
Tinyari, and the Ledig-Tschopik shelters in the Valley near Jauja and
Huancayo. Dry-season camps of these semi-nomadic herders are
characterized by a series of high altitude caves on the puna such as
Pachamachay, Cuchimachay, Tilarnyoc, Pintadomachay and Pachacutec.
Subsistence appears to have been mainly based on herding, hunting,
with minimal agriculture.
,
Projectile points excavated from the lower levels of an open site

near San Glas as well as those of the Tinyari Phase sites near Jauja
and Huancayo are nearly identical to those of the Cachi Phase in the
Ayacucho-Huanta Region. However, the rest of the artifact assemblage,
particularly the bone implements, are much more similar to Mito Phase
The Periods
35
implements in Huanuco. The excavation revealed a typical wet-season

base camp, a fairly large village with a subsistence orientation
based mainly on llama-herding and hunting, with minimal farming.
Sites belonging to the middle and later parts of the Cachi Phase
(3100-ca. 1750 B.C.) date to this drier period.
The population seems
to have increased from the preceding period (29 to 46 sites)
and two
new settlement-subsistence systems have emerged. The major system
occurs in the puna and the adjacent humid scrub forest and was based
on a seasonal subsistence system involving llama-herding and potato
farming in these zones. Mammal bones and artifacts from excavated
components indicate that groups went to the high puna during the dryseason to herd tamed guanaco and hunt and then moved to the low puna
or humid woodlands during the wet-season to grow potatoes with a corresponding de-emphasis of herding and hunting activities. This life
style was linked probably through kinship and ritual ties that served
economic functions to the major settlement-subsistence system (38
components) which took place at lower elevations, where camelid bones
are only occasionally found in excavation.
,
Of particular importance in the lower settlement-subsistence

system were seven or eight sites with architectural features, including three with agricultural terraces.
These were probably hamlets
that were occupied continuously throughout the year.
The other lower
elevation sites, including the 12 excavated components from caves,
seem to be seasonal camps occupied sporadically by groups going out
from the hamlets to plant, harvest, collect, hunt, and trap. Foodstuffs from the cave components include corn, squash, beans, gourd,
tara, and lucuma, and possibly pepper, quinoa, and achira, as well as
domesticated guinea pig, camelid, deer, and small mammal bones.
The minor settlement-subsistence system involved seasonal

residence in different high-altitude localities and subsistence
The major settleactivities based on herding and root-crop farming.
ment-subsistence system involved permanent residence with occasional
forays away from the hamlet and subsistence activities focused primarily around agriculture. The two systems were linked together by
Basically, this pattern has
an exchange network a vertical economy.
persisted to the present day in the Ayacucho-Huanta Region.
Interactions
Food remains again provide the best evidence for exchange
between the various regions, as they did in the preceding period.
Herding tamed camelid spread northward to Kotosh and presumably westward to the Huarochiri and Ancon-Chilca Regions. Tamed guinea pigs
were also raised at Kotosh and at Culebras a large settlement on the
north-central coast. Achira, lima beans, and cotton, along with the
techniques for making twined cloth had probably spread to the highland valleys.
Coca, corn, chili peppers, and common beans had spread
,
36
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The Periods
37
to the coast from various highland regions.

It is also conceivable
that some of these plants may have spread eastward to the montana and
selva , for a number of domesticated species with presumed tropical
lowland origins guava, lucuma, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and perhaps

avocado appeared on the coast during this period. These tropical
lowland domesticates provide a few hints about the developing subsistence patterns of that region during the second and third millenia
Further, the earlier use of highland potatoes and this later
B.C.
occurrence of tropical root crops, such as sweet potatoes and the use
of manioc at a still later period, is the only dated archaeological
evidence we have concerning the spread of the concepts of utilizing
root crops. This evidence, meager as it may be, indicates a diffusion
of root-crop agriculture or horticulture from the highlands to the
lowlands, rather than the reverse, the latter of which is an unfounded
speculation that occurs in the literature concerning early South
(Lathrap 1970)
American agriculture ad nauseam.
Before this time, obsidian and other raw materials from the highlands used for making stone occurred only sporadically on the coast,
just often enough to show that exchange was taking place between the
various regions. Duing this period, however, many of the chipped
stone tools, particularly projectile points, were made on the coast
from obsidian acquired in the highlands. This pattern may have appeared somewhat later on the central coast than it did on the south
coast, located almost due west of extensive obsidian deposits in the
south highlands, some of which occur in the Huancavalica region next
to the Ayacucho-Huanta region.
Agricultural products and raw materials were not the only commodities moving throughout the whole interaction sphere. There are
hints that ideas about weaving, architecture, water-control systems,
herding, and wool production, and perhaps ceremonial or religious
The general impression
practices, were also becoming more widespread.
of this period is that the whole tempo of exchange had speeded up
considerably and that central Peru was being welded into a single
area.
Period 8:
1750 - 1050 B.C.
During this period the coastal region contributed ideas about

public architecture and how community self-sufficiency should be
organized to at least one of the highland regions in central Peru.
The idea of exchange centers with public architecture which link
together a number of economically specialized populations into a
single economic system occurred earlier on the coast and appeared for
the first time in the Ayacucho-Huanta Region. At this time the
coastal exchange networks were considerably larger than those in the
In addition, foodstuffs, raw
highland regions of central Peru.
materials, and technological innovations continued to spread from one
region to another. Further, it in is this period that the use of pottery entered the regions under discussion, perhaps ultimately from
lowland, more tropical sources (Lathrap 1970).
38
Pottery belonging to one of the brownware styles (1750-ca 1400

B.C.) occurs throughout the region during the first half of the period,
In the later half, the Colinas style ( ca
1400-1050 B.C.) occurs mainly in the northern sector, and the Curayacu style ( ca
1200-1050 B.C.)
predominates in the southern sector. The stylistic differences between the two sectors in the later part of the period have important
implications concerning the number of semi-independent exchange networks that were operating in the region as a whole. Therefore, it is
again convenient to distinguish between the earlier and later parts
of the period, using ca. 1400 B.C. as the dividing date.
.
The major settlements on the coastal plain during the preceding

period were apparently all abandoned and replaced by new ones featurJudging by both size of the pyramid and
ing single large pyramids.
extent of the habitation area, the most important settlement in the
entire region was La Florida, located about 11 kilometers from the
ocean in the lower Rimac Valley and a few kilometers from the old
It seems likely that the bulk of the
exchange center at Canto Grande.
populations from both Chuquitanta and Canto Grande were incorporated
into a single one centered at La Florida during the early part of this
There was a subsidiary population center with a pyramid at
period.
Mina Perdida in the lower Lurin Valley.
In addition, there were nueconomically
specialized
hamlets
located
in the lower and midmerous
dle parts of the Lurin and Rimac Valleys as well as at Ancon.
Site
locations, as well as the contents of habitation refuse deposits,
have a number of implications concerning subsistence activities.
La Florida, the largest settlement in the region, is located
in a place where agriculture cannot be practiced without some sort of
water management system because of the amount of postglacial rivercutting occurring in this part of the valley. Without going into
the specific details of the argument, it is highly likely that the La
Florida population utilized a water-control system composed minimally
of a single canal four to six kilometers in length which would have
roughly quadrupled the amount of arable land available; however, there
was probably even more land under cultivation than before.
In addition to the small farming hamlets in the middle parts of the Rimac and
Lurin Valleys, there are small hamlets in localities in the lower
Chillon and Rimac Valleys where single crop riverbank as well as
The largest segment of the
agriculture could have been practiced.
low valley populations in the Rimac and Lurin Valleys utilized water
management systems; small segments of the low valley populations continued to farm along the riverbanks in the traditional way. Middlesized segments of the populations continued to specialize in fishing
and shellfish gathering.
All of the population segments were linked
together by an exchange network.
The major network on the central
coast was dominated by La Florida and probably included hamlets in
the middle parts of both the Chillon and Rimac Valleys.
Ceramic
similarities between the Lurin Valley and those immediately to the
The Periods
39
north suggest the exchange network of this valley was linked with
the La Florida network.
In other words, there is some evidence indicating the existence of a multi-valley exchange system during the
early part of this period.
The large population centers were abandoned about 1400 B.C., and
new ones were built in localities where even larger amounts of arable
land could be brought under cultivation with the use of simple watercontrol systems. Public architecture occurred at all of the larger
settlements and at several of the smaller ones, including the fishing
village at Ancon. However, the major difference between the first and
second halves of the period involved the number of independent exchange networks operating in the region. The distribution of ceramic
styles after 1400 B.C. indicates that there were two exchange networks, towards the end of the period, judging by the fact that
Curayacu pottery has been found in the northern sector and that
Colinas pottery occurs occasionally in the southern one.
Two isolated projectile points found on the surface indicate that
the region was inhabited during this period and suggest that hunting
probably played some role in the subsistence economy of its
inhabitants
Although sites with ceramic styles belonging to the first half

of this period have not yet been certainly identified, sites with
ceramic styles belonging to the second half (1400-1050 B.C.) have
been identified and excavated.
Two distinct ceramic styles occur.
In the northern sector a yet unnamed style which bears similarities
to the Kotosh Warijirca and Kotosh-Kotosh styles of the Huanuco
Region (Izumi and Terada 1972) and also to the Pangotsi style of
Casa de la Tia, has been found at a site near Tarma and also is said
to be found at various sites near Lake Junin, including an excavated
salt site near San Bias.
In the southern sector the Pirwaouquio style (1300-650 B.C.)
predominates. The lower excavated levels of Ataura near Jauja and
of the type of site near Huancayo share ceramic features with the
Colinas and the Curayacu styles on the Central Coast, with temporally
equivalent phases at Kotosh, Casa de la Tia, and with Wichqana near
Ayacucho, as well as a number of more general traits with a number of
other contiguous zones.
The distinctions between a northern and a southern sector and

the technological borrowing from the coast and selva as well as from
highland neighbors are important ones.
In earlier periods we had
insufficient evidence to distinguish the ethnic groups utilizing the
puna zone around Lake Junin from those in the upper reaches of the
Mantaro near Jauja and Huancayo.
In these earlier epochs there
40
existed a fairly broad continuum of similarities between the HuancayoJunin and the Ayacucho-Huanta Regions. By Period 7 (3500-1750 B.C.),
even though there remains general similarities in projectile point
types between the Ayacucho-Huanta Region and the Junin-Huancayo
Region, there are a number of other features of the artifact assemblage which are shared between the Huancayo-Junin and the KotoshHuanuco Regions that are not apparently found in the Ayacucho-Huanta
Economic orientation and social interaction is thus most
Region.
strongly directed toward surrounding highland herding groups. During
Period 8 (1750-1050 B.C.) the northern sector becomes closely tied
with the economic network joining Kotosh and other northern highland
sites, while the southern sector remains more firmly attached to a
Central Andean economic interaction sphere.
Economic networks between the Jauja-Huancayo basin and other

areas are much easier to detail for subsequent phases but were clearly
well-developed between highland and coast, highland and selva and
highland and highland even at this time. Pottery features indicate
interaction of highland llama caravan trains with the selva to the
north and east for coca and other selva products, with the coast to
the west for spondylus shell, whalebone, corn, and so forth, and with
the farmers to the south in the higlands for potatoes and other farm
produce.
,
The Jauja-Huancayo basin contained one larger seasonal village,

persumably the locus of political power, and a series of subsidiary
wet-season villages. The nomadic demands of herding apparently precluded interest in elaborate temple or cult centers seen elsewhere in
Peru at this time.
Semi -nomadic pastoralism with secondary herding
and horticulture continued to be the major subsistence pattern
throughout much of this area.
The Andamarka (1750-1300 B.C.) and Wichqana (1300-400 B.C.)
ceramic styles occur during this continuing dry period. The meager
food remains associated with these pottery styles suggests that the
subsistence patterns of this period were much the same as they were
in the preceding one.
Information from two excavated components and a surface collection suggests that the high-elevation, semi-nomadic seasonal settlement pattern and herding-f arming subsistence system remained relatively unchanged.
However, data from sites located at lower elevations
indicate there were new developments in this part of the region. The
few food remains indicate that the subsistence patterns basically
agriculture remained the same. The new developments occur mainly in
the settlement patterns.
First, there are a number of architectural
features made with boulder-type masonry; one of these is a truncated
pyramid that may have had some sort of ceremonial function. Second ,
the 36 lower elevation sites cluster in five geographically distinct
localities; furthermore, in four, there is a single site with a
41
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42
pyramid and other ceremonial features which served as a center for a

series of other kinds of sites including hamlets along waterways both
with and without terrace features, open camps, and cave occupations.
The clusters of sites around one of these pyramid centers were tied to
it by kinship, ceremonial, and economic arrangements.
The larger proportion of llama bones in these pyramid centers suggests that they
were not only the nuclear centers for farming communities but were
also intermediaries between the lower elevation agricultural groups
and the high elevation herders and root farmers.
Interactions
The patterns of interaction described for the preceding period
continued into this one. The presence of a cebus monkey in a grave
on the central coast that dates to the end of the period indicates
that there were still important exchanges taking place between the
coast and highland regions, on the one hand, and the selva and
montana , on the other. Foodstuffs were still being exchanged between
the various regions including the tropical lowlands, which now had
evolved a root-crop agriculture. Raw materials like obsidian and
technological innovations concerning weaving, pottery-making, water
management systems, and public architecture also were spreading
throughout the central Peruvian sphere.
Perhaps the most significant innovation that spread during the

period was concerned with the organization of people. The kind of
exchange center that made its appearance in the coastal region about
1900 B.C. occurs in at least one of the highland regions during this
period.
It consisted of a settlement with a relatively large population which linked together a numer of smaller, more economically
specialized settlements into a single settlement-subsistence system.
These exchange networks were quite large in the coastal region, occasionally incorporating the inhabitants of several adjacent valleys
into a single system, while those that were emerging in the AvacuchoHuanta Region were much smaller in comparison, judging by the fact
that there seem to have been at least four distinct networks operating
in the area.
Period 9:
1050 - 450 B.C.
This is the period when the Chavin art style spread throughout
much of northern and central Peru. The extent of this spread and the
specimens assigned to the Chavin style depend largely on how the style
is defined.
For the purposes of this paper, Chavin art includes pottery and sculpture that share design features with the stone sculpture
at Chavin de Huantar.
By this definition, Chavin art occurs on the
central coast but not in the central highlands. In other words,
there are no specimens from either the Pampa de Junin or the Mantaro
Valley and its tributaries that show Chavin influence; however, there
are types of pottery from the Ayacucho-Huanta Region, as well as from
Huancavelica, that resemble vessels found in direct association with
Chavin-inf luenced pieces on the central coast.
It is also clear that
The Periods
A3
the intensity and duration of Chavin influence in the regions where

it occurred varied considerably.
The spread of Chavin has been viewed in terms of the spread of a

religious cult that presumably originated somewhere in northern Peru
toward the end of the preceding period and was probably centered at
Chavin de Huantar by 1100 B.C. From this perspective, the cult spread
along major communication routes that connected large nucleated settlements and their satellites in much of northern and central Peru.
There is no evidence that military conquest, a later phenomenon in
the Central Andes, was involved in this expansion.
While this interpretation accounts for many of the patterns of archaeological evidence
associated with the spread of Chavin, which resemble those associated
with the spread of Christianity, it does raise questions concerning
the specific economic mechanisms that were involved and their relationships with economic systems based on the ideal of community selfsufficiency.
It is clear that central Peru was participating simultaneously
in at least two different interaction spheres during this period.
The
first of these is the pre-existing set of networks continuing relatively unchanged from the previous period.
The second is a new set
of networks set up within the confines of Chavin influence.
Within
this network the central highlands, at best, participated peripherally
with occasional traits diffusing, while the central coast was an
integral part of the Chavin interaction sphere with close ties particularly to the north coast, but also with some clear ties to the
south coast.
This is not particularly surprising, since all of the
regions in central Peru had long histories of maintaining independent
ties with areas outside of the Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere.
A preliminary analysis of materials from the northern sector

dating to this period indicates that they can be divided into six
chronologically distinct phases, the earliest of which begins about
1100 B.C.
Chavin influence appears about this time in the northern
half of the region but not until ca. 1025 B.C. in the southern half.
For the next three and one half centuries, the potters of the region
were influenced by what was happening to the north; however, the
intensity and nature of the influences on their art was highly
variable.
Chavin influence was no longer apparent in the region after
ca
650 B.C.
.
The settlement-subsistence systems were essentially the same as

they were before, although site locations changed and a number of
satellite settlements had public architecture. The largest part of
the population participating in an exchange network continued to
reside in or near settlements with public architecture located in the
lower parts of the river valleys. Middle-sized groups were engaged
primarily in fishing and shellfish gathering from coastal villages.
44
The smallest groups, although considerably larger than they had been
in the preceding period, lived in the middle parts of the valleys
and were presumably engaged in agriculture.
Garagay, the largest public structure in the lower Chillon-Rimac
sector, continued to be used during the early part of the period and
possibly the later part as well. Presumably, it was the major exchange center for the population of this region, the fishing villages
at Ancon and Ventanilla, and the up-valley farming communities of the
Chillon Valley, and possibly the Rimac as well. San Humberto, located
at an elevation of 750 meters in the Chillon Valley, had its own pyramid and water reservoir, both of which were built during the early
part of the period.
New settlements were established in the Lurin Valley. The major

center with public and domestic architecture was located well inland
but still in the lower part of the valley. The Huaca Malache, a
satellite settlement with domestic architecture and a small pyramid
was located in an area where both farming and fishing could be carried
on simultaneously; it probably served as a subsidiary center for the
low valley and coastal populations of the area. A pyramid and residence complex at Malpase, located at an elevation of roughly 600
meters, was apparently the subsidiary center for the dispersed farming
population of the middle valley.
A third exchange network emerged in the region about 800 B.C. and
linked populations that lived about the 1,000-meter contour in the
Rimac and Lurin Valleys. The occupation in this part of the valleys
was much larger than it had been earlier; settlements were generally
small and located on alluvial fans along the edges of the valley floors.
Evidence from all of the later periods and from ethnohistoric sources
indicates that the inhabitants of the upper Lurin Valley were usually
affiliated culturally with those of the Huarochiri Region. Presumably,
the pattern emerged during this period when the huarochirianos moved
into the upper parts of the valleys and began to farm.
Two sites are tentatively assigned to the later part of this
period on the basis of their ceramics.
One is located on the slopes
overlooking the modern town of Huarochiri and the other is located on
Although
a ridge overlooking the small settlement at Sangallalla.
evidence concerning the settlement-subsistence system of the region
is virtually non-existent, one gets the impression that the inhabitants were farming in the upper valleys and herding llamas and hunting
on the punas separating them.
Ethnic groups characterized by two ceramic styles, the latter, the

Pirwapuquio (1300-650 B.C.) and the first phases, the Cochachongos
The Periods
45
(650-1 B.C.), can be identified for the southern sector of the

region; little is known for the northern sector, but what evidence
we have suggests a continuing, relatively unchanged settlementsubsistence system.

