UJ#5 Paracas

order to reach humid ground. Soon after, other societies
with other languages and their own unique identities
began to develop, each with its own political structure
and culture.
In the north, for example, the Vicus (V b.c. VIII a.d.)
were polytheists who lived primarily from agriculture,
using copper, silver and gold tools along with advanced
systems of irrigation. Analysing the iconography in
their ceramics, archaeologists have been able to make
some assumptions about their social structures and
beliefs. The Vicus developed a social hierarchy similar to
many societies, with a class of nobles connected with
the government, a military class, a commercial class,
farmers and finally slaves.
The Moche people (I VIII a.d.), who also lived along
Peru’s northern coast, spoke the now-extinct muchik
language. The Moche made enormous advances in
hydraulic engineering, architecture and metallurgy. Their
most impressive constructions were huge pyramids and
religious centres, built using vast amounts of human
labour, to adore Ai apaec, a ferocious god whose
image covers the walls of both the Huaca del Sol and
the Huaca de la Luna, Moche ruins found in the desert
outside of Trujillo.
In the flat, Andean Altiplanos, or high plains, that circle
Lake Titicaca, the Pukarás (I b.c. III a.d..) were the first
people to establish an urban development and to
dominate the hostile environment for animal husbandry
and agriculture. The Pukarás raised cattle and other
animals, and farmed using increasingly successful
techniques which eventually led to the creation of the
Tiahuanaco culture (I a.d-XIII a.d.), one of the greatest
Altiplano civilisations of its period, extending from Titicaca
to what today is northern Chile and southern Argentina.
With their enormous capital city with pyramids, plazas and
monoliths sitting on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca,
the Tiahuanaco spread the image of the mythological
god of the Báculos (thought to be the god Wiracocha in
later, Incan society) across its territories.
Like the Tiahuanaco, other civilisations also built
vast and important cities and ceremonial centres. On
Peru’s southern coast, the Nasca (I b.c.-VI a.d.), who
followed the Paracas civilisation, built their political and
religious centre in Cahuachi, a huge urban-ceremonial
complex that is remarkable for the social organization
needed for its construction. In addition to Cahuachi, the
Nasca people also created the so-called Nasca Lines,
mysterious engravings in the desert sands that are visible
only from the air. German Archaeologist Maria Reiche
spent years studying the lines and concluded that they
are part of a sophisticated solar calendar. The Nascas
additionally developed a complex system of aqueducts
in order to grow in the desert sands, expanding their
influence up into the mountains of Ayacucho, where
their contemporaries, the Warpas (I b.c. V a.d.), lived.
From this union of cultures, the powerful Wari Empire (VI
a.d. XIII a.d.) was born.
The birth of the Wari ushered in the Middle Horizon
Period, characterised by a large area of Peru being ruled
from an Andean base. The Wari influence grew to cover
Arequipa’s mountain and coastal region, greater Cusco
to the west, and all of Lambayeque to the north, creating
what is known as the first Andean Empire. After centuries
of social, religious and political control, the Wari empire
collapsed and new, local societies were reborn rich with
ancient knowledge and new technological advances.
The Chimú, Chachapoya, Ischmay, Chanca, Huanca,
Chincha, Quechua and Aimara people were these new
kingdoms which would eventually be incorporated into
the Inca Empire (1438-1533).
From the time when the first people of Peru discovered
agriculture and began to settle, their continuous process
of learning about and dominating their environment is
what allowed them to create powerful nations. Today we
can walk through enormous, ancient cities and imagine
what they must have been like filled with thousands
of people. Farmers and fisherman would have been
carrying their goods to the houses of the nobles, who
in turn would make offerings to the gods and distribute
those goods across the lands to feed the armies of
soldiers who protected the empire and the workers
who supported it. Some fought to help expand the
empire, while others built magnificent works of hydraulic
engineering, increasing the cultivable lands. As we look
back, it is clear that Perú is, without a doubt, the cradle
of Americas´s first, complex societies.
Rodrigo Cabrera
The doorway to Rumicolca:
This ancient aqueduct was
built by the Wari between 800
and 1,000 a.d. and later turned
into a control point by the
Incas.
AFTER ALL, PERU
OFFERED 1.2 MILLION
SQUARE KILOMETRES OF
INHOSPITABLE DESERT,
JAGGED ANDEAN
PEAKS, WINDSWEPT
ALTIPLANO PLAINS AND
THE EXOTIC AMAZON
JUNGLE. IT WAS A PLACE
WHERE, OVER 5,000
YEARS, INCREDIBLE
CIVILISATIONS HAD
BEEN BORN
/71