Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983 - 24

Cementerio de Nanchoc, a Preceramic site , lies nestled in a
side canyon of the Nanchoc Valley. It is cut by a seasonal
stream marked by the line of trees. Of the sitefs two low,
tiered mounds , the undisturbed western mound is on the
right ; the eastern mound has been badly destroyed by
the modern cemetery. Beyond the line of trees is a work
area with a burnt rock midden. Lithics were also worked
on the hilltop and slope in the immediate foreground.
the river or with a high water table. Irrigation makes
farming possible over extended areas of the arid
valley floor. The dry western slopes of the Andean
cordillera have been seen as a sparsely populated
buffer zone between the irrigated coast and the farming and herding regions of the highlands. Finally,
the mountainous areas- where the rivers watering
the coastal valleys have their origin- are ecologically varied with a temperate climate. Rainfall agriculture is possible here. Beyond the mountains to
the east lie the forested slopes of the eastern Andes
and the tropical forest of the Amazon Basin.
The beauty and extraordinary craftsmanship of
Andean weaving, pottery and metalwork and the
spectacular scale of Andean monuments are widely
known. Artifacts in the style of the highland Inca and
Tiahuanaco or the coastal Moche and Chimu civilizations are found in many museum collections. The earlier Chavin style- and the civilization that produced
it- has been called the "mother" of later Andean
cultures; convincing stylistic links between Chavin
and Amazonia have recently been demonstrated.
24

Archaeology

How and where did complex cultures originate in
the Andes and how did they develop? A number
of different approaches to these problems have been
taken. The first focuses on the wealth of marine
resources found in the Humboldt Current off the coast
of Peru. This theory argues that the later highly
advanced urban societies of the coast, which were
dependent on irrigation agriculture, developed out of
earlier, sedentary maritime cultures centered in the
littoral zones of the North and Central coasts of Peru.
The second approach explores how the early advanced hunting societies and incipient domestication
of plants and animals in the high mountain grasslands, or puna , of the Central Andes have played
essential roles in the development of complex societies
in the highlands. Still a third view places the roots
of Andean civilization in the Amazon Basin where expansive groups of sedentary horticulturalists appear to have developed farming at an early date as
well as originated many of the religious and symbolic
syntheses which characterize later Andean civilizations. It is probable that each of the adaptive
strategies characterized by these theories made a
contribution to the development of high civilization
in the Andes. But it is the third approach which
is of particular interest as we attempt to assess the
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Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983