The preference for hunting and herding over argricultural pursuits until the Wari conquest has produced settlement patterns consisting of non-permanent, perishable dwellings, easily transportable,
and with seasonal occupation only of dwelling sites.
The typical base
camp settlements are small villages, seasonally occupied, and situated near a spring, stream, or other dependable water resource to
supply sufficient water for llama herds and suitable land for wetThe largest villages during the wet-season may
season horticulture.
have had a few score semi-subterranean or subterranean,
pithouses,
with population sizes generally no larger than 100 persons. Other
seasons of the year saw dispersal into smaller herding groups.
A reasonable amount of exchange, both on the idealogical and on

Ceramic design concepts were borrowed
the material level, took place.
and actual vessels exchanged between the selva the coast, and other
highland localities. Material goods, such as Ecuadorian spondylus
shell, coatal seashell pendants, whale vertebrae, were obtained from
the coast and polished stone points from the northern highlands.
Foodstuffs, such as coca and aji, were obtained from the selva dried
fish and corn from the coast, and potatoes and canihua from farmers.
,
Part of these goods were obtained by direct exchange of pastoral

products, such as wool, meat, fat, etc., part no doubt, from their
position as middlemen and in payment as caravan drivers, for loading
their llamas with the respective trade goods and transporting them
from zone to zone, so that by the time of the Spanish conquest caravan
trains of 1,000 to 2,000 animals were common, and often undertook
The copper traffic
trading ventures of up to six months duration.
was evidently relatively important; copper was mined near Jauja, and
goods from the excavated site of Ataura suggest trade with both the
Copper so
central coast and the ceja de montana to the north.
traded must have fed into the Chavin Interaction Sphere; with the
collapse of Chavin influence on the coast at about 650 B.C., this
By the end of this period, new
copper trade also seems to disappear.
ties were established with the Paracas Interaction Sphere on the south
coast, and the copper trade was revived, this time flowing to the
south coast.
By about 700 B.C. two major population clusters flourished in the
valley one in the now drained Lake Cochachongos quite near the previous center at the spring of Pirwapuquio and a second new location
overlooking the Rio Cunas near the present-day town of Chupaca.
Population densities had reached such a level that there was a fissioning into two independent polities, each with its own seasonally
utilized administrative and ceremonial center. As before, subsistence was based primarily on llama and alpaca pastoralism, supplemented by hunting of deer, guanaco, and other animals, and the
46
gathering of wild plants. Additionally, some cultigens were planted

along the margins of the lakes, stream flood plains, and canyon bottoms during the wet-season; the dry-season was spent primarily herding
animals on the higher puna
.
Three ceramic styles date to this period; Kichkapata (900-700

B.C.) formerly known as Wichqana, Chupas (700-500 B.C.), and the early
part of the Rancha (500-300 B.C.) formerly known as Chupas. The number of components shows a marked increase over the preceding period
roughly 50 to 80 but the settlement patterns and subsistence activiThe climate, however, seems to have
ties remained much the same.
changed and once again conditions have become more humid. Although
survey and excavation were extremely limited in the high elevation
areas, one excavated component indicated that the seasonal herding
potato-growing pattern of subsistence continued.
The majority of the sites occur in six or seven clusters in the

Four clusters appear to be organized
lower parts of the valley.
around ceremonial complexes with plaza areas and/or pyramids with
distinctive architectural features, including walls with large upright
slabs separated from each other by horizontal slab-edge masonry.
Another site cluster has a ceremonial center and a large rectangular
structure with relatively little debris around it; the latter may have
been an administrative center, storage complex, or both. A sixth site
cluster lacks the ceremonial center but has one of the rectangular
structures just mentioned. Around each of the site clusters, usually
on terraces or hillslopes overlooking streams, are a series of small
hamlets composed of from two to 20 round, slab-masonry house structures. Sixteen of the hamlets were associated with agricultural terracing along the contours of the adjacent hills or riverbanks; three
included canals that lead to the terrace system. Outside of the
clusters were numerous seasonal occupations 13 caves and 22 large
open sites; irrigation features on five of the latter suggest they
were farming areas periodically used by the sedentary villagers.
One interpretation of the evidence is that each site cluster

represents a community. The hamlets were inhabited by kin aggregates
who were ruled economically, socially, and politically by a welldefined elite group that resided in or around the ceremonialadministrative centers. Except for common religious practices and
beliefs, these communities were relatively independent of each other.
Interactions
The patterns of interaction described for the two preceding
periods continued into this one. Foodstuffs were still being exchanged between the four regions and the tropical lowlands, and raw
materials and ideas about pottery-making, water control systems,
architecture, and community organization were still spreading at
The Periods
47
different rates and with different intensities throughout the Central

Peruvian Interaction Sphere. Furthermore, at least three of the
regions Ancon-Chilca, Huancayo-Junin, and Ayacucho-Huanta have
established independent ties with other areas, while simultaneously
maintaining minimal ties among themselves. Not only were the preexisting sets of networks maintained and in some cases expanded, but
an entire new set of relationships were begun.
The Ancon-Chilca
region was integrated into the economic network of the Chavin. Both
the Ayacucho-Huanta and the Huancayo-Junin areas were extending their
economic networks in other directions, principally for the exploitation of new economic resources, such as copper, not widely utilized
before, and in the establishment of new economic ties with groups on
the ceja de montana, which at least in the case of the Huancayo-Jauja
Region had not been previously very heavily utilized.
Period 10:
450 B.C. - A.D. 300
Several new, interrelated patterns appear in the archaeological

record during the last half of the first millenium B.C. One pattern
consists of four elements that occur at different times in different
places along the coast.
It consists of (1) exchange networks that
apparently incorporated the populations of several adjacent river
valleys, (2) fortified hilltop settlements in many regions, (3) burials containing individuals with no heads or with their own heads as
well as those of other individuals tied around their waists, and
(4) occasional burials of individuals with massive depressed skull
fractures or projectile points imbedded in vital parts of their bodies.
This pattern is usually interpreted as one involving raiding, conquest,
or some combination of both.
It may well have been precipitated by
population pressure on the food resources that were immediately available to particular groups.
In the Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere, this pattern is
apparently closely associated with the spread of influence from at
least two different regions on the south coast of Peru one centered
at Cahuachi in the Nasca Valley and the other centered in the CaneteChincha-Paracas Region. Pottery with resin-painted designs and/or
representations of Paracas mythical beings has been found as far south
as the Acari Valley on the south coast and in the highlands in the
south the Tiahuanaco I style to the Huancayo-Junin Region in the
north.
The idea of resin-painted decoration is most apparent in the
Huancayo-Junin and Ayacucho-Huanta Regions in the Mantaro Valley,
while the mythical representations of the Paracas style are most
abundant in the Pucara and Tiahuanaco Regions to the south, where the
pottery is decorated with pre-fired painted and incised designs.
Ceramics in the Ancon-Chilca Region, from about 250 B.C. to about A.D.
150, share very specific features with the pottery of the Topara
In other
Tradition rather than that of the Paracas-Nasca Tradition.
words, the potters of the Mantaro Valley were being more heavily influenced by events occurring in the Canete-Chincha-Paracas Region than
in the Nasca Valley.
This picture is even further complicated by
the fact that ceramic styles found at middle elevations on the west

48
slopes of the Andes in central Peru share very specific design features
with styles found in the same topographical contexts to the north
e.g., the Lumbra style of the Chancay Valley and the Huaraz White-on
Red style of the Callejon de Huaylas and Chavin de Huantar.
This is the period when Ventanilla ( ca 250-50 B.C.) and Miramar

(50 B.C.-ca. A.D. 250) pottery was manufactured and used on the
central coast.
For descriptive purposes, it is convenient to divide
the period into early (250-50 B.C.) and late (50 B.C. -A.D. 250) parts.
.
The old pattern of coastal fishing villages and inland farming

settlements persisted; however, the inland sites both at lower and
middle elevations were fortified hilltop settlements located adjacent
Fishing villages have been found at Ventanilla and in
to arable land.
the lower part of the Lurin Valley; the size of the Ventanilla population was significantly smaller than it had been earlier, presumably
because the ancient bay uplifted about 250 B.C., thereby destroying
the richest Mesodesma shellfish bed in the northern sector of the
region and forcing the inhabitants around the old bay to rely increasingly on the less desirable intertidal shellfish found on the rocky
points north and south of the bay.
Shortly after 50 B.C., the entire
Ventanilla area was abandoned and apparently not reoccupied until the
nineteenth centry. Fortified hilltop settlements dating to the early
part of the period were located in the lower Chillon Valley, the middle Rimac Valley, and in the lower and middle Lurin Valley. The
largest hilltop settlements are in the lower parts of the valleys,
suggesting a continuation of the old pattern where most of the population is engaged in agricultural activities in the low valley. Furthermore, slight stylistic differences between the Ancon-Chillon
sector and the middle Rimac-Lurin sector may imply that the two areas
were autonomous.
Miramar pottery occurs throughout the region at low elevations,

and closely related styles have been found at middle elevation sites
in both the Lurin and Rimac Valleys.
There was a series of sequentially occupied small fishing villages at Ancon and Santa Roas which
were associated with drying terraces, a small public structure, and
perhaps a hilltop fort. The largest settlements were located on the
valley floors in the lower parts of the Chillon, Rimac, and Lurin
Valleys.
The Chillon settlement was composed of two large house
mounds, or apartment complexes, located about a mile and a half from
a small pyramid, while the settlements in the Rimac and Lurin Valleys
consisted of large numbers of small, dispersed house mounds. Settlements in the middle parts of the Lurin and Rimac Valleys, where arable
land is at a premium even today, were situated on hillslopes overlooking the ocean and the valley floor.
It consisted of a small pyramid
made of conical adobes and scattered patches of habitation refuse.
The distribution of Miramar pottery changed with the passage of
time.
The earliest phase (50 B.C. -A.D. 25) has been found as far
The Periods
49
north as Rio Seco; the second phase (A.D. 25-100) occurs only as far
north as Ancon, while the last two phases have been found as far south
The wide distribution of Miramar pottery implies
as the Mala Valley.
that the populations of the lower parts of several adjacent valleys
participated in the same exchange network. The relative paucity of
Miramar pottery in contemporary settlements located in the middle
and upper parts of these valleys may indicate weakened ties between
the coastal and upvalley groups.
There were two types of settlements in the Huarochiri Basin

during this period. One consisted of fortified hilltop settlements
with relatively large numbers of domestic structures. The other
consisted of terraces on slopes overlooking tributaries of the Mala
River; the terrace settlements contain relatively few domestic structures.
Although there is no direct evidence for subsistence activities in the Huarochiri Basis itself, the presence of terrace systems
may indicate that agricultural production was becoming more important
than it had been earlier.
Cultural manifestations dating to this period are characterized

by the later phase of the Cochachongo ceramic style (A.D. 1-250), by
the Uchupas style (A.D. 1-250), and likely by the first phase of the
Usupuquio ceramic style (A.D. 250-500) in the Jau j a-Huancayo Valley.
Ceramic style further north nearer to Lake Junin differ somewhat but
Painted ceramics from the San
share many of the same general traits.
Bias Salt Mine date to this period.
The Cochachongos materials share many specific design features
with the Ocucaje style of the south coast, while the Uchupas materials
share many shape features with the Miramar style of the Ancon-Chilca
Region.
San Bias trade wares are found in Uchupas and Cochachongos
sites in the Jauja-Huancayo basin of the Upper Mantaro, and these
Upper Mantaro styles are also found in the Lake Junin sites. Furthermore, there were also striking similarities between the ceramic styles
of the Huancayo-Junin, Huancavelica, and Ayacucho-Huanta Regions of
the Mantaro Valley during this period suggesting increased contacts
and exchange along the length of the Mantaro drainage.
Two main population clusters continued to be located near Lake
Cochachongos and overlooked the Cunas River during the later phases
of the Cochachongos pottery style.
However, the appearance of Uchupas
pottery styles about the beginning of the Christian era also marks
changes in the political organization of the Jauja-Huancayo Valley
Settlements were
and in the location of wet-season settlements.
moved from the valley floor to relatively isolated, easily defended
hilltops and hillslopes overlooking suitable pasturage, arable lands,
and sources of water.
Such preference of relatively inaccessible,
50
easily defensible settlement location continued on into the succeeding

Usupuquio phases. While there had been but two major population
clusters in the late Cochachongos phases at the beginning of this
period, in the fifth century B.C., by the end of this period, or by
the beginning of the third century A.D., four major population clusters were in evidence one in the foothills above the confluence of
the Rio Chanchas with the Rio Mantaro, one in the hills above the Rio
Cunas as it enters the basin, one in the middle of the valley, in the
hills above the present towns of Cajas and San Geronimo, and a fourth
center at the upper end of the valley in the hills above the Rio Seco
Though it is not clear early in the period,
and the Rio Alayo.
by the end all four of these population clusters are composed of
smaller hilltop sites occupied seasonally for at most a few decades,
and centered around a lower hillflank or valley bottom site, which
is usually typified by the occurrence of a number of figurines and
which represents the ceremonial and administrative core of the cluster.
The early portion of Period 10 is characterized by a quickening

economic tempo in the Jauja-Huancayo basin of the Mantaro. Not only
is there a greater range in the quantity and kinds of goods entering
into the trade network, but the network itself has been extended into
regions previously outside the Jauja-Huancayo Interaciton Sphere. The
end of the period is marked by a decrease in external exchange and a
return to isolationism, so that by the third century A.D. there is
little if any evidence of external contact.
Period 10 marks one of the few epochs when the Jauja-Huancayo

basin participated in a meaningful way in shaping the general direction of Peruvian culture history. The wide-ranging llama trading
caravans, emanating out of the puna from Lake Junin to Lake Titicaca,
did much to integrate the sierra regions with the coastal regions,
so that the sierra states of Huari, Tiwanaku, and Cuzco dominate much
of later Peruvian prehistory.
In addition, metallurgical technology was almost certainly diffused to the south coast at this time by way of mining centers in
both Junin-Huancayo Region and the Huancavelica Region.
Llama and alpaca herding with secondary guanaco and deer hunting
and valley-bottom horticulture continued to be the basis of subsistence.
Economic dependence upon inter -regional trade to produce additional access to agricultural products must have been well-developed
by this time; in times following the Huari state, it became a major
factor in subsistence of the few remaining pastoralists
Sites near
Lake Junin, though less thoroughly recorded, indicate the continued
existence of a seasonal transhumance pattern in that area as well.
.
Four ceramic styles date to this period:

the later part of the
Rancha style (450-300 B.C.), the Caja style (ca. 300-100 B.C.) which
has been referred to earlier as the Huarpa I type, Huarpa ( ca 100
.
The Periods
51
B.C.-A.D. 100), and Cruz Pata (ca. A.D. 100-300) which has been
referred to as the Huarpa II type.
In terms of site numbers (126)
this period appears to be an apogee in the region.
The seasonal
herding and potato growing pattern continued at high elevations and
at lower elevations, judging by excavations in cave deposits, there
was intensive corn, bean, squash, and perhaps quinoa irrigation
agriculture in addition to guinea pig and llama raising.
It is difficult to discern settlement clusters because sites
with black-on-white pottery are located throughout the valley. However, two new types of large settlements suggest that there were
seven or eight communities or political entities in the valley. One
type is represented by three sites, each of which has a large compoundlike area with large round and/or rectangular structures surrounded
by a host of small roundhouses; these are often located near canals
like the first one, except that there are one or more pyramids, or
ceremonial structures in the central compound. These settlement
types are classified as administrative towns and ceremonial-administrative towns, repectively. Another cluster of sites in the southeast portion of the valley is slightly different from the two types
mentioned above.
It consists of two sites on adjacent hills, both of
which are surrounded by roundhouses. One hill has a large rectangular
structure on it and the other, a pyramid. There may also have been
an eighth community which was later destoyed by the construction of
the imperial capital at Huari, since black-on-white sherds are abundant along the southeast edge of the site.
Five of the large administrative centers have smaller administrative hamlets (11) associated with them; three of the administrative
hamlets are associated with small hamlets that have pyramids. Clustered around the hamlets were small settlements with two to ten roundhouses in them; 16 have irrigation features, as do 70 open sites without architectural features that also date to this period.
There appears to have been seven or eight political entities in

