FOR. THE. PEOPLE FOR EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY By WENDELL C. BENNETT Late Professor of Anthropology, Yale University and JUNIUS B. BIRD Curator of Archaeology, American Museum of Natural History Second and revised edition HanpBook Series No. 15 NEW YORK 6 LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL HANDBOOK FUND COPYRIGHT 1949 AND 1960 BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY LANCASTER PRESS, INC., LANCASTER, PA. 30251 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION Any brief summation of an involved and im- perfectly known subject has inevitable weaknesses. Yet, despite its shortcomings, this small volume has found some favor and a continued demand makes reprinting necessary. Unfortunately, the death of the senior author, a deep sadness to all who knew him, deprives us of his guidance and good judgment in this task. In the few years since the first printing various archaeological projects have been reported on and others undertaken, all bringing new data, clarifying old problems, or posing new ones. Bennett, himself, visited the great site of Wari and secured a record of ceramic changes there. John H. Rowe, Chavez Ballon, and others did the same for sites in the Cuzeo Basin. Further south, Alfred Kidder, II, William Coe, and Alan Sawyer excavated at Chiripa, Puecara, and other sites. W. Duncan Strong and his associates worked in the Nazca-Ieca Area in an effort to re-define Nazca culture. In connection with Victor von Hagen’s survey of the Inea road system, Dorothy Menzel and Francis A. Riddell, together studied Inca and post-conquest communities on the Southern Coast. In the Cajamarca Area, Henri Reichlen and H. D. Disselhoff have been con- cerned with cultural sequence and Coastal-Highland relationship; in the Jequetepeque-Chicama region, H. U. Doering returned for further work. Under the auspices of the University of Trujillo, Richard Schaedel uncovered the remarkable adobe relief of the Huaca del Dragon, a structure desecrated by the Spaniards at the time of the Conquest. At the site of Chavin de Huantar, Jorge Muelle’s program to free the ruins of debris carried in by disastrous 1 2 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY flooding brought to light remarkable and important new finds. Near the mouth of the Casma valley, Donald Collier has checked the cultural record and, in the northern valleys, a survey has been under- taken by James A. Ford. On the Central Coast, at Ancon, Peruvian archae- ologists working for Rebecca Carrion and the Museé de Antropologia y Arqueologia de Magdalena Veija, in advance of building and real estate development, have recovered a vast amount of material. Nearby at Playa Grande, Louis Stummer, has recovered im- portant material; to the south of Lima, Frederic Engel and Edward Lanning tested a Chavin horizon deposit near San Bartolo and have found similar and pre-ceramic sites at many of the suitable loca- tions along the coast. More recently the Uni- versity of San Marcos, with the support of the Ful- bright Commission instituted a three-year program with various North American archaeologists work- ing with Peruvians in different parts of the coast. The personnel included: David Kelly, Dorothy Men- zel, Louis Stummer, Paul Tolstoy, Dwight Wallace, Gary Vescelius. Far to the north sites with early ceramics have been found and studied; in Colombia by Reichel Dolmatoff, in Lowland Ecuador by Emilio Estrada, Clifford Evans and Betty Meggers. Earlier the Evans-Meggers team did intensive work at the mouth of the Amazon and in British Guiana. Other Amazonian sites near Pucallpa were studied by Donald Lathrop. This brief and incomplete listing of archaeological investigations undertaken since the first edition indi- cates how much has been done. Some reports have been published but as others have not we have men- tioned the individuals involved in each ease. Among publications on field-work completed prior PREFACE 3 to the appearance of the first edition one should note: Jijon y Camaiio’s ‘‘Maranga’’, A. L. Kroe- ber’s ‘‘Proto-Lima, a Middle Period Culture of Peru’’, R. Lareo’s ‘‘Cronologia Arquelogica del Norte del Peru’’, and various reports on the Viru Valley survey by Bennett, Collier, Ford, Strong, Evans, and Willey; also the Ancon report of Willey and Corbett with its most important section on tex- tiles by the late Lila O’Neale. Last, but not least, is the development of a method for measuring age by counting the radio activity of the Carbon 14 isotope present in organic mate- rials. Nothing seemed to promise more valuable aid in clearing the fog from Peruvian chronology than this method developed by W. F. Libby, J. R. Arnold, and associates. However, the number of age measurements of Peruvian material is still in- adequate and the dates derived are puzzling in certain details. A brief comment on the results will be found on pages 294-299. The incorporation of new data and the elimination of some errors is here attempted within the format of the original edition. Errors and omissions in the section on ceramics have been corrected by Robert Sonin and a needed revision of the section on metal- work has been done by Dudley Easby. Both John H. Rowe and Clifford Evans suggested changes or additions which have been incorporated. Such help, freely and generously given, cannot be adequately acknowledged. When the first edition appeared, Rowe published the most detailed and conscientious review.’ One of his major criticisms, and a valid one, concerns the simplified chronological framework here applied to the whole Central Andean Area. Such broadly 1 American Antiquity (Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 170-172, October, 1950). 4 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY descriptive period designations as ‘‘Formative’’ and ‘“Hixpansionist’’? and others were first proposed by Rafael Larco Hoyle as a substitute for and an im- provement on the use of an ever-increasing and overlapping list of pottery type and cultural horizon designations. It had become fashionable, not only to propose names for newly recognized pottery types or ceramic complexes and use them as culture period designations, but to re-name well-known material. Thus, in publications of the past ten years we can find ‘‘ Karly Chimu’’, ‘‘Mochica’’, and ‘‘ Huancaco’”’ used synonymously. Early Chimu is a survival of earlier terminology, Mochica is generally accepted and well understood, while Huancaco was proposed for Mochica material from the Viru Valley, most of which cannot be distinguished from contemporary products used fifteen miles away in the Moche Val- ley. Similarly we have the ‘‘Gallinazo’’, ‘‘ Nega- tive’’, and ‘‘Viru’’ cultures, as well as various others. The meanings are not always clear even to those actively engaged in ceramic classification, for there is some disagreement among the specialists. Lareo contended that a broader frame of refer- ence was needed. The speedy adoption of his pro- posal which was even extended to the Middle Ameri- man field, testifies to the need for some such system. Its weakness is that only the very broadest terms apply to any extensive geographical area, and when so extended they lose some of their value. Objections can be raised to virtually all such period designations as used in this volume. It may help the reader if they are mentioned briefly here and kept in mind when using the text and the chart in? Pre, 49. To begin with the oldest division, the ‘‘Hunters’’, the finds from the San Pedro-Chicama Area may be PREFACE 5 associated with the mastodon and possibly other extinct animals, but the sites are all open and eroded. The material might conceivably date back nine or ten thousand years, but until intact deposits are discovered and carefully excavated, we do not know. It is inevitable that the period designation ‘‘Hunters’’ will ultimately be subdivided into three units; first, those early migrants who dealt with big game; second, their followers who presumably depended on the wild ancestors of the llama and alpaea and smaller game; and, third, those who lived mainly on birds, marine mammals, and fish. How- ever, this will not preclude the use of the broad period designation. The second major division, ‘‘Karly Farmers’’, seemingly a safe designation, apples to the pre- ceramic, pre-maize farmers of the Chicama and Viru valleys on the North Coast, but includes the pre-ceramic maize growers of Aspero, on the Cen- tral Coast, and Arica, in northern Chile. The ques- tions raised are: one, should such culturally unre- lated groups be bracketed together, and, second, where should the ‘‘EKarly Farmers’’ division be terminated—with the introduction of ceramics or with the introduction of maize? The two are not coeval throughout the Andean Area. The term ‘‘Cultists’’ is also relatively broad. Its use was prompted by such obvious evidence of re- hgious organization as the Chavin de Huantar ruins. Possibly the term ‘‘Karly Cultists’’ is preferable, for religious activities continued throughout all sub- sequent periods. Similarly there are objections to the concept of the two subsequent divisions, the ‘‘Experimenter”’ and ‘‘Master Craftsmen’’. What we may now interpret as diversity resulting from local experi- 6 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY mentation can prove to be intrusive influences dis- placing, disrupting, or fusing with local develop- ment. So, too, features on which a Master Crafts- men period is based may prove so varied in age and distribution as to make it impossible to fix a divid- ing line between it and the Experimenters. Far less criticism can be focussed on the Expan- sionist concept. We may and do lack agreement on its dates, source, motivation, and course. We can agree that it marks the second time in the Andean Area when a single culture influence spread over regions which at other times maintained more marked local distinctions. It may have been just as Imperialistic in nature as the Inca expansion, but the answers did not survive in legend and they re- main a challenge to archaeology. Over and above the problems mentioned, we have a more serious criticism, that not all of these desig- nations apply to exactly the same area. Beyond certain limits we can only suggest what we believe to be contemporaneous. In doing this, and even in indicating the sequence of the cultural phases, there will always be errors of interpretation as long as we lack exact dates. It is regrettable that lack of space here prevents the customary inclusion of the preface to the first edition. In it the plan and objectives of this volume were outlined and, acknowledgments were made to those who had assisted in its production. Junius B. Brrp JUNE, 1959 CONTENTS Part 1 By WENDELL C. BENNETT PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION THE SETTING : 5 : : The South American Environment Early Migrants Plant Domestication Southern Hunters Tropical Agriculturists . Lowland Archaeology Andean Farmers ‘ : Northern Andean Archaeology Colombia Ecuador : ; : Southern Andean Archaeology Northwest Argentina Chile Part 2 By WENDELL C. BENNETT THE CENTRAL ANDES Divisions Chronology Early Farmers Cultist Period . Experimenter Period Mastereraftsman Period Expansionist Period City Builder Period Imperialist Period . Aftermath Part 3 By JuUNIus B. Birp TECHNIQUES Ceramics Metalwork ; ‘ ; 245 251 8 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Textiles Fibers Dyes Spinning , ; Looms and Weaving ‘ Weaving Techniques and Cheonulogy . RADIOCARBON DATING . SELECTED SOURCES INDEX 257 258 261 263 265 268 294 300 319 ILLUSTRATIONS . Environmental regions of South America . Stemmed points associated with extinct animals in or occupation level in South Chile caves . . Artifacts of oldest known coastal culture from northern Chile. a, Harpoon forepiece, points, and barbs; b, Stone scraping tools; c, Stone knife; d, Choppers (?); e, Stone, bone, and shell composite fishhooks and barbs; f, Thorn and shell hooks; g, Stages in making shell hooks and the tools used; h, Stone bowl . South American Gane divisions : : : . Alacaluf dome- Miah hut and Ona wiitdbreak: Models in the Museum . Yagua scene showing use of ieee : . Ceremonial barkcloth costume from western Brazil Shrunken human trophy heads from the Jivaro Indians . Maraj6é pottery showing painted, excised, and incised decoration . Rio Napo urns and platter . Santarem vessels and figure urn frets Matick : : Eeastorie ceramics from Colombia. a, b, eh, eset , k, Santa Marta; j, Sinu; 1, Divsequste effigy urn; : aa . Goldwork from fomean a. various styles . San Agustin stone carvings . Types of Ecuadorean pottery . Stone seat from Manabi, Ecuador . Tablets and tube for mixing and inhaling donate Aisi ieee North Chile . Principal valleys and major bileaeal ie isions of the Geasbeeil Andes . Chronological chart Fon ie ent porn = diffusion “pattern of textiles, pottery, and maize indicated 20. Pre-ceramic sites: North of Paracas, Early Farmer; south of Paracas, principally fishing cultures . American Museum excavation in a pre-ceramic soricatiatad community midden, Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley 22. Principal Cultist Period sites 23. Cultist period ceramic types . Cultist Period goldwork from Chongoyape aad aoe 6 facts from Chicama 9 24 112 115 119 122 127 128 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY . Building and carving of the Cultist Period. Upper left, modeled clay, Moxeke; lower left, Cerro Sechin; others, Chavin de Hudéntar . Principal sites of the Experimenter Period . Chiripa ceramics and house site, Experimenter Period . Salinar ceramies of the Experimenter Period . Paracas Cavernas ceramic style of the Experimenter Portail The Pucara style tube or trumpet at the left has fired pigments in the incised areas, the others, resinous paints . Principal cultural divisions in the Mastercraftsman Period . . Recuay style stone statues of the Mastercraftsman Period . Pueara style stone carving of the Mastercraftsman Period . Varieties of Mochica pottery of the Mastercraftsman Period . Nazea style ceramics of the Mastercraftsman Period . Gold objects from a Paracas mummy bundle of the Mate eraftsman Period . Principal centers of the ieseiaualeniek. Poriod . Tiahuanaco ruins and decorated gateway . Typical wall construction and detail of soekat for aan copper cramps or tie bolts in stone paving at Tiahuanaco . Monolithie statue from Tiahuanaco. Discovered by Wendell C. Bennett . Coast and Highland Tatiana ee Upper left, Pachacamac; Upper right, Pacheco; Lower half, Bo- livian Highland sites. At lower right an example of Early Tiahuanaco : , 3 Miscellaneous prehistoric Paravien brlifactes carved and painted box, pyrites mirror, combs, spoons, ear spools, and snuff tube . : ° Principal centers of the City Biglier ‘aeHiod : A fortress of the City Builder period at ee con- structed of clay bricks Clay arabesque wall decorations at ie ruins of Cienshied Chimu blackware water jars. At left, two men boxing; center, an example of mold-pressed decoration; at right, two men on a balsa raft City Builder ceramic styles from the Ganical na South Coast. Top row, right, Negative painted Recuay vessel of the Mastercraftsman Period, others, two late vessels from Pachacamae; second row, Three vessels of Chancay Black-on-White rd bottom row, Four vessels of Ica style Maximum expansion in the aerate Peaa: 134 138 143 144 148 154 163 164 167 169 175 183 187 189 190 192 209 211 215 48. 49. 50. 54. ILLUSTRATIONS The famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu - : F Types of Inca masonry. Top, Machu Picchu; lower left, Fortress of Sacsahuaman; lower right, a strect in Cuzco Inea artifacts: lacquered wooden kero, ceremonial stone llama form container and bowl, two very typical pottery containers, a pitcher and aryballoid water or beer jar . Musical instruments, panpipes, flutes, whistles, and a horn . - Molds for ceramic manufacture . é ; . Prehistoric Peruvian copper, bronze, and siver aan Ax and club heads, bolas weight, knives, chisels and ear spoons are cast; tweezers and pin are hammered Diagram of Rkeiian loom. a, Loom bars; b, Shed Lee c, Heddle rod; d, Batten or sword; e, Bobbin; f, Bagh strap; g, Warp lashing; h, Heading string; i, Lease cord; j, Leash cord; k, Warp; 1, Weft . Paracas Necropolis Srabrendone Top, Poncho siete with heavy shoulder fringe; center, Mantle borders, with foundation fabric completely hidden by the Hie eee bottom, Half of a large mantle . Poncho shirt, shaped by inserting pdaitional en at cen- ter of fabric (North Chile) ; Cape, shaped by expanding the warp; upper half, cotton, warp faced; lower half, wool, eccentric tapestry; Boy’s shirt, tapestry; Woman’s work basket; Detail of interlocked warp loom . . Peruvian pric Top, Gauze weaves, the center one few a Paracas Necropolis grave, the others later; center, Double cloth; bottom, Late period painted cotton com- pared with Paracas Necropolis painting; lower right, tie-dyeing . 11 225 227 228 236 248 255 266 274 284 287 Part 1 THE SETTING Tuer SoutH AMERICAN H.NVIRONMENT The region designated as the Central Andes in- cludes the Peruvian coast and highlands and most of the Bolivian highlands, particularly the high plateau around Lake Titicaca. The abundant archaeological remains in the Central Andes have long been inten- sively studied because this area, in spite of its strik- ing environmental contrasts and its remarkable di- versity of materials, presents a unit of cultural development unmatched in intensity in South Ameri- can prehistory. Here centered the Inca culture which, at its peak, maintained an empire that ex- tended from Colombia in the north to Argentina and Chile in the south. The Spaniards described the Inca Empire as they found it flourishing in the early sixteenth century. The archaeologist projects the story backward from that date and can demonstrate that the basic components of the Inca culture were developed in the Central Andes many centuries be- fore the Spanish conquest. The major purpose of this account is to recon- struct the story of cultural development in the Cen- tral Andes from its earliest known manifestations to historic times. However, it seems profitable to begin with the South American scene as a whole and to describe the total physical and cultural environ- ment within which the Central Andean cultures played so distinctive a role. It has long been rec- ognized that topography and other features of the gveographic environment may affect migration, trade, transportation, and expansion; that the natural re- 13 14 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY sources present or absent in an area may influence cultural growth; and that culture and geographic en- vironment are linked in many ways. The cultural environment is equally important. This involves knowledge of the size of a population, its technology, specialization, divisions of authority and over-all pattern. Likewise, it is hard to understand one group without a knowledge of its neighbors. Topographically, the South American continent is divisible into three major zones: the Andes along the Pacific Coast, the tropical and temperate plains, and the highlands of east Brazil and the Guianas (Fig. 1). These major zones extend from north to south, a topographical factor that has long influ- enced migrations and cultural diffusions. Even the briefest examination reveals that there are many contrasting environments in South America. The rugged Andes rise in marked contrast to the flat plains of the Argentine Pampas. Northern Chile is an extreme desert; the Amazon and its tributaries flow through one of the greatest known stretches of tropical rain forest. However, in spite of size and environmental variety, in terms of pre-Spanish sub- sistence patterns large sections of South America could not be effectively utilized. Some of the rich- est agricultural areas, like the Argentine Pampas, were of little use to Indians who had no knowledge of the plow or other means of eradicating the deep- rooted grasses. The extensive grazing lands now utilized had an insignificant value before the intro- duction of European domesticated animals. The rugged Andes dominate western South Amer- ica, extending from the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Colombia, along the entire Pacific Coast to Cape Horn. Only in Bolivia do the Andes expand to much AMS rors 0 hoa CoA? 4 ' She S : s a) AS SS HVY PION ; SS uty SN yes meni NE sje = = = aT ¢ Aad PZ 1 Bs >) ry ~ ° = & —- Patty 17 Wag n€ a ae SS yg ME WY thy RS ye Nano rin THY, ” n, ni me wes a. .e) nye - ti s2% wi PE rate ele ayn Sy ND TS, &e 2} a .) +z tl ‘ ° VAVIVIV gon Ct ic 6 HY 1 f ~ ff a Janes axe 1 \ Gan ems me ~. 3) < Fig. 1. Environmental regions of South America. 15 16 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY over one hundred miles in width. They vary from section to section. Three parallel ranges in Co- lombia reduce to two in Ecuador, break up into short diagonal chains in Peru, expand again to a pair in Bolivia, and narrow to a single range in Chile. Temperatures in the Andes are more or less consistent, reflecting altitude rather than latitude, so that most sections are cool to cold during the whole year, although freezing temperatures are rare in the habitable areas. Although trees grow in some sections, much of the region is unforested and may be classed either as grassland, bushland, or desert. The geographers recognize a northern, cen- tral, and southern division of the Andes and these are important in cultural considerations. The Northern Andes, which include Colombia, Ecuador, and a small part of Peru, are characterized by a double rainy season which supports wet rain forest in areas of high altitude between 10,000 feet and the snow line. Such highland areas are unfavorable for erazing llamas and alpacas, so that the two most im- portant domesticated animals of pre-Spanish Amer- ica were not permanently acquired by the people who occupied this northern region. The Central Andes have a contrasting rainy and dry season, resulting in a highland covered by a bunch grass, ideal for erazing, which makes the region environmentally distinct from the Northern Andes. From Bolivia southward, the Southern Andes are separated from the Central Andes by a desert strip which extends from north Chile to the Patagonian plateau. The limited habitable areas are not unlike those of the Central Andes. The Andes everywhere present formidable moun- tain barriers with numerous peaks over twenty thou- THE SETTING 17 sand feet in altitude and few passes under twelve thousand feet. The habitable sections are the inter- mont basins, high plateaus, and valley flats of the rivers that drain into the Amazon. These basins and flats, however, have well watered, fertile soil, -and many resources contributing to cultural devel- opment, such as stone and clay usable for building materials, and easily mined copper, silver, gold, and tin. Many regions are extensive enough to support a reasonably large population, and distant enough from each other to permit easy defense without ex- cessive isolation. Today, of course, the Andes pre- sent difficult transportation problems, but in pre- Spanish times when travel was essentially on foot, the mountains did not constitute a great obstacle. Today wild food plant and animal life are limited in the Andes, due in part to the fact that intensive agri- culturists have occupied the region for over two thousand years. However, since many domesticated plants and at least two domesticated animals ap- pear to be indigenous to this region, it seems rea- sonable to assume that wild forms were abundant at one time. Although not very extensive, the plains along the Pacific Coast present a considerable contrast in en- vironment. In Ecuador and Colombia, where they are widest, they lie within the tropics, with charac- teristic high temperatures, excessive rainfall, and jungle forest coverage. In Colombia, therefore, the environmental contrast between the plains and the highlands prevented much cultural interchange. The narrow coastal plains of southern Ecuador, Peru, and northern Chile form the west coast desert. This climatic change is attributed to the effect of the eold Humboldt current which cools the air of the 18 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY on-shore winds sufficiently so that there is no pre- cipitation over the hot coastal land and desert con- ditions result. The aridity increases in intensity from north to south, reaching its maximum in the Atacama desert of north Chile. The habitable por- tions of the west coast, except for small fishing sites, are limited to the valleys of the rivers that have their source in the mountains and flow rapidly to the Pa- cific. In terms of gross environment, the contrast between the desert coast and the high Andes seems enormous; but in terms of Indian subsistence pat- terns it is not very significant. In fact, the coastal valleys and highland basins share such favorable features as rich, easily cultivated soils, an absence of deep-rooted grasses or forest coverage, a rela- tively genial climate, and sufficient water supply to permit controlled irrigation. The Central Valley of Chile is an alluvium filled trough lying between the main Andes and a low coastal range. Here the climate is classed as Mediterranean; the soils are rich and the rains abundant. Following the intro- duction of European plants and animals, the Central Valley became the garden spot of Chile. The long southern archipelago of Chile is a continuation of the coastal mountain range. The climate is cold and wet; the coverage, wet rain forest. This region