The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY CONTENTS CONTENTS A UNIQUE CIVILIZATION PRE-HISPANIC CULTURES IN PERU The emergence of the city and the state The Andes as a cultural challenge Technological foundations and community spirit LAMBAYEQUE The true El Dorado The royal mausoleum of Sipan The Pampa Grande citadel Pyramids at Batan Grande The Tucume-Purgatorio pyramids The Chotuna-Chornamkap pyramid PRE-HISPANIC NAVIGATION LA LIBERTAD The Moche and Chimu kingdoms The Chan-Chan citadel Pakatnamu Temple or huaca de los Reyes Huacas of the Sun and Moon The huacas at Cao (El Brujo) The temple at Pañamarca The Galindo pyramids The administrative center at Viracochapampa CERAMICS PORTRAITS: FACES OF THE MOCHICA AMAZONAS A territory of lost cities The Kuelap fortress The mausoleums at Los Condores lagoon PAJATÉN AND THE LOST CHACHA CITIES CAJAMARCA North of the empire The Kunturwasitemple The “small windows” at Otuzco The Inca’s Baths The Cumbemayo canal ANCASH The origins of the Andean civilization www.peru.org.pe [email protected] 1 The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY Las Haldas en the Casma coastline The Temple at Sechin and the Casma valley Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeque The Chavin de Huantar ceremonial center CHANKILLO AND THE DEFENSE SYSTEMS ON THE NORTH- ERN COAST HUANUCO A barn for the Central Andes The Kotosh temple The Huanuco Pampa administrative center. LIMA Pre-Inca archeology in the Metropolis Temple or huacas in Metropolitan Lima Huallamarca Huaca Pucllana Huaca Huacas south of Metropolitan Lima The Pachacamac oracle Huacas north of Metropolitan Lima The Paramonga fortress Huacas in the Highlands of Lima The “dead city” of Cajamarquilla Puruchuco ICA Desert cultures Tambo de Mora pyramids The Inca’s residence at Tambo Colorado Paracas cemeteries The Nazca Lines The Cahuachi ceremonial center DEFEATING THE DESERT: THE NAZCA PUQUIOS AYACUCHO The land of the Gods The Vilcaswamán administrative center The Wari capital The walled city of Pikillaqta THE QUIPUS: A PAPERLESS BUREAUCRACY AREQUIPA The geography of high altitude sanctuaries www.peru.org.pe [email protected] 2 The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY The Lady of Ampato CUZCO The empire of the Incas The main square or Huacaypata The Coricancha temple The Saqsayhuaman fortress THE TERRACES The Moray agricultural laboratory The aqueducts of Tipon The fortress and town of Ollantaytambo The royal estate of Machu Picchu The Qenqo and Tambomachay sanctuaries The living Inca village of Chinchero The religious hub of Pisaq The Raqchi temple The Choquequirao fortress THE INCA TRAIL: THE GREAT LINK TO THE CONTINENTAL ANDEAN UNIVERSE PUNO The magic of Lake Titicaca The Llalahua cochas The Titicaca waru-warus The Pukara ceremonial center The Sillustani chulpas HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY LOCATION AND WEATHER www.peru.org.pe [email protected] 3 The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY A Unique Civilization Quite spontaneously –and almost inevitably- the counted for the emergence of civilization was that mention of Peru brings to our mind images of urban societies around the world could have ap- Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire. peared following the pattern set by the European Q cities of the Renaissance. However, the remarkable civilization of the Incas emerged only at a latter stage of cultural devel- Nevertheless, recent decades have seen evidence opment in the pre-Hispanic Andes. In fact, Inca –mostly coming from the Central Andes and, history scarcely spans one century in 12.000 years particularly, from Peru- against this supposedly of human occupations of Peruvian soil. universal process. Peru is a peculiar case among the handful of foci This guide is an invitation to discover the com- of independent pre-historic human development plex civilizations and cultures that flourished in because it breaks established patterns and re- ancient Peru which were partially relegated to quires us to thoroughly rethink the concept of oblivion despite of the richness of their icono- civilization itself. graphic manifestations and the wide range of contributions they have made in uninterrupted Since the nineteenth century, one of the central succession to mankind’s technological and cul- components of the universal paradigm that ac- tural heritage during almost four millennia. Note: The archeological legacy to which this guide refers encompasses 12 of Peru’s departments following a North to South axis. The term “Central Andes” refers to the vast territory stretching along the Andes mountain range from southern Ecuador to northern Bolivia. The term “Andean world” is broadly used in a similar sense. www.peru.org.pe [email protected] 4 The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY Pre-Hispanic Culture of Peru tate as the guide of a new society where kinship The emergence of the city