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period:
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years ago / 50 years ago
/ 80 years ago / 125
years ago / 150 years ago
250 years ago / 400
years ago / 700 years ago
/ 1,200 years ago
1,500 years ago
/ 2,000 years ago / 3,000
years ago / 4,000 years ago
/ 5,000 years ago / 10,000
years ago
1,500
Years Ago in South America
Chavin
society of the Andes broke down, and was replaced by a number
of related cultures. The Paracas people mummified their dead,
a practice also adopted by the Nazca who came after them. The
Nazca state lasted from about 100-600 AD. The Moche culture
dominated north coast of Peru between 200 BC to 600 AD. These
warlike people, like the Chavin before them, practised human
sacrifice and collected the heads of fallen enemies for trophies.
A clay sculpture from this time has been found showing a man
playing pan-pipes. We cannot, of course, be sure what kind of
music these people played, but similar pan-pipes are still used
to this day to play the distinctive Andean music of Peru and
Ecuador. So we must at least be hearing an echo of the music
of the ancient mountain dwellers.
Tiahuanaco, near Lake Titicaca in present Bolivia, became a
major urban centre around 300 AD, although people had lived
here for at least 1500 years before. By 400 AD, the city occupied
an area of 7-8 square km. It is from this time period that most
of the colossal stone work in the city was done. The city became
the centre of the first true empire in South America, controlling
many other smaller cities, towns and villages. The Tiahuanaco
empire collapsed around 1100 AD, perhaps due to both civil war
and foreign invasion. The religion of the empire was heavily
influenced by Chavin cults. Many gods were worshipped, under
a supreme deity called the "Staff God" from Chavin.
North of Tiahuanaco, was the rival Huari empire which developed
at about the same time. The border between the two states also
roughly marked the border between the Aymara-speaking people
of Tiahuanaco and the Quechua-speakers of Huari. The Huari had
a centralized government under a priest-king. Agriculture was
supported by irrigation. There was an extensive road system
with granaries and military garrisons at regular intervals.
The Huari empire collapsed for unknown reasons around 800 AD.
This marked the end of 2000 years of continuous urban settlement
in the region. No major towns or cities would be built here
until after the Spanish conquest almost 600 years later.
A mound building culture in Venezuela existed. The purpose of
the mounds is not known for sure, but they may have been part
of an irrigation system.
Tiahuanaco
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25
years ago / 50 years ago
/ 80 years ago / 125
years ago / 150 years ago
250 years ago / 400
years ago / 700 years ago
/ 1,200 years ago
1,500 years ago
/ 2,000 years ago / 3,000
years ago / 4,000 years ago
/ 5,000 years ago / 10,000
years ago