was inhabited by small groups of fishermen who spent most of their lives in canoes. Kast of the Southern Andes are the high semi- desert table-lands of Patagonia where the winds blow constantly. The soil is shallow and not very fertile, trees are rare, and most of the area is classed as grassland. North of Patagonia are the Argen- tine Pampas with their rich soil, low elevation, and temperate climate. The Pampas are the finest THE SETTING 19 erasslands in South America, famed today for their cereals and beef. In the past, however, grasslands were not favorable to native digging-stick cultiva- tion, so that the distinction between the Pampas and Patagonia was not of special significance. Instead, _this region was occupied by hunters who pursued such wild fauna as the guanaco and the rhea, or ostrich, and gatherers who collected seeds and roots. The transition from the temperate to the tropical lowlands is illustrated by that great area known as the Gran Chaco which includes parts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. This uninterrupted flat plain is characterized by a concentrated rainy sea- son and an exceedingly contrasting dry season which results in a greatly varied vegetal coverage. It in- eludes sections of grassland, parkland, bushland, and, along the rivers, tropical forest. The rivers are full of fish and some hunting of game is possible, but, on the whole, this area was never very attrac- tive either to hunters or agriculturists. The Amazon lowlands lie in the true tropics. The region is mostly below a thousand feet elevation. The rainfall is excessive; temperatures are con- sistently high; and tropical forest is characteristic. The Amazon River with its numerous tributaries forms a network over the whole area so that with any form of watercraft, transportation was no prob- lem. There is a reasonable amount of wild animal life, abundant fish in the rivers, and some wild edible roots and fruits. However, these tropical forests were probably never very enticing to simple hunters and certainly they were not extensively occupied until suitable plants had been domesticated. Even for agriculturists the region offers no great attrac- tion since the soils are thin and poor; clearing a field 20 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY is an arduous task, and the protection of a village is difficult. The llanos or flats of the Orinoco River in Vene- zuela are in some ways similar to the Amazonian lowlands, but irregularities in the distribution of rainfall produce a coverage of grass and scattered trees, rather than dense tropical forest. In cultural terms, however, the two regions do not contrast markedly. This is also true of the highlands which cover most of the Guianas and parts of Brazil and Venezuela. These are old, badly eroded mountains, completely surrounded by tropical forest. The higher sections, however, are not very favorable for agriculture, so that the contrast between highlands and tropical lowlands never became culturally im- portant. The east Brazil highlands cover an enormous area and present a number of internal divisions. Grass- lands and seattered trees are typical and the variety of plant life is great. The climate is subtropical with ample rainfall and little variation in tempera- ture throughout the year. In the past, game and wild life were apparently sufficiently abundant to at- tract land hunters and gatherers. South America can, then, be divided into a dozen major environmental zones, which can be further subdivided with ease. However, from the point of view of this historical summary, such detailed sub- division is unnecessary because, by the time of the Kuropean conquest, the whole continent was domi- nated by three basic cultural patterns: the Southern Hunters, the Tropical Agriculturists, and the An- dean Farmers. Furthermore, this broad review demonstrates that despite some of its internal con- trasts, the Central Andes forms a distinctive en- THE SETTING 21 vironmental zone, a uniqueness even more marked when the contrasting cultural factors are considered. Earty Micrants South America was first populated by nomadic hunters, fishermen, and gatherers with no knowledge of agriculture, metals, or pottery. All the known evidence indicates that the Isthmus of Panama was the migration route of these land nomads to the South American continent. The only alternative possibility is by way of the chain of Caribbean islands, a route which presupposes a knowledge of watercraft, for the antiquity of which we still lack proof, in spite of the important development of water travel in the Amazon area and the Chilean archipelago. Land hunters and gatherers who migrated to South America via Panama could easily enter the Andean highlands by way of the Cauca and Mag- dalena rivers, both of which flow from south to north. Some groups may have migrated eastward into Venezuela, but further expansion in that direc- tion was probably blocked by the Amazon jungle where there is, as yet, no evidence for the antiquity of a hunting-gathering culture pattern. The same line of reasoning applies to the Pacific Coast of Colombia and Eeuador which is also a tropical jungle. The highlands would, however, offer a rea- sonable quantity of game and wild food sufficient to support a hunting and gathering people. Further- more, once adjustment had been made to the Andean environment, there would be no major barriers to a continued southward migration. Small groups may have moved to favorable fishing sites on the arid Pacific Coast, but these minor movements would not yy ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY affect the main direction of migration. Once Ar- gentina had been reached, a rapid spread through- out the Pampas and Patagonia, even to distant Tierra del Fuego, probably occurred since this great expanse of grassland presented many favorable pos- sibilities for hunters and gatherers. From northern Argentina it would be easy to enter the open park country of the east Brazil highlands. The fishing potentials of the Chilean archipelago were probably exploited as soon as water travel was perfected. This reconstruction of the probable migration routes of the early hunting people is based partially on geographic logic, but it is confirmed by the meager archaeological and historical evidence. The earliest remains of man yet found are in the Andean high- lands, the east Brazil highlands, and in southern Patagonia. Furthermore, at the time of the Euro- pean conquest hunting and gathering peoples still occupied the east Brazil highlands, the Pampas, Patagonia, and the Chilean archipelago. The archaeological evidence for these early mi- erations consists of human skeletal remains found in association with extinct fauna and cultural re- mains excavated in the camping and fishing sites. In 1835 the Danish naturalist, T. W. Lund, explored some eight hundred eaves in the Lagoa Santa re- gion of Minas Geraes in the east Brazil highlands. These caves contained not only the bones of extinct Pleistocene fauna, but assorted human remains some of which represented physical types distinct from those of the modern Indians. A recent excavation of the Confins Cave in the same region has confirmed the results of the earlier work. The mouth of this cave was completely sealed by fallen debris. Ex- cavations in the alluvial deposits on the cave floor THE SETTING 23 encountered at about two meters depth the skull of a fossil horse, the molars and bones of a young mastodon, and a human skeleton which, although in extended position was not an intrusive burial. The skull is long-headed, similar to the Lagoa Santa type. At Punin, Ecuador, another skull of this type, again without artifacts, was found in volcanic ash. Association with extinct horse, mastodon, sloth, deer, and camel was implied by geology. Probably contemporary with this fauna are projec- tile points, identical with the oldest from South Chile (Fig. 2), found in 1959 on a hilltop near Quito, Keuador. At about 10 degrees south latitude, near Lake Lauricocha in the center of the Peruvian Highlands, eave deposits, at an elevation of 138,000 feet, show early and continued occupation. This discovery, by Augusto Cardich, is remarkable both for the an- tiquity of the first occupation, 7566 B.C. +250 from radiocarbon, and the altitude, which is near the upper limits for habitable sites. A comparable date, 6013 B.C. +100, was obtained for similar re- mains found by A. R. Gonzalez in the lower strata of Intihuasi Cave, 70 kilometers north of San Luis, Cordoba, Argentina, again with modern fauna. The oldest artifacts at both sites are stone projectile points of related forms; later levels yield some pottery. Many finds of fossil man and early campsites have been reported for Patagonia, but few of these are based on scientific excavations. The best evidence comes from the extreme southern part of Patagonia near the Straits of Magellan. Here two caves, Palli Aike and Fell’s, excavated by Junius Bird, con- tained stratified remains of five distinct periods of 24 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY habitation. Both caves were below lava outcrops on the semi-desert plains. The two caves furnish evidence for an historical reconstruction. Their first occupants used stemmed projectile points, many rough scrapers, lava cylinders, and a variety of bone flaking tools (Fig. 2). Bones of i Fig. 2. Stemmed points associated with extinct animals in earliest occupation level in South Chile caves. i j : 4 \ ea " SES SE OnwE INCH euanaco and of the extinct ground sloth and native American horse in the same level show that these animals were eaten in abundance. In several con- temporary human burials the bodies had all been cremated. One skull, patiently reconstructed, is long headed and somewhat resembles the Lagoa Santa type. A sterile level formed of slabs which had fallen from the roof of the cave isolated the re- mains of this first period of occupation. In the THE SETTING 25 second period of occupation the fossil animals were not present, but fox and bird bones were common. The artifacts were limited to a few chipped flakes and scrapers, crude bone points, and polished bone awls. The third period of occupation marked the appearance of stemless stone points and the first use of bolas, mostly small ones for hunting birds. The graves contained several skeletons covered with red paint. In the fourth occupational period, small arrowheads were present, thus demonstrating that the bow and arrow was later here than the bolas. Shell and bone beads, some incised, were used for ornaments. The final occupants made small stemmed arrowpoints, bone beads, combs, spatulas, pressure flaking tools and other artifacts, all similar to those of the Ona Indians of Tierra del Fuego. Thus these caves present a sequence of occupation from the early hunters up to the historic Ona. Bird’s excavations of shell middens on the shores of Beagle Channel also proved a relative antiquity for some of the fishing groups in southern Tierra del Fuego and the archipelago. The earliest oc- cupants used mussel shell knives, single barbed harpoon points, bird bone beads, whetstones, notched pebble fishline sinkers, and rough stone choppers or hand axes. The technique of pressure flaking stone artifacts was completely lacking. This is surprising for apparently bolas and the idea of using the small hafted endscrapers or flensing tools were obtained from contacts with the inland peoples at a time which would correspond roughly to the fourth period of oc- cupation of Fell’s Cave. On the extreme north coast of Chile, Bird found additional evidence of early fishing cultures in strati- fied shell middens near Arica, Pisagua, and Taltal. 26 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY This showed that long prior to the introduction of agriculture people had been able to survive on this desert coast by depending on the sea for food. Two distinct periods of occupation were determined. The first, designated as the Shell Fishhook culture after the most distinctive artifact, contained composite fishhooks with stone weights and bone barbs, har- poons with detachable forepieces, bone barbs, stone points, small lava bowls, and a variety of scrapers (Fig. 3). The occupants of the second period used bone fish harpoons, thorn fishhooks instead of the earlier shell hooks, sinkers, bolas, chipped stone points, and spear-throwers. In spite of the sugges- tion of some writers these north Chilean coastal eul- tures are unrelated to those of Patagonia. The association of extinct fauna with the oldest artifacts in the region of Magellan Straits implies considerable antiquity for the human record there. Carbon, derived from charred horse and sloth bones found in Palli Aike Cave, has given a C14 date of 6689 B.C.+ 450 years. A similar measurement, using plant material from dried sloth manure se- cured without cultural association in another cave 125 miles away, indicated 8882 B.C. + 400 as the most probable date for that sample. A test of Fell’s Cave charcoal, USGS laboratory sample W915, yielded the date 8760 B.C. + 300 for the artifacts shown on page 20. This suggests that the figure ob- tained from Palli Aike bones is conservative. As yet no tests have been made of North Chilean material. There is little direct information about succeeding migrations, although small groups presumably con- tinued to enter South America over a long period of time. The earliest fossil finds correspond to the long-headed physical type. However, the higher Nike Se NY ee Oe ee \ Fig. 3. Artifacts of oldest known coastal culture from northern Chile. a, Harpoon forepiece, points, and barbs; b, Stone scraping tools; ¢. Stone knife; d, Choppers (?); e, Stone, bone, and shell composite fishhooks and barbs; f, Thorn and shell hooks; g, Stages in making shell hooks and the tools used; h, Stone bowl. 27 28 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY civilizations in both Middle and South America are represented by a short, round-headed physical type, implying more recent migrations. Likewise the wide spread of food plants and other elements com- mon to the higher civilization throughout large parts of the Americas, as well as the known penetration of Arawaks and Caribs into the West Indies from South America, all indicates that migrations in one direction or another were a continuing pattern. Puant DOMESTICATION The hunting-gathering culture pattern persisted in southern South America up to historic times, but the other two major South American patterns were dependent upon the domestication of plants and the development of agriculture. The plants domesti- cated in the New World, except for the gourd, and perhaps cotton, are seemingly indigenous species for the greater part not related to those utilized in Asia or other parts of the Old World. This then poses the problem of determining the New World center or centers in which various plants were do- mesticated, a problem which involves the technical knowledge of the botanists and the archaeologists. Formerly, it was believed that three of the more im- portant New World plants, maize, beans, and squash, were first domesticated in Mexico and spread as a unit from that center. Present evidence fails to con- firm this theory for squashes and beans were culti- vated in Peru centuries before maize. Obviously, as knowledge of plant cultivation spread, new plants were exploited when and where available. Plants like beans and squash, represented by several dis- tinct species, may have been independently devel- oped in several localities. This is far less likely for food plants classed as THE SETTING 29 single species, like maize or sweet potatoes, unless the ancestral forms were widely distributed. Eee Boies (A As» ‘NOMADIC , | o a : G CvE A PISAGUA% 1B , ANON a Re 5 \ \ EDENTARY anit y 7 i pre )/QUIMBAYAS \ AGRICULTURISTS. \ > | Fig. 4. South American eultural divisions. 33 34 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Charrua of Uruguay, and the numerous Gé-speaking peoples of east Brazil (Fig. 4). As the archaeologi- ‘al records demonstrate, the culture pattern of all of these groups reflects, in part, a survival from the first nomadic hunters in the region. However, in spite of a common history and a similar subsistence pattern, the component tribes present considerable cultural variation. An immediate contrast is ap- parent between the ‘‘Canoe’’ Indians who lived in the archipelago region and depended largely upon marine products and the ‘‘Foot’’ Indians of Tierra del Fuego and the mainland who hunted the land animals. The isolated Ona and the Yahgan are among the most primitive people of the New World, while the Gé-speaking tribes of east Brazil, in con- trast to their simple economy and technology, have an elaborate ceremonial and social organization. The emphasis on hunting, fishing, or gathering varied not only seasonally but in terms of the specific environment. The Canoe Indians fished, hunted seals, sea-otters, and other sea mammals, and gathered shellfish and certain wild plants. The hunters of the open plains pursued guanaco and ostrich and collected starchy roots and wild grass seed. Deer, tapirs, and monkeys were hunted in the forests of east Brazil, and a variety of roots and edible vines were gathered. Hunting was in- variably a male occupation, while the women were responsible for the collecting activities. The east Brazil tribes made underground ovens, but else- where meat was cooked on a wooden spit or directly in the ashes. The weapons reflect the nature of the hunting. The marine hunters used spears, harpoons, slings, snares, clubs, and nets. The land hunters preferred THE SETTING 35 bows and arrows, clubs, and bolas. This last weapon consists of two or more stone balls attached to the ends of thongs. It was thrown so as to entangle the legs of an ostrich or guanaco. Some of these weapons also served in the occasional disputes, al- though, by and large, conflicts of a magnitude which can be termed warfare were decidedly uncommon. However, in east Brazil closer contact with Ama- zonian neighbors sometimes led to more extensive combat in which sharp-bladed wooden clubs were the weapons. Since these hunters were constantly traveling, their shelters were necessarily temporary or easily transportable. The Ona used a simple skin wind- break consisting of several guanaco hides sewn to- gether and supported by upright sticks set to form an open semicirele (Fig. 5). When they moved, the skin covers of the shelter were rolled up and carried by the women. The Alacaluf, who were able to trans- port larger skin coverings for their dwellings in their canoes, made an elliptical, dome-shaped house frame of arched saplings which was abandoned when shifting camp. The Patagonians are reported to have built a large rectangular skin shelter parti- tioned into rooms, but it is doubtful that these were transportable before the introduction of the Spanish horse. ‘Today the east Brazil natives erect a gabled frame house, but their earlier shelters were of the simple domed type consisting of a frame of arched saplings covered with bark or grass. All the groups erected larger and somewhat more durable shelters for the rare ceremonial gatherings. Difficulty of transportation accounts for the simplicity of the dwellings. All land travel and transportation was by foot and the secant household equipment and the Fig. 5. Alacaluf dome-shaped hut and Ona windbreak. Models in the Museum. THE SETTING 37 house covering had to be carried on the back. With introduction of the horse, houses became more elabo- ‘ate. Canoes, used only in the archipelago, were constructed of three cigar-shaped pieces of beech bark sewn together and held taut by split saplings which served as thwarts and gunwales. Sod and - earth fireplaces were built in the bottom of the canoe. The women propelled the canoes with wooden pad- dles. Despite the rigors of the climate, the Southern Hunters wore very simple clothing. The Ona male costume consisted of a cape, moccasins, and rarely, leggings; all of which were made from guanaco skins. A headband was worn for decoration rather than warmth. The Canoe Indians made similar clothing of sealskin, but their capes were much shorter than those of the Ona, so that they could be worn in the canoes. Both groups greased their bodies for protection against the cold and sometimes added simple painted designs for ornamentation. In east Brazil, where the climate was more genial, no clothing was worn, but considerable attention was paid to body painting, to lip and earplugs, and in- numerable varieties of feather ornaments. The material equipment of all of these nomads was limited to utensils and implements easily trans- portable or easily manufactured; their handicrafts can in no sense be called elaborate. Fire was made with a hand drill, except by the Ona and the Yahgan, who were unique in South America in using flint and pyrites. They also used simple stick fire tongs for moving hot stones, hammerstones, and a stone on which animal bones were broken so that the grease would coagulate. The Canoe Indians made bark bailing buckets, dip nets for fishing, and five types 1... aT = 6 oF at 38 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY of baskets. Their principal tools were bone bark removers, bone awls, stone knives and scrapers, and weighted shell hand adzes. The Ona seldom made baskets, but used skin bags to carry water, for stor- age, and to transport necessary equipment. They also used hafted stone knives, fleshers, wood scrap- ers, awls, pressure flakers, and polishers. Virtually all of these tools were needed to make their bows and arrows. The latter were beautifully finished, tapering at each end, and were perhaps the finest arrows made by any group in America. The equip- ment of the Patagonians was equally simple, al- though they had, in addition, stone mortars for erinding seeds, and possibly made wooden bowls, cups, and spoons. Even in east Brazil, where the life was less nomadic, material equipment was meager. The neighboring Amazonian tribes made hammocks, mats, wooden stools, cloth, and pottery, but none of these penetrated into east Brazil. In- stead, the people of this area made simple mortars and vessels of wood and bamboo, bark bags and nets, and one type of waterproof basket. In Patagonia and extreme southern South Amer- ica, social organization was based on family units that were loosely organized into territorial bands. The Yahgan recognized five districts, not politically organized but differing slightly in dialect. Large assemblages of people for any purpose were rare because of the limited food supplies, and territorial chiefs, if recognized at all, were of secondary im- portance. The life crises of birth, marriage, and death were family affairs surrounded by extremely simple ritual. Only the puberty initiation involved a number of families. The Ona restricted this cere- mony to boys, combining it with initiation into the THE SETTING 39 men’s secret society. The most elaborate Yahgan ceremonies were puberty rites for both boys and girls and those connected with the men’s secret so- ciety which they borrowed from the Ona. A distine- tive lodge was constructed for these occasions. The novices were isolated, given special instruction, and _ subjected to specific ordeals to test their fitness for the transition from childhood to adulthood. The older men dressed in skin and bark costumes deco- rated to represent chosen spirits that were sup- posed to terrify the women. Recent studies in east Brazil report a more elabo- rate type of social organization, although its an- tiquity is still unknown. Modern villages, of circu- lar or U-shaped plan, have as many as three hun- dred inhabitants, but inter-village organization is weak or non-existent. Within the village the mem- bers are assigned to different halves, or moieties, for the purposes of regulating marriage, performing ceremonies, and competing in games. The divisions differ for each purpose. For example, the Canella Indians have one division for regulating marriage. A child belongs to his mother’s group and must marry someone from the opposite moiety. Another dual division for ceremonies functions during the rainy season. All boys go through a prolonged initiation ceremony which takes about ten years for completion. Each group of initiates belongs throughout life to his age class and the various classes are assigned to one of two groups for com- petition in games. There are also six men’s socie- ties, semi-secret in nature, again arranged in two sets of three each. All of these divisions and socie- ties perform seasonal ceremonies, own property, and compete in various ways. The village recognizes — 40 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY one or more chiefs, but the chieftaincy is a position of prestige rather than real power. The ceremonies of east Brazil are intimately as- sociated with religious rituals and concepts. Else- where the religious beliefs and practices of the Southern Hunters were simpler. Most tribes ree- ognized a supreme god and numerous lesser deities such as the spirits of the forest and ancestral ghosts. Medicinemen and sorcerers, men who had received special inspiration as well as formal training, were important. They cured the sick, cast evil spells, and predicted weather changes, employing special paraphernalia and such devices as going into a trance, singing, fasting, and posturing to achieve their goals. Contact with European civilization caused pro- found changes in these hunting groups, eliminating some, strengthening others. The horse was intro- duced some time before 1700 