the valley with their capitals in the large administrative towns which
were usually located along rivers, but occasionally in easily defended
places.
Below these were the religious and small administrative villages.
Elaborate irrigation features extended outward from these to
hamlets and farms. Perhaps paralleling this site stratification were
chains of power in both the religious and secular realms. The different sizes of the communities, the different kinds of structures in
the sites, and the presence of tombs and cemeteries suggest that a
hierarchical class system probably paralleled the political chains
of command.
One gets the impression of a series of small, rigidly
controlled political entities with well-developed irrigation bases
competing with each other throughout the valley. However, they seem
to have had only limited political relations outside of the valley,
except in the direction of Huancavelica, which lies directly to the
east in the Mantaro Valley.
52
Interactions
Ceramic styles provide the best evidence for exchange patterns
during this period. Between about 450 and 50 B.C., the HuancayoJunin and Ayacucho-Huanta Regions participated in an extensive exchange network that was apparently orchestrated in large part by the
inhabitants of the Nasca Valley on the south coast, who were also in
direct contact with the populations of the Lake Titicaca Basin. The
populations of the Ancon-Chilca and Huarochiri Regions participated
only peripherially if at all, in this exchange network and maintained
only minimal ties with the two Mantaro Valley regions.
By about 50
B.C., the inhabitants of the Canete-Chincha-Paracas Region on the
south-central coast dominated another exchange network that had independent ties with the two Mantaro Valley regions and the Anon-Chilca
Region on the central coast. Relationships between the central
coastal and the two Mantaro Valley regions may have been more intense
Data from the
and direct than they had been earlier in the period.
Huarochiri Region are inconclusive at the present time; however, they
suggest that the inhabitants of the upper west slopes of the Andes
did not participate actively in the Nasca or Canete-Chincha-Paracas
exchange networks, but rather in one that stretched along the mountains at relatively high elevations from the Callejon do Huaylas to
at least Huarochiri.
,
Period 11:
A.D. 300
650
The outstanding characteristic of this period was the formation

of relatively large, multi-valley exchange networks, or states, in the
coastal regions of Peru. These included one on the north coast, presumably centered in the Moche Valley, another on the central coast
that was probably centered in the lower parts of the Chillon and
Rimac Valleys, and a third on the south coast that was centered primarily in the Nasca Valley. States were apparently also forming in
the highlands at this time in Cajamarca, Huamachuco, and the AyacuchoHuanta Region. About A.D. 550, a ceremonial art style, reviving certain elements of the Chavin style, was introduced into both the
Ayacucho-Huanta Region and Tiahuanaco at the southern end of Lake
Titicaca.
Elements of this style, and presumably of the belief system associated with it, spread rapidly throughout the central Andes,
as a state centered at the city of Huari in the Ayacucho-Huanta Region
expanded rapidly to include much of central and southern Peru between
A.D. 600 and 650.
A complex set of events occurred between A.D. 450 and 550 that
may have had a considerable impact on what happened during the next
two centuries.
First, the total populations of some coastal regions
seem to have reached maxima about this time.
Second, the interval of
slightly increased precipitation continued in some highland regions,
which resulted in slightly increased runoffs in the rivers of some
coastal valleys. Water-control systems were expanded considerably
in several coastal velleys at this time, presumably to take advantage
of the increased runoff to bring formerly marginal lands under
The Periods
53
Third, precipitation apparently returned to normal or

cultivation.
even subnormal levels around A.D. 500. As the amount of available
water diminished, the kinds of crops grown on the marginal lands would
have changed to ones that were particularly well adapted to dry condiEventually, the marginal farmlands would have been abandoned
tions.
altogether, when there was no longer enough water for even these dryadapted crops. The effects of this would have been felt most strongly
in those areas where large amounts of marginal land can be brought
under cultivation with only a slight increase in rainfall. Presumably,
there was increasing population pressure on the existing food resources in these areas during the sixth and seventh centuries.
Lima (A.D. 250-600) and Nieveria (A.D. 600-650) ceramics were

manufactured on the central coast during this period. This was also
the time when the population of the Ancon-Chilca Region reached a
maximum one that corresponds closely with the size of the total
population on the eve of the Spanish conquest, at least in terms of
Furthermore, there were relatively
the total area of settlements.
systematic differences in settlement patterns between the Chillon
and Rimac Valleys, on the one hand, and the Lurin Valley, on the
These differences are most pronounced in the lower parts of
other.
the valleys, after the rivers emerge from the canyons and their
gradients become less steep.
In the lower part of the Chillon Valley, there was a series of

sequentially occupied towns associated with one or more pyramids or
platform mounds. The earliest settlement, Cerro Culebra (ca A.D.
300-400) , consisted of a single platform mound and numerous residential structures made from both adobe bricks and canes, located in nonarable lands along the edge of the valley. The later settlements in
the lower Chillon Valley, Cerro Campana or Copacabana (A.D. 400-450),
and La Uva (A.D. 450-500), consisted of pyramid and platform mound
complexes associated with habitation refuse; these were located along
the edges of the valley in places where irrigation agriculture was
In fact, irrigation features, still used at the
easily practiced.
present time, are in close proximity to both sites. Contemporary with
these large settlements are small hamlets dispersed throughout the
valley on hillslopes overlooking arable land. The largest settlement
in the lower Rimac Valley was located on the valley floor at Maranga;
This settlement and the pyramids associated with it began at least
as early as A.D. 300 and was not abandoned until at least A.D. 600.
Another lower Rimac Valley pyramid was located at the Huaca Juliana
A.D. 500-600).
Major irrigation canals, still in use today,
( ca
end at both the Maranga and Huaca Juliana settlements; it is likely
that the water-control systems and the pyramids were built about the
same time.
The other large settlement in the lower Rimac Valley was
Cajamarquilla, which 'was initially occupied at least as early as
.
A.D. 450.

54
Settlements in the Lurin Valley were located on hillslopes overlooking arable land on the valley floor and were not associated with
the construction of pyramids until about A.D. 500 at one site
Pachacamac
Four of the low and middle valley settlements are
directly associated with water-control systems that had to have been
built or modified at the same time the settlements were established.
This indicates that the present water-control system of the Lurin
Valley has not been substantially modified during the last 15,000
years.
Sites containing late Lima style pottery ( ca A.D. 300-500)
occur well above the 1,500 meter contour suggesting that the coastal
population was continually extending its influence up-valley during
There are also contemporary, virtually identical sites
this period.
in the middle parts of the Rimac and Chillon Valleys.
.
In addition to the valley -oriented sites, there were also fishing

villages in the Ancon area and a number of winter campsites located
in the lomas areas.
The latter apparently represent the increased
importance of llama herding in the region.
A complex set of changes in settlement patterns occurred during

this period.
About A.D. 500 the pyramid complexes of the Chillon
Valley and the settlements associated with them were abandoned; these
were replaced by small hamlets located on hillslopes overlooking the
valley floor. About the same time that the pyramid complexes and
their settlements were declining in importance throughout the ChillonRimac sector, a large nucleated settlement was developing at Cajamarquilla and two pyramids were under construction at Pachacamac in the
Lurin Valley, a site which was formerly only a farming and fishing
settlement. These events suggest (1) a shift in population from the
entire lower Chillon-Rimac area towards Cajamarquilla and small farming hamlets scattered throughout the valleys, (2) the consequent abandonment of the earlier pyramid complexes in the area which continued
to be used during the time Nieveria pottery was manufactured as
burial grounds, and (3) the increased importance of Pachacamac with
respect to the "ceremonial" activities that were performed in these
pyramid complexes.

The settlement patterns, and presumably the subsistence activities, of the preceding period persisted with little apparent change.
The fortified hilltop settlements continued to be used, and the hamlets associated with terraces were occupied as well.
Coastal populations apparently had agricultural fields in the lower elevations of
the Huarochiri Region.
This suggests that the boundary between the
Ancon-Chilca and Huarochiri Regions were not stable through time.
The ceramic styles of Usupuquio (A.D. 250-500), Huacrapuquio

(A.D. 500-600), and the first phase of Calpish (A.D. 600-800) were
manufactured during this period. While the Usupuquio style is

The Periods
55
localized and shares few, if any, features with contemporary styles

elsewhere in the Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere, the Huacrapuquio
style shares very specific features with the contemporary styles of
the Ayacucho-Huanta Region, and the first phase of the Calpish style
is in large part derived from Ayacucho-Huanta Region styles.
Thus,
the Huancayo-Junin Region was relatively isolated between A.D. 250500, but following A.D. 500 there was continually increasing contact
with the Ayacucho-Huanta Region, culminating in the incorporation of
the region into the Huari state between A.D. 600-650.
Virtually all of the Usupuquio phase sites were situated on

easily defended hillslopes and hilltops overlooking the valley floor.
Shortly after the third century A.D., a fifth major population cluster
or center emerged, so that in addition to the previous four clusters
one in the upper valley in the hills above the Rios Alayo and Seco,
one in the middle valley in the hills above modern-day Cajas and San
Geronimo, and two in the lower valley, one above the Rio Cunas and
the other above the Rio Chanchas
there was a new mid-valley cluster
in the hills above Mito and Orcotuna.
Each of these different ethnic
or political clusters was associated with a larger, lower cluster core
site which contained figurines and other indications of being important ceremonial and administrative centers for the respective cluster.
Huacrapuquio settlements mark a period of renewed interaction

with surrounding regions, particularly with the Ayacucho-Huanta
Region.
Settlements are once again found on the lower valley slopes
or on the valley floor itself. During the Usupuquio phases, the
center of population density was in the mid-valley, with large numbers
of sites in the neighborhood of Mito and Orcotuna on the West bank of
During the Huacrapuquio phases there was a definite
the Mantaro.
population shift down-valley, to the lower end, which was more proximal to the increasingly important Ayacucho-Huanta state. There are
increasingly fewer sites in the upper valley, the center between the
Rio Alayo and Rio Seco tributaries is abandoned, and by the end of the
Huacrapuquio phase the upper end of the valley appears to be essentially unoccupied.
In mid-valley, there is also a southward shift
of population.
The Orcotuna-Mito center is abandoned by the end of
the Huacrapuquio phases, and the Caja-San Geronimo center, though
still functioning, now only has a few sites associated. The greatest
number of sites cluster in the southern end of the valley, particularly along the Huancayo-Huamanmarca-Huacrapuquio-Chongos Bajo axis,
the area where later the branch oracle of Wariwilka is established.
Sites also increase on the southern flanks of the Rio Cunas, though
not to the same degree; this is the area where the later temple site
of Calpish is situated.
The late Huacrapuquio phases and the first Calpish phase mark a
period of extensive social disorganization and concomitant reorganization in the Jauj a-Huancayo sector of the Huancayo-Junin Region. This
crucial epoch of no more than a century's duration, marks the shift
from primary llama and alpaca pastoralism, with secondary hunting and
horticulture to an economic base of primary agriculture with
56
secondary herding. Although hunting activities continue to provide

significant quantities of food through the earlier Usupuquio phases,
hunting declines during the Huacrapuquio epoch, and by A.D. 650 has
ceased to be an important economic activity; artifacts associated with
hunting are common until about the fourth century A.D. but have disappeared completely by the seventh century A.D. The first permanent
agricultural settlements appear to be developing during the last phase
of Huacrapuquio occupation; permanent year-round settlements are common by A.D. 600, with towns appearing set out on grid patterns.
Social stratification and hierarchical ranking is evident along with
extensive craft or guild specialization. Two important temple complexes are constructed between A.D. 600-650 one at Calpish, which
apparently was more closely associated with the Huari state, as it
disappears with the collapse of the Huari state a few centuries later,
and the second at Wariwilka, where a branch oracle was established
which survived until A.D. 1534 when it was sacked and destroyed by
Manco Inca.
The Pongora style (A.D. 300-550), referred to in the past as

Huarpa or Huarpa III, and the Conchapata style (A.D. 550-650), which
has been called Wari I and includes both Conchapata and Chakipampa
pottery, were made during this period.
There was a significant
reduction in the number of sites in the region (41), even though the
total population may have increased.
There were nine large towns,
superficially like those of the preceding period, but with rectangular
rooms or houses arranged around a square courtyard and then against
The number of
some sort of compound wall or delimiting element.
compounds varies from one town to the next, ranging from one to five
or six.
In some instances, the compounds connect with each other.
The rectangular rooms or houses with well-made block masonry vary considerably in size, and it is often difficult to tell where the center
of the whole town was located.
One of the towns represented the
initial building stage at the site of Huari. A tenth town differs
from the others in that it has a large pyramidal structure in the
central compound.
Other types of settlements also occurred but were not concentrated around the central towns.
They consisted of four small administrative compounds, one village with a pyramid, 13 hamblets with
rectangular houses, nine open sites including four on the puna which
probably represent the persistence of old life ways, and four cave
occupations. Although elaborate irrigation features still occurred
in the valley, they do not seem to have been as elaborate as they
were earlier, nor do they seem to link series of settlements together.
Elaborate tombs of varying size and splendor have been reported for
this period; however, no unlooted ones were found.
It appears that the valley has been welded into a single political unit with the large towns being the administrative centers of this
The Periods
57
entity. The population seems to have been concentrated in these

centers, although some individuals may have carried out subsistence
activities away from them. Artif actual materials suggest, perhaps
more than ever before, that many individuals were engaged in nonsubsistence activities such as craft specialities, trade and commerce,
It is also possible that the chain
military, and bureaucratic ones.
and the hierarchy of social classes were identiof political control
cal with each other.
Interactions
Ceramics again provide information about the kinds of interacThe inhabitants of the
tions that occurred during this period.
Ayacucho-Huanta Region were in contact with those of the Nasca-Ica
Region on the south coast between A.D. 400 and 500 and borrowed a
number of design elements that were incorporated into the Pongora
style at that time. These contacts ceased during the next century
as the Ayacucho-Huanta population established close relationships with
the inhabitants of the upper part of the Mantaro Valley, including the
Huancayo-Junin Region. From A.D. 500 onward, there were only slight
differences in the ceramic styles of the Mantaro, which suggests that
contacts were numerous and inter-relationships between the various
parts of the valley were close at this time. About A.D. 600, the
Ayacucho-Huanta population re-established close relationships with
the south coast and extended their influence along the coast from
Acari in the south to Chancay and the Callejon de Huaylas in the
north.
The spread of Ayacucho-Huanta influence throughout much of central Peru after A.D. 600, as well as the patterns of archaeological
associations in these regions, strongly suggest conquest by the miliFrom the perspectary forces of a state with its capital at Huari.
tive of community self-sufficiency, this implies that the inhabitants
of the Ayacucho-Huanta Region were no longer able to support themselves with locally available resources and that they were gaining
access to these needed items by acquiring lands elsewhere in central
Peru through military conquest, subjugation of foreign populations,
and some form of tribute payments that were perhaps analogous to what
the Incas did during the fifteenth century.
Period 12:
A.D. 650 - 850
The Huari Empire reached it greatest extent during the last half
of the period.
It extended in the highlands from Cajamarca in the
north to Cacha, near Sicuani, and Chuquibamba in the south. On the
coast, it reached from the Chicama Valley in the north to the Ocona
Valley in the south. Apparently in the first half of the period,
large storage complexes were built at Wiraqocha Pampa near Huamachuco
These suggest that the
and at Pikillaqta in the lower Cuzco Valley.
Huari rulers, like the Incas, were concerned with the collection and
redistribution of goods in provincial areas.
58
Huari influcence was not uniform throughout central Peru. Pottery actually manufactured in the Ayacucho-Huanta Region or local,
provincial limitations of it are fairly common in some areas of the
empire and are virtually absent in others.
In the Ancon-Chilca
Region, for example, these prestigious ceramic styles are most abundant in tombs at the important settlements in the area and occur only
Furthermore, there were three areas
rarely at the small hamlets.
that had some sort of special status in the empire, judging by the
distribution of their pottery styles. One of these was Cajamarca
and the other was the area where the Geometric on Light style was
manufactured perhaps Huamachuco. The abundance of Cajamarca III and
Geometric on Light pottery at Huari itself suggests that there may
The third area with
have been foreign colonies at the capital.
special status was the Ancon-Chilca Region. Pachacamac pottery has
been found along the coast from the Chicama Valley in the north to the
Nasca Valley in the south and inland to the Huancayo-Junin Region.
It appears that the central coast peoples were subordinate to those
of Huari, but nevertheless established a large semi- independent sphere
of influence of their own; they probably exercised this influence
through a series of branch oracles that were related to the one established at Pachacamac about the beginning of this period.
The Huari Empire collapsed suddenly at the end of this period,

and the imperial capital was virtually abandoned.
The reasons for
the collapse of the empire are undoubtedly complex and involve not
only events that were taking place in the capital but also conditions
The Ayacucho-Huanta
that were emerging in the provincial areas
Region was subject to heavy dessication which suggests that the population was no longer able to feed itself with locally produced goods
and that its members had to rely increasingly on foodstuffs produced
in other regions.
These demands may have been relatively easily met
as long as the size of the state was increasing and new ethnic groups
were incorporated into it. The additional goods and services required
by the state could be drawn from the new incorporated areas of the
empire.
However, once the state stopped expanding geographically,
the additional demands had to be met by groups that were already
supplying Huari. This must have placed a continually increasing
burden on these groups and must have been a source of growing dissatisfaction as they saw more of their produce and labor drawn off
by the state.
Furthermore, there were few, if any, technological innovations during the period that significantly increased the productive capacities of these groups over the growing demands of the state,
combined with their inability to increase production, may well have
set the stage for revolutionary changes in the structure of the Huari
Empire
.
Pachacamac A-B pottery was manufactured on the central coast

during this period. The most elaborate specimens of this style have
come from tombs that were excavated at Ancon, Cajamarquilla, Vista
The Periods
59
Alegre, and Pachacamac four of the five known sties that date to this
time.
Tombs containing Pachacamac B pottery are numerically more
abundant than those with Pachacamac A pieces.
Since both phases have
approximately the same duration, this fact may represent a sampling
bias in the data or that mortality rates were greater during the last
half of the period. Habitation sites are scarce throughout the
region, either because they are deeply buried under late occupations
or because they simply do not exist in the same numbers they did
earlier and later.
The fishing village at Ancon continued to be occupied, but its
location on the Pampa de Ancon had shifted somewhat from the end of
Caj armarquilla, a large settlement in the
Rimca Valley, was occupied continuously; however, the cemetery at the
site that had been in use for nearly three centuries was abandoned.
It is not clear whether the site was partially or completely abandoned
at this time because of the large amount of later construction there.
Vista Alegre, another site in the lower part of the Rimac Valley, was
apparently abandoned by the time Pachacamac B pottery was being
manufactured. A third site in the Rimac Valley was a fortified settlement located on an easily defended hillslope near the junction of
the Rimac and Santa Eulalia Rivers; it lacks the elaborately decorated Pachacamac style specimens found at other sites on the central
coast.
An important temple, dedicated to an oracle, was built as an

addition to one of the pyramids constructed at Pachacamac during the
preceding period. Pottery, presumably emanating from the shrine and
the settlement associated with it, has been found at various localities on the north and south coasts of Peru and in the central highJudging by the behavior of this oracle after the Inca conquest
lands.
and the patterns of archaeological evidence at that time, the oracle
at Pachacamac appears to have established branch oracles in other
regions, once these areas were incorporated into the Huari Empire.
Five sites in the Huarochiri Basin seem to date to this period.

