Learn about Archaeology in Northern Peru

From arid Pacific coastal deserts to dripping Amazonian rainforests, from some of the highest waterfalls on the planet to its greatest tropical mountain ranges, Northern Peru has an enviable and varied abundance of scenery and climate.

Hidden within the mountains, forests, and deserts are the remnants of dozens of ancient cultures.

The Incas - and their iconic site of Machu Picchu - tend to garner the headlines, but they were simply the last indigenous power to emerge and consolidate power prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. 

In fact, the Incas are merely the tip of an archaeological iceberg dating back five millennia and leaving thousands of sites, from numerous different civilisations that have risen and fallen in response to environmental, political, and cultural changes … many of which are still little understood and are being actively explored.

Recent Archaeological Discoveries in Northern Peru:

Peru is truly an exciting place to be an archaeologist, as new discoveries are made nearly every day, which often challenge accepted wisdom. Here is just a small sample of the revelations from the last 30 years:

• In 2018 & 2019, digs at two separate sites near Huanchaco, revealed the bodies of 367 sacrificed children, from the Chimu culture, thought to have been offered in response to an El Niño weather event.

• In 2018, large desert line drawings, similar to the Nazca Lines, were spotted near Palpa, in the coastal desert five hours south of Lima.

• In 2004, amongst the some 2,000 Inca mummies found at Puruchuco, in a Lima suburb, was a body with a gunshot wound, indicating violent contact with the Spanish Conquistadors.

• In 2001, carbon-dating at Caral, revealed that this city was flourishing 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, confirming it as the oldest city in the Americas, dated at 2,500 BC approximately.

• In 1997, investigations at Laguna de los Condores, a funeral site located in remote cloud forest near Chachapoyas, uncovered 200 mummies, many of which are now in the excellent Leymebamba Museum.

• From 1987 to 1990, excavations at Huaca Rajada, near Chiclayo, revealed the 1,700 year-old Moche tomb of the Lord of Sipan, considered the richest burial ever unearthed in the Americas.

A Brief History of Pre-Columbian Peru

The earliest known evidence of human settlement dates back 20,000 years, with hunting implements found in the cave of Pikimachay, near the present-day city of Ayacucho. 

Scientists differ on the exact date of human arrival, but archaeologists have amassed sufficient evidence to say that hunter-gatherer communities thrived in Peru by 10,000BC. 

Crop domestication is believed to have started in the flood plains of the Amazon river system, and by 6000BC had spread to the mountain and coastal regions.

Settled communities first sprang up along the over forty river valleys along the desert coast taking advantage of the incredibly rich marine ecosystem. 

Pre-Columbian Peruvian history can be loosely divided into five different periods:

1. The first period, the Pre-Ceramic, lasted until around 1800 BC. By this date, pottery had come into everyday use, spreading from the jungle regions.
   Large, U-shaped complexes were built such as El Paraiso in Lima and Kotosh near Huanuco.

2. The Formative or Initial era lasted until roughly 200BC and was dominated by an important religious cult known as Chavin. This was a style of both wall-carving and pottery depicting felines, serpents, caimans and other symbols from the rainforest.
   It was thought primarily to have begun at the Chavin de Huantar complex near Huaraz; however it was later found that the Sechin complex on the central coast has the same motifs and predated Chavin by about 600 years.  

3. The period from 200BC to 800AD is known as the Classical or Intermediate Era. During this phase, the first political hierarchies came into being:

   1. The Moche civilisation dominated the northern coast, occupying an area from Ecuador to the province of Lima.

   2. On the south coast the Nazca-Paracas culture flourished, famous today for their giant line sculptures etched in the desert. 

   3. In the Andes a group of tribes around the city of Ayacucho coalesced to form the Wari culture around 600AD, building large cities and expanding from Cajamarca in the North to the border of modern-day Bolivia.

   4. The Tiahuanaco civilisation was based around the shores of Lake Titicaca.

4. The Imperial Era followed, lasting until the arrival of the Incas in the 14th Century. The Wari empire collapsed around 1000 AD, breaking Peru up into many smaller regional cultures. 
   One of the most powerful cultures in this period was the Chimu, the successors to the Moche on the north coast and builders of the famous site Chan Chan.
   Meanwhile, on the Eastern side of the Andes, the Chachapoya - a Quechua word meaning People of the Clouds - began building most of their mountain-top cities, such as Kuelap, around 800 A.D.

5. The Inca Empire began to coalesce around 1300, though their power remained limited to the Cusco region for the first century or so. Expansion from their capital in Cusco only began a hundred years before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532.
   The empire eventually covered a huge expanse from the Colombian border south to present-day Santiago de Chile … although they never totally subjugated the Chachapoya.

As more discoveries are made, and new archaeological theories are propounded, these categories are sure to be modified and argued over.

At least, they provide a basic contextual framework for a visit to Northern Peru, which is almost certain to include contact with one or more of the civilisations mentioned above.

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