Page 266 - Perú indígena y virreinal

this was not sufficient to support sustained growth, which is why the Andean “Neolithic”, which lasted throughout the sixth, fifth and fourth millennia, did not prevent the inhabitants from continuing to live in caves or natural shelters or in poorly-equipped villages and settlements. However, all this changed during the third millennium, which is when technology designed to forecast the weather (astronomy) and systems for handling water by means of irrigation and the exploitation of underground water resources became established.
Nevertheless, neither irrigation nor astronomy, two strategies that accompany all neolithization processes, explain the unique nature of the process we are studying here. A unique challenge consisted of the singularity of the cosmic events that are associated with the irregular, unequal and arrhythmic conditions of the rain cycles in Peru. These are linked with the “El Niño” phenomenon, which is caused by thermal variations in the southern section of the Pacific Ocean, establishing alternate periods of long droughts and floods during unequal periods and at irregular intervals.
Only a refined process in which the solar, lunar and star cycles were taken into account in combination with marine thermal variations, was it possible for calendar calculations to be of any use in the Andes. This is where the third millennium made its specific contribution. In their “temples”, urban centres brought together a number of specialists in forecasting the weather, creating “oracles” of different degrees of effectiveness that formed the basis of the agricultural development that made it possible to turn all the lava cones of the rivers along the coast into valleys and these into sources of social development.
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD
It was in these circumstances of urban and agricultural progress that pottery reached Peru, in around 1800 BC. This form of craftsmanship arrived from the Ecuadorian region and the Amazonian jungle where it had emerged during the previous millennium and, perhaps, even earlier. This stage, which is defined by the appearance of pottery, is known as the “Formative Period”. Ceramics came to form a part of this development process, although we should remember that even before it appeared in its finished form, inhabitants both on the coast and in the mountains were experimenting with the plasticity of clay—unfired—in order to model human figures and depict various fruits in the form of vessels for storage or for eating food. We can find a number of highly striking examples of this type in Caral, Aspero, Ancón and Kotosh-Mito, on the Lima coast and in the mountains of Ancash.
The fully developed agricultural community that emerged in Peru achieved some prominence, which facilitated the rapid rise of the population, thus generating surpluses that made it possible to support an increasingly large group devoted to activities not specifically related to agriculture. This can be clearly observed during the first half of the second millennium, which witnessed the emergence of “Chavin civilization”, following a period of intense development, known in archaeological slang as the “Early Ceramic Period” or the “Early Formative Period”. It was during this period that all the various local and regional achievements came together, consolidating an urban-theocratic project that culminated with the formal establishment of the Chavin ‘temples, in the mountains of Ancash.
From what we know today, Chavin represented the culmination of an intense process of integration among all the various systems along the coast, throughout the mountain ranges and the Amazon, which had a distinctly revolutionary effect in each region, not only in terms of the exchange of agricultural experiences and the adaptation of agricultural and livestock resources of various origins throughout the entire territory, but also because we find indications of explosive population growth and enrichment and a significant rise in handicraft and production techniques in general, which went hand in hand with changes in social organization based on the consolidation of the “ceremonial centres”. By bringing together a “non-agricultural” section of the population on either a temporary or permanent basis, these developments enable us to establish the urban nature of growth in the Andes.
The name Chavin, within the context of Ancient Peru, not only refers to the place of the same name in Ancash, but also to a kind of influence that spread throughout almost the entire territory of Peru. It is used to denote a very specific artistic style that, irrespective of its aesthetic connotations, reveals the existence of a highly complex and powerful religious apparatus, whose purpose was evidently linked to the creation of a huge
repressive structure that would have served to sustain and legitimize the dominion of the groups resident in the ceremonial centres. The images that appear in Chavin-style engravings are dragon-like and ferocious, presenting a series of terrifying attributes: the excessively long teeth of the crocodile, the cat or the serpent; the equally exaggerated talons of the hawk and the cat; the ever-hungry jaws of a series of monsters, whose hair consists of serpents and whose wings and claws are frightening. All of this, combined with imposing buildings, jealous guardians and an obvious apparatus for ‘mastering’ the natural forces (by means of astronomy, hydraulic know-how and magic), must perhaps be understood as the basis of a political superstructure, the State, and the obvious difference between the common farmers and the specialists. This was the period and the context within which a purely agrarian and village-based society was transformed into an urban society.
In the megalomania of the Chavin temples, dotted throughout the whole of Peru, from Cajamarca and Lambayeque to Ayacucho and Ica, and behind the ghostly images that have been found engraved on stone or clay, is probably concealed the transformation of the chiefs or “local ethnic lords” into the kings or territorial rulers of the 16th Century. Nevertheless, we should remember that the “Chavin” temples did not depend politically or ideologically on those of Chavin itself, as was thought a few years ago. On the contrary, it appears that these were local or regional developments that enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy, even though we may have evidence of ongoing links and mutual influence among them. We also have evidence that suggests that Chavin de Huantar was a kind of Andean Mecca, one that attracted visitors from “the entire country”.
THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS PERIOD
During this stage of historical development, the main problem to be resolved consisted of the uniform nature of technological development and the diverse range of conditions imposed by the environment. With the discovery of hydraulic technology, the increasingly specialized development of weather charting and increasing capacity to regulate and adapt crops of varied origin to any habitat, Andean society was well equipped to face this challenge. In this respect, the decline or break-up of the Chavin system or what is known as the “Formative Period”, was caused by nothing other than the conflict between this technological and population development and the specific conditions that existed in each region of the country. This led to a ‘regionalization’ of the development process and the establishment of a kind of regional or local identity based on the rulers’ total domination of each region in particular and the corresponding employment of the resources typically found in each area. Where the predominant building resources were mud or stone, the buildings were made of mud or stone, and where multi-coloured mineral pigments were found, the pottery was multi-coloured. Likewise, where there was wool, fabrics were made of wool, and where there was cotton, they were cotton.
However, post-Chavin diversification, regionalization, was only the explicit expression of a general process of growth throughout the entire territory, in spite of the fact that archaeologists distinguish between different styles and ways of building houses and of creating pottery and woven fabrics. The unity of the process was ensured by the fulfillment of shared goals in their battle to master the environment. Thus, for example, the development of metal-working technology not only represented a step forward in their knowledge of Man’s ability to transform the resources around him, but was also used as a resource that very soon became a symbol of power.
The decline of the Chavin Period began in around the 5th Century BC, and the Regional Developments Period—following a transitional stage known as the “Experimental Period” or “Late Formative Period”—reached its heights between the 3rd Century BC and 1st Century AD. The best-known regional developments took place in the valleys along the northern coastline (Moche or Mochica), along the central coastline (Lima) and along the southern coastline (Nasca), as well as in the Inter-Andean valleys of Cajamarca, Callejón de Huaylas (Recuay), Ayacucho (Huarpa) and the high plateau of Titicaca (Tiwanaku). There were various other regional developments, many other local varieties and other minor inter-regional achievements.
Another very important general trend was the process of urban growth. Ceremonial centres featuring very small populations developed into complex
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