They were systematically located on ridges overlooking the valley
floor.
Three of the sites contain oval, stone burial crypts associated with badly damaged architectural complexes, at least one of
which is composed of rectangular stone houses. A fourth site contains only domestic architecture, and the fifth one contains only oval
crypts.
There is no evidence concerning subsistence activities in the
Huarochiri Region during this period. However, they were presumably
not very different from what they had been earlier farming on hillslopes and terraces during the wet season and herding in the puna
during the dry season.
It is possible that there was some degree
of specialization in these activities, in the sense that one individual did not participate equally in both of them.
60
Pottery of the Calpish style (A.D. 600-800/850) was manufactured

in the Jauja-Huancayo basin during this period.
At the temple complex
at Wariwilka and the temple complex of Calpish, trade wares from the
Pachacamac style from the Central Coast, the Geometric-on-Light and
the Cajamarca Cursive styles from the North Highlands, and the Vinaque
and other styles from the Ayacucho-Huanta Region are found in high
prestige burials and in the associated temple refuse. Toward the end
of the Calpish period, a third temple complex is constructed in the
foothills above Lake Nahuinpuquio
In contrast to the other two
temples, no high prestige trade wares from other administrative areas
of the Huari state are found, and it is likely that this temple was
constructed during a period of increasing demographic stress, when the
Huari state had begun to falter and collapse.
.
Occupation in this period in the Jauja-Huancayo basin is centered

almost exlusively at the southern end of the valley. Most of the
sites are clustered around the two major temple complexes of Calpish
and Wariwilka, though at the end there is a shift from the area of
Calpish to the newly constructed temple complex of Nahuinpuquio. The
larger occupation sites consisted of stone structures arranged at
regular intervals in a grid pattern; the smaller hamlets usually contained a few stone structures as well as a larger number of perishable
buildings. The temple complexes were surrounded by enclosing walls,
and were composed of rectangular buildings arranged around rectangular
courtyards in general. At Calpish there were stone-faced circular
structures, each of three or four tiers, similar to the four-tiered
circular structure found in the Sullu Cruz section of Huari, and to
a similar tiered structure at the site of Cangallo in the Rio Pampas.
Hoes, hoe fragments, and other agricultural-related tools now
form the impoverished lithic industry. Artifacts associated with
hunting, carcass preparation, etc., which were formerly ubiquitous,
have all but disappeared.
Storage colca, which form the economic
backbone of the valley in later periods, make their first appearance
during the Calpish occupation.
Such storage complexes seem to be outgrowths of similar complexes found in the Huari state at this time,
such as at Capilla Pata at Huari, Pikillaqta near Cuzco, Viracocha
Pampa near Huamachuco, Pampa de las Llama in Casma, or Wisajirca near
La Union in Huanuco.
Huari not only developed into a true city during this period but
also became the capital of an empire perhaps the first true empire
in the Andean area.
Unfortunately, this huge, well-preserved site
has never been adequately investigated, but recent aerial photographs,
limited mapping, and excavations into one compound permit some tentative interpretations.
Although there is a large area in the southern
part of the site with individual structures surrounded by a peripheral
The Periods
61
zone with many sherds and limited evidence of architecture, the major
part of the site is composed of 70 to 80 rectangular or square compounds, usually with a large D-shaped or circular structure located
Clearing excavations in a portion of one of the
in their centers.
medium-sized compounds, which range from 100 to more than 400 meters
on a side, revealed that it was filled with tightly-nested rectangular
The residents of one portion of the excarooms and workshop areas.
vated compound were engaged in manufacturing mold-made pottery.
Superficial surveys in other compounds revealed that one was involved
in manufacturing turquoise ornaments; a second contained large quantities of flint and obsidian flakes; a third contained many marine
shells; and a fourth contained hundreds of finished projectile points
These data have a number of implications.
and no chipping debris.
First, they suggest that the population of the city ranged from at
least 50,000 to perhaps more than 100,000 residents.
Second, they
indicate that the compounds were not just ceremonial or even living
areas but rather highly organized industrial districts. Third, they
suggest that there was a considerable degree of economic specialization within the city.
Fourth, they suggest that these compounds may
have been involved in producing exports from imported raw materials
so that the center of the empire maintained a favorable "balance of
trade." Fifth, Huari had a large population, many of whom were fulltime craft specialists, arranged in a rigid hierarchical class system,
organized by an efficient political group that held power not only
over the local situation but also over the military, economic, commercial, and social conditions of the empire.
Although the majority of the population in the valley probably

lived in Huari itself, there were also seven administration towns
with from one to six compounds and two small administrative centers
with a single compound each.
It is probably significant that only
seven hamlets, six open camps, and four cave occupations were located
in the valley at this time.
These facts in conjunction with soil
studies which show that sites of this period and the previous one
overlie a dark forest soil horizon and that they, as well as the
more recent sites, are associated with the alluvial soils of a weak
desert soil horizon, suggest less intensive and successful subsistence
activities.
In other words, the potential for agricultural production
was diminishing throughout this period.
Interactions
Ceramics again provide useful information concerning the interactions that were taking place during this time span. The inhabitants
of the Ayacucho-Huanta Region certainly played a major role, perhaps
the most important one, in the affairs of the central Andes, since
Huari influence is evident throughout most of the area. However, the
oracle at Pachacamac also extended its sphere of influence to include
much of the Peruvian coast and at least the Huancayo-Junin Region of
the central highlands, where it may have shared some power with Huari
and perhaps to a lesser extent, the inhabitants of the Cajamarca
Region in the north highlands.
62

Period 13:
A.D. 850 - ca.
1425
After the collapse of the Huari Empire, the capital city was
virtually abandoned, some coastal areas were apparently depopulated
and suffered economic depressions, and within a few centuries, small
regional states appeared in various parts of the old empire.
If
revolutions begin among the more prosperous and less oppressed groups,
then the events that may have precipitated the collapse of Huari
political control probably occurred first in the north, where the
earliest successor states appear and where there is little evidence
of either depopulation or economic depression during the last years
of the empire.
This pattern of small regional states with continually
changing boundaries and varied political institutions continued until
the fifteenth centry, when one of them the Incas from the Cuzco
Basin in the south highlands of Peru began to expand its sphere of
influence, which ultimately included all of the coastal and highland
areas from northern Ecuador to central Chile and northwestern
Argentina.
There was a single ceramic style in the region from about

A.D. 850 to 1050 that has been referred to by various names:
Late
Ancon I, Middle Ancon II, Epigonal, and Three-Color Geometric. It is
best known from gravelots excavated at Ancon and Pachacamac, although
similar pieces have also been excavated in the Chancay Valley to the
north.
This pottery, which is tentatively being called the Chillon
style, can be divided into at least three chronologically distinct
phases on the basis of gravelot associations; the last phase probably
dates between A.D. 1000 and 1050. The existence of this style probably reflects the continued importance of the oracle at Pachacamac
after the collapse of Huari politcal control on the central coast.
Subsequently, the pottery styles of the northern and southern
sectors of the region diverged from each other. The pottery of the
sector lying north of the Chillon River shows close affinities with
the Chancay Black-on-White style. A contemporary but very distinctive
style is found south of the Chillon River in both the Rimac and Lurin
Valleys.
Both styles can be subdivided into a number of chronologically distinct phases. The differences in the ceramic assemblages
found in the two sectors may relfect Cobo s statement that there
were two nations inhabiting the central coast of Peru, each speaking
its own language.
One language was spoken from Carabayllo in the
northern Chillon Valley to Chancay and the other from Carabayllo south
to Pachacamac.
The divergence between the pottery styles of the
region after A.D. 1050 suggests that the influence of the Pachacamac
oracle became more localized in the southern sector during the later
part of this period.
f
Another document dating from A.D. 1550, which has only been
partially published so far, indicates that an ethnic group centered
The Periods
63
on the coastal plain in the lower part of the Chillon Valley controlled lands in the middle part of that valley at Quives, where coca was
Archaeological sites yielding ceramics similar
the principal crop.
to those of the coastal plain have been found around Quives.
Similar
patterns of archaeological evidence have also been recorded in both
the Rimca and Lurin Valleys.
In general, nucleated settlements of
varying sizes occurred throughout the entire region. Those on the
coastal plain were located in places where agriculture could not be
successfully practiced along the edges of the valleys, on the slopes
of isolated hills on the valley floors, or in areas where marine
resources were abundant.
Settlements at higher elevations in the
river canyons were usually located on the lower slopes of hills overlooking the valley floor; several of the earlier ones were associated
were fortified hilltop refuges. Ethnohistoric sources dealing with
both the Ancon-Chilca and Huarochiri Regions provide evidence which
account for the presence of fortified sites in the middle parts of the
river valleys. There was a great deal of conflict over the control
of lands in the middle parts of the river valleys, along the boundary
between ethnic groups living in the Huarochiri Region and those living
These conflicts apparently took the form
in the Ancon-Chilca Region.
of raids in which one group would drive the resident population of
another group from their lands. At one moment, a coastal group might
control a particular plot of land; later, a highland group might
occupy the same landholding.
Consequently, the boundary between the
Ancon-Chilca and Huarochiri Regions is blurred for two reasons during
First, a coastal group might control
the later part of this period.
a particular landholding around the 1,000 meter contour, and then a
highland group would control it.
Second, at any given moment, a
coastal group might have lands at higher elevations in the middle
parts of the river valleys than a highland group.
Ten sites in the Huarochiri Basin date to this period. Three have
rather small concentrated refuse deposits located in or adjacent to
settlements occupied by various comunidades indigenas at the present
time; these groups are all mentioned in a late sixteenth or early
seventeenth century document and consider their "core lands" to be
located in the immediate vicinity of these settlements. A fourth
site is a large cemetery with oval burial crypts and associated
plazas located near the core lands of another comunidad indigena in
the area.
The remainder of the sites consist of isolated houses
located in agricultural fields or on terraces. Ethnohistorical documents again provide useful insights into the meaning and significance of these settlement patterns and how Huarochiri society as a
whole functioned during the later part of this period.
The people of Huarochiri, or the Sons of Pariacaca as they called
themselves, held lands from the coca and corn fields in the middle
parts of the Rimac and Lurin Valleys to the puna overlooking them.
They were grouped into a series of segmentary lineages. At the
64
highest and most inclusive level, they were the descendants of

Pariacaca, and their relatives would found as far north as Canta and
At less inclusive levels, they were descended
as far south as Yauyos.
from one of Pariacaca 's sons or one of their offsprings, and both the
number of their relatives and the territory they occupied were more
restrictive.
The segments were apparently ranked, judging by the fact
that some lineages were referred to as the "little brothers" of more
prestigious and wealthy units in the area.
The lineage segments were corporate landholding groups that
attempted to establish and maintain self-sufficiency by controlling
lands and their resources in different environmental settings on the
west side of the Andes corn and coca fields at low elevations, potato
fields between the 3,000 and 3,500 meter contours, and grazing lands
for llamas and alpacas in the puna grasslands.
Judging by the contemporary situation in the area and by statements in historical documents, each lineage had core lands on which a large number of the
members lived and worked; these core lands were usually located on
the margins between two environmental zones where different resources
were available. Smaller numbers of individuals belonging to the same
lineage occupied lands in other environmental settings. Consequently,
the landholding patterns of a given lineage resembled a chain of
islands scattered throughout a sea of lands that they did not control.
The core lands of the various lineages and the settlements inhabited
by the majority of their members are probably represented by the
sites with concentrated refuse deposits located near the modern settlements, while the isolated houses represent outlying lands controlled and inhabited by small numbers of individuals belonging to
lineages that had core territories located elsewhere in the area.
It is also clear from the documentary evidence that lineages

without extensive landholdings or control resources wealth in their
terms often raided the members of other ethnic groups, particularly
those from the coast, in order to gain access to additional lands and
resources. Many of these conflicts seem to have occurred around the
1,000 meter contour, which may account for the existence of fortified
hilltop sites with storage facilities in the middle valleys; several
of the conflicts apparently involved control of coca fields or the
theft of huacas , or sacred objects, that were ranked in some fashion.
In any event, a lineage gaining new lands or new sacred objects was
also gaining new wealth and new prestige. These disputes probably
began as small-scale ones between individuals from different ethnic
groups claiming rights of use to the same field; these disputes probably escalated quickly, according to one source, as the individuals
turned first to other members of their lineages for support and then
to other related lineages for additional aid.
There were at least two integrating mechanisms in Huarochiri

society beside the reciprocal exchange of foodstuffs produced in
different resource areas. One consisted of a "ceremonial round" that
The Periods
65
began after the harvest season. The members of one lineage segment
would travel to the puna to hunt deer and guanaco, which they would
present to their kinsmen who lived around the 1,500 meter contour in
the Rimac Valley; additional foodstuffs produced in that locality
were then carried to another group of kinsmen who lived around the
800 meter contour in the Rimac Valley.
Foodstuffs were again exchanged and goods were then carried into the middle part of the Lurin
Valley. Another set of exchanges occurred there before the lineage
members returned to their core lands in the upper part of the Lurin
Four of these ceremonial rounds are mentioned in ethnohisValley.
toric sources, each involving a different group and a different route.
The second integrating mechanism involved the ceremonies performed around the principal huacas of the lineage.
The members would
gather where the huaca was located, and the appropriate ceremonies
were performed. At least some of these involved the veneration of the
According to the ethnohistoric documents, a ceremony that took
dead.
place in the Ricardo Palma sector of the middle Rimac Valley involved
numbers of males coming together and dancing on the top of a platform
mound dedicated to a local female deity who was very interested in
In another ceremony that apparently ocobserving their genitalia.
curred in the upper Lurin Valley mummy bodies were brought out of the
tombs, placed in the middle of a circle, and surrounded by the living
The wealthy members sat on the inner edge of
members of the group
the circle because of their importance, while the poorer individuals
sat on the outer fringes, participating only peripherally in the
activities of the occasion. Everyone, including the mummy bundles,
Ceremonies such
consumed food and maize beer at these festivities.
as this one may well have taken place at sites with oval burial crypts
and plazas, like the one found in the Huarochiri Basin.
.