to the Indians of Pata- gvonia, increasing their mobility and effectiveness in hunting and permitting larger numbers to assemble. Warlike tendencies emerged and leadership became important. Foreign equipment, including such trap- pings as saddles, bits, spurs, and stirrups, was also introduced; new techniques of working metal were learned; and many other new items hitherto un- known. After the introduction of horse transporta- tion, the simple skin houses were enlarged so that as many as forty or fifty guanaco hides formed the cover. The size of camps increased to include two or three thousand inhabitants. Ceremonies, par- ticularly those surrounding birth, puberty, mar- riage, and death, became far more elaborate. The tribes now engaged in stealing cattle and raiding border settlements. The history of Indian wars in THE SETTING 4| Argentina is similar to the history of warfare on the plains of the United States, and the Indian threat was not eliminated finally until 1880. TrRopPIcAL AGRICULTURISTS The culture pattern of the Tropical Agriculturists is characterized by semi-nomadism, the slash and burn method of clearing fields, the psychological im- portance of hunting, fishing, and warfare, a weak political structure based on band organization, and a number of distinctive crafts. By 1500 this basic pattern was widely distributed over most of the tropical forest, which includes the tropics of Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia; the llanos of Venezuela; most of the Guiana Highlands; part of the east Brazil highlands; the West Indies; and the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia. A few tribes in the tropics do not conform to this pattern which suggests, although by no means proves, that it may not have been the earliest in the area. Some of these simple ‘‘underlying’’ tribes are the Maku on the Japura River, the Warrau on the delta of the Orinoco, the Sirionéd of eastern Bolivia, and the Shiriana on the Venezuelan-Brazil- ian border. The complex network of tropical rivers permitted a great mobility for canoe travelers and conse- quently a wide cultural diffusion, but, in spite of this, too much cultural uniformity would not be ex- pected in so vast an area. Some of the differences are due to diversity of cultural origins; others are based on linguistic, geographic, and cultural factors. For example, there are three widespread linguistic stoecks—Carib, north of the Amazon; Tupi-Guarani, south of the Amazon; and Arawak, peripheral; but 42 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY along the eastern margin of the Andes are a large number of small linguistic stocks which suggest that before the spread of the major ones the linguistic picture was complicated indeed. The basic culture pattern of the Tropical Agricul- turists, irrespective of subdivisions, contrasts with that of the Southern Hunters and the Andean Farm- ers. Consequently, a generalized picture is pre- sented here, allowing for regional variation where necessary. Because of their great number, the se- lection of specific tribes for illustration is difficult. However, the following have been chosen for special emphasis: the Wapisiana, Macusi, and the Barama River Caribs of the Guianas; the Goajiro of Vene- zuela; the Tupinamba, Tapirapé, and other Guarani eroups of Brazil; and the Bora, Witoto, Campa, Yagua, Jivaro, and Chama of the upper Amazon. From an objective point of view, agriculture was the principal economic basis for life in the tropical forest, but the Indians placed greater emphasis on hunting. Except for the heavy labor of clearing the fields, agricultural work was left to the women. Re- ligious and magical practices surrounded hunting rather than planting. As a consequence, agricul- tural techniques were not too advanced and because of the wasteful methods, fields were utilized for a few seasons only. The villages were moved at regu- lar intervals, although this practice was motivated by the diminishing of the game supply rather than by the exhaustion of the fields. The fields were cleared by the slash and burn technique. The larger trees were cut down and the underbrush burned. Then the seeds were planted, using a simple digging- stick which also served as hoe, shovel, and rake. Manioe was the principal crop, but corn, sweet po- THE SETTING 43 tatoes, yams, peppers, peanuts, beans, and cotton were important. Little effort was expended on cultivation, so that harvesting was the next major activity. The bitter or poison manioce, or cassava, common throughout Brazil, contains hydrocyanic acid which has the advantage of supplying the plant with its own insecticide, but must be removed. The process and equipment for preparing bitter manioe are simi- lar wherever itis grown. The tubers are soaked in water, peeled with shell scrapers, and grated on a special curved board with projecting points of wood or stone. The grated pulp is then placed in a long narrow cylindrical basket with a loop handle at each end. One loop is hooked over a branch of a tree, the pulp squeezed by means of a log lever in the lower loop, and the poisonous juice drained into a jar. Later, it is boiled until the poison has evapo- rated and the residue, now in the form of tapioca, is served as a sauce. The dried pulp is taken from the squeezer, mixed with water to form a batter, and cooked on a large cylindrical clay platter into cas- sava pancakes. Corn and some other foods are placed in large log mortars and ground with ex- tremely long wooden pestles. In eastern Bolivia, food was ground with a wooden rocker in a hollowed- out trough mortar of wood. Hunting, as previously stated, was perhaps of greater psychological than economic importance, but it consumed a major part of the men’s time and attention and brought considerable prestige. The principal animals, none too abundant, were deer, tapirs, peccaries, monkeys, birds, and several local rodents. The hunting weapons were a long bow, arrows with specialized points for different game, 44 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY wooden paddle clubs with sharpened edges, spears, and blowguns. The Guiana blowgun was made of a section of bamboo tubing covered with pitch and bound tightly. The upper Amazon blowgun con- sisted of two pieces of chonta palm, grooved on the inside for the bore, and bound together with bast (Fig. 6). The mouthpiece was of carved bone. Courtesy of Dr. Paul Fejos. The blowguns were about eight feet long. The standard equipment for the blowgun included a bamboo quiver for the supply of split palm darts; a gvourd full of tree cotton to be used as a wadding on one end of the dart; the jaw of a piranha fish, the teeth of which are sharp enough to cut a groove near THE SETTING 45 the point of the dart; and a clay jar of curare poison. Only specialists trained in the proper magical ritual were permitted to prepare the curare poison which Was an important article of trade. The strychnine element in curare produces a paralyzing effect on the game but does not permanently poison the meat. ‘Traps were also used in hunting and included spring bows, spring nooses, deadfalls, pitfalls, and nets. Dogs, the only domesticated animals, were specially trained for hunting. The rivers of the tropics abound in fish; these were shot with bow and arrows, harpooned, or speared. Weirs were constructed and many kinds of basketry traps were known and some groups used dip nets. The most widely used technique was to dam a stream and poison the fish. Many varieties of effective poisonous plants were known. Wild plants supplemented the food supply. Over twenty- two plants and edible fruits, of which palm cabbages and nuts were most important, were collected by the women who also gathered honey, birds’ eggs, and shellfish where available. Fish and meat were grilled over the fire, but the basic dish was the pepper pot, a stew of the available meat and vegetables. Some foods were dried or smoked, but in general little attention was paid to preserving for storage, due in part to the scarcity of salt, itself an important article of trade. The fire- drill and basketry fire fan were part of the standard equipment. Most forest tribes prepared mildly in- toxicating drinks from fermented cassava bread or from the local fruits and also used several narcotics. Tobacco, the most important of these, was rolled into cigars, chewed with lime, taken as snuff, or, in liquid form, snuffed up the nose through tubes. Most of 46 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY the tobacco was used in connection with ceremonies, particularly those of initiation. Although the tribes changed locale from time to time, a village might be occupied for two or three years and the houses were correspondingly durable. All houses were constructed of log frames covered with thatch, and, in spite of considerable variation in detail, conformed generally to two types. One, the round house, had an outer circle of upright wall posts connected to a tall center pole by crossbeams. The conical roof thus formed was thatched with grass or palm leaves. This type of house was com- mon south of the Amazon and in the Guianas. The second type, the maloca, had a rectangular ground- plan outlined with short wall posts, a central ridge- pole, and a gabled roof. The ends might be bowed outward to form an oval groundplan. The roof ex- tended almost to the ground and was closely thatched as a protection against rain and wind. House walls might be left open or filled in with bamboo splints, bark, or poles covered with wattle. In some regions the houses were sealed tight to guard against mos- quitoes. The floor was of packed clay. Hach house had an entrance at either end, one for the women, one for the men and their guests. Some houses were large, others small, the size depending in part on the type of village. Three main village plans were fol- lowed: the barnyard type, consisting of a number of small houses without special alignment; the Guarani type, with regular streets flanked by large houses; and the upper Amazon type in which the village con- sisted of one large house. Some of the last-men- tioned houses had a groundplan one hundred fifteen by seventy-five feet and a height of thirty feet. The hammock, a common article of household THE SETTING 47 equipment, was made of palm fiber or cotton, either woven on a true loom, or netted. Some tribes of the upper Amazon built platform beds of split palm poles set on a frame raised from the floor. Wooden stools, with either two or four legs, which might be carved in animal form were used everywhere. Other household equipment was part of the craft tradition. Many types of palm leaf baskets were woven, including openwork carrying baskets, tele- scope storage baskets, work baskets of various shapes, and square baskets with fitted covers. Palm leaves and reeds were also used in plaiting manioc squeezers and sieves, fire fans, fish traps, and crowns for feather headdresses. Fish nets, net bags, and hair nets were made of bast fibers, twisted on the thigh. Pottery, used everywhere, was either painted in geometric designs or decorated with modeled lugs. The main forms were plates, bowls, cooking pots, big platters, storage jars, and large burial urns. Weavy- ing had a wide distribution although it was not al- ways of major importance. Both cotton and palm fibers were spun on a supported spindle or rolled on the thigh. A frame loom was used to weave ham- mocks, bolts of cloth for clothing, headbands, bags, and similar articles. The techniques were compe- tent, but not unusually complex. In eastern Bolivia and elsewhere, bark cloth was made from the inner bark of certain trees, soaked and pounded with wooden clubs or flat stones. The bark cloth was painted and used for dance masks and ceremonial costumes. Many artifacts, mortars, pestles, stools, drums, clubs, bows, platters, and bowls were made from wood; bark vessels were common; and bones and teeth were used to make a number of imple- 48 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ments. Stone tools were rare, metals infrequent, and dressed skin work unusual. The manufacture of many of these articles was usually a village specialty. In a limited area the people in one village made pottery, in another they prepared calabashes, another basketry, another blowguns, another poisons, etc. The finished prod- ucts were then traded by private informal barter or gift exchange; but this practice did not result in regular markets, middlemen, mediums of exchange, or formal trade. Still, this exchange system pro- vided each village with a reasonably wide selection of craft products. The quality and versatility of craftsmanship was relatively high, but it led neither to the formation of craft guilds nor to any particu- lar emphasis on the individual artist. Likewise, wealth and property concepts remained undeveloped. Boat building was also a village or tribal specialty. Of course, all groups made simple rafts by lashing logs together, and some authorities consider these the oldest form of water transportation in the area. The log dugouts, the most widespread type of water- craft, required exceptional skill in manufacture, es- pecially those used for ocean travel which were up to sixty feet long and capable of carrying from thirty to sixty men. Large trees were felled by fire and ax, chopped and trimmed to the desired size, and the interior burned out with controlled fire. Both the outer and inner sides were then scraped to the proper thickness and thwarts inserted. The pad- dles were of wood with a crutch handle and a long thin blade. Bark canoes were also widely used. A large piece of bark was cut from a tree in the shape required. The ends were turned up and the ribs and thwarts inserted. Some bark canoes were forty THE SETTING 49 feet long and could hold thirty persons. In con- trast, land transportation was of minor importance. Paths were cut through the forest and log or twisted Fig. 7. Ceremonial barkecloth costume from western Brazil. cable bridges were built for crossing small streams. In most parts of the tropics, clothing was re- stricted to the simplest genital covering. An excep- tion to this rule was found in the upper Amazon 50 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY where, due to Andean influence, loin cloths, belts, and slit neck shirts were worn. Everywhere, how- ever, ceremonial costumes were more elaborate than the ordinary dress (Fig. 7). The use of ornaments and body decoration compensated in part for the paucity of clothing. Ligatures were bound tightly around the upper arms and the ankles, giving a dis- torted appearance to the limbs. This practice was followed for magical increase of strength rather than for beauty. Heads were deformed by means of tightly wrapped boards in the upper Amazon area. Most groups tattooed their faces and arms, and some filed or blackened their teeth. Lip plugs, earplugs, and noseplugs were made from stone, shell, and wood. Grease paint was used on the body, not only for decoration on ceremonial occasions but also for protection from insects. Each tribe had a distinctive style of hairdress; all used combs made of palm splints bound between two wooden bars. There were many types of feather ornaments. Feathers were attached to basketry hats and sewn on woven bands for back hangings, arm pendants, and aprons. Capes had a net base to which feathers were attached. The Tupi glued feathers on their bodies with honey. Beadwork aprons were com- mon, and necklaces were made of jaguar teeth and claws, stones, shells, seeds, beetle wings, human teeth, and bird bones. Quite apart from their aes- thetic value, these ornaments indicated distinctions of sex, age, and position; designated tribal affilia- tions; and furnished magical protection for the wearers. Subsistence activities and material culture were more or less uniform throughout. There were, to be sure, some differences in details and emphases, THE SETTING 51 but no startling contrasts. The social, religious, and political organization, on the other hand, was far more variable. The village was the basic social unit, and its members were usually loosely united by kinship ties. The villages varied greatly in popu- lation, but the maximum figure was probably around the six hundred reported for the Tupi. It is difficult to establish the minimum because of the common practice of a larger village absorbing one that be- came too small to function. Most villages were com- posed of several enlarged families, with relation- ship traced through either the mother or the father. These enlarged families occupied a single house within which each of the component families had its own fireplace and sleeping quarters. However, many activities, such as house building and group hunting, required the cooperation of all the village members. Each village had a chief who sometimes acquired considerable power through his ability as a war leader. However, permanent political organization rarely extended beyond the village itself. Even though many members of two villages might be re- lated, kinship did not outlaw internecine fighting. Common language helped to unite a number of vil- lages, but the unity was informal. Several Jivaro villages might unite for a time under a single chief, but they had no name for this larger political group. Everywhere a powerful village might dominate a weaker one, but such fitful unity lasted only until strength was regained by the subject people. Perhaps as a reflection of the intimacy of the vil- lage life and the numerous social and kinship rela- tionships, events in the individual life cycle were treated as public affairs. Birth was an occasion for 52 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY public celebration. The whole village saw to it that the parents observed the proper taboos, particularly the widespread custom of the couvade, in which the father, not the mother, goes into confinement and re- ceives the visits of his neighbors. Soon after birth the child was named, an important event supervised by the magician or medicineman. At puberty, girls were isolated for several days, forced to observe spe- cial food taboos, and instructed by the older women. A change in style of hairdress or facial tattooing signified that they had completed the ceremony. Boys were subjected to certain tests before being admitted to full adult tribal status. In one of the more drastic of these ordeals reported for the Gui- anas, a wickerwork frame which contained many wasps was placed on a boy’s bare back. When simultaneously stung by these insects, he was ex- pected to show no sign of pain. Marriage was not celebrated with great ceremony since it was usually prearranged by the parents, according to standard rules of the village. Death, on the other hand, was an occasion of grave concern for all the commu- nity since the ghosts might return, a circumstance avoided by abandoning the house, performing wild dances, mutilating the corpse, building fires on the erave, and participating in complex purification rites. Warfare, one of the curses of Amazonia, played an important role in the activities of many groups. Motives for aggression were numerous, including plunder, revenge, and individual prestige for the warrior. Some groups sought trophy heads, others wanted prisoners for their cannibalistic practices. Even the non-aggressive tribes were forced to take measures in their own defense. The weapons for THE SETTING 53 warfare and hunting were interchangeable, except for the blowgun, which apparently was ineffective in fighting. Protection was a major consideration. Consequently, many villages were situated well back from the rivers, were approached by hidden paths, and might be further protected with palisades, re- _inforced outer walls, sentry boxes, and watch towers. Pitfalls with poisoned stakes and spring traps were placed along the open approaches. In northern Amazonia, log signal drums were used to summon aid and warn friendly neighbors. The war spirit was drilled into the boys from early childhood, not only through specific instruction in fighting, but also through tales of the honor and prestige to be gained by becoming a full-fledged warrior. As mentioned before, some warfare was inspired by the desire for trophy heads which not only brought great prestige to the taker, but also trans- ferred the ghost power of the victim. Carefully pre- served and decorated trophy skulls were commonly collected, but the Jivaro Indian tsantsas, the shrunken heads, are probably the best known trophies (Fig. 8). The Jivaro warrior tried to obtain his enemy’s head so that it could later be skinned and shrunk for a trophy. Only heads taken in formal warfare with established enemies were recognized. The residents of neighboring villages who frequently were actually relatives were often the traditional enemies. It was a violation of cus- tom to allow the head of a blood relative to be shrunk, but the killer was permitted to substitute a sloth or monkey head. The heads were prepared before the war party returned to its home village. The process took about twenty hours. A slit from the top of the head to the base of the neck facilitated 54 n human trophy heads from the Jivaro Indians. Shrunke 8. Fic. wt THE SETTING oe the removal of the skin from the skull. The slit, the eyes, and the mouth were sewn so that the skin formed a bag which was then simmered but not boiled in a vine juice solution that contained some tannin. Next, round stones were heated and rolled inside the skin bag, and hot sand was poured in at intervals. The outside was ironed with hot stones. This repeated scorching process reduced the skin to about the size of a doubled fist. A ring was then sewn around the neck and a suspension cord inserted through the top. Finally the trophy was smoked over a smudge for final curing. When the warriors returned to their village, they were received in a tri- umphal entry which was succeeded by elaborate cere- monies, intended to purify the killer and to transfer the power of his trophy head to him. Later, the slayer himself gave a victory feast at which the puri- fication rites were repeated and the transfer of enemy power completed. Not all tropical forest tribes were cannibals. How- ever, some, like the Witoto and Bora of the upper Amazon and the Tupinamba of the Brazilian coast, were ardent practitioners. Tupinamba cannibalism has been recorded in some detail. In every battle the warriors attempted to take prisoners alive in order to bring them back as slaves until the time arrived for their sacrifice. The prisoners were forced to do menial tasks and were frequently in- sulted verbally, but otherwise they were well treated and even permitted to intermarry with their captors. Dressed like other Tupinamba, they were distin- euished only by a cotton rope around the neck or by a string of beads representing the number of months preceding the day of sacrifice. Prisoners never attempted to escape, even though they were 56 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY not closely guarded, since it would be a great dis- erace for them to return to their own villages. A ceremony of several days’ duration preceded the execution. The prisoner was painted black, deco- rated with feathers, and was even forced to escape and be recaptured, thus giving prestige to still an- other warrior. Finally, the victim was led around the village, secured by a rope around his waist, but otherwise free to repel attacks, until, still fighting, he was killed by a selected executioner. The orgy of eating his barbequed flesh was enjoyed by men, women, and children alike. The skull was cleaned and placed on a pike set on the village stockade. The executioner went through a long period of purification. The Tropical Agriculturists had numerous cere- monies, but these were not calendrical, reflecting their lack of interest in the agricultural seasons. Instead, ceremonies were coincidental with such ir- regular occasions as baptism, house-warming, death, or the return of a war party. All such celebrations presented a mixture of social and religious elements, but in general they were gay affairs, involving beer drinking, singing, animated dancing, and distinctive costumes and ornaments. The music was furnished by split log or skin-headed drums, flutes, panpipes, trumpets, and rattles. As suggested by the social nature of the cere- monies, the religious practices were not very for- malized. The Indians were strongly animistic, with a belief in many nature demons, ghosts, and good and evil spirits, but none of these was arranged into a complex hierarchy. Cults were rare although some groups had secret religious societies, but none of these was led by formal priests. The medicine- SNe eee a ame ee Ee THE SETTING 57 man, however, was prominent both as a curer of sickness and a sorcerer. He was carefully schooled by older members of the profession and taught a knowledge of herbs, ventriloquism, and the methods of attaining a state of trance. This last ability in- volved taking strong narcotics, such as tobacco juice, which induced visions and, according to belief, al- lowed the spirits to speak through the medium. Centuries of Huropean contact have changed these tropical forest Indians. Some have been eliminated, others have been driven from their original terri- tory, but none has escaped modification of culture principally through the acquisition of Huropean trade goods. A few have maintained their inde- pendent culture patterns by the simple device of re- tiring still deeper into the vast Amazonian jungle. LowLaNp ARCHAEOLOGY It is difficult to do more than speculate on the antiquity of tropical agriculture. The region in- volved is so vast, the number of tested sites and areas so small, that we do not have adequate data. Nor do we know, as assumed, that pottery marks the initial spread of the Tropical Agriculturists. In this region, as in the Andean, agriculture may have had an early stage among people not yet familiar with pottery. The most pertinent data on age comes from a study of Venezuelan chronology and radiocarbon dates. This implies that agriculture, as marked by the presence of pottery, was estab- lished on the lower Orinoco at the beginning of the first millenium B.C. Prior to this there were two unrelated preceramic phases, the oldest, an Early Hunter stage known 58 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY from chipped stone artifacts, is designated El Jobo complex. No extinct faunal remains have been found im association. Other sites without pottery, shell deposits presumably left by canoe-using fisher- men, occur on the coast and islands. These are under three meters in thickness, on what may be a subsiding shoreline. Carbon from the bottom of one site indicates an age of over 4000 years. Cul- turally there are similarities with comparable Carib- bean deposits but none with the sometimes huge preceramie middens of the Atlantic coast of Brazil. The subsequent record in Venezuela has been de- vided by Cruxent and Rouse into four periods within which three basic ceramic traditions form or give rise to six classes or series of ceramics. These are not all sequential as they overlap to some extent in time and distribution. The oldest, the Saladoid, from the lower Orinoco, has flat-based, flaring bowls with vertical strap handles and white on red paint- ing; a ware which ultimately spread via Lake Valencia to the north coast, Trinidad, the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico. Later, starting in the same area, the Barancoid wares have annular bases, incised flange rims, and modeled and incised lug ornaments. These spread, via Lake Valencia, to the north coast, Trinidad, perhaps the Guianas, and in- fluenced Antillean potters. The third ware, To- ecuyanoid, which may have spread eastward from Colombia, brought three and four-legged bowls, broad line incision, and red and black curved designs on white ground. Existing archaeological collections from the Ama- zon come mainly from three widely separated lo- ealities. The ceramics forming the bulk of the material are distinctive, yet the three complexes ® ~ ome wa Sn ROU eect seas cen eas snk eee Maraj6 pottery showing painted, excised, and incised decoration. 