Many thousands of years ago, people settled in
what would become modern day Peru. Life was rugged. The coast was a
desert, one of the driest places in the world. It was freezing in the
mountains, except when volcanoes heated things up. There were
earthquakes and tidal waves and drought. On top of all that, the soil
was poor. Yet people survived and flourished. They survived by being
clever.
Chavin Tribe:
About 1000 BCE, an ancient people called the Chavins carved
faces of their gods on massive walls of rock. They built a vast temple
and tombs at the north end of the Andes.
Paracas:
Archaeologists have found remains of this tribe including ancient
weavings, gold, pottery, and skulls that show of what appears to be
evidence of successful surgery.
Nazca:
This tribe is best known for their wonderful patterns of birds and
spiders and designs marked in the earth. They also left evidence of
their life on their brightly painted pottery.
Moche Empire: Long
before the Incas, this ancient culture built an empire in ancient
Peru. Their brown and cream pottery was shaped in a most interesting
fashion. Archaeologists found a pot that looked like a bird with human
hands. Another pot looked like a potato with human eyes.
Chimu:
This tribe defeated the Moche Empire, and took over for a while. Their
pottery was dark and gloomy. Their major city was about 10 square
miles and home to at least 50,000 people.
Chancay: This
tribe's pottery shows a strange sense of humor that is both playful
and frightening.
Incas: Around
1200 CE, a tribe that would soon call themselves the Incas began to
build the city of Cuzco. About 200 years later, the Chancay attacked
the Incas. The Incas won. In 1438, the new Inca ruler Pachacuti set
about conquering all the other tribes on the western side of South
America.
Early
Americas Unit (Era 4)
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