The Quinsahuanca (A.D. 800/850), Matapuquio (A.D. 1050-1250),
and Arhuaturo (A.D. 1250 to ca. 1470) pottery styles were manufactured in the region during this period. The Quinsahuanca style involved a number of archaisms, which revive features that predate the
Huari conquest of the area. These archaisms reflect deliberate symbolic attempts by the inhabitants of the region to imitate a past that
they did not fully remember and to rid themselves of this visible
reminder of Huari occupation.
In terms of the ceramics, the closest
relationships exist between this region and ones lying down the
Mantaro Valley in the vicinity of Huancavelica and Ayacucho-Huanta
These similarities, however, reflect parallel developmental trends
in the various regional art style rather than close contacts among the
peoples.
The settlement patterns in the Huancayo-Junin Region suggest
a period of retrenchment and relative isolation, interrupted by raids
and feuds.
Settlement patterns indicate similar retrenchment. There is a

dramatic demographic shift from a valley population centered on the
66
hills in the narrower upper reaches of the basin. During the

Quinsahuanca phases, the population in the valley is centered near
Jauja, in the hills between Molinas and San Lorenzo on the East bank
of the Mantaro, and in the hills above Muquiyauyo and Huancali on the
west bank of the Mantaro.
In addition there is an important secondary
series of population clusters in the hills above the Rio Cunas. These
clusters shift slightly up and down the valley during the succeeding
centuries, moving apparently each time there was a major change in
succession, or a major change in the balance of power between the
ethnic groups. For example, the capital of the Hananhuanca group in
the sixteenth century was first at Sapallanga, then at Sicaya, and
later at Chupaca.
The small town-size settlements of no more than 2,000 individuals
were constructed similarly throughout the 600-year period from the
middle of the ninth century A.D. to the middle of the fifteenth
century A.D. The typical town built on a low hilltop or knoll had a
row of storage buildings circumscribing its lower flanks, clearly
serving double duty both as storehouses and as defense redoubts. On
the uphill side of this encircling row of storage colca were clustered
the dwellings of the poor barrio, relatively small and irregularly
clustered together. Dwellings nearer the center of the site were
larger and were grouped around regularly-shaped courtyards with the
center of the town itself dominated by a large ceremonial plaza and
sometimes with an associated temple or administrative edifice.
During this period, elaborate storage complexes were developed as

a cultural response to the extremely capricious variations in precipitation which previously had made pastoralism a more desirable ecological adaptation than agriculture. These storage complexes, with more
than 120 buildings in a single row in some cases were used to store
both foodstuffs and manufactured goods. Such storage complexes made
the Jau j a-Huancayo basin a major supply base for the later Inca state
and also supplied the Spanish conquistadores with the necessary logistical support to conquer the Peruvian empire and with which to spend
the next two decades squabbling over the spoils.
At the time of Inca conquest, the Huanca groups had control of
Landholdings
a number of vertically situated environmental zones.
were exploited in several different biotopes where specific varied
resources were available. Frequently, landholdings were separated from
one another by lands belonging to other ethnic groups, giving some
zones mosaic multi-ethnic configurations. Political integration
of these spatially separated zones was very similar to that just
described for the Huarochiri area.
The flat flood plain of the Jauja-Huancayo basin (ca. 3300 m.)
was primarily utilized for agricultural products by this time, including various tubers such as potatoes, oca, ulluco, and mashua, and
various grains such as quinoa, canihua, and maize. The herds of
llamas and alpacas were pastured on the surrounding hillsides and
The Periods
67
valley rim puna some 600 meters higher (ca. 4000 m.). Grazing areas
a day or two away may have been shared with the Yauyos group or groups
from Huarochiri.
The Huanca had several lowland montana settlements,
multi-ethnic in composition, for the production of coca, aji, yuca,
gourds, and other selva products.
In the Pacific coastal Chillon
Valley, the Huanca also appear to have established mitmaqkuna or
colonists in among the coastal inhabitants for the production of
maize, cotton, and other regional products.
The Ayacucho - Huanta Region
Huamanga or Huari III (A.D. 850-1200) and Argalla (A.D. 12001450) ceramics were manufactured in the region during this period.
For descriptive purposes, it is convenient to divide the period into
earlier and later parts defined by the duration of the two pottery
styles
During the early part of the period, the population of the region
diminished considerably, and there was a major change in the settlement patterns. Pollen studies indicate that the present period desiccation began early in this period. These are probably related to
significant changes in the social, economic, and political conditions
that prevailed.
Huari may have continued as an urban center during
the first 50 years, but the evidence suggests that it was no longer
Later, it seems that city was inhabited by only
an imperial capital.
a few stragglers, all of whom perhaps lived among the ruins in one
of the old compounds where the remains of a small hamlet were found.
Huamanga polychrome sherds also occur on most of the five former
administrative towns in the region. Two of the towns located just
east and west of Huari continued relatively unchanged throughout the
However, the most common settlement type is the hamlet comperiod.
posed of small numbers of square structures situated in easily
defended localities. Two of the hamlets have well-constructed fortification walls surrounding them as do a shrine and two small administrative towns with a single compound each. Nine open sites, one
cave, and four of the five modern puna -herding hamlets also yielded
Huamanga pottery.
Relatively little is known about the later part of the period,

although ethnohistorical studies now being conducted should help to
Four sites located on spurs or
clarify the archaeological evidence.
peaks around the 3,000 meter contour and surrounded by fortification
walls are particularly characteristic of this time. They consist of
closely-packed round and rectangular structures separated from each
other by corrals or plazas. One hamlet, two open sites, and three
cave occupations were found at lower elevations in the region; furthermore, many of the modern puna- herding hamlets also contain Argalla
pottery, which suggests that they too were occupied during this time.
A cluster of sites in the Huanta sector shows a slightly different
pattern.
There was a large defensible compound town on the valley
floor surrounded by two hamlets and two camp sites located along
streams emptying into the Huarpa River.
68
During the early part of the period, it appears that the social
and political systems were completely disorganized with only a remnant population remaining in the region, perhaps under the political
control of the old Huari royal lineages, the importance of which were
much diminished from the preceding period. Later, there may have been
a series of warring ethnic groups and/or extended kin groups ruling
small territories from the fortified, feudal-like towns.
Herding
became a very important part of the subsistence system. There seems
to have been little overall organization of the area as a whole and
few definite defenses against raids from each other or from outsiders.
Interactions
This was a period of considerable regionalization in central
Peru; however, it does not seem to have been a time when the inhabitants of one region were completely isolated from those adjacent
areas.
On the west side of the Andes, the self-sufficient archipelof
agos
lands controlled by various ethnic groups imply that coastal
peoples had to deal in some minimal fashion on a day-to-day basis with
groups from the Huarochiri Region. These interactions apparently
ranged from seemingly peaceful co-existence perhaps with a few insults
exchanged, on the one hand, to open feuds and raids, on the other.
Contacts between the inhabitants of the Huarochiri and the HuancayoJunin Regions probably occurred in the punas located along the continental divide.
Both groups were involved to some extent in llama
and alpaca herding on the punas and there is a limited number of
places on these grasslands where water and salt can be obtained. As
a result, it is not unlikely that individuals from the two regions
occasionally encountered each other in localities where these
resources were available as they do today. The situation in the
Mantaro Valley, at least with respect to raiding and feuds, seems
analogous to the one that existed on the western slopes of the
,
Peruvian Andes
Period 14:
ca. A.D.
1425 - 1534
Towards the end of the fourteenth century, there seems to have

been a further decrease in the amount of rainfall throughout the
central Andes.
In densely populated areas this probably meant that
some of the marginal farmlands were either abandoned because they
could not be adequately watered or they were less productive than
If groups
they had been earlier under slightly wetter conditions.
attempted to maintain their standards of living given these conditions, they may well have placed pressure on the food resources that
were available to them.
Several groups alleviated this situation
by acquiring additional lands and sources of water in adjacent areas.
Ultimately, one of these groups, the Incas established an empire
Given the location of prothat included most of the central Andes.
vincial Inca capitals, the relative abundance of Inca remains in some
areas and their virtual absence in others, it is clear that the Incas
In fact,
were much more interested in some regions than in others.
,

The Periods
in many areas
e.g., Huarochiri or Ayacucho-Huanta
the
Inca presence at all.
discern
to
it
69
is difficult
The Inca political structure was a hierarchical one, usually

described as a pyramid. The highest official in the system was the
emperor, who not only ruled by divine right but also claimed lineal
descent from the sun. One of the great weaknesses with this level
of the political system was the lack of a detailed rule of succession
to the throne that functioned predictably to designate the heir under
Consequently, succession was frequently
any set of conditions.
associated with conflict, and none of the methods the Incas devised
to eliminate such strife was entirely successful.
Immediately below
the emperor were a series of prefects and provincial governors
offices that were usually held by members of the highest levels of
The lower levels of the Inca bureaucracy the
the Inca nobility.
kurakas were probably filled largely by the traditional leaders of
It appears that the Incas
ethnic groups conquered by the Incas.
solved the problem of dealing with a wide range of political systems
and various ways of selecting leaders among the ethnic groups they
conquered by making succession to these offices hereditary. The
sons of the kurakas particularly those responsible for large numbers
of taxpayers, were often taken to Cuzco, where they were indoctrinated
This insured the loyalty of the
into the ways of the Inca state.
kurakas and provided the Incas with a steady flow of trained personnel
for the lower levels of their bureaucracy.
The organization of the population of the empire into decimal

units administered by the kurakas apparently followed traditional
divisions between and within the ethnic groups incorporated into the
Consequently, these decimal units were mono-ethnic in compostate.
This reflects the Incas' concern with collecting taxes that
sition.
were owed by the ethnic group as a whole rather than by the individSince taxes were paid in the form of labor,
uals that belonged to it.
this was designed to provide the kurakas with a way for raising
The
a sufficient number of men to meet the demands of the state.
Incas imposed two kinds of labor taxes. The first was the mita
which consisted of a specified number of man-days of labor in the
army, on public works projects, or in personal service to the emperor
The other was a form of agrior other members of the Inca nobility.
cultural and pastoral taxation, in which the members of each ethnic
group were required to work the lands and care for the herds that
The products of this labor
had been taken from them by the Incas.
were used to support Inca government, the state religion, and the
members of any royal Inca corporation that controlled resources in
The amount of resources controlled by the Incas
their territory
In some
varied considerably from one place to another in the empire.
areas, like Arapa in the Lake Titicaca Basin, the state religion controlled everything that was produced, while in other areas, the
largest shares went either to the state government or to one of the
royal corporations. The remainder of the resources produced in a
given area belonged to the ethnic group whose members did the actual
,
70
work; however, no group was allowed to keep more resources than its
members needed to sustain themselves throughout the year. In times
of famine or drought, the Incas distributed food and other commodities
to the effected groups from the state-owned lands; these goods were
stored in state warehouses that were located throughout the empire.
The Incas demanded complete obedience from their subjects and

used officials and institutions outside of the pyramidal political
structure to insure that they received it. These include:
inspectors
who insured that tax obligations were being met and that rebellions
were not being fomented; judges who punished crimes against the
state e.g., wichcraft against the emperor or failure to pay taxes;
mitimae segments of ethnic groups resettled on the lands of others,
who were required to set examples and provide the state with information about the activities of their "hosts;" the enshrinement of local
huacas in Cuzco; army garrisons stationed throughout the empire; and
In spite of all the precautions the Incas took to prevent
fear.
rebellions, it is clear that they occurred with increasing frequency,
as the geographical expansion of the empire began to slow down around
the beginning of the sixteenth century and the demands of the state,
the church, and the royal corporations for access to resources continued to grow. This continually increasing burden on the ethnic
groups was a source of growing dissatisfaction, as the members of the
conquered groups saw more and more of their resources and labor drawn
off by the state.
The Incas were unable to deal with the frustrations
that must have accompanied their growing demands. Too many provincial
officials in the lower echelons of their bureaucracy belonged to the
ethnic groups that had to meet them. When conditions became too
oppressive and rebellions broke out, they sided with their kinsmen
against the central government. This dissatisfaction is one of the
reasons why so many Andean peoples, who remembered when they were
free and what Inca rule meant, later became close allies of the
Spaniards
About A.D. 1425 a single local ceramic style began to be used

throughout the region. This style had its antecedents in the
pottery that was manufactured in the Rimac-Lurin Valley sector during
This change may reflect the increased importance of the oracle at Pachacamac throughout the region a set of
events that was perhaps precipitated in response to the expansion of
the Inca and Chanca states in the south highlands and the Kingdom of
Chimor on the north coast.
Ethnohistorical sources are seemingly contradictory concerning

the southern boundary of the Kingdom of Chimor.
One source places
it in the Huaura Valley, and the other in the Chillon Valley.
According to Calancha, the southward advance of Chimor was halted when
their armies were defeated by the people of the Rimac Valley. This
battle probably occurred during the 1450' s. The complete absence of
Chimu in influence in the Chillon Valley between 1425 and c_a. 1476
The Periods
71
suggests that the northerners had only marginal control of the area,
at best, and that even this probably lasted no more than a few years.
Chimu influence dating from 1425 to 1476 is evident in the Huaura
Valley suggesting that the actual boundary of the kingdom was located
in that area. What the data from the central coast suggests is that
Chimor was in the process of expanding southward by raiding neighboring groups on the frontiers of the kingdom when they became involved with their allies at Cajamarca and were eventually attacked
by the Incas shortly after 1461. After the collapse of the Kingdom
of Chimor, the Ancon-Chilca Region was incorporated, apparently peacefully, into the Inca Empire about 1469-1471.
Subsequently, the prestige and influence of the oracle at Pachacamac increased enormously, and by 1534, they extended beyond the
northern limits of effective Inca political control in Ecuador. This
was accomplished through the establishment of a series of branch
oracles in various localities, a representative of the oracle that
travelled at all times with the Inca emperor, the responses given to
the inquiries of the wealthy and important pilgrims that journeyed
to Pachacamac itself or to one of the branch oracles, and the collection of "tribute" from towns along the coast as far north as Tacumez,
Ecuador presumably in return for the services provided by the oracle.
The spread of Pachacamac influence was certainly facilitated by
the religious tolerance of the Incas, their policy
several factors:
of building temples throughout the empire, the relocation of ethnic
groups, and the relative peaceful conditions that prevailed in the
central Andes during this period.
The population of the central coast reached a maximum during the

later part of this period. An ethnohistoric source indicates that
there were approximately 30,000 taxpayers belonging to the ethnic
groups that had their core lands in the lower parts of the Chillon and
Rimac Valleys. Depending on the multiplier factors used to estimate
the total population from the number of taxpayers, 90,000 to 150,000
persons probably belonged to these groups; however, it is not clear
Some of them may
that all of these individuals resided in the area.
have been mitimae living in other parts of the empire and some of them
may have resided on lands outside of the core territory. Given the
fact that there were mitimae from other areas living on the central
coast, these figures may not be bad estimates of the total population
Using total
of the lower Chillon and Rimac Valleys at this time.
population
the
size,
population
of
site area as the major criterion
of the lower Chillon and Rimac Valleys at this time was roughly the
equivalent to the population of the same area about A.D. 450. This
level was not reached again until the early years of the twentieth
century.
The settlement patterns of the region remained unchanged during
the first 50 years of the period, prior to the time when it was incorporated into the Inca Empire. Towns were located along the edges
of the valley or on the lower slopes of isolated hills on the valley
floor.
However, after the establishment of Inca political control,
there was a marked change in both the location and kinds of sites
72
found in the lower parts of the Chillon and Rimac Valleys. The old
towns were abandoned, and new ones were built on the valley floors.
Villas large tapia-block structures built on natural mounds or old
structures were located on the valley floors or just outside of the
irrigated fields. There was no appreciable change in the indigenous
settlement patterns in the Lurin Valley. Many of the old towns continued to be occupied throughout the period.
The Inca presence is most apparent at their provincial capital