59 ie o 60 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY share the trait of anthropomorphic burial urns decorated with relief, modeling, polychrome paint- ing, and broad line incision. We may assume that a broadly similar cultural pattern prevailed but the Fic. 10. Rio Napo urns and platter. relationships are still undefined. Systematie field- work on the island of Maraj6, at the mouth of the Amazon, shows that the Marajoara culture is in- trusive in this area. More than one hundred ceme- tery and habitation mounds have been reported, the former containing abundant, elaborately decorated THE SETTING 61 pottery. The basic decorative techniques are in- cision, excision of background adjacent to the de- sign, painting, and modeling. These were used with red and white slips covering the vessel surface or applied to incised or excised areas, producing a com- plex, varied, and impressive ceramie art (Fig. 9). These elaborate styles disappeared before the be- ginning of the historic period and only the more simple forms survived. The second site area, Mirakanguéra, is on the middle Amazon at the mouth of the Madeira River. Here bowls and effigy urns have been found. The head of the effigy figure is on the cover of the urn; the limbs are represented in low relief; and the urns are further decorated by incised and painted recti- linear designs. The final site, on the Rio Napo in eastern Ecuador, again has bowls and anthropo- morphie urns. The urns have relief features, but the limbs are modeled as separate appendages and are banded in a fashion suggesting ligatures (Fig. 10). The decoration combines broad incisions with black, red, and white polychrome painting to form patterns of alternating broad and narrow lines. In brief, these three Amazonian sites all have effigy urns with covers decorated in somewhat similar pat- terns in relief, modeling, polychrome painting, and broad line incision. At Santarem, at the junction of the Tapajoz and the Amazon, the style of ceramics is quite different. There are many variations on the basic shapes of open bowls, open mouth jars, and constricted neck vessels. Many ceramics are painted; another type is so elaborated with modeled lugs and _ other appended elements that it can be called the most bizarre pottery of South America (Fig. 11). A few, possibly older pieces, more simply modeled Fig. 11. Santarem vessels and figure urn from Maraca. Courtesy Belem Museum (Santarem) and Museo Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. THE SETTING 63 are geometrically painted, either black on red, red on buff or black and red on white. Most of the material seems to be more recent than the effigy urn group described above. Anthropomorphic urns continued to be made well into the historic period, as illustrated by those found with glass bead brace- lets at the site of Maraca in the Brazilian Guianas. At Mojos, in the eastern Bolivian tropies, stratified habitation mounds have been excavated. The ear- lier levels contain polychrome painted ceramics, but no urns; tripod urns painted in a manner suggestive of the Amazon effigy urn group are found in the later levels. These ceramic features suggest that the older cultures were more highly developed in that regard than are the Modern Agriculturists. At the mouth of the Amazon the elaborately decorated Marajoara material (Fig. 9) is intrusive. It appears suddenly, fully developed and ends abruptly. Beneath it are types of simple ceramics and traits which imply that the culture of the Modern Agriculturists de- rives from this older stock and not from the Ma- rajoara or the Tapajo. The latter has not been fully investigated. This raises the questions of the origin and fate of the intrusive elements. The area is so vast, the problems of recovery so difficult that the answers may not all be found for some time. The marked stylistic connection between the Marajoara and Rio Napo material led to field-work in the latter region. This showed a strong, direct connection even though the areas are eighteen hundred miles apart. Cer- tain Marajoara elements are lacking and are as- sumed to have developed at some intermediate point within the Amazon basin. 64 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Sites near Pucallpa on the Ucayali yield evidence of occupation of some depth. In a succession of changes in the ceramic sequence the strongest con- nections are with early material found at Valdivia in the Province of Guayas, Ecuador, and to a much lesser degree with Marajoara. These similarities occur in the second Ueayali horizon. ANDEAN F'ARMERS The third major South American culture pattern was based on intensive sedentary agriculture. The pattern was distributed throughout most parts of the Andes, or, in terms of modern political divisions, the highlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bo- livia; the coast of Eeuador and Peru; northwest Argentina; and north and central Chile. All of this area, except Colombia, formed part of the Inca Empire when it was conquered by the Spaniards in 1532, which accounts for some of the cultural uni- formity. However, the Inca held this region only a short time and there is considerable evidence that the basic Andean pattern had prevailed long before. In many countries, the names of outstanding pre- Inea tribes were recorded. The Chibcha, the most advanced tribe in Colombia, were limited in distri- bution to the Departments of Cundinamarea and Boyaeca, roughly around modern Bogota. Else- where the Colombian highlands were occupied by many small tribes, of which the best known were the Tairona of the Santa Marta Mountains and the Quimbaya, Lile, and Coconuco of the Cauca Valley. Hach major basin of the Ecuadorian highlands was dominated by a single tribe, named, from north to south, Pasto, Cara, Panzaleo, Puruha, Cafiari, and THE SETTING 65 Palta. The Esmeralda, Manta, and Puna oceupied the coastal plains. The pre-Inca cultures in Peru and Bolivia will be discussed in detail, in terms of their archaeological remains, in the second section of this volume. North Chile was held by the Ata- ‘ameno, while Northwest Argentina was divided between the Humahuaca and the Diaguita. The Araucanians once occupied the whole Central Val- ley of Chile, but were forced southward by the Inca invaders. The Araucanians deviated considerably from the Andean Farmers pattern and were in many ways equally close to the Southern Hunters. The Andean Farmers based their subsistence on intensive agriculture; hunting, fishing, and gather- ing were definitely secondary activities. Agricul- ture was both a male and female occupation. The major religious ceremonies and rituals concerned the agricultural cycle. The principal domesticated plants were distributed to their full climatic limits within the area wherever they could possibly be grown. Most important were: maize, beans, squash, potatoes, quinoa, sweet potatoes, manioc, peanuts, cotton, peppers, tobacco, and coca. The agricultural implements were simple: a digging-stick, with or without a metal point, a hoe, and a club with a stone head for breaking up clods. In spite of these simple tools, technical knowledge of planting and cultivat- ing was well advanced. Fields were systematically irrigated; most groups not only used fertilizers, but understood the virtues of crop rotation and allowing land to he fallow. Terraces were built to utilize hill- sides and to prevent erosion. This agricultural knowledge was shared by the total population and was not the property of a few specialists. Everywhere food preservation and storage were 66 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY important. Drying and freezing were the princi- pal methods of preservation, and special granaries were built for storage. Foods were prepared by boiling, toasting, roasting, and baking in under- ground ovens. Corn was fermented for a mild beer ealled chicha. In areas where the narcotic coca was chewed with lime, tobacco was of secondary impor- tance and was used more like a medicine. Else- where it was smoked in pipes or taken through nose tubes as snuff. In the Central Andes, Northwest Argentina, and northern Chile, herding was second only to agriculture in importance. The domesti- eated llama and alpaca added greatly to the total economy of these people. The crafts were advanced. The potters made utilitarian cooking jars, bowls, plates, and water jars for daily use, as well as elaborately decorated vessels for ceremonials and burial. Both men and women shared the work of weaving their garments on simple looms. Both cotton and wool were employed. ma one eo} 3 t ome | a) Y °o mw SH a mo ° ica we n=) lm) oO re VY vo. Fig. 1 78 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY resist negative painting. These features also serve to link them with the middle periods of Keuador. Between the Upper Cauca and Magdalena rivers lie sites of the Tierradentro culture which is also classed with the Middle periods, although it may be slightly earlier than the Quimbaya and Narino. Tierradentro culture is distinguished by elaborate painted subterranean tombs excavated directly into the soft rock of the area. re : VIRU ° = SANTA 9 NEPENAX™ “~ CASMA HUARMEY le = PATIVILCA ‘ ° SUPE X¥ LAKE JUNIN : Vv \ @ HUAURA! CE ek bh a Ae \, e CHANCAY ‘ : ncwCIMAL” H | GH LAND S RIA 412% UoRty "| MALA = R | | ~ veers AYACUCHO Bs CHINCHA ® CUZCO “ } PISCO < | ° . = NAZCA 50 - é U H*. x 1CA { PUCARA 2 = LOMAS 4 / RiO LOA ; < = [ee ~ © ANTOFAGASTA ! e | [To oer) ae < / w No) | a \ & ] * Fig. 18. Principal valleys and major cultural divisions of the Centra! Andes. 94 ! } { \ | rf Part 2 THE CENTRAL ANDES DtvIstIons The term Central Andes is here used to include the mountains and desert coast of Peru and the mountains of Bolivia. In the first part of this ac- count it was demonstrated that this area can be iso- lated as a cultural and geographical unit. The Cen- tral Andean culture pattern contrasts markedly with that of the Southern Hunters and the Tropical Agri- culturists. While it is not so sharply distinguish- able from the Northern and Southern Andes, the differences are sufficiently marked to justify sepa- rate treatment. The Central Andes also presents an environmental unity when compared with other areas of South America. At first glance, the con- trast between the desert Pacific Coast and the for- midable highlands seems marked, but when con- sidered in cultural terms the differences diminish in significance. For maximum development, a subsist- ence economy based on intensive agriculture with simple digging-stick cultivation requires rich soils, a genial climate, an adequate water supply, and an absence of vegetal coverage such as forest or deep- rooted grass which are difficult to eradicate. In this sense the Peruvian coastal valleys and moun- tain basins have much in common. Except for cer- tain altitude limitations, there were no major physi- cal barriers to the spread of the basic cultural pat- tern throughout all the large basins and valleys of the Central Andes. Its extension was sharply cur- tailed, however, by the eastern tropics where the 95 18) ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY dense forest coverage presented a serious obstacle to highland agricultural techniques. Cultural ex- pansion into the Northern Andes was blocked by a shift in the rainfall pattern which made it difficult to graze the llamas and alpacas, the basic animals in the Central Andean economy. The Southern Andes are separated from the Central by a desert strip; but the principal barrier to great cultural interchange seems to have been gross distance rather than en- vironment. The Central Andes, despite certain over-all cul- tural unity, includes numerous regional subdivisions that are not only isolated geographically, but also have local cultural traditions. Considering the size of the area, its inhabited parts are decidedly limited. An examination of these requires more geographical detail. An airplane view of the Peruvian coast re- veals a long strip of desert cut across at irregular intervals by mountain streams which drain into the Pacific. Some twenty-five principal rivers are sepa- rated not only by barren areas but by sharp moun- tain spurs. In the past communication between these valleys was always so difficult that major in- tervals between them usually mark significant cul- tural divisions. The close relation between cultural development and river valleys, while obvious, can- not be overstressed. Although small fishing groups can have existed along the coast, no major advance- ment of culture was possible until the valley flats were utilized. With the domestication of plants and controlled irrigation, the fertile flats became impor- tant agricultural centers capable of supporting large populations. Their size depended, in large part, on the size of the valley itself. It is interesting to ob- serve that the most extensive valleys and those with THE CENTRAL ANDES Q7 the most permanent streams are on the North Coast. More intensive desert conditions prevail in the South Coast valleys, and the flats are restricted in area by a low mountain range that skirts the Pacific shore line. It is not surprising, then, that as technology advanced, the northern valleys became the more im- portant centers of cultural development. In the mountains, surrounded by high snow-cov- ered peaks, are puna grasslands, some plateaus and intermont basins, and numerous rivers, most of which cut their way into the Amazon. Although many small pockets along the rivers can support some population, only six areas are of sufficient size for any elaboration of pre-Columbian development. From north to south these are: the large basins around Cajamarca; the Callejon de Huaylas along the upper Santa River; the basins along the Rio Mantaro; the various valleys and flats around Cuzco; the basin of Puno in southern Peru; and the Bolivian plateau south of Lake Titicaca. All these areas have extensive regions of well-watered fertile soils and are surrounded by high punas ideal for erazing. Hach of these six areas was a major cul- tural center in the past, isolated from its neighbors both by distance and by mountains, but not to the extent of blocking some intercommunication. Each major highland basin and each coastal valley might be treated as a distinct cultural unit, but there is insufficient archaeological evidence to support such consideration even if it were practical. In spite of the numerous archaeological investigations in the Central Andes, perhaps more than in any other part of South America, much still remains to be accomplished and many sections are still un- known. Only a few of the many investigators have 98 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY been trained archaeologists and only a small per- centage of the numerous publications are scientific reports on excavations. Other accounts, some of ereat merit, have been written by travelers, by art- ists, or by folklorists interested in interpreting sym- bolism in design. Even the professional excavators have rarely done more than sample the numerous sites. For practical purposes of presentation, then, the valleys and basins are arranged in six groups, three on the coast and three in the highlands. Each of these groups corresponds to a major geographical division, each has been subjected to a reasonable amount of scientific investigation, and each, as will be explained below, seems to have some historical validity. The groups, with simple geographic desig- nations, are: 1. North Coast. Geographically, the North Coast includes all the valleys from Piura to Casma. Four subdivisions are suggested by the archaeological finds, namely, Piura in the north; Lambayeque; Chicama, Moche, and Viru; and Santa, Chimbote, Nepena, and Casma. Adequate archaeological data, however, are available only for the third subdivision, Chicama, Moche, and Viru; consequently all refer- ences to the North Coast will be so limited unless otherwise stated. 2. Central Coast. The Central Coast extends from Huarmey to Lurin. All of these valleys seem to present a fairly compact unit with the exception of Huarmey which is well isolated geographically and probably forms a subdivision in itself. Since the best information is limited to the valleys of Chaneay, Supe, Ancoén, Rimac, and Lurin, these are here considered typical of the group. ti lj THE CENTRAL ANDES QY 3. South Coast. In total, the South Coast ex- tends from the Rio Mala to the Rio Lomas, but it has some major subdivisions, such as Canete and Chincha in contrast to Iea and Nazea. On the basis of our present knowledge only Pisco, Ica, and Rio Grande (Nazea) ean be considered here. A series of small valleys in extreme southern Peru are as yet not well enough known to be included in this over-all account. 4. North Highlands. This division extends from Huanueo to the Eeuadorian border, but archaeo- logical records are available only for the Callejon de Huaylas, Chavin de Huantar, and Huamachuco. 5. Central Highlands. The central zone is the extensive stretch from Huanuco to Cuzeo. The Inca remains of Cuzco are well known. FHlsewhere there are only seattered accounts for important sites in the Rio Mantaro basin, east of Lima. 6. South Highlands. Southern Peru and Bolivia are grouped together because of an extensive pla- teau, the altiplano, which includes Lake Titicaca. Archaeological exploration has largely been lim- ited to sites around the lake. The eastern cor- dillera of Bolivia is excluded not only because of lack of information but because it is effectively beyond the limits of the Central Andean culture area. These regional subdivisions are not mere conven- iences for describing a region as extensive as the Central Andes, but actually represent significant segments of cultural development. The valleys that are grouped together present similar archaeological materials and sequences. Furthermore, each major division is characterized by certain cultural tradi- tions which persist throughout many of the cultural 100 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY time periods and stylistic changes. For example, the North Coast ceramics over a long and varied span of cultural history are still united by an em- phasis on incised decoration, modeling, pictorial style, mold-made vessels, and the stirrup-spout. The design styles change, but these features per- sist. The South Coast is distinguished by poly- chrome ceramic painting and elaboration of weav- ing. Exceptional climatic conditions have favored the preservation of textiles on the South Coast, but other evidence indicates that so much emphasis was placed on weaving that other aspects of culture were not equally elaborated. In the North Highlands there is a traditional emphasis on stone carving. Likewise the buildings are constructed of rough or dressed stones and commonly utilize such features as galleries, multi-storied floors, and subterranean chambers. Quite apart from these long persisting traditions, the cultural development in each major area was sufficiently distinct to differentiate it from the others at any particular point in the chrono- logical history. In one area that has been inten- sively studied there is every indication of a basic population continuum through many cultural and political changes. This would account for the re- gional traditions. Although the regional subdivisions are important, the Central Andes as a whole was closely united throughout most of its cultural history. Certainly at the time of the Spanish conquest, the Central Andes was a cultural area, that is, a region in which the component tribes shared a significant percentage of their cultural traits. There is also considerable evidence for the antiquity of this common cultural pattern. Some of its distinguishing features are THE CENTRAL ANDES LO] intensive agriculture, based on such plants as maize, beans, squash, potatoes, manioc, oca, and others; digging-stick cultivation; techniques of irrigation, fertilizers, and terracing; the use of narcotic coca instead of tobacco; domesticated cotton; and domes- ticated llamas and alpacas. Buildings were con- structed with adobe, stone and other durable ma- terials. Weaving, metallurgy, basketry, ceramics, and other crafts were highly developed; further- more, many specific techniques and designs in these erafts were widely employed. $c — ee . as Eee: ie See = ee ee aa fo | ‘a4 == UVINYNH —=|4_ ss LV NITVS _ ee? a ee == 30 NJAVHO —— ce ie a ee oguiiocrugin | sum ZvuWnMpE = -F-eeeee +e / —_— eee eee Bethe, es etd ER et ee ee ee pe ey Veneas N3WSLIVYD OOVNVYONHVIL Pa eee ee en a ae eh YILSVW wnoau a ee oe a avn jj oovNynHvls / ecmrspreppescomssttscchupemal iii, ASSV12 R er ieee GIS SS Mi eg Y , " te ee ee YP MMII /} 2 SLSINOISNVd X 3] ~ °°." voluyv OOVNYNHVIL \ NPA) AN ee ee ne hi) * By J 777 097797 477 77 77. Yj rsa } ~~ RWONVHD Uj, xo inyens /, $u7d ine we P “Se TTI ‘ _ . Vth! th! J] Sg iggy ‘abe ae : ; SYN! | O34- 3LIHM-NowIe Piso YONI A SLSIIWINSdAl) - 2¢s1- U, SR 7, 290130 / MS : Pi WOND sis y) LL \ F7/H) AHLYON // / / 7777777777, A, La : TWYXlLNI?I LSVOI? S310 DIYOLSIH Yj DINOLSIH 7 4 LLL L LLL L Lire LLLle Wee Aa TV¥LN IP _ALYON THE CENTRAL ANDES 113 contrary to the situation in northern Peru we find that in north Chile there was only a slight time differ- ence between the appearance of textiles and the first use of maize. Also, that both were present before ceramics. Obviously there was a difference in the rate of dispersal for the three features. Maize, a new food plant, spread more rapidly than the use of ceramics, as indicated on the chart. This sug- gests that some phase of the Early Farmer agricul- ture was already established this far south. We do not yet have any Carbon 14 dates for north Chile so, except for the Inca material, we are deal- ing with guess-dates controlled only slightly by broad correlations. The time allotted the subdivi- sions is based in each case on the proportional amounts of occupation refuse. This can be ex- tremely misleading except where the record can be tied in with some natural phenomenon such as uni- formly aggrading valley fill, or if we are dealing with sites where limited food and fuel resources held the population within certain limits. The Highland sequences shown on the chart are, like the north Chile record, largely dated by guess. A large series of carbon samples from Chiripa and Tiahuanaco have been processed but the results have not yet been fully interpreted. Klsewhere we must rely on the horizon styles and traits and the rela- tionship of these to local cultural development in order to indicate general connections and implied time levels. The coastal record has been worked out in more detail than shown. Again horizon complexes pro- vide a unifying framework against which Carbon 14 dates can be applied. The dates by themselves are still an insufficient basis for constructing a chart of this type, but most have been accepted and used. 114 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Even when large series of such figures are available there will still be need