and the state had ceased to play the most prominent role in human relationships. In the Andes, the emerg- Grandeur, rigorous straight lines, rectangular ing state fostered the construction of large ar- blocks separated by access ways and ample chitectural compounds to serve administrative, squares found in Peru’s archeological compounds religious and production ends. bring to our mind the layout of Mediterranean cities of Greek as well as Roman heritage. How- How sedentary life was organized in the Andes ever, compared to Mesopotamia, cradle of man’s is another source of amazement. Even the large first juridical and economic organization built on capital cities of Andean kingdoms and empires market and individual property principles, often had a small permanent population. Cities Andean civilization shows substantial differences. comprised sanctuaries as well as sacred palaces The first of such differences concerns agglomera- with innumerable administrative buildings lo- tion processes. Large cities like Wari, cated along roads and irrigation canals. A pro- Cajamarquilla and Chan-Chan had relatively fuse calendar of ceremonial activities performed short lives of 400 to 600 years, they were born in public spaces organized the numerous eco- suddenly and expanded quickly. Not even ceremo- nomic and political functions that characterized nial centers like Chavín or Pachacamac were oc- the life of crowded cities in other parts of the cupied continuously under the same design pat- world. tern for more than one thousand years. Taxes paid in labor and kind always arrived at Another difference lies in the fact that in West- the scheduled times, and the hierarchical posi- ern cities, roofed houses separated from other tions, duties and obligations of the ruling elite houses, i.e. the family’s place of residence, were were confirmed. A loose layout guided an unceas- the basic units and the reason for the existence ing flow of people who traveled to either pay hom- of the whole. Inside them, courtyards, passages age or taxes. With evident relation to the roads, and streets are organized around private roofed canals, mountains and other sacred places, cit- areas. In the Andes, instead, communal spaces ies basically served as a stage for periodical fes- that served political and economic functions- like tivities where the ceremonial corn beer called squares, courtyards and open areas- were the “chicha” was abundantly poured. Thus, the state organizing core. They include sacred spaces such could count on an extended reservoir of labor at as pyramids, platforms and restricted monument the right time and place without having to con- compounds, but exclude homes. In most Medi- centrate large population contingents in big cit- terranean cities, public spaces occupy about 30% ies. By and large, most pre-Hispanic Andean so- of the total area and their monumental buildings cieties follow this model, although we can clearly are at the center of a residential belt that grew identify at least three broad categories of sites slowly and haphazardly, as shown by the maze – exhibiting pre-Inca and pre-Chimu architectural like layout of their roads and passages. In the patterns, including rural settlements of about Andes, we find the exact opposite relationship one half to 4 Ha; monument compounds serving everywhere. administrative and religious functions usually larger than 8 Ha; and dispersed religious struc- But the differences do not end there. Also chal- tures such as pyramids, and other smaller groups lenging modern understanding is the location of of closed buildings, platforms and terraces. several monument compounds that may have been cities. In the Andean highlands, they are The Andes as a cultural challenge often located at the top of almost inaccessible mountain peaks. On the Coast, they hide in gorges The peculiarities of Andean civilization can only or sit at the top of high, barren plateaus, far from be understood if we take into account that the agricultural areas. The peculiar character of Andes imposes daunting challenges and demand Andean city design stems from its origin. In creative solutions given its total or almost total Mesopotamia and most ancient Mediterranean physical isolation from other major cultures. civilizations, urban growth gave birth to the es- www.peru.org.pe [email protected] 5 The Travel´s Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICALThe Traveler´s LEGANCY Guide to PERU´S PRE-HISPANIC ARCHEOLOGICAL LEGANCY Contrary to other mountain ranges like the The South Himalayas in Asia, or the mountains of Central and Eastern Africa, the Andean mountain range At an altitude of about 3.000 masl in the High- runs from north to south and parallel to the Pa- lands, the Apurimac river valley, the Valley of cific Ocean, thus creating a vast range of east- Cuzco and the Lake Titicaca basin make up the west niches that make Peru one of the world’s second pole of development.