A Temple of the Sun was built on an ancient pyramid
at Pachacamac.
overlooking the shrine of the Pachacamac oracle, and other structures,
including one with Cuzco style stone masonry, were built in the same
Cuzco Polychrome pottery, as well as local imitapart of the site.
tions of it, are more abundant here than at any other site on the
central coast. Tambos, or way stations along the Inca highway, were
built at several localities along the road which ran from Pachacamac
through Huarochiri to Jauja. Again, the Inca presence is more apparent at the tambos, judging by the higher proportions of Cuzco Polychrome pottery and imitations of it, than it is at nearby habitation
sites where only local pottery has been found.
One site in the Huarochiri Basin and three sites in the Ricardo
Palma sector of the Rimac Valley date to this period. The Huarochiri
site consists of a large architectural complex located on a series
of low rises near the modern town of Sangallalla.
The three sites
in the Ricardo Palma sector were functionally distinct and separated
from each other by about 700 to 1,500 meters of arable land. One
was a settlement, located on an alluvial fan outside of the arable
The pottery found
land, with densely packed residential structures.
at this site belonged almost exclusively to the local style.
The
second site, located on a hillslope overlooking the valley floor,
consisted of a series of coca-drying terraces, storehouses, tombs,
Both imitation Cuzco Polyand a single large residential compound.
chrome and local pottery were found at this site. The third site
consisted of four platform mounds overlooking the junction of the
Rimac and Santa Eulalia Rivers. It yielded local pottery, as well
as a few fragments of the fancy coastal style that occurs in high
frequencies at Pachacamac. Huarochiri style pottery, presumably
dating to this period, has also been found in considerable quantities
around one of the compounds near the southern edge of Pachacamac
It appears that there was a marked change in the settlement
patterns of the region around A.D. 1500, when the inhabitants of both
the Ricardo Palma sector and Huarochiri Basin moved from the old dispersed settlements to nucleated villages. This change was probably
In the
a direct result of Inca political control in the region.
Ricardo Palma sector, it seems likely that the local representative
of the Inca government resided in the residential structure near the
drying terraces.
The Periods
73
Ethnohistoric sources provide considerable information concerning the ways in which the oracle at Pachacamac exerted his influence
in the Huarochiri Region.
A branch oracle in the upper Lurin Valley
was one of Pachacamac' s sons; the oracle in the Ricardo Palma sector
was his wife; she also had a son who was an oracle living in the
upper part of the Lurin or Mala Valleys. Pachacamac' s son claimed to
protect the inhabitants of the area.
In return for this service, they
built him a shrine and set aside one month each year when they honored
him with sacrifices and gifts. After a number of years, the branch
oracle was removed from the Huarochiri Region and taken to Pachacamac.
The local residents wanted their huaca and went to Pachacamac with
gifts of llamas, guinea pigs and cloth to gain his return. After the
huaca was returned, they gave llamas and pasturelands in the puna to
Pachacamac and honored him and the branch oracle on alternate days
with sacrifices and gifts.
'
The Incas were very interested in this region and incorporated

it into the Empire shortly before A.D. 1461.
Subsequently, they
established a provincial capital at Jauja. Ceramic assemblages dating
between A.D. 1461 and 1533 contain a variety of styles: ArhuaturoInca, which is derived from the local pottery tradition, but which
also is an innovative style in that it combines features of Cuzco
Polychrome and the local style in novel ways; Cuzco Polychrome and
local imitations of the Inca style; Viques, a style which seems to
have its antecedents in the Huancavelica Region and which fairly
clearly has been imported by a mitmaqkuna group from that area; and a
smoked blackware apparently associated with Pachacamac influence.
There was a marked shift in both site location and numbers during
the Inca occupation.
Many of the sites, constructed after the region
was incorporated into the Inca Empire, were located on the valley
floor or on the lower slopes of hills surrounding the region in contrast with the pattern of the preceding period when the majority of
the settlements were located on the upper slopes or tops of hills
overlooking the valley. The initial Inca occupation was in the
southern end of the valley primarily; an important Inca administrative
center was built near Chupaca but was subsequently abandoned, presumably eclipsed by the growing importance of Jauja. Later Inca
influence was spread uniformly throughout the valley, with 126 Inca
Strangely, only
period sites regularly spaced throughout the valley.
two of the sites show any evidence of Cuzco-style stone masonry
bridge across the Mantaro River and the tambo associated with it, and
some of the structures in the provincial capital of Hatun Jauja.
The temple of the oracle of Wariwilka was extensively refurbished

under the Inca rule; no doubt its ties as a branch oracle of PachaPachacamac influence is
camac were re-established at this time.
evident in settlements near Hatun Jauja, and Jauja was the end of a
lateral branch of the highway which originated at Pachacamac.
74
The population of the valley was relatively high at this time,

being placed at 30,000 Huanca households by the Inca census.
In
addition to these huanca households, there were a number of mitmaqkuna
transplated to the valley by the Incas. These sites are marked by the
occurrence of intrusive Viques style ware, which has its closest
similarity to groups in northern Huancavelica, but the occurrence
of Cuzco Polychrome and its imitations, and by occasional occurrence
of Arhuaturo-Inca ware.
The sites are nicely clustered along the east
bank of the Mantaro near Viques and have distinctively different
lithic industries and settlement types. Ethnohistoric identification,
however, is still lacking.
The Jauja-Huancayo basin was no doubt primarily integrated into

the Inca state as a center of production of agricultural produce; the
elaborate storage systems attached to nearly every occupation site
in the valley give mute evidence of its importance.
Herding, however,
also retained its importance. The Huanca were one of the few groups
who paid part of their tribute to the Inca state in terms of herd
animals, and they were also a major staging area of trade caravans
for the state and of provision caravans for the army; more than
120,000 caravan llamas were available in the area of Jauja alone.
Cuzco Polychrome sherds or local imitations were found at three

hamlets, one open site, and in one compound of a hilltop fort that
was occupied during the preceding period. The Ayacucho-Huanta Region
was largely abandoned during this period and seems to have been a cultural backwater in the Inca Empire, which played little or no role in
the imperial scheme.
Interactions
The four regions were integrated with each other and with other
regions by the political economy of the Inca Empire. The Incas moved
mitimae groups throughout the Empire, and these individuals had to
deal at least minimally on a day-to-day basis with the inhabitants of
In addition, two and possibly
the regions where they were resettled.
three of the regions were tied together by the influence of the
Pachacamac oracle which created a self-sufficiency sphere which extended well beyond the limits of central Peru.
The priests at Pachacamac were particularly adept at using the opportunities provided
by Inca imperial policies to further their own goals and ambitions.
Because of the power wielded by the oracle and his "relatives" in
other regions, they were ultimately able to undermine precisely what
the Incas were trying to create:
a politically unified ruling class
that resided in Cuzco.
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSIONS
In the preceding pages, we have presented a series of essentially
synchronic pictures showing what happened in four regions of central
Peru at various times in the past and how their inhabitants interacted
with each other during these periods. There is clearly a great deal
of variation in these pictures in both time and space.
Each region
distinctive,
showing
some
is
peculiarity in cultural patterns which
prevailed there at any given moment and in the processes that led to
their development.
It is equally clear, however, that there was some
relationship between these patterns and processes, and that there
were some common themes running through all of the regions.
There were and are significant environmental differences among

the regions not only in terms of the environmental potential i.e.,
the range and amount of natural resources present within a given
area but even in how the potential changed through time in each of
Some of the resources, particularly mammals such as
these regions.
deer and camelids, were present in all regions, but with radically
different frequencies. The land mass-biomass ratio ranged from that
of the Junin-Huancayo Region or humid woodlands at Ayacucho where it
was very amenable to easy exploitation by man, to the other extreme
in the coastal region where it was considerably less favorable to
man's endeavors. Also, even though our paleontological and zoological
studies are woefully inadequate, it would appear that the number of
species and the size of mammals has noticeably diminished since
Pleistocene times in each of our regions, again probably in varying
The fairly numerous finds of a number of species of
proportions.
sloth, camelids, equus, large cats, and others in Pleistocene contexts
in the highlands far outnumber those from the coast which has been
both more intensively explored as well as lived in by modern man.
However, besides this difference that is of a quantitative

nature, there are others that are definitely qualitative. An obvious
one within this latter realm is the marine resources that are unique
to the coast.
Plants again are found in all the regions, but again
they occur in varying amounts and often are of very different kinds,
with certain regions having plants potentially domesticable or able
to be cultivated, such as potatoes, squashes, quinoa, beans, etc.
The occurrence of wild cavia, potentially domesticable, in one of
the micro-environs of Ayacucho would be another somewhat analogous
example in the zoological realm.
The third major difference in terms of environmental potential
concerns the relationship of natural elements that compose the ecosystems or micro-environments of the ecosystem of each of the four
regions we have considered. Moseley, Patterson, Tosi, and others
have classified the coastal regions into a series of interrelated
micro-environments, such as the lomas sandy deserts, rocky points,
seashore bays, river deltas, mid-river environs, up-river environs,
,
(75)
76
Unique to this sort of ecosystem is the fact that most drainage

etc.
of the coast has the same set of micro-environs, with almost monotonous uniformity. Many, if not all, may be reached with relative ease
from particular strategic spots; and finally, one or more of them
has abundant foodstuffs seasonally or continuously.
This type of ecosystem or ecosystems, which have been called
those of a "lush uniformity" contrast markedly with those of the
highlands which all are rather different from each other, but still
All are in mountain-valley
do have some general features in common.
where
micro-environs
have a more or less
situations
the varying
vertical or layercake-like relationship to each other and rarely is
there a strategic spot which allows one to exploit all with great
ease.
Secondly, due to varying elevations, climate, soils, and other
ecof actors, each one of these valleys has a rather different set of
interrelated micro-environs, although one or more of them may also
occur in some of the other systems. Thus, while the Huancayo-Junin
Region and the Ayacucho Region both have as micro-environs high and
low puna zones, Junin-Huancayo has grasslands and lush river zones
that do not occur in Ayacucho while the latter has humid woodlands,
thorn forest scrub, thorn forest riverine, and xerophytic zones which
In fact, the factor that all have
do not occur in the former regions.
in common is variability, both with their ecozones as well as between
them.
These highland ecosystems, while showing great diversity in
food potential for their various micro-environments, unlike the coast,
generally do not have any particular one (or ones) that may give much
greater returns with little energy input, and this contrasts markedly
with all the others. Thus, in terms of environmental potential, the
Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere has some quite distinctive
aspects
However, in terms of cultural developments in this sphere, it

is not the environmental potential that involves culture change, but
rather the carrying capacity of the environment that is governed at
least in part by the cultural factor.
By carrying capacity, we mean
the resource potential of one natural environment relative to the
existing economic structure and measured by the long-term population
support capacity.
Two interrelated factors determined the carrying capacities of
these regions.
One was the inhabitants' perceptions of what constituted resources in their environmental settings and their abilities
to exploit these elements.
The other involved the natural endowments
of each region in terms of the availability and abundance of these
culturally defined resources whether they be deer, water, or potentially arable land.
It is also clear that these carrying capacities
varied considerably from one region to another and that they changed
through time as new economic orientations and environmental conditions
emerged.
For example, given roughly similar agricultural economic
orientations, the carrying capacity, and therefore the total population of the Huancayo-Junin Region would exceed that of Huarochiri
Conclusions
77
simply because it has much more land that can be successfully farmed.
It is equally obvious that the carrying capacity of the Ancon-Chilca
Region increased tremendously after its inhabitants adopted a series
of food-producing innovations between about 2500 and 1500 B.C. or that
the carrying capacity of the Ayacucho-Huanta Region diminished considerably after about A.D. 950 because of the deforestation, soil
erosion, and temporary desiccation which had deleterious effects on
agricultural production in the area.
Ultimately then, the carrying capacity of these regions were

in large part determined by the size and concentrations of the human
populations, the environmental potential, the subsistence option
available or developed and their subsistence strategies. By subsistence strategy, we mean the conscious or unconscious adoption of a.
Scheduling
particular pattern of scheduled subsistence options.
resulting
in the temporal
hierarchy
priorities
the
or
defined
as
being
order of selected subsistence options such as hunting, gathering,
horticulture, etc., etc. Now, let us look at archaeological data and
the various regional developments in terms of the strategies used
through time in these various environmental zones.
Any reconstruction of the earliest remains in central Peru must
be for the most part based on the findings in the Ayacucho basin, and
even materials in the Pacaicasas and Ayacucho horizons is very
However, a study of the distributions of the artifacts and
limited.
ecofacts from the six earliest strata show 11 activity areas that
seem to represent as many occupations by microband groups three or
Further paleontoless nuclear families and/or linked individuals.
logical and pollen studies suggest that these occupations occurred
during periods when the environment around the cave was woodland as
well as grassland. Analysis of ecofacts in the five clusters of zone
h suggests that two of these occurred in the dry season, while three
were in the wet season. However, a study of the ecofacts and artifacts to determine what their subsistence patterns were, and even
what their hierarchy of priorities was (conscious or unconscious),
among their subsistence options reveals that without regard to season
or eco-zone hunting (in their lair) of great sloth, ambushing or
stalking of medium-sized (herd) mammals, the taking of small mammals
by trapping or collecting, and perhaps nonspecialized plant collection occurred in this listed order of popularity. This suggests that
these peoples, while they had scheduled subsistence (a hierarchy of
priorities of selected subsistence options) they did not have a system with seasonality, for we would define seasonality as connoting
cyclic (seasonal) variation of the exploitation of natural resources.
Further, our reconstruction for this period of the human population
and its relation to the relatively large Pleistocene animal population
suggests that only a small portion of the environmental potential or
its carrying capacity in terms of their subsistence options was being
exploited.
78
Taking all the above factors into consideration, we would like

to suggest that the people of this stage had a satisfycing subsistence
strategy without seasonality that is, they had a strategy that aims
at deriving less than the highest possible level of their defined
getting the largest amount of food or other
objectives (i.e.
resources) for reasons of risk or social interaction. One might
speculate that concepts in their ethos revolved around values that
were concerned with not working too hard, having a moderately full
belly, and not worrying about being rich in the material sense.
Whether this type of strategy pertained to that of people living
before 20,000 years ago in Central and North America or, for that
matter, in the Middle and Lower Paleolithic of the Old World remains
to be seen.
Be that as it may, we believe that the collection and
analysis of early data to test the existence of such a hypothetical
strategy is a worthy avenue of research.
Our archaeological evidence from central Peru suggests that a

new but related type of subsistence strategy came into being about
9000 B.C. and continued up until about 5600 B.C.
Again, our evidence
from Ayacucho is slightly fuller than that for other regions, but
even in these other regions there are some hints at what type of
strategy is in use.
Since from Ayacucho more abundant information
has been more completely analyzed, let us consider it first.
The
Puente and Jaywa phases seem to belong to this stage and their subsistence options were not very different from those previously utilized.
Hunting of camelids deer, and other large mammals by the ambushing or stalking techniques continued, albeit with finely-made
bifacial projectile points, perhaps attached to better weaponry. More
small game was taken by either trapping or collecting and many of
Since the present habitat of cavia is at
these were guinea pigs.
high altitudes and since most of the archaeological specimens come
from low elevations, there is a suggestion that some of them in the
Jaywa period were tamed that is, man has changed the ecosystem or
environment of the animal; i.e., he moved them from high to low eleA few stems of berries, grass-seeds, and fiber or leaves,
vations.
as well as grinding stones suggest that other options were seed-picking, fruit-picking, and leaf collecting.
The major difference from
the previous stage, however, is that now these options seem neatly
scheduled both as to season as well as to micro-environment hunting
with a little trapping and plant collecting at high elevations during
the dry season, while in the wet season at low elevations man either
did much collecting (or penning) of small game and/or collecting of
seeds with only a little hunting or fruit collecting.
,
Although our coastal data is less precise and the options were
different, a similar seasonally scheduled satisfycing subsistence
strategy was also employed.
It would seem that during the dry winter
months, one collected shellfish or other marine resources and a few
plants on the coast, while in the foggy summer months one collected
plants and/or animals as well as engaged in hunting in the lomas
or river valleys.
The date from Tres Ventana suggests a somewhat
Conclusions
79
similar transhumance pattern with hunting being a major activity at

high elevations in the wet season and collecting marine resources on
the coast in the dry season.
Our data is too incomplete to discern
the pattern for the Huancayo-Junin Region, but even so, the three
other regions are strikingly similar.
Since this strategy aimed at
deriving less than the highest possible level of subsistence objectives and even though human populations were increasing as the animal
biomass decreased, it still might be termed a satisf ycing strategy,
but it was different from the previous stage, for now it had
seasonality.
Of course, some groups may have continued using the old
satisf ycing strategy without seasonality, but even so, there were
great similarities in the various regions of the Interaction Sphere.
Although both these strategies may have continued in use in some or
all regions, there are major regional differences in the strategies
which began to appear in the next stage roughly from 5000 to 4000
B.C.
On the coast, the location of hamlets or base camps at points
tangent to a number of micro-environs with their varying food resources still exploited by the older collecting subsistence options
would seem to represent a new subsistence strategy. This new pattern
we would term a more ef f icient collecting subsistence strategy and
by a more efficient strategy we would mean one that aims at deriving
the highest possible level of the definite objectives (getting food
easily) which can be maintained over a long period of time in view
Again, some of the
of the attendent risks (which would be slight)
Ancon and Lurin areas where food resources were more widely spaced
would see the continuation of the older satisf ycing strategies.
While these older strategies may have also continued in the

Ayacucho basin, new ones appeared that are radically different from
These new highland strategies
the dominant one in the central coast.
options,
such as horticulture and
were related to new subsistence
pastoring which, in turn, were involved with the domesticated plants
Since
and animals, as well as cultivated plants and tamed animals.
necesall the above terms are used in a variety of ways, we deem it
By horticulture we mean an
sary to give one definition of them.
activity with an emphasis on the planting of individual domesticates
A
or cultivars in relatively limited plots (horti = gardens)
domesticate we would define as a plant or animal that has changed
genetically due to man's selection (conscious or unconscious) which
makes it genetically different from its wild ancestor. A cultivar or
tamed animal results when man has changed (consciously or unconsiously) the ecosystem, habitat, or environment of a plant or animal,
so that while this may result in morphological changes, it does not
change it or them genetically from their wild ancestors. Pastoring
(pascere = to feed or tend beasts) would be like horticulture in that
it is an activity which emphasizes the use or habitational contexts
of an animal.
.
80
Now to return to the new subsistence strategies of the Piki

One of these would involve the pastoring of tamed
phase of Ayacucho.
guinea pigs on sites at low elevations during the wet season or for
longer periods of time. The other would be more concerned with
horticulture and the growing of domesticated squashes, gourds, and
quinoa, and possibly cultivated quinoa.
Both could give possible
relatively large yields of food, but drought, predators, disease,
etc., as well as interference with their normal seasonally scheduled
subsistence pattern would make the risks relatively high. Thus, we
would classify their strategy as being an optimizing horticulture
and/ or pastoring subsistence strategy.
Optimizing strategy being
defined as one that consciously or unconsciously, for a long or short
term, aims at deriving the highest possible level of the defined objective without consideration of potential risk.
Although our data is woefully inadequate for the Junin or

