INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY Nancy White - Touro Institute

What were the earliest regional states in South
America? Between 200 B.C. and A.D. 600, the Moche
culture on the north coast of Peru is famous for its
huacas (pyramids), fine metalwork, and ceramics that
depicted every conceivable area of daily life as well as
spiritual and humorous ideas. The Huaca del Sol and
Huaca de la Luna (pyramids of the sun and moon) at the
Moche site were constructed with millions of adobe
bricks that have marks possibly indicating different
brickworkers’ groups. Sipan is a Moche culture site at
which recently excavated unlooted tombs show royal
burials rich with gold and other finely crafted artifacts,
as well as evidence relating to the ceremonial system.
High-status individuals are buried with regalia making
them look like the actual figures depicted in Moche art.
Amputated hands and feet and skeletons of people who
were clearly killed document the early development of
ritual human sacrifice. Nazca was another regional
state, on the south coast of Peru, developing out of
Paracas. Besides pyramid centers, elegant textiles, and
colorful painted pottery, this culture is most famous for
the Nazca lines, drawn on the floor of the desert over
several hundred square miles, in the shapes of
geometric figures, animals, and other forms.
Yes, they are seen more clearly from the air, but
they are also easily seen from the ground or the surrounding hills, and do not need ancient
astronauts from another galaxy to have been accomplished! They were drawn by removing dark
rocks to expose lighter desert floor; their meaning is unknown, but many designs are of animals
from the faraway jungle or sea.
What is the first evidence of possible empire? During
the Middle Horizon, between about A.D. 400-1200,
the cultures we call Wari and Tiwanaku arose,
respectively, in the regions of southern Peru and of
Bolivia and Chile. The Tiwanaku site, on the high-
was a
altitude Bolivian altiplano around Lake Titicaca,
grand city with the famous stone-sculpted Gateway of
the Sun. These people also constructed raised
platforms with complex engineering for intensifying
agricultural production on low wetlands and had
distinctive artistic styles and evidence of militaristic
conquest.
After the breakdown of these probable empires, what other, late prehistoric regional states
emerged? The Chimu are known both from archaeology and from history that the Inca told to the
Spanish. The Chimu capital at Chan Chan on the north coast was a huge city that controlled a
state stretching from southern Ecuador to central Peru. It had extensive road and canal systems