for personal interpretation of the data. As this will provide grounds for debate all other pertinent data should be sought for and considered. For example, a study of deep, twenty- one feet, soil profiles in the Viru Valley matched against refuse deposits led to the conclusion that the Karly Farmer incipient agriculture might well have been introduced there by 3000 B.C. and that ceramics were in use by 1000 B.C. In contrast, Carbon 14 measurements indicate that ceramics ap- peared around 1200 B.C. and that the pre-ceramic pattern of agriculture was established before 2000 B.C. and perhaps as early as 2500 B.C. The terminology used on the chart for the various periods and sub-periods may seem somewhat com- plex. It is a common practice among archaeologists to name new pottery styles after local sites and to use the names to designate cultural periods. This has the advantage of being specific but presents difficulties for those who would prepare a small-sized chart for so large and diverse an area. Some sim- plification is attained by using the cultural horizons as period markers yet any detailed discussion in- volves the local terminology. In the following account the known chronology is divided into seven major periods, somewhat arbi- trarily chosen. The descriptive names indicate some trend or characteristic applicable at least in part to each period, and suggest significant steps in the course of Andean Culture. They will be dis- cussed starting with the oldest. t ee J } | 16a fi | | | ' +20 | | yee \ Vics oe 1g Ses ( i ee | ee ee ee | i | | i tis ° ANTOFAGASTW K& 5 =| | | T] A he | ie Gy Be © \ Q | | fe ‘ pees: ee ea aoe ey 74 TALTAL cae ‘ = SSS ee SS ALY ao ee eee A rth of Paracas, early farmer ; South of Paracas, Principally fishing cultures, Fig. 20, Pre-ceramic¢ Sites: no 115 116 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Harty FARMERS (ca. 2500-1200 B. C.) The ultimate origins and even the earliest mani- festations of culture in the Central Andes are still shrouded in mystery. Some sites represent a sim- ple cultural level with no ceramics, but these are located on the Pacific Coast and were quite pos- sibly marginal to the true centers of development. The early and widespread Cultist Period sites pre- sent evidence of a sophisticated and complex cul- ture but the simple coastal cultures, although known to be older, do not seem sufficient in themselves to account for such a development. Future work in the highlands may uncover important centers of early development, but it is equally possible, and in some ways probable, that the initial centers lie outside of the Central Andes, perhaps in the trop- ics, perhaps in other parts of the Andes. The evidence for early migrations into South America has previously been presented. On the basis of this evidence it seems logical that man first entered South America via the Isthmus of Panama and moved southward through the Andes. These earhest migrants were hunters and gather- ers with relatively simple cultural equipment. In the Central Andes they probably found the high- land basins more attractive than the coastal val- leys. Presumably snow line was then at a lower elevation resulting in a larger precipitation zone, more vegetation and more game. The known sites occupied by hunters are few in number: two caves or rock-shelters near Lake Lauricocha and possibly several others near Huanecayo in the Central High- lands and some isolated workshops between Chi- THE CENTRAL ANDES 117 cama and Pacasmayo. It is not yet known whether these early hunting peoples remained in the Cen- tral Andes or moved on to the south, but in any case, it seems unlikely that they were directly re- sponsible for the higher civilizations which devel- oped later. This is strongly supported by the fact that the technique of pressure flaking stone artifacts was commonly used by the hunters but was not used at all by the pre-ceramic farmers. The coast, in spite of its limitations for hunters, might well have been attractive to early fishermen. Campsites of ancient fishing groups have been found in Chile as described in Part One. Similar sites should be located at suitable situations in Peru. Burials, with radio-carbon date of 3060 B.C., found at Paracas by Fredéric Engel, appear to be of this phase. They resemble Chilean fishermen burials in that the bodies, extended in the sand, are wrapped in fur robes. With them are chipped stone points, bone needles, a shell bead necklace, gourds, twined ‘‘bast’’ fabrics and other goods. A more meaning- ful comparison must await detailed information, but the presence of the gourds could indicate contact and cultural overlap with the Karly Farmers. The gourd, considered an Old World plant, has not been studied sufficiently to establish its record in America. George Carter reported tests showing that seeds of gourds floating in sea water remain vital long enough for intercontinental dispersal by ocean currents and that man need not be involved in such movement. However, in Peru and Chile present data point to human dispersal and a north to south movement. If so, did gourds first appear in company with several other possibly cultivated plants as an initial stage of agriculture? One plant which might have been part of such a 118 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY complex is cotton. Genetic studies show that Old and New World cultivated cottons are related and that the oldest diffusion center in America was North Peru. While human intervention was sug- gested as the most logical explanation the evidence is as yet inconclusive. A study of the oldest avail- able Karly Farmer cotton led to the conclusion that it was an early form of the American species, barba- dense. If an Old World species was brought by man it certainly was at some stage of the agricultural record earlier than what has already been found in Peru. For such reasons data on the Early Farmers are of more than local interest and must be worked out accurately and in detail. Large sections of Karly Farmer middens have been destroyed by sea erosion during a period of relatively static land-sea levels and were saved by a subsequent shift or uplift. Other deposits have been destroyed by valley erosion and hidden by later occupation. In spite of this, more than thirty de- posits have been listed as pre-ceramie and others will be found. Some may be strictly fishing sites but, on present data, all are classed as Early Farmer sites. The map (Fig. 20) indicates the more important or better-known ones. Huaca Prieta, a village midden forty-five feet thick, at the mouth of the Chicama Valley (Fig. 21), presents a good picture of life in these early times. The valley must have been quite different before settlement by intensive agriculturalists, with much more swampland, lagoons, wooded thickets and wider areas devoted to marginal desert vegeta- tion than at present. Wild fruits and food plants, animals, and land birds must have been more abun- dant. Subsistence depended heavily on seafood ‘AM[VA VUBITYY) “Bjoug vornz ‘aepprur Lyranumos [BANZ[NIIHv dTUvIOd-o1d B UL UWOTPVABSXO UesNyy UBdTIOULY "TZ ‘“OiT 119 120 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY but this is considered to have been insufficient to support the estimated population. However, there is surprisingly little evidence for the practice of hunting. Bones of land animals are not present in the midden and, though there are a few of sealion and porpoise, hunting weapons are lacking. Evi- dence for weapons of any sort is limited to toy slings. » BSB RAZ | ¥ cl \ | CUPISNIQUEA~W > “a at -CHICAMA=\ -— N O\R TH x » ) + ad 7 , . ~ / Le ¢ . GUAWNAPE, viRU< ) ° iF GH LWW DS my ¥ NEPENA and ¢ J ¢ \ o, 4 CASMA V\>-~ *CHAVIN DE HUANTAR\ ~, Ps a SS \ x \ ee i Zz Eva fo) . e 2 ; ‘ f w/ c ' d — i F ; 4 < ; >| 5 7 . Pronege | we LAKE JUNIN a = \- ‘ ‘| ; tm eR eT ROPE ‘, | ANCON LASS ‘" : A ee [ ee. A Bote te ee Ww ; SAN BARTOLOY (CURAYACU) SCOAST SOUTH ja je ANTOFAGASTAi — | -" ™~ 5 | T as = ( , ly ) ‘ Ps / ae) oT i 70 ri *% nate a = 72 1 5 ee Fig. 22. Principle cultist period sites. 122 THE CENTRAL ANDES 123 end, with small stones filling the interstices. This base 1s covered with a clay plaster. Actually, pot- tery was not found with this structure, but discov- eries of a lance point of chipped stone, llama bones, and maize serve to place it in the early ceramic period. In many ways these coast sites apparently pre- sent a developmental sequence from the pre-ceramic into the ceramic, but it is doubtful that this is a true picture of the origin of higher civilization in the Central Andes. It is more likely that these coastal sites merely reflect the important cultural develop- ments that had occurred in the highlands. This becomes more apparent in the following discussion of the Cultist Period in which the Chavin style first appears. In art, architecture, and other as- pects of culture, the contrast is great. It seems un- likely that so marked a change should suddenly emerge from such humble beginnings as presented by the Early Farmer sites. Nonetheless, all evi- dence points to a long period in time for these pre- ceramic cultures. CuLtTist PERIOD (ca. 1200 B.C.—400 B.C.) Following the humble and modest beginnings rep- resented by the coastal pre-ceramie sites, the flower- ing of culture in the Cultist Period seems sudden and abrupt. Despite certain technological lmita- tions, the ceramics are varied and well made. Judg- ing by the few known samples, weaving is advanced. There is evidence of versatile craftsmanship and considerable sophistication in art and architecture. Subsistence is no longer dependent on fishing, gath- 124 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ering, hunting, and limited agriculture, but rather on agriculture with a wider range of plants. A marked increase in population occurred in some if not all regions, and from the eventual diffusion of a stylized feline motif and feline symbolism cul- tural unity is indicated. Part of this unity seems to have been of a religious nature hence the name ‘*Cultist’’ for the period. The Cultist Period includes many local cultures and sites which, in spite of their wide distribution, are linked by the Chavin style horizon. Some of the outstanding sites are: Chavin de Huantar in the North Highlands; great middens at Ancoén, Supe, and San Bartolo; various building units, such as Moxeke, Pallka, Sechin Alto, and perhaps Cerro Sechin itself, in Casma Valley; Punguri and Cerro Blanco temples in Nepena Valley; Guanape and re- lated sites in Viru Valley; all of the Cupisnique eul- ture sites in Chicama Valley; Chongoyape in Lam- bayeque Valley; and miscellaneous isolated finds in Piura, Cajamarca, and the Lima region. More extensive exploration will undoubtedly reveal a much wider distribution of the Chavin horizon and perhaps permit the inclusion of additional sites that are apparently ancient but lack the Chavin design, such as Pichalo on the North Coast of Chile. There is abundant evidence for the relative an- tiquity of the Cultist Period. In Viru and Chi- cama valleys, the cultural remains follow immedi- ately after the Early Farmer period and precede the Salinar and Mochica cultures. Likewise, the sites are stratigraphically older than the White-on- Red culture in the North Highlands and the Inter- locking culture at Ancén. In general, Cultist ma- terials are not mixed with other known styles, and THE CENTRAL ANDES 125 have technological limitations which are not found later. The total period was one of long duration, perhaps eight hundred years. Of this range, the characteristic Chavin horizon cultures are estimated as between four and five hundred years by the guess- dates used here. These estimates are based on the exceptionally thick refuse deposits which range from 4.5 to 8.5 meters in Viru and Ancén. Within this long time range, many cultural advancements were achieved and with more study and material it is becoming evident that there are clearcut grounds for broad and regional subdivisions. In this type of historical approach all cultures and sites that fall into the same relative time bracket, on the basis of stratigraphic evidence, are included in the period under consideration. In the Cultist Period the component cultures are somewhat uni- form. All share the feline design of the Chavin horizon. Other similarities are due to technologi- eal limitations, to trade and diffusion, and perhaps to a common background and tradition. In spite of all this, each region presents local independence and variations which cannot be dismissed even when the period is considered as a unit. The significant regional differences will be emphasized in the sub- sequent cultural description of the period. Cultist sites on the coast are generally located close to the shore or along the margins of the val- leys, even in quebradas which are now dry and stone eovered. The highland sites likewise are in the small valleys rather than in the large basins. These marginal locations imply that the complete control of irrigation and agriculture had not yet been achieved. The flats of the coastal valleys were probably still brush-covered and swampy so that 126 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY unskilled farmers could utilize only their bounda- ries. Furthermore, some of the regions which are now so arid were probably less so before the total flow of the rivers was channeled into irrigation sys- tems. The sites are refuse deposits, cemeteries, and temples or other religious structures. Some of the latter are of considerable size, but there is still no convincing evidence for huge concentra- tions of people. The large middens near the ocean shore prove that seafoods were still important in this period. They also provide us with the best data on the per- ishable items of this epoch which show a major de- velopment in agriculture. From middens near the Huaca Prieta comes evidence which indicates that maize was introduced into this part of Peru at the same time as the Cupisnique ceramics. With maize came several other new plants: peanuts, warty squash, pacai, and avocados. Other evidence sug- vests that manioe was also known. With these ad- ditions to the plants previously cultivated we have an impressive list. Data on domesticated animals are less conclusive. They may have had the dog though the evidence is not too positive. Certainly there is no trace of it earlier. The llama also may have been domesticated at this time, but, if so, its wool had not yet become important in textiles. The Cultist used bone and stone extensively for tools. However, only stone mortars and pestles, plain and decorated stone bowls, and bone spatulas are found throughout the whole area. Adding the bone and stone implements from local sites, gives an inventory of grooved stones, hammerstones, long lance heads, both four-pointed and four-flanged elub Fig. 23, Cultist period ceramic types. Courtesy of Rafael Larco Hoyle, except top center. 127 Fig. 24. Cultist Period goldwork from Chongoyape and bone artifacts from Chicama. Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation; Bone, Courtesy of Rafael Larco Hoyle. 128 ——— THE CENTRAL ANDES 129 heads, stone boxes, and bone awls, needles, daggers, spear-throwers, and spoons. / . es 4 ax,! 7 “ ; ia a ¢ i ~ ~ ~ 6 ne \ \ ‘ ‘ 2 i ‘\ F \ y tei 4 4 & NORTH \ hen tale ne? Lady HUARAZ team HUARMEY. LAKE Junin A = CHANCAY YY Rimac Vi) eS cunt a a ae ea Sn’ 4° 2 y, t t ° % FO\PARACAS a ° Fig. 30. Principal cultural divisions in the Mastercraftsman Period. 154 THE CENTRAL ANDES 155 easily be larger or smaller. The upper time limit is reasonably well established by the widely distrib- uted Tiahuanaco horizon which is so uniform that it serves as a convenient time marker. Everywhere Tiahuanaco is either intermingled with or replaces the local culture of the Mastercraftsman Period, as has been demonstrated many times by stratigraphic excavation and by the analyses of the resultant col- lections. In both the highlands and the coast the Master- eraftsman Period is characterized by the mastery of agricultural techniques, by ambitious monumental architecture, by skilled craftsmanship in ceramics, weaving, and metallurgy, and by a florescence of art styles. Despite this apparent unity on the techno- logical level, regional differences are marked. Each sub-area may be distinguished by its distinctive lo- eal patterns which were apparently strong enough to absorb alien influences and mold them into the dominant styles without interrupting the basic trends. Some design motifs, such as the feline, snake, sea-otter, and ray fish, are widely distributed, but their specific portrayal is in terms of the local style. In fact, regionalism is so strong that there are no horizon styles in this period. The diffusion, which certainly resulted from the ever-increasing contacts between peoples of the different regions, must have taken the form of a direct exchange of ideas rather than wholesale borrowing. In brief, the differentiation between regions is now of such magnitude that it is no longer merely marked by a contrast of local styles of manufacture and design, but, rather, by distinct patterns of orientation based on the same technological elements. Each local cul- 156 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ture had a large inventory of techniques and con- trols at its command and these were selected and developed in terms of the particular regional pat- tern. Ior example, the absence of massive temple construction in the Nazca culture cannot be attrib- uted to a lack of knowledge of building methods, but rather to a pattern which directed mass energy into other channels. At the close of this chapter two of the most distinctive patterns are described in some detail because they are important in the later history of the Central Andes. The Mastereraftsman Period is represented by hundreds of sites and by extensive collections of artifacts. Since this period attained the peak of perfection in craftsmanship, the ceramics, textiles, and other art objects have been avidly collected by both amateurs and professionals, and are abun- dantly represented in museums throughout the world. It is not practical to list specific sites for this period since each major culture covers a rather extensive area. The Mochica culture is found in the North Coast valleys of Pacasmayo, Chicama, Moche, Viru, Santa, Nepena, and Casma where it is evident that strong political as well as eul- tural unity existed. The Interlocking and Early Lima cultures dominate the Central Coast, particu- larly in the Chaneay, Rimae, and Lurin valleys. On the South Coast, the Necropolis culture at Paracas, near Pisco Valley, is closely related to the Nazea culture of the Ica and Nazca valleys. The Recuay culture is found throughout the Callejon de Huaylas and in other parts of the North Highlands. The South Highlands are the center of the Pucara and Karly Tiahuanaco cultures. The distinetive Tia- huanaco culture undoubtedly had its origins in the THE CENTRAL ANDES 157 period, but it will be described with the next period which it so clearly dominates. Only the Central Highlands, later so prominent as the center of the Inca Empire, have no known cultural remains of this period. So vast is the quantity and variety of cultural material that detailed treatment of each culture is impractical. By and large the Nazca and Mochica cultures are the best known; consequently, these are treated in greater detail, particularly in respect to their contrasting cultural patterns. The other cul- tures are included wherever possible. The techno- logical achievements are presented first as the basis for subsequent analysis of the regional patterns of orientation. In the Mastercraftsman Period subsistence is based almost entirely on agriculture and there is every indication that the coastal valleys were com- pletely conquered with respect to cultivation. In Viru, for example, hundreds of sites of this period are found in all parts of the valley, with the princi- pal sites concentrated on the valley flats. Some of these are small habitation mounds; others are rea- sonably large villages. Irrigation systems are in- tricate and suggest over-all planning. In Chicama Valley one irrigation canal is over seventy-five miles long; another, at Ascope, is conducted across the wide mouth of a quebrada by means of an artifi- cially constructed aqueduct, fourteen hundred me- ters long, fifteen meters high, and estimated to con- tain over 785,000 cubic meters of earth. Likewise many of the complicated arrangements of agricul- tural terraces in the South Highlands are assigned to this period. 158 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY In preceding periods the range of domesticated plants included maize, squash, beans, cotton, pep- pers, peanuts, manioc, coca, quinoa, canahua, achira; and various fruits: pepino, pacai, licuma, and avo- cado. Additional plants and fruits were grown by the Mastercraftsmen: sweet potato, potato, oca, ma- shua, ulluco, jiquima, yacon, and lupines; tuna, eranadilla, chirimoya, guanabana, tumbo, papaya, and pineapple. To be sure, some of these plants and fruits were undoubtedly known previously, but the evidence is now definite. In other words, the total range of Central Andean domesticated plants is now established, and no new plants are added until the Spaniards arrived. Likewise, the stand- ard agricultural techniques include the digging-stick, the hoe, guano fertilizer, and probably every other method known in the Central Andes at any time. The psychological importance of agricultural sub- sistence is indicated by the common representations of domesticated plants in the art work, the frequent association of plants and religious symbols, and the pictures of ceremonies related to agricultural activi- ties. Domesticated llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs are numerous, and herding plays an important role in the subsistence. The gathering of wild foods no longer seems important, but fishing, with hooks, nets, and harpoons, is still a standard supplement to the food supply. Hunting, judging by the scenes on Mochica pottery, has now become a sport for the privileged upper class. The hunting scenes depict the use of deer nets and traps, spear-throwers and darts, clubs for sea-lions, and bloweguns for birds. The advanced agricultural techniques and the size and number of habitation sites all suggest a large population. However, population pressure cannot THE CENTRAL ANDES 159 have been very severe since many regions and val- leys of considerable fertility were apparently only slightly utilized. It is of course possible that fu- ture archaeological work will prove that these were equally well populated by peoples with different cultures. Permanent materials, such as stone or adobe, are used everywhere in house building. In the latter half of the Early Farmer Period underground struc- tures were popular. Like those found in association with the Necropolis culture at Paracas, they had one and two rooms lined with stone and _ sun-baked adobes. In the earlier examples, entrance was through a short tunnel. Later, a stairway led to the room. Subterranean dwellings are also asso- ciated with the Recuay culture in the North High- lands. Some are long narrow galleries, lined and covered with stone slabs, and entered by a shaft at oneend. Others have a central chamber surrounded by a number of small niche-like rooms. These are constructed of large and small stones, carefully chinked, plastered, and often painted. Still others have two floors underground, or a combination of a surface room and a basement-like chamber. Sub- terranean houses are also found in the South High- lands, but most villages consist of a number of rough stone surface dwellings. The North Coast Mochica ceramics portray houses built on terraces around open patios and with small rectangular rooms. The roofs are gabled and apparently thatched with straw or mats. ‘The excavated ruins reveal clusters of rectangular rooms around some of the large temples. The walls are usually composed of mold-made ree- tangular adobes. 