Huarochiri Regions, the bones of what seem to be domesticated llamas
and alpacas from Pachamachay Cave in the former region hints that
an optimizing pastoring subsistence strategy might have been employed;
while the sea shells and coastal plants in the upper pre-ceramic
levels of Tres Ventana Cave suggest that the older Satisfycing
Seasonal Subsistence Strategy continued.
The next stage from slightly before 4000 B.C. to about 2500 B.C.
would again see new regional strategies coming into being, but some
The coastal area
or all of the older ones may still have continued.
sees relatively little change, but the planting of domesticates was
now added to their already rather successful collecting of wild foodstuffs.
This strategy we have called a more efficient horticulture
subsistence strategy.
In Ayacucho the Chihua phase witnessed the
rapid acquisition of many new domesticates, including corn and beans
These remains we consider to be
in the later part of the phase.
evidence of agriculture, probably of a variety of types such as seed
agriculture, root agriculture, and agriculture itself. Let us hasten
to add that we would define agriculture as an activity with an emphasis on the planting or sowing of multipropagators of domesticates or
cultivars in relatively large plots or fields (agri = fields).
Although yields could have been relatively large but usually not
large enough to last all year when there were heavy rains in the summer months, there is in Ayacucho the possibility of drought, so the
risk factor was also relatively great.
Thus, one of their strategies
It
might be called an optimizing subsistence agriculture strategy
in
might be added that the pastoring of guinea pigs continued
diminished degree, but our metrical analysis of their bones suggests
they were domesticated, not just tamed.
Exactly what the subsistence strategies in the Junin-Huancayo

Regions were is more difficult to determine, but the presence of hoes
and grinding stones does suggest the possibility of some sort of
agriculture or horticulture, which at these high, cold altitudes was
probably at best of an optimizing nature. However, one of the most
Conclusions
81
distinctive features of these components is the abundance of juvenile

Even without evidence of corrals for this period,
camelid bones.
this suggests the herding of domesticated camelids for meat.
We use
the term herding instead of pastoralism or nomadic pastoralism or
various other terms for this subsistence option for the simple reason
that the Webster definition of it is less ambiguous.
It defines
herding as "activity that feeds, runs together, or assembles a large
number of tame or domesticated animals." Whether this subsistence
option in the very high altitudes was involved in an optimizing or
a more efficient strategy remains to be seen, as does the strategy or
even the subsistence options of the Huarochiri Region.
Strategies after 2500 B.C. become more similar once again in that
have
they
a tendency to become more and more efficient, but the
regional differences continue to occur and a new factor that might
be termed redistribution of basic resources is crucial in each one
of them.
On the coast, in the stage from roughly 2500 to 1000 B.C., we

see the gradual shift from horticulture to agriculture in certain
riverine situations while the older efficient maritime collecting
activities continue on the coast. Further, those two efficient subsistence systems become welded into a single (horizontal) economy by
collecting the maritime and agriculture produce in certain centers
and then redistributing it to all the linked local communities in this
chain, often in a single drainage system.
This has been dubbed a
On the
sort of mini-interaction sphere with a horizontal economy.
coast, there is the suggestion that many of the redistribution centers
have religious overtones. This might be termed an efficient agriculture subsistence strategy with local horizontal redistribution
Although we have few hints as to the sort of strategies used in

the Junin-Huancayo or Haurochiri regions, there is some evidence that
an efficient agricultural-herding strategy with local vertical redistribution had developed in the Ayacucho-Huanta region. Here, a
herding-root crop subsistence system at high elevations had been
linked, perhaps along kinship or ceremonial lines, with a low level
seed agriculture system.
Between about 1000 and 450 B.C. there is once again a shift in
efficient subsistence strategies, with the local distribution centers
of the products of the different subsistence systems becoming definOn the coast, major
itely of a ceremonial or religious nature.
valley irrigation systems were constructed while only a few faltering
steps were taken in this direction in the highland regions under consideration. However, besides these exchanges of basic foodstuffs on
a local or sub-regional basis, another super exchange system or subinteraction sphere occurred late in this stage which was concerned
with the Chavin cult. The coastal region, and the Chavin de Huantar
in the highlands itself, seem to be very closely linked, perhaps by
economic, social and religious exchanges, while the other regions

82
under discussion seem only to have been influenced by the unifying

force called Chavin. As yet, we do not fully understand how this cult
phenomena operated in terms of subsistence or exchange strategies, but
we have the feeling it was somehow connected with them for some basic
foodstuffs and domesticated plants spread throughout the whole interaction sphere.
The cohesive force of Chavin breaks down during the next stage,
450 B.C. to 600 A.D., and efficient regional or multi-valley economies
and subsistence strategies come into being.
Irrigation becomes of
increasing importance everywhere as does llama herding and the raising
of animals for both their wool as well as for their use as pack
animals.
In terms of exchange and distribution, a new system seems
to be now important particularly in the highlands and it was connected
with warfare or military activities with the resultant flow of goods
as booty, tribute, and taxes.
The final stage, 600 - 1500 A.D., was obviously the outgrowth of
the previous one, and while local and regional economies changed
little, and still may have kept their local flair, the exchange system
and the total economic system was pan-regional under the control of
Imperialistic States (such as Huari and Inca)
This was an efficient
area subsistence strategy run by the imperial rulers. Even here
though the strategies of the coast and the highlands were slightly
different, for the conquered were usually in the former regions and
the conquerors in the latter.
.
Thus, once again, we have seen that in ancient Peru not only
were there quantitative variations in terms of different archaeological sequences in regional phases, but qualitative differences in
terms of different subsistence and exchange strategies. Although our
data is woefully inadequate, what seems to be emerging is a model
showing that a pristine civilization developed because of the interstimulating interaction between these developing systems. And now
we get to the nitty-gritty of trying to explain not only how and why
pristine civilization developed in central Peru, but anywhere.
Are not the necessary pre-requisites or necessary conditions

for the development of the Peruvian pristine civilizations the following:
a continuum of life or natural zones ranging from one end of the
dichotomy that has relative ecological uniformity or repetitiveness
i.e., a specific number of micro-environments that are similar from
one adjacent region to the next, like each valley of the Peruvian
central coast with its coastal bays and points, river deltas, mid and
upper river environs, lomas, and deserts separating one valley from
the next.
Further, zones in this end of the range tend to have
relatively limited seasons (a wet and dry one) and also such zones
usually have one or more micro-environs that has large amounts of
potential foodstuffs that can be relatively easily gathered at all
or most seasons of the year.
Conclusions
83
Zones with the above characteristic contrast with ones with

relatively ecological diversity and little repetitiveness from one
region to the next, like Ayacucho with its high puna low puna humid
woodlands, thorn forest, thorn forest riverine and xerophytic and
Junin with high puna low puna grassland, and gallery forest riverFurther, these zones have relatively great seasonality not only
ine.
for the regions as a whole but the micro-environments within it, as
well as a few potentially domesticable plants or animals in one or
more of its micro-environments that, generally speaking, are harsh
and only yield gatherable foods in limited periods of the year. A
further characteristic of these pristine nuclear areas seems to be
that these environmental zones ranging from one end of the dichotomy
to the other be of such geographical positions so that they are relatively accessible to each other (and so that interaction between them
can be accomplished with relative ease)
,
In general terms, does this not describe our Central Peruvian

Sphere? However, even more important, does it not describe two of the
other areas where pristine civilization arose - Mesoamerica and the
Near East? Are not some of the subdivisions of the "Tropical Lowlands" of Mesoamerica such as (11c) Los Tuxtlas or (lib) the VeracruzTabasco rain forest or (12e) coastal lowlands of southwestern Mexico
in terms of the above general characteristics like our Peruvian central coast, and are not the (7) Mesa-Central with arid rain-shadow
strip (7a) like the other end of the range of the Peruvian dichotomy
the Ayacucho Valley (West 1964)? The article by Coe and Flannery
(Coe and Flannery 1964) contrasting the ecology of the Ocos coastal
area of Guatemala with the Tehuacan Valley of highland Mexico, if compared with the earlier parts of this volume, indicates just how similar
the general characteristics of both areas are.
The Near East also shows similarities in terms of the above

necessary prerequisites to both these above-mentioned areas of
pristine civilization. For example, the coast or nearby Desert Oasis
of the Levant, or even the Flanks of the Tigris and Euphrates typify
areas that contrast with the high valleys of the Zagros and the hills
of Turkey in ways similar to our Peruvian and Mesoamerican dichotomy
Thus, our centers of civilization
(Hole, Flannery and Neely 1969).
do have some distinctive characteristics that are not shared by other
major portions of the world such as the Plains, Arctic, Boreal and
other zones with their few, if any, potential domesticates. Nor do
these areas have temperate or tropical zones adjacent to each other.
One can, of course, find other parts of the world with zones having
the prerequisite characteristics of Peru, Mesoamerica, and the Far
East which did not develop into pristine civilizations, and we believe
that the reason this did not happen in these cases is that all the
sufficient or triggering conditions did not occur in exactly the right
sequence.
The first set of triggering of sufficient conditions in the
Central Peruvian Interaction Sphere (at about 7000 to 8000 B.C.) would
84
be the development of a number of new subsistence options plant

collecting and trapping in Ayacucho, shell collecting and perhaps
fishing and plant collecting in Chivateros which would supplement
their basic hunting economy and satisfycing subsistence strategy.
At the same time, this would set up a negative feedback system which
would interact with, the diminution of the biomass at the end of
the Pleistocene, i.e., the extinction of the "big game animals".
Given the two dichotomous environmental prerequisites, the results lead to at least two rather similar developments. In the lusher
coastal area, a quite successful scheduled seasonal subsistence
system occurred involving hunting and collecting in the wet season
in the loma or adjacent Andean flanks, and hunting and marine exploitation on the coast or river valleys during the dry season
(Arenal-Luz)
In contemporaneous times in the highlands, there was
the Jaywa pattern with puna winter season hunting, spring and sum-"
mer thorn forest seed collecting, trapping and hunting, and fall
humid woodland hunting and trapping and perhaps plant collecting.
All this produced a well scheduled system but it was probably not
too successful.
The areas between the dichotomous zones might have
even seen slight variations on one or other of the pattern.
.
For Mesoamerica, the development in early El Riego (MacNeish

1964) seems quite like that of Jaywa, but no lowland comparable
dichotomous area has yet been uncovered.
In the Near East our data
is even flimsier, for we believe that the Zagros period when the
climatic change occurred leading to the extinction of the big game
between Baradostian at 23,000 B.C. and Palegawa Cave at 13,000 B.C.
has yet to be defined (Solecki, R.S., 1964). From the Levant there
is some data from cave excavations on this period but it is not
complete enough to determine adequately the settlement or subsistence pattern. We might add, however, that some of the process that
brought about the eastern United States Archaic, the Desert cultures,
or even the European Mesolithic might be comparable to one or
other of those developments we see in Peru.
The next step with the same necessary conditions in the same
contrasting natural zones, coupled with very slight population increases interacting with the slightly different seasonally scheduled
subsistence systems, causes two quite different results.
the coast, the slightly increasing population brought about
and greater use of the great sea food potential by improved
and shell collecting techniques which brought about inpopulation which brought about greater use of the sea potential, etc.
This negative feedback process led to more and more
sedentary life and eventually to the establishment of some sedentary
hamlets or large base camps in Canario times.
On
greater
fishing
creased
In Ayacucho, the slightly increasing populations brought about

greater use of the various subsistence options in plant collecting
Conclusions
85
techniques. There were more plants being experimented with, there

was more trapping and animal collecting, which in turn begat greater
populations that eventually caused some planting of wild plants (such
as gourds and squashes) in new environments (cultivars)
or the
planting of freaks (domesticates), such as the quinoa, or the pastoring of some animals, such as tamed guinea pigs.
,
This process resulted in the way of life of the Piki phase which
had a well-scheduled seasonal subsistence system supplemented by the
use of cultivars, domesticates and tamed animals. The contemporaneous
information from the Callejon de Hualyas (Kaplan, Lynch and Smith 1973)
and the Junin areas suggest that similar processes with other domesticates and cultivars were happening in other highland areas, while
more successful food collecting systems possibly with cultivars or
domesticates may have occurred in natural zones near the coast.
The Peruvian highland process seems very comparable to what was

happening in late El Riego in our zone of harsh diversity in Mesoamerica (MacNeish 1975) but again the Mesoamerican data from the
contrasting zone of lush relative uniformity is lacking. From the
Near East, comparable data is more difficult to find but the occurrence of storage facilities, boulder mortars, querns, celts and
blades with sheen on them, as well as the use of a wide variety of
animals in Palegawa Cave (dated roughly between 14,000 and 10,000
B.C.) makes one suspect that Zarzian of that harsh highland Near
Eastern region (Turnbull and Reed 1974) may turn out to be quite
similar to late El Riego of Mesoamerica and to Piki of Peru. Data
from the lowland lusher zone of the Near East is more difficult to
come by, but one cannot help but wonder if the prototypes for Natufian
in the Levant or the prototypes for the Bas Mordeh phase of Ali Kosh
(Hole, Flannery and Neely 1969) or Mureybit (Van Loon 1968) in the
Tigris-Euphrates region when found will not be generally similar to
Canario on the Peruvian coast.
,
The changes after this stage in Peru reflect rather different

resulting cultural systems, and seem to be due to different causes or
sufficient conditions.
In Ayacucho in highland Peru in the Chihua
phase, 4400 - 3000 B.C., there is some evidence of increasing numbers
of domesticates being used in the main due to more and more exchanges
with other areas that have domesticated plants and animals, as well as
greater improvement of the ones locally utilized which are sufficient
conditions for change. This means that horticulture and pastoring supTheir subplemented their seasonally scheduled subsistence system.
sistence strategy is more of an optimizing nature, groups are bigger
In other words, the
and seasonal occupations last longer and longer.
sufficient causes are an exchange system that effects both their
subsistence system and their strategy, as well as their settlement
pattern that, in turn, effects their exchange system to bring in more
domesticates, etc. A new kind of negative feedback cycle was in
operation. Although the evidence is slim perhaps most of the highland
regions were going through a similar process, and more domesticated
86
animals and plants where being utilized in varying proportions in

many regions
On the Peruvian coast, the stimulus for changing the cultural
It is our belief that sedentarism startsystem is very different.
ing in Canario and continuing into Corbina (4200 - 3700 B.C.) and
Encanto (3750 - 2500 B.C.) brings about a major population increase
that causes not only the necessity for improving noticeably their
collecting techniques but also, near the end of this stage, even the
need to use some domesticates (in this case, squashes, gourds, and
perhaps canavalia beans) to feed the increasing number of hungry
mouths. Again, there is the possibility that as one moves along the
continuum from the coastal end of the spectrum toward the Ayacucho
situation at the other end of the continuum, early dates for adopting
domesticates increase while population pressure factors decrease in
importance. Unfortunately, our data from these interventing regions
or natural zones is woefully inadequate or lacking.
Comparative data from Mesoamerica confirming these hypotheses is

unfortunately biased due to inadequate information. While the situation in the Coxcatlan phase of Tehuacan (MacNeish 1975) is almost a
carbon copy in terms of process to what seemingly was happening in
the Chihua phase of Ayacucho, there is no information about what was
happening in the lusher coastal area of Mesoamerica. From the Near
East there are hints that a process similar to that of Peru was occurring, but data from the harsher highland region is poor.
The best
data we have from the Near East highlands is from Zawi Chemi (8920
B.C. + 300 years) (Solecki, R.L. 1964).
While there is little doubt
that they were utilizing domesticated sheep and perhaps dogs, evidence for the use of domesticated plants is based upon an increase
in the gram size of "Cerealia type" pollen and associated grinding
stones (Leroi-Gourhan 1969)
Such information can tell us little
about either the number of domesticated plants or the exchange of
them at this period. Obviously, what they need in the Zagros is a
cave site like Coxcatlan in Mexico with its fine preservation of
plants and human feces.
.
In contrast the picture for this period from about 9100 to 7200
B.C. from the lusher areas of the Near East is very good, although
relying on it obviously eschews any interpretation of the whole area.
Natufian, the impressive village of round house hamlets of the Levent
(Perrot 1966)
the village of Mureybit in the upper reaches of the
Euphrates (Van Loon 1968), and a number of others, all without evidence of domesticated plants or animals, date to this period and
bear many resemblances to Corbina. Bas Mordeh at Ali Kosh (if it
dates to the end of this period) would be like Encanto of Peru for
there is evidence of a few domesticates supplementing the basic diet
of wild foods of these villagers (Hole, Flannery, Neely 1969).
Further, the many stratigraphic levels from Mureybit seem to indicate
rapidly increasing populations throughout this period leading to
more specialized collecting techniques and eventually horticulture
and/or agriculture and a new culture system in the next stage for
the lusher regions.
,
Conclusions
87
The next stage of development, roughly from 3000 to 1750 B.C.,

is in central Peru, although sedentary life with agriculture, now a
necessary condition for this stage and all later stages, occurs in
both of our dichotomous regions. However, there seems to have been
rather different sufficient conditions causing the culture system
of each to change, and even the types of sedentary agricultural life
On the coast, the influx of many domesare really not very similar.
ticates and agriculture seems to lead to surpluses of food because
they already had a successful food-collecting economy which in turn
led to local ceremonial centers for the redistribution of both kinds
of food produce, so all may have their "ideal of community self-sufficiency".
The interaction in a negative manner of the two variables increasing agricultural and local socio-ceremonial control
of the redistribution of these became the cause of increasing populations and the development of yet another type of coastal cultural
system.
In the highlands, early in Cachi time (3000 - 1750 B.C.), the

