The Ancient Central Andes (Routledge World Archaeology)

353 Pages·2013·11.664 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Quilter

THE ANCIENT CENTRAL ANDES
“Quilter’s text is a succinct and up to date account of the cultural history of the Central
Andes. Period by period he cuts to the heart of the important developments, and provides
students with a sense of the magnificence of ancient Andean civilization. His explanations
and interpretations of past events are clear, yet nuanced and balanced.”
Katharina Schreiber, University of California, USA
The Ancient Central Andes presents a general overview of the prehistoric peoples and
cultures of the Central Andes, the region now encompassing most of Peru and significant
parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. The book
contextualizes past and modern scholarship and provides a balanced view of current
research. Two opening chapters present the intellectual, political, and practical
background and history of research in the Central Andes and the spatial, temporal, and
formal dimensions of the study of its past. Chapters then proceed in chronological order
from remote antiquity to the Spanish Conquest.
A number of important themes run through the book, including: the tension between
those scholars who wish to study Peruvian antiquity on a comparative basis and those
who take historicist approaches; the concept of “Lo Andino,” commonly used by many
specialists that assumes long-term, unchanging patterns of culture some of which are
claimed to persist to the present; and culture change related to severe environmental
events. Consensus opinions on interpretations are highlighted as are disputes among
scholars regarding interpretations of the past.
The Ancient Central Andes provides an up-to-date, objective survey of the archaeology
of the Central Andes that is much needed. Students and interested readers will benefit
greatly from this introduction to a key period in South America’s past.
Jeffrey Quilter is the William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, USA. He previously served
as Director of the Pre-Columbian Studies Program and Curator of the Pre-Columbian
Collection at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC and as a professor of Anthropology at
Ripon College, Wisconsin. He has been involved in archaeological research particularly in
Peru and Costa Rica. He has published numerous articles and books including Life and
Death at Paloma (1989), Cobble Circles and Standing Stones (2004), Treasures of the
Andes (2005), and The Moche of Ancient Peru (2011).
Routledge World Archaeology
Ancient Turkey, Antonio Sagona and Paul Zimansky
Prehistoric Britain, 2nd edition, Timothy C. Darvill
Forthcoming:
Ancient Iran, Roger Matthews and Hassan Fazeli
Ancient Crete, Jan Driessen
Formative Britain ad 400–1100, Martin Carver
Ancient Southeast Asia, John Miksic and Goh Geok Yian
Prehistoric Italy, Robin Skeates
THE ANCIENT
CENTRAL ANDES
Jeffrey Quilter
Γ Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Jeffrey Quilter
The right of Jeffrey Quilter to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Quilter, Jeffrey, 1949–
The ancient central Andes / Jeffrey Quilter.
pages cm. – (Routledge world archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Indians of South America–Andes Region–Antiquities. 2. Indians of South America–Andes
Region–History. 3. Indians of South America–Andes Region–Social life and customs.
4. Andes Region–Civilization. 5. Andes Region–Antiquities. I. Title.
F2229.Q55 2014
980'.01–dc23
2013025670
ISBN: 978-0-415-67309-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-67310-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-85794-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon and Frutiger
by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
CONTENTS
List of figures vi
Acknowledgments viii
Image credits xi
On orthography and dating issues xiv
1 Backgrounds 1
2 Space, time, and form in the Central Andes 23
3 The Early and Middle Preceramic Periods 51
4 The Late Preceramic Period 81
5 The Initial Period 110
6 The Early Horizon 139
7 The Early Intermediate Period 168
8 The Middle Horizon 199
9 The Late Intermediate Period 230
10 The Late Horizon 261
Afterword 288
References cited 297
Index 327
v
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Map of the Central Andes 3
1.2 Illustration by Guamán Poma 6
1.3 Illustration by Martínez de Compañón 7
1.4 Illustration from Squier’s Incidents of Travel 9
2.1 Map of geographic features of the Central Andes 25
2.2 Major environmental zones 27
2.3 Environmental zones profile 32
2.4 Chronological systems for the Central Andes 36
3.1 Map of early sites in North and South America 52
3.2 Lomas fields 57
3.3 Early coastal sites 59
3.4 The Cuncaicha rock shelter 65
3.5 The Paloma site and a Chinchorro mummy 72
4.1 Valdivia 83
4.2 Map of Late Preceramic sites in Peru and Ecuador 87
4.3 Late Preceramic Peru 88
4.4 The Kotosh religious tradition 96
4.5 Asia I 101
5.1 Map of Initial Period sites in the Central Andes 111
5.2 The Initial Period and Late Formative in Northern Peru and Ecuador 116
5.3 Manchay culture 122
5.4 Cupisnique culture 127
5.5 Gramalote 135
6.1 View of the core of the Chavín de Huántar temple complex 141
6.2 Chavín art 143
6.3 The Morro de Eten Burial 149
6.4 Early Horizon on the South Coast 155
6.5 Map of the Titicaca Basin showing variations of Yaya-Mama style carvings 162
vi
FIGURES
7.1 Map of Early Intermediate Area cultures of significance 170
7.2 Recuay culture 172
7.3 Moche culture 176
7.4 Lima culture 183
7.5 Nasca culture 187
7.6 Pucara site and ceramics 195
8.1 Tiahuanaco and Huari maps 202
8.2 Tiahuanaco architecture 204
8.3 Middle Horizon South Andean iconography and artifacts 210
8.4 Camelids and agriculture 214
8.5 Beyond the Wari heartland 219
9.1 Map of Late Intermediate cultures and sites and trade items 231
9.2 Lambayeque culture 240
9.3 Chan Chan and Chimú 245
9.4 Chimú compound model 247
9.5 The Central Coast in the Late Intermediate Period 251
10.1 Inca Cusco 265
10.2 Inca places 270
10.3 The Inca as the Cusco 272
10.4 Inca prosperity 278
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is an essay, an attempt to synthesize current knowledge of the prehistory of
the Central Andes, the region once encompassed by the Inca Empire that includes parts
of present day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. I hope that the
reader will find it informative and interesting in its presentation of the worlds of the
ancient peoples of the Central Andes and some of the ideas that scholars have developed
concerning them. I have certainly found writing this book informative, interesting, and
exciting to research and write, even though I have spent almost half a century involved
in the topics it covers. I learned much in investigating some issues with which I was
relatively unfamiliar, and although my love for the subject has never flagged, I was
reminded of why I became interested in the Andes in the first place.