160 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Villages of this period are not laid out according to a specific plan. An open scatter pattern is the most typical arrangement of house units. An ex- ception is found in the North Coast honeycomb pat- tern of which the Gallinazo group in Viru Valley is a good illustration. This group consists of six arti- ficial platform mounds, the largest of which is roughly two hundred by four hundred meters, and over five meters high. Its surface is covered with small rectangular rooms constructed of plain or cane-marked adobes. The rooms average about ten meters square, so that they number several thou- sand on this one platform. The layout is haphaz- ard; new units were added in amorphous fashion from time to time. It does not follow that all the rooms were occupied simultaneously nor that each room represents the home of a single family unit. However, the group as a whole must have housed a sizable population. The Mastercraftsman Period is generally charac- terized by the construction of large public works, usually identified as temples and forts. An excep- tion is in the south where large fortified towns start in Paracas times but seldom have structures of large size. On the Central Coast, although time association for the many large pyramids and build- ing units is not very satisfactory, some of the large pyramids and building units, ike Pachacamae and Cajamarquilla, were certainly initiated during this period. For example, some thick walls built of hand-molded adobe and stone are decorated with frescoes with typical Interlocking designs of fish painted in white, yellow, red, and black. In the North Highlands some of the two and three-story THE CENTRAL ANDES 161 temples with interior rooms, stone walls, and slab roofs, undoubtedly are assignable to the Recuay eulture, although final confirmation of this identi- fication is lacking. Consequently, our best knowl- edge of large seale public building is from the North Coast and the South Highlands. The most outstanding Mochica constructions on the North Coast are found at Moche, not far from Trujillo. At the base of a rocky hill, called Cerro Blanco, are two large buildings separated by a flat plain, once the site of a village. The first building, the ‘‘Huaea de la Luna,’’ is a step-sided platform, eighty by sixty meters, terraced against the side of the hill. Graves with Mochica style pottery were uncovered at the base of this platform and some of the room walls on top are decorated with a fresco in black, white, red, yellow, light blue, pink, and brown. The design, in Mochica style, portrays shields, maces, darts, and the like, represented as if in revolt against human control. The second building, the ‘‘ Huaca del Sol,’’ is one of the largest single structures on the Coast of Peru. The base is a step-sided platform, two hundred twenty-eight by one hundred thirty-six meters and eighteen me- ters high; it is approached by a causeway six meters wide and ninety meters long. Lf ; pS ° wean . “ ” “ie Reh ae * CHUQUJ BAMBA » AREQUIPA Hob Gan-e A f eA fa oS ! [ i => i ANTOFAGASTA /h ae = a Gy ‘ = | Zs SS 82 78 74 A 4 =e Fig. 36. Principal centers of the Expansionist Period. 183 184 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY huanaco horizon complex in all six of the major areas of the Central Andes. The problem of inter- preting the nature of this expansion is complicated by the fact that by the close of the Mastercraftsman Period, each region had a well-established local cul- ture represented by a sizable population. Irrespec- tive then of the type of Tiahuanaco expansion, a merger with each of the local cultures would be an- ticipated and this is precisely what occurred. How- ever, the Tiahuanaco horizon presents a complex, not merely a single style, and the fact that the vari- ous components are so readily recognized in such widely separated areas certainly suggests some form of political expansion, even though the integration was religious and priest controlled. Considering the type of cultural development everywhere in the Central Andes, this wide distribution in all proba- bility was effected over a relatively short span of time, nor is there any indication that the unity, po- litical or otherwise, endured for any great length of time. Instead, the local cultures were so strong that they soon re-emerged as independent organiza- tions. The assignment here of three hundred years for the duration of the Expansionist Period is largely guesswork; it might have flourished for a longer or even shorter time. In order to present an adequate picture of the long recognized pan-Central Andean Tiahuanaco horizon, the highland Bolivian site of the same name must first be described. The ruins of Tiahuanaco have long been considered as the type site for the culture, partly because they have been extensively covered in the literature, partly because the culture here is well isolated. It seems highly improbable now that Bolivia was the center of distribution for THE CENTRAL ANDES L885 this horizon. The bleak altiplano near Lake Titi- ecaca has an altitude of almost fourteen thousand feet, which is too high for the cultivation of many plants, although quinoa, potatoes, and oca can be grown, and there is pasturage for llamas and al- pacas. ‘Today, the region supports a scattered, al- though reasonably large Indian population; presum- ably the situation was not very different in the past. However, the Tiahuanaco site appears to have been a major ceremonial center, rather than a city or large village. This would enhance its importance even though it was not the political or distributional center. In most regions, the Tiahuanaco elements are intermingled with local styles, but the Bolivian site is an exception, and thus offers the best illustra- tions of the basic culture. Chiripa, Early Tiahua- naco, and Pucara cultures all antedate Tiahuanaco in the South Highlands and contribute, in part, to its final formulation. This must have been initiated at least in the Mastercraftsman Period since some designs are shared in common with the Mochica and Nazea cultures. However, Tiahuanaco as a whole belongs in the Expansionist Period which it so thor- oughly dominates. The ruins of Tiahuanaco, located about twelve miles south of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, are com- posed of four major structural units and numerous minor ones scattered over a large area. The larg- est unit, called Acapana, is a natural mound, about fifteen meters high, which was re-shaped into a step- sided pyramid and faced with stone. The over-all groundplan measures two hundred ten by two hun- dred ten meters and has the appearance of a step- sided triangle. House foundations rest on top of the mound and there is also a large artificial reser- 186 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY voir, with an overflow canal built of dressed and fitted blocks. The unit appears to have been a fortress which served as a place of refuge in time of siege. Immediately to the north of the fortress is a large rectangular unit, one hundred thirty-five by one hundred thirty meters, called Calasasaya (Fig. 37). This was at one time a raised earth platform or terreplein faced with a dressed stone wall of slab uprights and smaller filling blocks. Today most of the smaller stones have been removed and the earth fill has eroded so that the ruin has the appearance of an inclosure of upright pillars. An inner court, sixty by forty meters, is still discernible and is ap- proached from the east by a megalithic stairway con- sisting of six slabs. The best preserved wall on the west side of the unit may possibly have been added at a slightly later time. Several stone statues and a decorated monolithic gateway, the ‘‘Gateway of the Sun,’’ are associated with this unit. A smaller inclosure, sixty by fifty-five meters, west of Calasasaya, is called the Palacio. It con- tains many dressed and fitted stone blocks, as well as a painted stairway. The fourth major unit, Puma Puncu, another platform structure, lies some distance southwest of the others. It is built of great slabs and stone blocks, some weighing over one hundred tons. Although badly destroyed, re- mains of cut-out seats, decorated blocks, and broken monolithic gateways are still identifiable. The nearest source of the sandstone used in this con- struction is over five kilometers distant. Organi- zation and skill were needed to transport and place these immense stones in precise positions. rr atigt Fig. 37. Tiahuanaco ruins and decorated gateway. Panorama, taken in 1896, Courtesy of University Museum, Philadelphia; others, Courtesy of Harry Tschop J 7 188 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY The major construction units are in themselves symmetrical, but their relationship to each other is not. The units appear planned, the over-all ar- rangement haphazard. The architecture is massive as illustrated by the solid raised platforms and the stone-faced pyramids. Both basalt and sandstone slabs and blocks are ground down to a smooth dressed finish. Stones are fitted by means of notches, joints, and copper cramps placed in cut- out T’ and IJI-shaped grooves (Fig. 38). Not only is stone sculpture associated, but it is also one of the architectural features. Other Tiahuanaco spe- cialties are decorated monolithic gateways, mega- lithie steps, cut-out step-sided wall niches, and deco- rative blocks arranged in mosaic patterns. Both surface conduits and underground drainage canals are found in the vicinity of the buildings, and some subterranean rooms are lined with dressed stone and entered by stairways. On the whole, this Tia- huanaco masonry is the most skilled and complex found in the Central Andes. The stone carving at Tiahuanaco includes pillar- like statues, relief slabs and blocks, decorative friezes on gateways, and both animal and human heads with tenons or blocks for wall insertion. The statues are stiff and conventionalized and little at- tention has been given to sculpture in the round (Fig. 39). The figure is usually in a standing posi- tion with the hands placed on the chest. The squared head has a raised headband, T-shaped eye- brows and nose, and eyes with wings or tear bands. Fine incised designs on the body and waist bands represent woven garments. These incised designs and the low relief friezes on the gateways illustrate the style which is commonly considered as typical of Fic. 38. Typical wall construction and detail of sockets for cast copper or tie bolts in stone paving at Tiahuanaco. 189 cramps 190 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY , 7 ‘ 4 ; | t & ay aie re 7 eee Fe i. Jim eo aon ae Monolithic statue from Tiahuanaco. Discovered by Wendell C. Bennett. THE CENTRAL ANDES 19] Tiahuanaco because of its wide spread. The de- signs include front view human figures with a staff in each hand, profile running figures with masks and flowing capes, profile puma and condor figures, and a series of characteristic appendages composed of puma, condor, or fish heads. That these designs are basically derived from textile patterns is confirmed by the tapestries of this period. It is of interest that at the Tiahuanaco site, the ceramic designs are usually distinguishable from the stone series incised with textile patterns, and more local in distribution. Other styles of stone carving, such as realistic hu- man figures and geometric relief slabs, are also found at Tiahuanaco, but are not definitely asso- ciated with this time period. There have been only a few systematic excava- tions at Tiahuanaco. The graves described are sim- ple pits containing a few pieces of pottery, but more elaborate graves undoubtedly existed and perhaps some of the subterranean rooms served as burial vaults. However, fairly large private collections of grave pottery have been assembled. The ceram- ics are characterized by flaring-sided goblets, squat, open bowls, annular base libation bowls, modeled puma and llama vessels, tall vases, and open bowls with wide flaring rims (Fig. 40). The ceramics are well fired and highly polished. All vessels are cov- ered with a red slip and painted in polychrome de- signs of two to eight colors, although black, white- on-red are the basic combinations. The designs are usually outlined in black, or black and white, and other colors are added to fill in the figure. In con- trast to the stone incised patterns, the ceramic de- signs are simple: profile pumas, human heads, and condors, or combinations of these elements. Fig. 40. Coast and Highland Tiahuanaco vessels. Upper left, Pachacamac; Upper right, Pacheco; Lower half, Bolivian Highland sites with oldest in lower right corner. 192 THE CENTRAL ANDES 193 Textiles are not preserved in the rainy altiplano, but, as mentioned, the stone carving designs are evidence that this craft was advanced. The metal- lurgists employed gold, silver, and copper with com- petence and skill. It is possible that bronze first appeared at Tiahuanaco, since Bolivia is about the only source of tin in South America, but thus far the analyses show only pure copper artifacts, even for the cramps used in fitting the stone. Decorated stone bowls, incised snuff tablets, clubs, pounders, polishers, and axes are all common. Bone and shell objects are numerous, but all the more perishable types of artifacts are not preserved. The cultural pattern implied by the archaeologi- eal remains at Bolivian Tiahuanaco is that of a well integrated and powerfully controlled religious or- ganization. The large construction units required organized mass labor, careful advanced planning, and skilled masons. The site has every appearance of a ceremonial center, so that it is logical to as- sume a religious direction. There are many indica- tions that Tiahuanaco was built at intervals and that much of it was never completed. This suggests once more the religious pilgrimage pattern, in which great masses of people assembled at certain times of the year and contributed the labor of hauling, dressing, and placing the large stones. In the in- terim periods, skilled masons worked on the fitting, joining, and carving. The Tiahuanaco art style, represented by stone carving and ceramic painting, is highly conventionalized, little varied, and rigidly limited. Chavin style was limited in motifs, Tia- huanaco is limited by conventions. The designs are doubtless symbolic but they are also impersonal. 194 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY They confirm the impression of a formalized and well organized religious control. The type site of Tiahuanaco presents a unique combination of masonry, stone carving, and ceram- ics, but there is good evidence for the spread of some Tiahuanaco diagnostics, both in the highlands and on the coast. Other sites have been found on the islands and shores of Lake Titicaca. Lucurmata, on the Bolivian shore, presents a terraced platform and a small temple built of dressed and fitted blocks. Cemeteries near Cochabamba prove that Tiahuanaco expanded into the eastern cordillera of Bolivia. In the Calama oasis of North Chile, Tiahuanaco is rep- resented by textiles, polychrome ceramics, and in- eised wooden snuff tablets. Likewise, Tiahuanaco style ceramics have been found near Arequipa and Chuquibamba in southern Peru. The recently discovered site of Wari, near Aya- cucho in the Central Highlands, may well prove to be one of the most important Tiahuanaco centers. Preliminary reports describe Wari as an enormous area covered with rough stone walls, some of which are still twenty feet high. Dressed stone tombs, simple upright statues, and thick polychrome pot- tery with elaborate Tiahuanaco designs are also as- sociated. The central location of Wari, plus its apparent size and complexity, makes it a favored candidate for the true center of expansion, particu- larly for the coast region. Materials pertaining to the Tiahuanaco horizon complex are found in quan- tity in all the coastal valleys from southern Nazea to northern Chicama. Pacheco in Nazea and Pacha- eamae and Ancén on the Central Coast are out- standing sites, but it is impractical to list all the others. In the North Highlands, many sites, like THE CENTRAL ANDES 195 Wilkawain, near Huaraz, contain Tiahuanaco hori- zon materials. It is interesting that their stylistic affiliations are with the coast rather than with other parts of the highlands. The highland sites of this period are represented by building units, stone sculptures, and cemeteries, but the coast sites thus far known are largely lim- ited to cemeteries. This situation is due in part to the lack of adequate archaeological work, but it may also reflect the nature of the Tiahuanaco expansion. This whole period seems to have been one of great confusion, and it is unlikely that the unification rep- resented by the Tiahuanaco horizon was a well or- ganized political one. Somewhat later, the Inca per- fected the techniques of conquest and incorporation, but at this point political organization was still ex- perimental. Consequently, ambitious building proj- ects would not be expected, but instead, the existing constructions would be re-utilized. If the expansion were truly religious, the priest leaders would prob- ably try to maintain the authority of the recognized highland ceremonial centers rather than establish new ones. This is, of course, speculation; but, as yet, major buildings on the coast have not been as- signed to this period and there is ample evidence that earlier constructions were re-used. ‘he recent work in Viru Valley adds to the general picture of conditions at this time. Though sites are numerous, they are located on the margins of the valley. This may indicate that the valley flats were under total cultivation, but it is more likely the result of a temporary breakdown in the main irrigation system. Other evidence suggests a marked decline in popu- lation. Reorganization at the end of the period is demonstrated by finds of some villages composed of 196 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY clusters of forty by sixty meter rectangular en- closures which contain interior subdivisions. Numerous coast and highland sites of the Expan- sionist Period are united by the Tiahuanaco horizon complex, as well as by stratigraphic evidence which places them in the same relative time span. For example, at Moche on the North Coast an Expan- sionist Period cemetery is found on a platform of the Huaca del Sol constructed by the earlier Mo- chica. A Wilkawain-Tiahuanaco building in the North Highlands is superimposed on a Recuay cul- ture subterranean gallery. On the South Coast, Tiahuanaco mixes with the Nazca-B style which marks the end of the Nazca sequence. Much more data on the chronological placement of the various sites are also available. The diagnostics of the Tiahuanaco horizon com- plex have previously been briefly mentioned, but deserve more detailed treatment. Ceramic traits are obviously the best criteria since pottery looms large in the collections and is universally preserved. All sites of the Tiahuanaco horizon have some ¢e- ramics with the characteristic shapes of the flaring- sided goblet and the squat flaring-sided cup; a red slip over-all base; common black and white painted design, and some use of four or more colors; the black outlining technique for design figures with other colors used as fill; and a high polished finish. Equally widespread are distinctive design elements derived largely from the stone incision style at Tia- huanaco, such as the front view figure with a staff in each hand; the running profile figure, with cape and bird mask; the puma and condor figures; the step design, scroll, and trident; and appendages of animal and bird heads. Furthermore, wherever ee Oe eee ee | THE CENTRAL ANDES 197 textiles are preserved, there are some samples of tapestry with distinctive Tiahuanaco designs. On the coast, other non-Highland ceramic shapes, deco- rated with Tiahuanaco designs, have a wide dis- tribution: a spout and round-handled jar; thick U-shaped urns; face bowls; modeled animal bowls, although not lke the Highland types; collar jars with and without relief faces; double jars; and containers with double spouts and connecting flat bridge. In spite of the numerous horizon com- ponents, local styles are equally prominent at most sites. For example, an incised redware is abun- dant at Ancon on the central coast; two-color nega- tive ware at Wilkawain in the North Highlands; and pressed relief blackware on the North Coast. The architectural features of the Central and South Highlands have already been described. It has been pointed out that large seale building on the coast is not yet associated with this period, even though some of the constructions at Pacha- ecamac on the Central Coast and at Chanchan on the North Coast were probably initiated in this period. In the North Highlands, however, this pe- riod presents many one-room above-ground house sites with walls of rough stone and roofs of large slabs. At Wilkawain a three-story temple was once ornamented with a projecting cornice and a row of earved stone puma heads. Lach floor of the temple has half a dozen rooms and a ventilation shaft. The walls are made of split stone laid horizontally in alternating thick and thin rows. The slab roof is gabled. The construction in general follows the North Highland stone building tradition which was initiated with the Chavin culture. 198 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY The graves and burial types vary locally. On the Central Coast direct pit graves contain mummy bun- dles with false heads adorned with masks of metal, wood, and clay. Urn burials are found on the South Coast, but there are also log-covered subterranean chambers hung with tapestries. At Wari in the Central Highlands, subterranean boxes lined and covered with dressed stone slabs served as graves. Similar boxes lined with rough stone are found in the North Highlands. On the coast the admirably preserved textiles il- lustrate skill in most of the known techniques, but the tapestries are most characteristic and among the finest made in the Central Andes. Other commonly employed techniques are brocade, warp pattern, double cloth, painted cloth, square and flat braid- ing, velvet-like pile knotting for caps and _ head- bands, interlocking warp, double cloth, and tie-dye patchwork. Both wool and cotton fibers are used. Some colors are quite brilliant, but tans, browns, light oranges, and pale blues are more typical. Many of the tapestry designs are so similar to the incised stone motifs at Tiahuanaco, that they might easily have been used as the models for these. Many other artifacts found present a great vari- ety of wood, shell, bone, and stonework (Fig. 41). Metalworkers developed silver plating, continued to use earlier techniques, and may have increased cop- per production for such new applications as cast copper tie bolts in masonry (Fig. 38). The over-all unity represented by the Tiahuanaco horizon is soon interrupted and derived local styles appear. However, the coast is somewhat reunited towards the close of the period by the spread of the Black-White-Red horizon, represented by a geomet- | | | a Fig. 41. ne Miscellaneous prehistoric Peruvian artifacts; carved and painted box, pyrites mirror, combs, spoons, ear spools, and snuff tube. 199 200 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ric painting style for ceramics and a few character- istic shapes, such as the flask, and the container with spout and bridge to modeled figure. This horizon style forms a minor element in the ceramie collec- tions throughout the coast and in the North High- lands, but its components no longer even suggest any form of political unity. The Expansionist Period is then distinguished by the widespread Tiahuanaco horizon complex, which certainly reflects a dominant, formalized religious impact, and suggests a loose political unity as well. Some have used the phrase Tiahuanaco Kmpire, but it is doubtful that the unity and duration were of sufficient magnitude to justify such a designation, in spite of the fact that the unification is greater than at any earlier time. The Tiahuanaco horizon, while widespread, is not all inclusive. The far North Coast valleys of Lambayeque and Piura were not affected, but continued to develop locally, per- haps inspired by the residue of Mochica culture. Cajamarca and Huamachuco in the far North High- lands were also out of the range, and in this same time period their inhabitants constructed sizable buildings and developed a distinctive ceramic style. It is of even greater interest that in spite of the proximity of Wari the Cuzco region of the Cen- tral Highlands remained totally independent of Tiahuanaco influence. This suggests that the local Karly Inca culture was already sufficiently advanced to resist even such strong outside influences. Whether political, religious, or merely stylistic in basis, the unity of the Tiahuanaco horizon was relatively short-lived. The local culture of each re- gion had not been entirely eradicated and reformu- lation soon begins again. This was not achieved THE CENTRAL ANDES 201 immediately, but only after a period of some strug- ele. The new culture is not a pure reemergence of the old, but rather a mixture. None of the tech- nological techniques is lost and the reorganiza- tion continues on social and political lines. In some parts this takes the form of large concentrated pop- ulations which in many ways reflect a city pattern. Crry Buriper Prriop (ca. 1200-1450 A. D.) Following the Tiahuanaco dominated Kixpansion- ist Period, ‘local cultures reemerge in the six main eeberaphic divisions of the Central Andes (Fig. 42). The disintegration of whatever type of unity the Expansionists had imposed was succeeded by new struggles for power so that the formulation of local cultures did not follow immediately. This is illustrated by the fact that the styles which finally appear are more than simple derivatives of the Tia- huanaco horizon. For example, the Chimu ceram- ics on the North Coast present a fusion of a number of styles: some from the earlier Mochica, some from the Expansionist Period, some from more local styles of the far North Highlands and the far North Coast. Despite its diversity of origins, the Chimu style which ultimately crystallizes is unified and distinctive. Throughout Peru this new regional formulation is based on political organization rather than tech- nology. There is now evidence for large, well or- ganized populations living in planned pride units in a pattern which can be designated as se, even though large cities are not found everywhere. The CHICAMA ‘Gas MOCHE VIRU ST yy CENTRAL con 24 Se Fig. 49, po / LAKE YUNIWN HUAURA CHANCAaAy rl centers of the X : ra x ) S ‘>= ° fz ANTOFAGASTA / = K or ! ) 70 t Builder period, THE CENTRAL ANDES 203 established subsistence techniques were extended so that a more expanded terrain was irrigated and cul- tivated than ever before. The population may have reached a new peak, but the shift from rural to urban habitation makes this difficult to verify. Since all cultures now possess adequate technology and all are concentrating on