gradual shift from horticulture to agriculture and from pastoring to
herding with the resultant self-sufficient exchange system between
the low level farmers and high level root farmer-herders goes handin-hand with the establishment of sedentary life. As so often happens
with the establishment of sedentarism with adequate food produce,
there seems to have been a population explosion that made this whole
culture system untenable. Thus, the factors for causing change in
the two regions in this stage were rather different with population
being the sufficient condition in our harsher highland zone, while
in the lusher zone, causes triggering a change seem connected with the
use of a new agriculture subsistence, interacting in a negative feedback manner with factors in a new socio-ceremonial organization.
These later factors have not been well defined by the limited excavations in coastal sites of this period and were probably much more
complex than the terms indicate.
In fact, we find our statement concerning causes for culture change at this stage and all the later
stages most unsatisfactory and we have a definite feeling they are
overly simple and quite unsophisticated. This is perhaps due to
three reasons.
It may very well be that starting at about this time
social and ethos factors very difficult to discern in the archaeoSecond, the culture
logical record, become increasingly important.
systems are bigger and more complex and our archaeological sampling
And finally,
of them becomes proportionately smaller and smaller.
we have a feeling that at about this stage the sufficient conditions
become not only more numerous and complex but their relationships to
each other also become increasingly more varied and complex.
In spite of our reservations about our understanding of this
stage, the period from 7200 to 6000 B.C. in the Near East seems analThe first
ogous to the Peruvian situation from 3000 to 1750 B.C.
highland modest hamlets of Gang-i Dareh in the Zagros of western Iran,
Jarmo of the Iraqian Zagros, and Cayona in the eastern mountains of
Turkey (Braidwood 1968) all have evidence of agriculture, and
88
domesticated animals are in a general way like Cachi of Peru, while

the large agricultural villages with evidence of significant ceremonial activities such as Jericho of the Levant, Halica of Turkey and Ali
Kosh of Iraq of the lusher Near Eastern regions seem similar to the
first ceremonial center of Peru (Ucko, Tringham and Dimbleby 1972)
However, whether population pressures were occurring in the harsher
regions of the Near East or whether the agricultural systems interacting with socio-ceremonial changes in the lusher parts of the Near
East of this time truly occured remains to be seen.
The other area, Mesoamerica, in which a pristine civilization
appeared is so poorly documented at this stage that it is almost not
worth mentioning. Abe j as and Purron (3400 - 1500 B.C.) in the highlands of Mexico certainly had agriculture and hamlets but both are so
poorly defined it is difficult to understand if they were comparable,
and Mesoamerican lowland sites are almost totally unknown for this
stage (MacNeish 1972).
The next stage in Peru, from about 1750 B.C. to 450 B.C., although it has yielded considerable spectacular archaeological
materials, particularly the Chavinoid remains, is not really very well
understood in terms of the cultural forces that were in operation.
It also would appear that at least by this time most of the basic
prerequisite or necessary conditions had changed. Earlier, the more
important ones had certainly been of an environment deterministic
nature, but by now these factors of dichotomous cultural zones, although they still existed, were at most of a limiting nature, rather
than a prerequisite for change.
There is, however, a new factor that is vaguely environmental.

This would be when one or more of the natural zones were of such a
nature that there was great potential for undertaking irrigation
agriculture in a rather productive manner. Following that it was now
most important that all cultures involved had an agricultural subsistence base.
One of the other prerequisites that the cultures
involved had to be in such geographical positions that they were
relatively accessible to each other still pertained, for culture
interaction of an interstimulating nature still seems to have continued
While we have confidence that the above necessary conditions

were of key importance, the triggering conditions which cause the
heavily ceremonially oriented culture systems of this stage to change
is most difficult, and our answers are extremely speculative.
As we have stated earlier, there is considerable evidence to
show that a religious or cult theme permeated this whole stage.
Further, we know that during this stage there were two general developments one in the north central highland and central coast where the
Chavin cult grained dominance, and another in the south central highlands where a series of local socio-religious manifestations
Conclusions
89
controlled rather local or at most regional redistribution systems

with only minor Chavin influence.
Let us speculate about developments in the Chavin domain first.
There seem to be five general trends that are important in leading
to the demise of that culture system.
First of all, throughout this
period, there is continued population growth both in terms of specific
valleys, and also as to the size of the ceremonial centers within
This is closely connected with a second trend the
these valleys.
increasing use of irrigation. Perhaps rising population brought on
the need for using irrigation, that in turn increased the valley
populations.
In addition this increased the size of the centers
managing the irrigation systems. The irrigation factor is, however,
connected with still another condition the increase both in the
number and kinds of full-time specialists. On a simplistic level,
the full-time specialists seem to have been of at least three different types.
One was the religious practitioners or priesthood who probably

already were in existence in the previous stage.
Initially, their
duties may have been mainly in the line of directing ceremonies, but
the number of ceremonies may have increased as did the practitioners.
Further, the places (temples, etc.) for the ceremonies also would have
grown, as well as the equipment used in the ceremonies leading to
more and more full-time specialists in public works and industries.
Further, more and more records would have had to be kept (accountants)
more calendrical observations made, more accolades taught, etc., etc.
Connected with these specialists would, of course, be those concerned directly with irrigation. At first, they possibly were connected only with organizing local groups, but this would have grown
There would have been
into departments concerned with construction.
record keepers, a legal staff to negotiate water-right disputes,
Hand-in-hand with this
policemen, tribute or tax collectors, etc.
latter economically oriented group of specialists would have been a
third group connected with redistribution of not only religious and
ceremonial phenomena but also with actual produce. Obviously, as the
It also would have grown
domain of Chavin grew, so would this group.
on the local or regional level as these populations grew and expanded.
On a general level it would appear that accompanying these trends
towards specialists would be a tendency for their duties to shift
from a sacred orientation to a secular one.
The fourth set of factors concerned a growing and perhaps greedier elite who, while being full-time specialists in the political
realm, were the ones for whom the other full-time specialists worked.
These in turn, exploited the masses not only in terms of raw
materials, but also in the redistribution of the basic foodstuffs.
This would have meant that through time, the elite moved from specialized sacred beings to secular persons with concerns about property and administration.
90
Closely connected with these trends would be those who were on

a more ethereal level, but who also were connected with the shift
from the sacred to the secular. Here, there may have been, especially
in the early phases, a tendency for the sacred concerns to have been
a cohesive force binding the group more and more together until the
Chavin cult flourished. As the system grew larger and more complex
and important, the cohesive sacred force gave way to secular concerns
and the binding force was lost. We would speculate that these five
factors, population increase, large irrigation systems, increasing
number of full-time specialists, a growing greedy elite, and the loss
of the sacred as a cohesive force acting in a complex negative feedback system (which we don't pretend to really understand) led to
fission of this Chavoid cultural system and its development into a
series of local regional cultural systems in competition or open conflict with each other.
Factors for change in the contemporaneous cultural phases of
highland Ayacucho parallel those of the Chavin realm but are somewhat
different for the simple reason that secular concerns seem to have
had more emphasis than sacred ones. Throughout this period ceremonial
centers appear. The basic concept perhaps had been adopted from
the lowland, but they seem to function more as redistribution centers
for the produce of the local low level and high level subsistence
systems than as ceremonial centers for a large number of elite or
full-time specialists, although some of both may have existed. Basically, the prime factor leading to change of this system was increased
irrigation concomitant with growing populations that, in turn, as they
expanded, led to overlapping and competitive exchange and water control systems.
It seems very possible that these disintegrating
mechanisms were eliminated in the next stage by secular mechanisms
(perhaps of a military nature)
Now the question becomes, just how comparable are these hypothetical mechanisms for cultural change at this stage to ones that
occur in Mesoamerica and the Near East? As has been often noted,
Olmec, 1500 - 400 B.C., centered in lowland Mesoamerica, has many
resemblances to Chavin. As yet, Olmec is not well enough understood
to explain the reasons for the demise of this seemingly very viable
culture system. However, there is some evidence to suggest that they
too had an expanding greedy elite, an expanding number of full-time
specialists and a growing population. Whether the latter were connected with irrigation or merely a more viable redistribution system,
or whether there was a shift from the sacred to the secular is unknown at present. Further, in highland Mexico in Tehuacan in the
Ajalpan and Early Santa Maria phases there is good evidence that growing populations, concomitant with irrigation, were major sufficient
conditions for changing these cultural systems (MacNeish 1975). Thus,
there are hints that similar necessary and sufficient conditions were
operative at this stage in Mesoamerica as well as in Peru.
Conclusions
91
The situation in the Near East at this stage roughly from 6000
to 4500 B.C. is more elusive and our knowledge of it poorer, yet again
there are hints of similarities (Ucko, Tringham and Dimbleby 1972).
Certainly, from Catal Huyuk, the earlier levels of Tepe Gawra, Eridu
and others there is evidence for the existence of considerable ceremonials or cults, for an expanding number of full-time specialists
and elite, as well as for a growing population.
Further, from sites
such as Tepe Sabz in the middle Euphrates there is growing evidence
for early irrigaiton and expanding redistribution centers.
Were these
the sufficient conditions for changing the culture systems in that
area?
The final stage before civilization as represented by the Huari
Empire in Peru occurred from about 450 B.C. to 600 A.D. Again, there
is insufficient knowledge of this stage in central Peru for us to
really understand the crucial conditions that finally brought about
civilization. Although the mechanisms are far from clear they do
seem similar for both highlands and coastal regions.
In many regions
there are large sites that certainly could be considered towns, if not
cities, and in many areas the major irrigation systems that existed
at the time of the conquest (and even exist today) were established.
Thus, population and the concomitant expansion of irrigation systems
may have been crucial factors for change.
Closely linked to these are the expansion of redistribution networks of relatively large resources with concomitant rise of interregional competition, conflict and militarism. Perhaps these factors
interacting together are the sufficient conditions leading to civilization.
From many standpoints, the regional entities with their complex divisions of labor, class stratifications (with each stratum
marked by a highly different degree of ownership or control of the
main productive resources) monumental architecture, towns (and perhaps
cities), political and religious hierarchies exhibit most of the hallmarks of civilization. However, there is little concrete evidence
that such entities administrated territorially organized states by
use of legalized force our final criteria for civilization which
the next developmental stage, the Huari Empire, exhibits in a striking
manner
Without delving into the matter too deeply we cannot help but
wonder if the period Braidwood calls the level of towns with the
Urbaid and other cultures from 4500 to 3500 B.C. leading to Summerian
is not directly comparable to the one we just described from Peru
(Braidwood 1968). The dates after 450 B.C. in Mesoamerica are more
difficult to place in a comparable position. This is in large part
due to the difficulty of determining if Teotihuacan, Monte Alban and
Tikal are true civilizations, for all these, like the Peruvian stage
just described have as yet poor evidence as to the existence of
truly territorially organized states. Perhaps, the Mexican centers
from 450 B.C. to 600 A.D. belong in the stage we have just described,
and a true comparable civilization did not arrive in that area until
92
Obviously, there are many difficulthe Post-Classic after 700 A.D.

ties in determining what were the final sufficient conditions leading
directly to civilization here in Mexico as well as in Peru and the
Near East.
Be that as it may, we believe these attempts, premature as they
may be, to analyze the sequences of cultural systems leading to
civilization and to determine hypotheses about causes of cultural
change are very worthwhile. Not only do they give hypotheses for us
and others to test but they help define the problems so that new
data may be collected to test them. Hopefully then, better hypotheses
may be undertaken. We hope, however, that this monograph may be something more than just speculations and hypotheses, and that we have
contributed some basic factual information about the Central Peruvian
Interaction Sphere that may be of use to other scholars.
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I.
An
THE SOUTHWEST EXPEDITION
Introduction to Southwestern Archaeology.
By Alfred V. Kid-
der. 1924. #20.00.

II.
III.
Carl Guthe. 1925. (out of print)

Jemez. By Elsie Clews Parsons. 1925.
Pueblo Pottery Making. By
The
Pueblo of
(out of print)
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Indians of Pecos Pueblo, a study of their skeletal Remains.
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Habib J. Rihan and on the Pelves by Edward Reynolds. 1930.
(out of print)
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Vincent Kidder, together with a section on Black- on -White
Wares by Charles Avery Amsden. 1931. (out of print)
VI. The Artifacts of Pecos. By Alfred Vincent Kidder. 1932. $10. 00.
VII. The Pottey of Pecos. Volume II. The Glaze Wares. By Alfred
Vincent Kidder and Anna O. Shephard. 1936.
(out of print)
THE PREHISTORY OF THE TEHUACAN VALLEY

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III.
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Distributed
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by the University
Edited
of
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University of Texas Press. 1970. $15.00.
IV. Chronology and Irrigation. Edited by Frederick Johnson.

Distributed by the University of Texas Press. 1972. $15.00.
V. Excavation and Reconnaissance. Edited by R.S. MacNeish.

Distributed by the University of Texas Press. 1975. $29.50.
1.
No. 1. Two sites on Martha's Vineyard. By Douglas S. Byers

and Frederick Johnson. 1940. #2.00. No. 2. Grassy Island. ArI,
chaeological and Botanical Investigations of an Indian Site in the
Taunton River, Massachusetts. By Frederick Johnson and Hugh

M. Raup. 1947. #4.00.
No. 3. Excavations in Northeastern Massachusetts. By Ripley P.
Bullen. 1949. $4.00.
Vol.
II.
The
ers.
Boylston Street Fishweir.
By Frederick Johnson and
oth-
1942. #4.00.
Man
Vol. III.
in
Northeastern North America. Edited by Frederick
Johnson. 1946. (out of print)

Vol. IV, No. 1. (Complete Vol.) The Boylston
Street Fishweir II.
study of the Geology, Palaeobotany, and Biology of a Site on Stuart
Back Bay
By Elso
S. Barghoorn, Paul S. Conger, Sheldon Judson, Fred B.
Phleger, L. R. Wilson. Edited by Frederick Johnson. 1949.
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New
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cent Kidder. 1958. #12.50.
Yukon: No. 1, Geobotanical

and Archaeological Reconnaissance. By Frederick Johnson and
Hugh M. Raup. No. 2, Archaeological Excavations, Comparisons
and Speculations. By Richard S. MacNeish. 1964. #12.50.
Vol. VI. Investigations in the Southwest
The Central Peruvian Prehistoric Interaction Sphere. By

Richard S. MacNeish, Thomas C. Patterson and David L.
Browman. 1975. $6.00
Vol. VII.
REPORTS OF THE TEHUACAN PROJECT

First Annual Report of the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical
Project. By R.S. MacNeish. 1961. (out of print)
Second Annual Report of the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical
Project. By R.S. MacNeish. 1962. (out of print)
First Annual Report of the Coxcatlan Project. By Edward
B. Sisson. 1973. $2.50.
Second Annual Report of the Coxcatlan Project. By Edward
B. Sisson. 1974. $2.50.
REPORTS OF THE AYACUCHO PROJECT

First Annual Report of the Ayacucho Archaeological-Botanical
Project. By R.S. MacNeish. 1969. $2.50.
Second Annual Report of the Ayacucho Archaeological-Botanical
Project. By R.S. MacNeish, A. Nelken-Terner and A.
Garcia C. 1970. $2.50.

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THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN

MACNEISH, THOMAS C. PATTERSON

PUBLISHED BY THE FOUNDATION

ROBERT S. PEABODY FOUNDATION

Mexico, Arizona, Indiana,

ren K. Moorehead. (out of print)

1908. (out of print)

V. Certain Peculiar Earthworks near Andover, Massachusetts. By

Analysis of Various Hematites.

By Warren K. Moorehead. 1922.

of the Arkansas River Valley.

Papers. 1932. (out of print)

History and Symbolism of the Muskogheans.

Study of the Ceramic Art of the Etowans.

ROBERT S. PEABODY FOUNDATION

PUBLISHED BY THE FOUNDATION

THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN

ROBERT S. PEABODY FOUNDATION

THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN

MACNEISH, THOMAS C. PATTERSON

PUBLISHED BY THE FOUNDATION

BY THE TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY

THE MERIDEN GRAVURE COMPANY

However, the senior author felt somewhat insecure about some of

First, the Ayacucho ceramic materials based upon the excavations

Finally, by the spring of 1974, Patterson and the senior author

Digitized by the Internet Archive

Beside these anthropological workers, the senior author would

of Michigan respectively the physicists , Drs Rainer Berger and Reiner

Coping with Environment Diversity

The Chronological and

THE SEQUENCE OF PERIODS

The major excavated

archaeological sites in the ecological zones of

a typical highland zone of ecological diversity.

principal investigated regions of the Central Peruvian Prehis-

toric Interaction Sphere.

isometric view from the south of the southern part of the

cucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

isometric view from the south of the southern part of the

An isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interaction

cucho Basin showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

isometric view from the south of the

Ayacucho Basin showing

the reconstructed settlement and subsistence patterns during Period

isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interac-

showing the reconstructed settlement and subsistence

An isometric view from the south of the Central Peruvian Interaction

Sequences of pre-ceramic and early ceramic phases in some

Sequences of excavated and surface pre-ceramic and eany

In the early 1950' s, because of the interest in cultural ecology,

Peruvian Interaction Sphere

Further development of the regional interaction model was

For instance, many of the investigators of the Natufian villages

Until recently, it was not possible to verify these suspicions

The major excavated archaeological sites in the ecological

Peruvian Interaction Sphere

in the highlands, where river valleys at varying elevations are

Coping With Environmental Diversity

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