"Elites and political power in ancient Peru" based on a lecture by Sergio Purini first in the Pre-Columbian Sunday lectures series, Geneva, 2005-2006 This is a summary of the first lecture held at the Art & History Museum of Geneva alongside with a temporary exhibit, Masters of the Americas, from October 27, 2005 to April 23, 2006. It's basically an introduction to some of the early civilizations, from that of Caral Supe to the Moche, and therefore doesn't require any previous knowledge on the subject. I've completed it by a little research on the net. You'll find the bibliography at the end of the article. Since I am certainly no specialist myself, and despite using several sources, I may leave a few inaccuracies here and there: feel free to contact me by leaving me a scroll or gramming me about those: I'm always glad to learn something new! Pre-columbian = pre-hispanic Table of the pre-hispanic Peru periods When one mentions pre-columbian history in Peru, the first settlement that comes to mind is that of Machu Picchu and the culture, that of the Incas. But the Incan empire was rather short-lived (1438-1533 AD), and is only the last in a long line of civilizations that preceded the Spanish conquest. The territory of modern Peru is one of great diversity. Crossing the country from west to east, one encounters first the coastal plains, narrow and desertic, then the Andes, to finally end up in the Amazon bassin and its jungle; this last part has been barely been searched for archeological evidence so far. Geography will play an important role in the development of the various civilizations in Peru throughout history. For a long time, prehistory is similar to that of the rest of South America: the perid between 8000 and 7000 BC is marked by the end of the big game hunting as most of the big game species, notably the horse that will be reintroduced by the Spaniards millenia later, disappear. Based on our current knowledge, pre-columbian history is already very old, and we keep discovering new elements in Peru, as well as all over South- and Mesoamerica, that regularly change our previous understanding of the development of civilization on that continent. One of those discoveries was a few years ago, when the age of the settlement of Caral, and the civilization of Caral Supe (Supe being the name of the valley where Caral, obviously the center of that civilization, was found), could finally be pinpointed, almost one century after the discovery of the site. Caral was probably inhabitated back in 3500 BC (that date was given by our lecturer; however, most sources online give 3000 BC as the likely beginning or the Caral Supe civilization) until 1600 BC roughly: it's the oldest settlement known to us, and that discovery went against our previous belief that all the civilizations in the region had spanned from that of Chavin (900 BC - 200 BC) Although our lecturer didn't have much time to go into any kind of detail about Caral, I'd like to sum up here some of the essential informations I've found around the net (1). For one, it seems that history starts at Caral: a quipu that may be as old as 5000 years has been found there. If the age of that artefact is accurate, that makes it one of the earliest forms of writing in the world. Also, quipus were used by the Incas, even four and a half millenia later: that may indicate that Incas were in relation with the Caral Supe civilization. It is also at Caral that can be found the huge Pyramide Mayor, built sometime between 2600 and 2000 BC. It is not only the fact that it seems it has served as a model of urban design to the following Andean civilizations that makes it important, but also the fact that its very existance reveals a lot about social organization. That such an impressive work could be achieved means that the community that built it had a stratified society, with various social levels, as it would have required leaders to coordinate the great amount of work needed for this feature. This implies that the wealth produced within that community was unequally distributed (see Conclusions/ Caral - Supe, point 1). But unlike for the next civilizations, like that of Moche, we've found so far no traces of warfare, no weapons related to the Caral - Supe civilization. Those are in fact only a few points about a civilization that would probably deserve an article on its own; until then, you can always visit the links at the bottom to read more about it. After Caral - Supe, it is our understanding that Ancient Peru's history is characterized by cycles that see the domination of one culture, followed by periods of fragmentation, and that will remain true until the Spanish conquest. Even if, as we've just seen, the Chavinculture may not be the one from which all the subsequent others have originated, as it was long believed, it remains the first unifying civilization. An Early Horizon culture (see table), Chavin came to exerce its influence over a great territory covering two thirds of today's Peru coastal and andean areas(see map). There are also obvious links between Chavin and the Amazonian forest: animals that are typical from the latter and don't exist in the Andes, like the caiman or the jaguar, are often represented in Chavin art. Among the cultigens used by the Chavin people, the first ever used in the region, was a type of cassava (manioc, or yuca, in Spanish) that also comes from further east. I've seen two explanations for this: for our lecturer, it is an indication that the Chavin people's origins can be at least partially found in the Amazonian forest. Other believe that it is proof of the relations between the Andes and the Amazon and that those features were imported once Chavin was already established (for this exlanation, see, for instance, The Chavin Cult). It wasn't, however, an Empire: indeed, its influence was established through religion, thanks to missionaries, art and maybe trade, and there was no territorial conquest by warfare, at least not that we know of. There have been, so far, no evidence that there was even a political organization similar to that of a state either; it seems, however, that priests had enough power to have temples built, and that they were somehow apart from the rest of the society. Religion had also a great impact on the society, which we can learn from the religious symbols present on everyday pottery pieces. However, the organization among priests remains unknown to us. The Chavin religion is a successful mix betweens two concepts that may seem antinomic in nature. On one hand, there's a strong shamanic element to it, on the other, there was a deity like that of the "Great Image" or "Smilling God" (about the latter, see Form and meaning in Chavin art), which may, at first, be represented as only human in form, before its features became more feline. This evolution - the representation of both gods and priest with animal and human features, will survive Chavin and will be passed on to the next cultures; so will be a God that will appear later, charcterized by the fact that he is represented holding one staff, or one staff in each hand, although he may not have always been the same God throughout ages. Typically, the Staff God, which seems to have replaced the "Smilling God" as the main deity in the Chavin religion, has pawns instead of hands and has both upper and lower feline canines as physical characteristics. It seems the themes of the cult were fertility and the order of the cosmos, as both the "Smilling God" deity and the shamans were in a way mediators between the different levels, the underworld, the earth and heaven. When it comes to Chavin, I'd like to have a last word about some of the artistic characteristic of Chavin: first, all the space was filled: a good illustration of what I mean is the Raimondi Stone, which represents the Staff God: what space is left above his body is completely filled with elaborate designs. Also, Chavin art is representational, but, to quote J.H. Rowe, "obscured by the conventions which govern the Chavin style and, in many cases, by the fact that representational details are not expressed literally but in a figurative or metaphorical fashion". It makes it difficult for us to decipher the meaning behind the image Part 2: pre- and Mochica: in progress! Sources Caral Special Project Arqueologico: Caral - Supe Caral at Wikipedia Quipu Found at Caral Nearly 5000 Years Old Chavin Peru - History The Chavin Cult Chavin (only in Spanish) Form and meaning in Chavin art, John Howland Rowe, in "Anthropology Emeritus lectures series", U.C. Berckley