political controls, the bal- ance of power depends largely on the extent of ter- ritory. Consequently, it is not surprising that the North Coast cultures become stronger than those of the Central and South Coasts, since the northern valleys are larger and have a more permanent wa- ter supply. For the City Builder Period, it is no longer prac- tical to list individual sites, since a single culture dominates and is extensively represented in every major area. The archaeological evidence for the cultures and their distribution is partially verifiable from the records of the Spanish chroniclers who list the names and locations of the tribes conquered by the Inea in their expansion. The Chimu who dominated the North Coast had their political cen- ter at the large city of Chanchan in the Moche Valley. The Chimu or Chimor territory, just before it was conquered by the Inca, extended six hundred miles from Tumbez south to the Chillon. As the relevant archaeological material within the area has marked differences there is reason to doubt that it had been unified for any appreciable length of time. To the south, a small but powerful state occupied the Lima and Lurin valleys. Further south, the people in the valleys of Mala, Canete and Chincha were united, and had their main center of government in the Chincha. In turn, still another state centered in Iea is reported as composed of the Ica, Nazca and 204 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY Acari valleys, a region with an established record of cultural and perhaps political unity. Regional cultures ln we mwghiands are less well known al- though there are many large stone constructed vil- lages, like Marca Huamachuco in the North High- Fig. 43. A fortress of the City Builder period at Paramonga, con- structed of clay bricks. Courtesy of W. R. Grace and Company. lands, which are pre-Inea but which lack distinctive styles. An Early Inea eulture has recently been isolated in the Central Highlands, although it is still not well known. Presumably evidence for the ante- cedents of the Inca Empire will eventually be clari- fied in this region. In the South Highlands, partic- ularly around Lake Titicaca, the Tiahuanaco culture was not seriously interrupted, but continued as a local development, although there are no longer in- dications of strong organization. Around Arequipa | ) THE CENTRAL ANDES 205 and in North Chile are the remains of the Atacameno culture. These regions were not capable of sup- porting very large populations, but the general cul- tural development is similar to that in other parts of the Central Andes. The extensive flats of the coastal valleys were the most suitable for large con- eentrated populations. The highlands, on the other hand, might support equally large populations, but not in the same concentration. Consequently, the city pattern reaches its highest development on the coast. The City Builder Period cultures and sites fall into the same relative time bracket, as verified by stratigraphy and other dating evidence. For ex- ample, their late position is well demonstrated by the fact that the local styles ultimately mix with the Ineaic. On the North Coast typical Inca arybal- loid jars are made in the Chimu blackware as are many Chaneay and Ica vessels. Whether such mix- ture occurred prior to the Inca expansion or as a result of the Inca conquest does not affect the rela- tive sequence. The duration of this period is an- other matter. In this account, a guess-date dura- tion of two hundred fifty years is assigned to the City Builders. The numerous massive structures which pertain to this period might suggest a longer duration, but, on the grounds that man-unit labor was now well organized and that the architecture is not particularly complex, the buildings might well have been completed in a relatively short time. The period is designated City Builder because of the enormous ruins of planned villages. Perhaps the largest and certainly the best known of these cities is Chanchan near Trujillo on the north coast. These ruins cover about six square miles and contain 206 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ten distinct units, some as large as four hundred eighty by three hundred seventy-five meters. Be- tween these units, which are not symmetrically ar- ranged, are irrigated areas, cemeteries, numerous small structures and totora reed marshes. The ten major units differ in detail, but each contains ap- proximately the same features. From one to three high walls, some still nine meters high, surround each unit. Within the inclosures are symmetrically arranged streets, houses with gabled roofs, large pyramids, small cells, cemeteries, gardens, and stone-lined reservoirs. Some insist that Chanchan was a ceremonial center rather than a city, but ir- respective of its function, there must have been a large number of fairly permanent residents. Chanchan is the largest of the Chimu cities. There are many others of great size, such as Pacat- namu or La Barranca in Pacasmayo Valley and El Purgatorio in Lambayeque Valley. All of these share such features as symmetrical planning, rows of houses, streets, pyramids, terraces, decorated walls (Fig. 44), steps, ramps, and reservoirs. On the Central Coast other cities, like Pachacamae and Cajamarquilla in the Lurin and Rimac valleys, are comparable in size and plan to those of the north. The smaller valleys of the South Coast did not sup- port such large cities, but centers like La Centinela in Chincha Valley and Tambo Colorado in Pisco Valley resemble the North Coast towns in general plan and combination of features. From north to south, all of the coast cities, al- though differing in size, are similar in the planning, the general rectangularity, and the combination of pyramids, stairways, terraces, and courts. Build- ing materials are everywhere identical. The ree- aN Vis ub i | {2 Fig. 44. Clay arabesque wall decorations at the ruins of Chanchan. Many walls were so decorated, but most of this decoration has been destroyed by rains. 207 208 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY tangular mold-made adobes are small and square on the South Coast, large and flat on the North Coast, but identical in technique of manufacture. Tapia walls, in which the clay is tamped into large blocks between plank forms, are commonly used for in- closures and terraces, and algarroba logs are used as lintels and wall binders. The techniques of wall decoration are widespread. Ornamental niches are cut out of the walls and mosaic arrangements of rectangular adobes form decorative frets. Walls may be painted in solid color or with designs. Most characteristic are clay arabesques in which intricate small unit designs are cut out of a thick clay plaster. The small geometric designs, typically birds and fish, are arranged in textile-like patterns. The most famous arabesques are found at Chanchan, but there are equally good examples from the Central and South Coasts. In this period the elaborateness of the graves re- flects the importance of the deceased. Many graves are simply excavated pits, usually marked by an upright stick or paddle. Others are subterranean chambers roofed with poles. These contain more elaborate burials and greater quantities of grave goods. The burials are in seated flexed positions, wrapped with cloth to form a bundle, on top of which is a stuffed false head adorned with a painted face or with a mask of clay, wood, or metal. Craftsmanship is still at a high level of compe- tence, but lacks individual artistry. Instead, atten- tion seems to have turned more and more to quantity production at the expense of quality. In ceramics, for example, the colors are reduced in number to monochrome on the North Coast and to _ black, white, and red on the South Coast. Shapes also THE CENTRAL ANDES 209 have a more limited range. ‘The design style is gen- erally geometric; a widespread characteristic is the application of textile derived patterns. This de- crease of attention to expressive individual art may have been due to the stultifying effects of the Tia- huanaco conventionalizations. In other ways it rep- resents a shift of emphasis from the artist as a craftsman to the’ artist as a technical worker. In spite of these generalizations about craftsmanship throughout the Central Andes, each region has dis- tinctive local styles. Fig. 45. Chimu blackware water jars. At left, two men boxing; center, an example of mold-pressed decoration; at right, two men on a balsa raft. The Chimu ceramics, although varied in detail, ean be classified under a few basic shape categories: the stirrup-spout, now squared in cross-section, with a small modeled animal at the spout base; a double- whistling jar; a globular container with taper spout and flat handle; a vessel with spout and a bridge to a modeled figure; ollas; and plates (Fig. 45). Some of these shapes, like the stirrup-spout, are carry- 210 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY overs from the Mochica culture; others, like the spout and bridge, are introductions from the Ex- pansionist Period. The Chimu ceramics are com- monly mold made and typically polished redware or smoked blackware. Painting is rare, but decora- tion is achieved by modeling, pressed relief, stipple, appliqué, incision, excising, and paddle marking. The modeling is still somewhat depictive, but the skills of the Mochica culture are no longer present. The Chanecay ceramics on the Central Coast are made of a thin porous red or orange clay which is coated with a secaley white slip over which textile derived patterns are painted in black or dark brown. The typical shapes are straight-sided goblets and face collar jars with flat side handles. The com- monest design elements are bands, stripes, dots, wavy lines, cross hatch, serrated, diagonals, and small birds and animals. On the South Coast, Iea ceramics are generally painted in black, white, and red. Open bowls with angular bodies, round bot- toms, and beveled rims are the most typical shape, but also common are constricted flaring collar jars and globular vessels with long tubular collars end- ing in shghtly flaring rims. The designs are either eeometric units or small birds and fish arranged in diagonals or panels in imitation of textile patterns (ig. 46). The ceramics attributed to the Atacameno in Peru and North Chile are characterized by constricted eol- lar jars with two body handles, and one-handled pitchers. Again, the designs are geometric com- binations of triangles, diamonds, scrolls, and steps, painted in black and white on a red base. The Atacamefo ceramic style has sometimes been con- sidered as a forerunner of that of the Inca. How- h yt ans NA ee os See YY ~e gy, eth, Fig. 46. City Builder ceramic styles from the Central and South Coast. Top row, right, Negative painted Recuay vessel of the Mastercraftsman Period, others, Two late vessels from Pachacamac; second row, Three vessels of Chancay Black-on- White style; bottom row, Four vessels of Ica style. 211 313 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ever, many of the pieces considered Atacameno are most common outside the Atacama area and are found unassociated with plainware types used in that area. This indicates incomplete data so until Atacameno sites are systematically excavated, we must avoid theories about their culture. Elsewhere in the highlands, the ceramic styles are not particu- larly distinctive, as previously mentioned. Woven fabrics are now produced in quantity, but the ambitious, elaborate weaves are less frequent than in some of the previous periods. The coast regions are united by their great use of all cotton weaves and by the quantity of painted, tie-die, and double cloth. Embroidery is still common, but is now applied to limited areas or to figure outline. Border fringes are typical although needle knitting is no longer practised. Tapestry is used to finish borders and for small inserts in the centers or in the corners of the cotton pieces. Gauzes, brocades, and pattern weaves are abundant. The textile de- signs are everywhere similar in the conventionaliza- tion of small bird, fish, and geometric figures, and in the arrangement of units in horizontal bands, diagonal rows, and within squares, diamonds, loz- enges, and frets. Over-all coast similarities are striking, although detailed studies permit the dif- erentiation of textiles from the North, Central, and South Coasts. Featherwork is also typical of this period on the coast. The feathers are sewn on a base cloth and designs are produced by arrangement of different colored feathers, sometimes resulting in mosaic-like patterns. Metalwork is more abundant than in previous pe- riods and some new techniques are added to the earlier inventory. Bronze, or the alloy of tin and THE CENTRAL ANDES 213 copper, is now known, and the casting of copper became widespread for the first time. Gold, silver, copper, and bronze are all used in making such orna- ments as masks, earrings, beads, crowns, and breast- plates. The Chimu earplugs are long cylindrical tubes of gold, decorated with fine incised designs. At one end is a circular dise with hammered relief figures augmented by attached bangles. Goblets, bowls, and plates are made of silver and gold. There are also a great many utilitarian artifacts of copper and bronze, illustrated by points for digging- sticks, club heads, knives, and needles. Many other artifacts are made of shell, bone, stone, and wood. Basketry is common. Decorated calabashes are particularly typical, some ornamented by pyro- gravure, others by mosaic insets of beads and seeds. The existence of an urban pattern in itself sug- gests a strong social and political organization. The maintenance of a city must have been difficult under conditions in which it was necessary to trans- port all food by llama or by individuals on foot and in which markets, monetary units, or formal exchange patterns were apparently unknown. The erection of pyramids composed of billions of adobes and of cities covering many square miles required organized labor. Certain sections of the cities seem to have been religious centers, others the headquar- ters of administrative units. Definite class distine- tions are indicated by striking differences between dwellings in the same site, by marked contrasts in the quantity and quality of grave goods, by varia- tions in clothing, and by the few records left by the Spanish chroniclers. The separated walled-in units of Chanchan and other sites suggest that social 214 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY groups, of ayllu or clan type, persisted within the political superstructure. The wide distributions of these regional cultures and the high degree of simi- larity of materials within a region imply over-all political unity. If the nature of this unity is un- known its roots lay in the traditional experience with centralized authority, the authority needed to plan and control the irrigation systems. There is also evidence for formalized religious organization, although in general this seems secondary to the political organization. Rivalry and conflict would be the inevitable result of a series of expanding local political organizations. Although the City Builders of the coast seem far stronger than their Highland neighbors, subsequent history proves otherwise. In the next period the Highland Inea not only conquered and incorporated all parts of the Central Andes, but extended their political empire well beyond its borders. There is remarkably little archaeological evidence for the de- velopment of the Inca organization in the Central Highlands. The Early Inea culture, recently iso- lated, is estimated to cover the time period of 1200 to 1488 A. D. The few known sites of this culture contain carelessly executed ceramics with simple de- signs, rough stone walls, beehive-shaped tombs with erude corbeled vaults, and a limited inventory of metal, bone, and stone tools. Future archaeological work will certainly enlarge this picture. There is still no knowledge of cultural development around Cuzco in the Mastercraftsman Period, although it was presumably of sufficient strength to resist the Tiahuanaco influence in the Expansionist Period and to continue through the City Builder Period until it became the center of the Inca Empire. THE CENTRAL ANDES Bid Imperrauist PErtop (ca. 1450-1532 A. D.) The Inea Empire marks the final formulation of Central Andean culture which persisted up to the time of the Spanish conquest (Fig. 47). The politi- eal system in previous periods may have been a Fig. 47. Maximum expansion in the Imperialist Period. confederacy, a feudal state, or a military band or- ganization. However, the Inca had a true political empire which united the enormous territory from northern Ecuador to the Rio Maule in Chile under a single ruler, thus encompassing not only the Cen- tral Andes, but much of the Northern and Southern Andes as well. As mentioned before, little is known about the specific origins of the Inca culture. The Karly Inea culture in the Cuzco region is not very impressive and is not the only stem for the develop- 216 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY ment which followed. Inca mythology contains sev- eral accounts of their origin, but while these are interesting, they have little historical reliability. Actually, the question of precise origin is only of academic interest since the basic roots of Inca civili- zation are found in the archaeological past of the Central Andes, as demonstrated in the previous chapters. The complete gamut of Inca technology had been developed and the shift of emphasis to po- litical organization had occurred in earlier periods. The Inea contribution was little more than a re- formulation of the political pattern into an empire building system. The archaeological remains of the Imperialist Pe- riod preserve a record of the material culture, the construction, the types of towns, the modes of burial, and the standard implications about social and po- litical organization. However, the reconstruction of Inca culture is no longer based exclusively on archaeological evidence. The historical, documen- tary records present the accounts of the first Span- ish conquerors, the early travelers, Catholic priests, and even of prominent Indians who were European educated. On the basis of these documents, it is possible to reconstruct a fairly detailed picture of Inca culture. However, even without such records, it would still be feasible to verify the extent and magnitude of the Inca Empire. Like the Tiahua- naco, the Inca horizon is a complex composed of a number of distinctive artifacts and styles. The chief diagnostics are the ceramic type, the building style, certain techniques and designs in textiles, typical metal artifacts, and specialized stone objects. This complex is found throughout the extent of the Inca Empire. Furthermore, the concentration of THE CENTRAL ANDES 217 unmixed Inca materials at Cuzco implies that it was the center of this vast cultural diffusion. Although the geographical extent of the Inca Km- pire is well known, the size of its pre-Spanish popu- lation is dubious, as shown by the estimates which range from three to sixteen million. The Inca themselves undoubtedly kept census records, but none was transmitted to the Spaniards. Since the Kmpire was organized in a decimal system and since the ideal province had forty thousand work- ers representing about two hundred thousand in- habitants, the population could be easily computed if the number of provinces contained in the Empire were known. The first Spanish census, taken in about 1571, gives a total of about 1,500,000 Indians for the Central Andes. Since this census was taken some time after the Spanish conquest, it raises the question of the rate of reduction of Indian popula- tion during the years of struggle. T'wo estimates have been made in the 1946 ‘‘Handbook of South American Indians.’’ George Kubler favors a two to one reduction ratio, based on comparisons with Mexico and the absence of serious epidemics, and thus arrives at a total pre-Spanish native popula- tion of three million. John H. Rowe prefers a four to one reduction ratio, based on records of specific provinees, and arrives at a figure of six million. Adding in other parts of the Empire, it would not seem unreasonable, then, that the population was not less than three and a half million nor more than seven million. Some authors have claimed that the populations were larger in the pre-Inca periods but there is no archaeological confirmation of this, nor is it likely since the Inca had the same technical and agricultural knowledge as their predecessors. 218 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY The early Spaniards recorded the traditional lists of Inea rulers, together with miscellaneous informa- tion on the reign and conquests of each. John H. Rowe has made a study of these documents and ar- rived at the following list of Inca rulers with their dates of reign: . Manco Capae . Sinchi Roca . Lloqui Yupanqui . Mayta Capac . Capac Yupanqui Inca Roca . Yahuar Huaca Viracocha . Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-1471) . Topa Inca Yupanqui (1471-1493) 11. Huayna Capae (1493-1525) 12. Huasear and Atahualpa (1525-1532 bo os fO ON SO ea =) The information about the first eight rulers is hazy and inconsistent. Rowe considers the year 1250 a reasonable date for the first ruler and be- lieves that the first eight represent a local Cuzco development corresponding archaeologically to the Early Inea culture. The true Inca Empire was thus created between the time of the ninth ruler, Pacha- euti Inca Yupanqui, and the Spanish conquest, that is, In less than one hundred years. Undoubtedly there had been raids outside of the Cuzco region in earlier times, but the first territorial conquest was the Lake Titicaca region campaign in 1445. The incorporation of most of the other areas occurred after 1470. When the Inca began this expansion, many of the coast cultures were well united politically, and the Highland groups, while less concentrated, were or- gvanized into protective confederacies. The Inca THE CENTRAL ANDES 219 military conquest encountered varying degrees of resistance. Many years of fighting were required to conquer the Highland tribes and even then gar- risons had to be constantly maintaimed to prevent rebellion. Other groups were less resistant and some of the largest, like the Chimu on the North Coast, were incorporated by passive persuasion. Many of the marginal groups, like the Chiriguano in the east and the Arauecanians in Central Chile, were never actually conquered. The Inea conquests were not inspired by popula- tion pressure, but rather by a desire for economic eain in the form of new administrative posts, new produce, new labor supply, and more soldiers, and by the necessity of strengthening the position of the ruling class. The conquests were carefully planned. A propaganda campaign usually pre- ceeded the military aggression. Official emissaries endeavored to point out the benefits of Inca con- trol and missionaries attempted to make converts for the official sun worship. If these were unsuc- cessful, the army entered in mass formations of eight to ten thousand soldiers and effected the con- quest by siege, cutting off the food supplies, building forts, and pitched battles. The army was well or- ganized and discipline was severe. All officers were from the upper class, but the soldiers were common- ers. All able-bodied men were subject to the draft, and it is estimated that one-tenth of the adult male population was in the services. The families of the draftees were supported by the state. Military in- struction was given in the use of all weapons: bronze battle axes, slings, bows and arrows, spear throwers, lances, hard wooden clubs, and clubs with stone or bronze heads. Metal helmets, thick jackets, 220 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY and shields were used for protection. All of the weapons had been used for many years throughout the Central Andes, so that success of the Inca is not ascribable to superiority in weapons, but rather to superior military organization. The captured province was systematically incor- porated into the Empire system. A census was taken and a rough relief map of the terrain was modeled in clay. Villages were frequently shifted and new towns were built. The administrative of- ficers were usually members of the Inca caste, but every effort was made to continue the previous local rulers in office. To assure their loyalty, their sons were taken as hostages to Cuzco where they received the formal, upper class education. The Inea imposed their sun-worship religion on the new subjects, made the Quechua language the official one, and required Inea style dress, although local distinctions were permitted. If the conquered peo- ples continued to be rebellious, the Inca resorted to the system of mitimaes whereby whole villages were transplanted to another district and replaced by pacified populations. As each new district was con- quered, the network of roadways was extended to include it, so that ultimately the whole Empire was linked by connecting roads. Some of the roads were paved, some hewn out of the bed rock, and some merely indicated by markers. Rivers and gorges were crossed by means of suspension, pontoon, and eable bridges. Inns for the travelers were main- tained at intervals along the road. Widespread communication was effected by means of profes- sional runners, the chasquis, who covered as much as one hundred fifty miles a day by running in re- lays. However, the