Page 202 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

andean states 87

Key Dates in the History of the Andean States

6000 bce Foraging peoples begin farming as well as foraging and fishing.
3500– Valdivia culture period in Ecuador.
1500 bce
3000 bce Permanent villages appear along the coast.
1800–800 bce Monumental architecture tradition leads to much building.
400–200 bce Chávin de Huántar is a major pilgrimage center.
400–200 bce Moche emerges as the dominant culture.
500 ce Wari emerges as a regional center in central Peru.

550 ce Tiwanaku emerges as a regional center in the Lake Titicaca region.
600–800 ce Moche culture declines in regional influence.
900 ce Chimu emerges as a regional center in northern coastal Peru.
1000 Wari and Tiwanaku decline as regional centers.
1400 The Inca state emerges as the largest and dominant regional power.
1500 The Inca state declines due to rebellions and then disease.
1533 The Inca state collapses when the Spanish capture Cuzco.

tive picture of the evolution of Andean states can be Caral, is a 68-hectare complex containing six stepped pyr-
drawn based on decades of meticulous archaeological amids, the largest of which is 19.5 meters tall and 135–
work. 150 meters at its base. The site, radiocarbon dated to
2627–1977 BCE, boasted elite residences, workshops,
State Foundations and commoner dwellings.
By about 6000 BCE, hunting and gathering groups both While the Valdivia culture declined in the second mil-
in the high Andes and along the Pacific coast of South lennium BCE, the monumental architecture tradition con-
America transitioned slowly into a mixed subsistence tinued on the northern and central coast of Peru. From
strategy of gathering, fishing, and farming.This transition 1800 BCE to 800 BCE, villagers built scores of sunken
led to the establishment of small, semipermanent villages courts, platform mounds, and temples. These sites were
that dotted the seaboard by 3000 BCE and to the devel- suddenly abandoned around 800 BCE, perhaps due to
opment of more politically complex societies on the catastrophic flooding from an El Niño weather phenom-
coasts of present-day Ecuador and central Peru. In enon.The highland site of Chávin de Huántar, located in
Ecuador, the Valdivia culture (3500–1500 BCE) shifted the northern highlands of Peru, rose in importance after
slowly toward more intensive fishing and agricultural this event. At the peak of its power from 400 BCE to
practices, and some status inequalities may have 200 BCE, the site was an important pilgrimage center—
emerged. The largest Valdivia sites, such as Real Alto, as evidenced by artifacts found there from a wide region,
grew to more than 30 hectares, and at their height they along with ritual objects and shamanic iconography—
boasted a ring of houses surrounding a plaza and two whose influence could be seen on artistic styles through-
small mounds.Valdivia’s monumental architecture, how- out much of Peru. At this time, the site covered almost
ever, pales in comparison to that of the Supe valley of 30 hectares and was dominated by a 2.25-hectare mon-
central Peru. In the middle of the third millennium BCE, umental stone temple riddled with galleries, air shafts,
as many as eighteen cities grew in the valley on the and water channels. The sites from these periods were
strength of an economy based on cotton cultivation and often massive, but were likely not the products of a state-
interregional trade. The best documented of these sites, level civilization. At this time, the degree of status