South Andes in the Ancient World

Related civilizations: Pukara, Chavín, Tiwanaku, Paracas, Nasca, Moche.

Date: 8000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.

Locale: Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru

South Andes in the Ancient World

Although the origin of the first peoples to populate the south Andes is not known for certain, evidence indicates that they may have originated in Eurasia and traveled south through North and Central America or that they might have crossed the Pacific in ancient ships using celestial navigation. In the Tiwanaku cosmogonic myth of Viracocha, the world maker emerged from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, on the Isle of the Sun, and re-created the world after a time of intense cataclysm and the near extinction of all human beings. Viracocha commanded the Sun, Moon, and stars to return to the heavens and made new people from stones he tossed across the world. Oddly enough, he was said to be a large, bearded, blond man, blue-eyed and pale-skinned. He brought astronomy, writing, metallurgy, agriculture, and other elements of Archaic civilization with him and brought peace wherever he traveled.

Wherever the Paleo-Indians came from, carbon dating at sites in the region indicate that they inhabited the area as early as twelve thousand to twenty-nine thousand years ago, with direct evidence for occupation, at the latest, by 8000 b.c.e. By that time, the megafauna were brought to extinction because of environmental changes or excessive hunting by the early, nomadic hunter-gatherers.

The Archaic Transition, or Preceramic, period began between 8000 and 7000 b.c.e. During this period, the Paleo-Indians shifted to large-scale agriculture, domesticated animals and local plants, and adopted more sedentary lifestyles. By 5000 b.c.e., they had domesticated quinoa, corn, beans, and potatoes. By 2500 b.c.e., they had tamed the camelids of the Andes, the llamas, vicunas, and alpacas. From the end of the Archaic Transition, between 2000 and 1400 b.c.e., and until the rise of the Incas, there were seven major periods, each marked by variations in architecture, use of textiles, and ceramics technology.

Some of the prominent periods and cultures of these later times include the Lower Formative or Initial period from about 2000 to 1000 b.c.e.; the Early Horizon period from 1000 to 300 b.c.e., which saw the rise and fall of the Pukara and Chavín cultures at Sechin Alto and Huántar respectively; the Early Intermediate or Upper Formative from 300 b.c.e. to 100 c.e., when the Paracas culture and early Tiwanaku culture arose and built the Paracas necropolis and the extensive ruins near and along the shores of Lake Titicaca; the Florescent or Classic period from 100 to 700 c.e., when the Nasca, Moche, and middle Tiwanaku cultures built their varied monuments on the Isles of the Sun and the Moon at Sipan and Tiwanaku; then the Middle Horizon period (700-1000 c.e.) saw the rise of the Wari and late Tiwanaku at those sites named after them. After 700 c.e. came the Later Intermediate (1000-1400 c.e.) period dominated by the Chimu at Chan-Chan, and the Late Horizon (1400-1538) period when the Inca came to dominate the south Andes from Ecuador to Bolivia.

Most cultures of this region moved from the western coastal lowlands, eastward up the valleys and into the high mountains and altiplano. Originally their subsistence was based on offshore fisheries, but as they moved inland and upcountry they developed large-scale agriculture. Once established in the mountains, they created distinctive raised-bed agriculture systems, made extensive use of domesticated animals, and engaged in agreements with surrounding groups that allowed them to make use of environments outside their home zones. By linking all productive areas together to form a chain of economic “islands,” they were able to make or trade for goods from all areas.

Lake Titicaca was the spiritual heart of south Andean civilization. Cities and vast temple complexes arose near the shore. The large, stepped Akapana pyramid, of uncertain age, is one of the more remarkable structures in the area. Others include the Kalasasaya ritual platform, the Underground temple, and the Puma Punku. One of the earliest sites, perhaps as early as 400 b.c.e., is at Pucara. The people who built it began settling in the area around 600 b.c.e. and may, given similarities in their polished polychrome pottery, be the ancestors of those who later built Tiwanaku. Some of the sculptures in the complex have been connected to those of the Chavín culture. The Tiwanaku civilization lasted more than fourteen hundred years and grew to include as many as twenty-five thousand people. The oldest structures were built during the Early Intermediate period. Building continued until the group’s decline by the end of the Middle Horizon period. In the local language, Aymara, the place is called Taypikhala, “the central stone,” indicating it was viewed as more than a mere physical location; it was the center of the universe, and the symbolic source of all life.

The peoples of this region used complex raised-bed, canal-fed shoreline agricultural systems until an eventual lowering of the water table of the lake led them to abandon the area. During the height of their civilization, the Tiwanaku achieved a truly imperial civilization that included densely populated administrative and religious centers (more than fifty thousand inhabitants in an area a little larger than two square miles, or about six square kilometers), smaller cities on the periphery, and colonial towns that dotted the region.

Bibliography

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Masuda, S., I. Shimada, and C. Morris, eds. Andean Ecology and Civilization. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1985.

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Richardson, James B., III. People of the Andes. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Books, 1994.