Inca Empire did not endure THE CENTRAL ANDES 221 long enough to provide a true test of the effective- ness of this system of pacification and incorporation. In the Imperialist Period, subsistence was based on intensive agriculture, which by this time had passed through the stages of exploitation and con- servation and reached that of restoration. No new plants were domesticated, but all those known pre- viously were still grown. Likewise, irrigation, ter- races and other techniques were little changed, al- though the digging-stick was slightly improved by the addition of a foot bar and a handle. The im- portance of agriculture was recognized and inti- mately linked with other aspects of culture. A ereat proportion of the laborers were so engaged; the work was done in groups rather than individu- ally. For example, the planting season was deter- mined by solar observations; the priests fasted to insure good crops; public religious ceremony ac- companied the first planting and the harvest. The ruling Inca and members of the upper caste made agriculture a symbol of honorable labor by breaking the first ground themselves. The Inca used per- sonal service as a form of taxation and agricultural work became the economic basis of the system. Each family cultivated not only its own plot of land, but also worked on the fields assigned to the church and the state, the produce from which supported the political superstructure. The common foods prepared in Inea times are still used by the contemporary Indians and had un- doubtedly long been known. Llama meat was cut into strips and dried as charqui. Potatoes in the high altitudes were frozen into chuiio, which could be preserved for long periods of time. The basic dish, called chupe, was a corn or potato soup with 222 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY other foods added to form a stew. Corn was toasted, popped, roasted, and used in many other ways. [or example, t’anta was a cornbread, minta a sweet cornbread, yahuar gancu a cornbread mixed with blood for ceremonial occasions. A corn beer, chicha, was also prepared for religious and secular celebrations. ‘Tobacco was utilized only in the form of snuff for medicinal purposes, but the narcotic coca was of great importance. Coca chew- ing among the Inca was a restricted upper class privilege; the commoners were permitted to use it only on special occasions. In the Imperialist Period, each district produced more than was needed to support the local popula- tion and this surplus was stored in state granaries throughout the Empire. Careful records were kept of production and storage since the surplus was used to support the aristocracy, the priests, and the spe- cial artisans, and the army and all laborers who were working on public projects or in the mines. The surplus also provided social security on the occasions when a district was stricken with famine because of crop failure. All eultivable land was divided into three parts. The first, and usually the smallest area, was as- signed to the support of the priests and the temples. The second was the property of the state, acquired by confiscation or as the result of new irrigation projects. The third, and usually the largest por- tion, pertained to the local villages for their own support. The village land was divided into strips of equal size, each considered large enough to sup- port only one couple, so that additional assignments were made for each child. Since the village lands were controlled collectively, only a house and per- THE CENTRAL ANDES 223 haps a garden plot belonged exclusively to the fam- ily. There was no monetary system. Local markets allowed simple exchange of goods on a barter basis, but even this practice was not very extensive. ‘To be sure, great quantities of produce were trans- ferred from one region to another, but this was state property and state controlled business. Ior- eign trade likewise was a state monopoly. The herding of llamas and alpacas continued to be an important subsistence activity. Here again, a distinction was made between individually owned animals and state flocks, the tending of which was another form of tax payment. Along the coast and around Lake Titicaca fishing was a common addi- tion to the subsistence, but hunting everywhere had become a sport restricted to the upper caste. Extensive building activities are characteristic of the Imperialist Period. These range from irri- gation systems, agricultural terraces, roads, and bridges through various types of habitations to large public centers, temples, and forts. The dwell- ings of single families were generally one-story rectangular buildings, with walls of rough stone or adobe, floors of trodden earth, and gabled roofs with grass thatch. Such houses had narrow door- ways, and niches and pegs in the walls, but no win- dows. The house furnishings were very meager, consisting of a single platform bed and such utili- tarian objects as grindstones, clay braziers, animal skins, and rush mats. A compound of several such houses was occupied by the extended family, and a village consisted of a scattered group of such com- pounds. In general, the Imperialists were not urban dwellers, although some of the religious and 224 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY administrative centers reached respectable sizes, and were planned and constructed by special archi- tects. One of the best known town centers is Machu Piechu (Fig. 48), built on a high ridge near Cuzco. The ruins present a conglomeration of terraces, house compounds, courts, stairs, terraces, and tem- ples. Most of the construction is done with rough stone, but some of the important units are built of carefully dressed and fitted stone. The best houses have windows, carefully built niches, stone wall pegs, and narrow doorways capped with stone lintels. The large public buildings for religious or admin- istrative purposes are quite ambitious affairs, but even so all of those better known can be assigned to the one hundred year period of Empire expan- sion. In the Coast buildings, large rectangular adobes were used, but in the Highlands stonework of many types was utilized. In Cuzco alone there is a megalithic style with large slabs and blocks of irregular sizes and shapes carefully fitted to- gether; a similar style but with smaller stones; walls built of unit blocks, either dressed smoothly on all sides or left slightly rounded on the outer face (Fig. 49). These different building styles do not imply a sequence since their employment seems to have been functionally determined by the purpose of the construction, whether it was intended to support a heavy superweight, to be a free standing wall, or to have some other function. The archi- tects planned the buildings by making clay models. In viewing the finished structures it is worth bear- ing in mind that they were produced without benefit of any iron or steel tools; that the available bronze was of little or no use in stone cutting. Quarrying iechu. ichu P ‘ « idel of M c t C1 ve c imous Inea ‘ re The f ig. 48. EF 226 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY was a laborious process of pecking and hammering stone against stone until the desired block was so nearly free that the final cleavage was simple. Most of the dressing and fitting was obviously done at the last moment at the construction site. Many of these walls have stood for over four hundred years, testi- fying to the skill exercised in their construction. The quality of the masonry is a remarkable achieve- ment, although it does not surpass that of some of the earlier periods. Craftsmanship was still at a high level of compe- tence, but the artistic quality does not match the earlier achievements. Each family among the com- moners made the pottery, textiles, and other arti- facts necessary for its own use. Selected specialists produced the finer work for upper class and cere- monial uses. These specialists were supported by the state, but were not organized into craft guilds, nor, so far as can be judged, was their position par- ticularly favored in the social system. The art style of this period is distinctive and is identifiable in every craft. The ceramics are well made, highly polished, and polychrome painted with black, white, red, yellow, and orange. Except for small, stylized butterflies, bees, and animals, the design is frankly geometric, consisting of serrations, bands, diamonds, checkers, triangles, cross hatch, circles, and dots. The vessel shapes are standardized. Most characteristic is the aryballoid jar with its conical pointed base, vertical, flat side handles, tall flaring collar, and animal head body nubbin (Fig. 50). Shallow, bird handle plates, straight-sided goblets, pedestal base beakers, one and two-handled pitchers, and bottles are also com- ee Ah Died Te Fe! om | Fig. 49. Types of Inca masonry. Top, Machu Picchu; lower left, Fortress of Sacsahuaman; lower right, a street in Cuzco. | 227 er) Fig. 50. Inea artifacts: laequered wooden kero, ceremonial stone llama form and bowl, two very typical pottery containers, a pitcher and aryballoid container water or beer jar. 228 THE CENTRAL ANDES 229 mon. This typical Inca ceramic style is found throughout the widespread Empire. The weaving is competent; control of all earlier techniques is demonstrated, but the number of truly fine pieces is limited. Among the best examples of the weavers’ craftsmanship are ambitious tapestry ponchos decorated with small design units. Warp patterns and repps are very common. The clothing pattern previously established is continued and de- tails of dress, particularly in headgear, distinguish class, special occupation, and regional residence. The woven articles include breechclouts, mantles, waistbands, headbands, poncho shirts, rough blan- kets, belts, bags, and slings. Metalwork now included quantities of both utili- tarian artifacts and ornaments. The collections of gold ornaments demonstrate great skill in work- manship and this is verified by the early Spanish descriptions. The utilitarian objects are now com- monly made of bronze and include club heads, digging-stick points, tweezers, chisels, flat-headed pins, dises, and needles. New methods of gilding and casting are added to the techniques previously known. Stone carving is not associated with this period, but stone artifacts are numerous. The most distinctive are bowls, club heads, stellate-shaped mace heads, and small carved llamas with holes in their backs for offerings. Wood is also used exten- sively. The wooden kero, or goblet, decorated by lacquer inlay, is a most characteristic container. The Imperialist Period placed great emphasis on social and political organization. Actually, the sys- tem developed was little more than a formalization of tendencies already initiated in the Central Andes. The family and extended family were still basic 230 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY units. Several extended families were united by a local village group, or ayllu, which theoretically con- trolled the real property. The ayllu is sometimes ealled a clan, but actually it lacks the kinship unity and other characteristics of this unit of social or- ganization. Instead, the extended patrilineal fam- ily within the ayllu was the most important kinship group, and also cooperated in labor, controlled the education and marriage of the children, and sup- ported local religious cults. The entire village, how- ever, also had certain social and religious functions which increased in importance when the Inca for- malized them. For example, the Inca made mar- riage within the village compulsory. Furthermore, the village was made an economically independent unit of sufficient strength so that it has survived up to the present day. The economic system was based on the organiza- tion of man-power labor units. The population was classified into twelve age grades to facilitate the maintenance of a labor census. Those classed in the able-bodied age grade were taxed by being as- signed a specific quantity of labor service such as agricultural work on the state and church fields, army service, herding, or work on a public building project. Records were kept of each individual’s contribution. The assignments were made in terms of quantity rather than time, so the man who could use the assistance of his children finished sooner than the others. The system also encouraged ex- change of labor on a cooperative basis, particularly in the form of individual arrangements for substi- tute laborers. In most cases this made little differ- ence since the work was performed in groups, and the tasks demanded little skill. In fact, much of THE CENTRAL ANDES 93 1 the planning consisted in reducing the work units to the unskilled level. The political system, usually described as pyram- idal, was based on the labor unit. Ten laborers formed a work group under the supervision of a foreman. In the ideal pattern work groups corre- sponded to the village or ayllu, under the direction of ahead man. In turn, ten village units formed a tribe, under the supervision of a high-ranking offi- eial. Such pyramiding continued until large units corresponding to the four quarters of the Empire were attained. The ruling Inca formed the apex. In the functioning of this system each administrator reported to his immediately superior official, and so on up to the Inca. In reverse, the Inca’s orders fil- tered down to the laborers. Administrative officers of the same magnitude were not organized in any way. Instead this vertical political organization was cut across by the sharp class distinctions which had by this period assumed the rigidity of a true caste system. The upper caste contained two classes: the Inca aristocracy, the original conquerors and their fami- lies and the nobles, composed largely of the previous rulers in the local districts seized. The lower caste included all the commoners, the basic mass of the labor population. The outstanding distinction be- tween these castes was in the privileges accorded them. The upper caste had finer garments, more permanent houses, gold and silver service; but food was abundant for all, and coarse clothing, adobe houses, and ceramic vessels do not imply poverty. The differences in privilege, however, were numer- ous. Not only were travel, dress, marriage, and celebrations regulated for the commoners but they 232 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY were forced to perform all the manual labor. The upper caste controlled all of the higher administra- tive and religious posts, were permitted several wives, performed no labor, and were treated with extreme reverence and homage. Formal education was limited to the upper group. Little mobility was allowed in the system so that it was virtually im- possible for a commoner ever to enter the upper caste. Even those selected as specialists in weaving or metallurgy remained in the lower caste. The ruling Inea himself had absolute authority and was considered divine. His symbols of authority were a special mace, a feather headdress, and other dis- tinctive insignia. Most of the Inca rulers, judged by achievement, were outstanding men. The caste system had become so dominant that in reference to any aspect of the Imperialist Period, distinction must be made between upper versus lower class. Archaeological information about customs and ceremonies of the life cycle is at best meager and conjectural, and even with the addition of the Span- ish records the data are still limited. It is known that children were considered an economic asset and, therefore, desired. The mothers observed cer- tain prenatal taboos, but there was no special cere- mony at the birth of a child. The infants were kept in cradles until old enough to walk, and weaned at about two years of age. At this time a special naming ceremony was performed by the family and close relatives. The infant’s hair was tied into bunches which were cut off singly by the partici- pants who contributed gifts and selected a name. Most of the names were those of animals, natural objects, places, or particular qualities. In the up- per easte, special titles of rank were added. Chil- THE CENTRAL ANDES 233 dren played with tops and balls, and competed in footraces. Education for the commoners consisted of practical home training in those erafts and tech- niques necessary for self support. In the upper caste, education was formalized under the supervi- sion of special wise men who taught regular courses in history, mathematics, religion, and language. The twelve age grades, previously mentioned, were not recognized in local custom. However, the tran- sition from youth to adulthood was an occasion for rigorous tests in the upper caste. Among the com- moners marriage was a family affair arranged by the parents within the village unit. The families eoncerned held simple home ceremonies; once or twice a year the marriages were officially recognized by the Inea overlord at a public ceremony. Death and burial were family affairs among the commoners but the occasion for elaborate public ceremonies among the upper caste. Pits, caves, and bottle- shaped graves were used for burial; important indi- viduals were buried in a seated position, wrapped with fine cloth, and accompanied by many offerings. The Inca calendar was based on the solar year and the lunar phases, but was not recorded. In contrast to the Maya, however, their observations and calculations were not elaborate. Although lack- ing any form of writing, numerical records were kept of the quantity of crops raised, the size of the herds, the population totals in terms of age-grades, and many others. The exact system of calculation is not known although it had a decimal basis. Boards with various box-like divisions have been found which were probably used as a form of aba- eus for calculation with beans or pebbles. What- ever the system of counting, the totals were recorded 234 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY on the quipu. This consisted of a base cord with a series of attached strings on which half-hitch knots represent decimal units. The numbers from one to nine were recorded at the extreme tip of the string, and the tens, the hundreds, and sometimes the thou- sands were proportionately closer to the base cord. Strings of different colors represented specific cate- gories of objects. On some quipus the total for a group of four or more strings was recorded on an- other on the opposite side of the base cord. In examining the religious beliefs and practices of the Imperialist Period, a distinction must be made between the local village cults, maintained by the commoners, and the formal state religion di- rected by the priests of the upper caste. The dis- tinction is an elaboration and formalization rather than in the basic beliefs which are, in both cases, concerned with the agricultural cycle, nature wor- ship, and especially ancestor worship. The gods in the official state religion were arranged in a hierar- chy. Viracocha, the leader, was considered to be the creator of the world and to reside in heaven. The Sun, second in importance, was the protector of the crops. He was represented by a golden dise with a hammered relief face. Thunder followed as the god of weather and warfare, appropriately represented by a club and a shield. The Moon, as the wife of the Sun, held an important position. Many stars were identified as lesser gods and some constellations, like the Pleiades and Lira, had spe- cial functions. The Earth and the Sea had appar- ently been important gods in earlier periods and continued to be prominent. There were many ehosts and spirits, both good and evil, but these were outside of the formalized hierarchy. THE CENTRAL ANDES 235 The state religion was in the hands of a priest eroup, arranged in a pyramidal system in which the upper caste occupied the top positions. The priests as well as the religious temples and shrines were supported by the commoners. The principal cere- monies were calendrical, at least one for each month, and more important ones for the new year and the solstices. Other ceremonies were held on irregular occasions such as the death of the ruler, the inauguration of his successor, and the initiation of warfare. The public ceremonies were elaborate, several day affairs organized by the priests for the benefit of the commoners. East and west were the most important ceremonial directions. The gods were approached with special attitudes of worship in which the priest faced the image, bowed, and stretched out his arms. Fasting and confession were regular duties of the priests. Offerings and sacrifice were important in the ceremonial. Prison- ers captured in warfare were sacrificed or children were offered by their parents for this purpose, but this practice was not carried to extremes. More common was the sacrifice of llamas and alpacas selected for their particular color or markings. Food, coca, clothing, gold and silver objects, and other things were burned on the altars as sacri- ficial offerings. The ceremonies also included the consumption of special ceremonial foods, chicha drinking, and coca chewing. The most elaborate ceremonies were held in Cuzco and involved many participants. The priests and privileged members of the upper caste conducted parts of the ritual within the temples. The com- moners were restricted to special sections of the city where they observed only the public phases of 236 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY each ceremony. Groups of warriors in full regalia engaged in violent activities in order to drive off evil spirits. There were parades, games, and dances at every performance, and sometimes the mummies of the important deceased were removed from their burial vaults and carried in the parades. The ceremonies started at sunrise and closed at Fig. 51. Musical instruments, panpipes, flutes, whistles, and a horn. sundown with a ritual bath for all the performers. Special chants and songs were composed for the dancers who were specially trained groups with elaborate masks and costumes of skins or feathers. The music, all in the pentatonic scale, was provided by skin drums, bronze gongs, copper bells, bone flutes, panpipes, trumpets, and whistles (Fig. 51). Apart from the hierarchy of priests in the state religion many lesser priests presided at local THE CENTRAL ANDES 237 shrines. These were actually medicinemen or soothsayers who, under the influence of liquor and narcotics, went into trances and then uttered ora- cles which revealed the wishes of their controlled spirits. Some became very famous and pilgrims traveled many miles to consult them. Other medi- cinemen also practised divination with Hama lungs, coca leaves, and dream interpretations, or effected magical cures; still others specialized in herb cures. Among the commoners, the village and the ex- tended families conducted their own local cere- monies for curing the fields, curing the sick, call- ing the winds, before beating and winnowing qui- noa, increasing fertility and the ritual occasions surrounding birth, naming, marriage, and death. These ceremonies were not led by priests, but by members of the village. Each extended family built a local cult around the founding ancestor and kept special household fetishes, such as bundles of corn- stalks or small stone llamas. Finally, each indi- vidual had his own guardian spirit. The Imperialist Period is a natural outgrowth of the earlier Central Andean patterns. The tech- niques of agriculture and craftsmanship had long since been perfected to the point where large popu- lations could be supported and their fundamental needs successfully met. Likewise, the shift of em- phasis from technology to manipulation of labor units had passed through a reasonable period of experimentation. The Imperialist pattern was only one of the possible formulations, but certainly a logical one. An objective evaluation of the Im- perialist system is difficult. It consisted basically of a sharp dual division between a large lower caste of workers and a small privileged upper caste. The 238 ANDEAN CULTURE HISTORY commoners were organized around the ayllu or vil- lage which became a self-sufficient unit for the sup- port of its members, the production of the necessary housing, clothing and other artifacts, the mainte- nance of local government and of local cults. Na- tional government, economic security, and protec- tion were under the control of the upper caste. The gap between these castes was ever increasing, until no equality was admitted. Knowledge and education as well as the skilled productions in the arts and crafts were controlled by the upper caste. When the Spaniards replaced the upper caste, fol- lowing the conquest, there was naturally a rapid breakdown in craftsmanship and education. The Inca Empire had existed less than one hun- dred years before the conquest, which probably fur- nished insufficient experience to perfect final con- trols. Had it been uninterrupted by the Europeans, modification might well have occurred and the size of the Empire unit might easily have been reduced. However, it is doubtful that the fundamental pat- tern would have changed greatly since it had been maintained for several centuries. There were, to be sure, signs of weakness in the Inca political sys- tem itself. The pyramidal structure, while efficient, failed to provide esprit de corps or communication between officers of the same rank. The regimenta- tion in the Empire was excessive in spite of the enuarantee of security. It certainly appears that the commoners’ loyalty to the upper caste was not very great.