Indeed, it is astounding to me how much new information is available, compared to
when I first studied Andean prehistory a half-century ago, on everything from the major
topics, such as the features of significant time periods and cultures, to small details about
everyday life at various times and places. The pace of work and publication also has
increased dramatically in recent years. Field, laboratory, and other investigations have
been aided by more and better quality publications than ever before, and by new
generations of scholars including world-class researchers in Europe, North America, Asia,
and Latin America.
I have tried to present information as objectively as possible while being fully aware
that complete objectivity is impossible to achieve in a work like this. I have included some
topics and left others out, and in making those choices my own predilections and biases
have influenced the contents of this book. As much as possible, however, I have tried to
concentrate on major topics and issues with an occasional mention of a small detail that
often speaks volumes. I have included topics that I believe most readers will want to
know about, and tried to present differing views clearly without editorializing.
After two chapters in which I present background information, I proceed chronologically
through prehistory from early to late times. The reader may note that I occasionally
repeat statements. This is partly to emphasize key issues and themes and also because
viii
Acknowledgments
some readers may choose to read chapters separately. In the Afterword I also offer a
summary thumbnail review of prehistory and my own perspective on some key issues
and changing perspectives.
I take responsibility for all statements in this book on the prehistory and archaeology
of the Central Andes. However, I have performed only a tiny amount of the research
examined here; my job has been to present the work, ideas, and opinions of others. I
hope that I have done so accurately and fairly. On occasion I will state my own opinion,
but you, gentle reader, must make the final decision about the controversies you will
learn about by reading the various publications in which arguments are set forth and
which are referenced in my end notes. I also wish to note that there are many scholars
conducting very fine work in the Central Andes whose contributions are not presented
here. This is not because their work is unworthy of inclusion, but simply because the way
I have structured the book demanded that I take certain paths which emphasized some
issues more than others, even while I tried to be inclusive.
I thank the many institutions and people who helped me along the way in putting this
book together. In many ways this book could not have been written without the many
experiences that I have had in Andean countries throughout the years, but to list all of
the institutions and people who have helped me during that time would be excessive for
present purposes. In particular, many people and institutions have kindly helped in
providing illustrations used in this book, or permission to use them. Other people in the
last several years, and particularly in the past two years while I have been writing, have
been very generous with their time and resources, and so I must thank them here.
I begin by thanking the staff at Routledge Publications, especially Matthew Gibbons
who first invited me to write this book, and Amy Davis-Poynter and Kate Rosenberger
who helped on many issues. Special thanks go to Rob Brown, Emma Hudson, and Louise
Maskill the editors who helped to get my final manuscript into shape.
Sincere thanks also are rendered to Robert Batson, Brian Bauer, Robert Benfer, Sergio
Chávez, Ryan Clasby, William Conklin, R. Alan Covey, Tom Cummins, Carlos Elera, Clark
Erickson, Robert Feldman, Isabel Flores, César Gálvez, Christine Hastorf, William Isbell,
John and Silvia Kembel, Alan Kolata, Michele Koons, George Lau, Steven LeBlanc, Ron
Lippi. Don McClelland, Juan Antonio Murro, Bernadino Ojeda, Yoishio Onuki, O. Gabriel
Prieto, Bruce Owen, Tom Patterson, Joanne Pillsbury, Kurt Rademaker, Scott Raymond,
James B. Richardson III, John Rick, Mario Rivera, Matthew Robb, Lucy Salazar, Izumi
Shimada, Helaine Silverman, Peter Stahl, Karen Stothert, John Topic, Santiago Uceda,
Gary Urton, Rafael Eduardo Valdez, and Enrique Vergara. These people have shared
ideas, information and illustrations that made their way into this book, and I am grateful
to them for their aid. My life in Peru and my work there have been made much more
pleasant, interesting, and productive by the generosity and friendship of Marco Aveggio
and the support offered through the Fundación Wiese. Régulo Franco J. also has been a
steadfast friend and colleague and I thank him for all of the support and friendship
ix