Central and Southern Andes 1000 BCE to 1000 CE

1000 BCE A ceremonial complex consisting of several platforms, a sunken courtyard, and a series of rooms is constructed at Kuntur Wasi (also known as La Copa for the hill on which it is built), located near the headwaters of the Jequetepeque River in northern Peru. The image of a sacred anthropomorphic effigy in clay, about thirty inches high, is deposited in the floor of one of the rooms. Painted with cinnabar red, malachite green, and black, yellow, and pink, its face has big square eyes and a wide mouth with prominent canine teeth.

950 BCE A fifteen-feet-tall monolith representing a deity image with clawed hands and feet, and a huge, fanged, grinning mouth, is erected in one of the many interior spaces of the Old Temple at Chavín de Huantar. It is now known as the Lanzón.

900 BCE At Manchay Bajo in Peru's Lurín Valley, a great wall, 820 yards long, protects the U-shaped temple complex from the flooding and mudslides of the central coast.

850 BCE Chavín de Huantar attracts large numbers of pilgrims and vast amounts of tribute. The resident population includes specialist artisans who produce high-quality stone-relief carvings, fine ceramics, textiles, and gold objects with Chavin

800 BCE The Wankarani people live in the Bolivian Altiplano north of Lake Poopó in villages of round adobe houses painted yellow on the interior and red on the outside. Stone tenon heads of llamas and alpacas are carved, perhaps initially clustered in the ground near ceremonial structures.

750 BCE Ceramic vessels in the northern Peruvian valleys where subtle stylistic variations exist, are fired in subsurface kilns in well-controlled environments. Specialized potters produce single-spout and stirrup-spout bottles, apparently used for liquids such as maize beer. Most are dark brown or gray and monochrome; many are decorated with modeled felines, raptorial birds, and snakes. Surface texturing is also used.

600 BCE Many centers that have belonged to the monumental U-shaped temple tradition on Peru's north and central coasts for over a thousand years are abandoned, perhaps as a result of the devastasting floods of El Niño events.

600 BCE An important individual is laid to rest at Kuntur Wasi. His lavish shaft tomb contains a seven-inch-high crown of hammered sheet gold with fourteen human-head dangles in its diamond-shaped openings. Ceramics from the site show strong affinities with contemporary north coast Cupisnique wares.

600 BCE In the southern Andes, on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, construction begins on the ceremonial complex at Chiripá. The complex is formed of a series of one-room rectangular buildings around a central patio with a sunken court. The walls of some are painted and have niches on the inside.

500 BCE Chavín power begins to wane. Construction of monumental architecture in the north ceases; some centers are abandoned.

500 BCE  The Yaya-Mama (meaning "Father-Mother" in the Quechua language) religious tradition is believed to have flourished in the southern Altiplano. Male-female imagery of paired deities is carved on stone stelae at ceremonial sites in the Lake Titicaca region.

400 BCE The site of Karwa, five miles from the Paracas Peninsula on Peru's south coast, is perhaps the regional Chavín center. Ceramics, pyro-engraved gourds, and textiles are decorated with Chavín-style motifs.

300 BCE The people living on the barren, windswept Paracas Peninsula bury their dead in elaborate funerary bundles. The bodies are wrapped in layer upon layer of fine plain cloth and colorful textiles embroidered with images of animals and elaborately attired supernaturals.

300 BCE The most characteristic ceramic vessel shape on Peru's south coast is the double-spout-and-bridge bottle. Chamber designs are outlined by incision and covered after firing with brilliantly colored resin-based pigments.

200 BCE  Pukará is the largest settlement in the Altiplano north of Lake Titicaca, covering approximately 900 acres. U-shaped courts flanked by fine masonry structures are part of the complex. Three-dimensional stone sculptures depict blocky humans with accentuated ribs and prominent square eyes. Ceramics are slip painted in red, black, white, and yellow, with incisions outlining motifs of frontal humans, spotted cats, llamas, and geometric patterns.

200 BCE On the north coast of Peru, orange-red ware vessels, fired in an oxidizing atmosphere and often decorated with designs in white slip, are made by the Salinar people of the Virú Valley. Red-ware vessels replace the dark monochromes made in the area in previous centuries. In form, Salinar ceramics show continuities with Cupisnique wares.

150 BCE The site of Tiwanaku on the south side of Bolivia's Lake Titicaca is laid out in a grid pattern with civic-ceremonial structures and elite residences forming the center. They are surrounded by a moat. Stone sculptures in Yaya-Mama style, with low-relief carvings of human and animal figures and undulating snakes, are erected.

100 BCE In the south, the Nazca peoples living in the Ica Valley and in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage are impressive weavers, producing cloth using many techniques of the earlier Paracas people. Technically and aesthetically complex works are made.

1 CE The Vicús people in Peru's upper Piura Valley bury their dead in shaft-and-chamber tombs as deep as twenty-nine feet. Among the rich grave goods are hand-modeled ceramics with negative, or resist, decoration depicting human and animal forms. Some show similarities to contemporary late Chorrera ceramics produced in Ecuador, while others resemble styles made by more southern peoples.

50 CE At the site of Sipán in the Lambayeque Valley, a powerful ruler of the Moche people is laid to rest accompanied by a female attendant and a sacrificial llama. Covered with lavish amounts of finely crafted ornaments, the approximately 50-year old ruler wears necklaces, ear and nose ornaments, and headdresses of gold, silver, turquoise, and shell. Entirely enveloped in reed mats and textiles, the funerary bundle thus formed is encircled by a necklace consisting of ten gold beads each measuring 3 1/4 inches in diameter; they represent spiders with human faces on their backs.

100 CE The Moche build urban centers in the northern coastal valleys. In the Moche Valley, construction begins on the Huaca del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and Huaca de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon). Mold-made sun-dried adobe bricks carry distinctive maker's marks, ranging from hand- and footprints to circles and squiggles. Laid in tall, columnlike segments, they create terraced mounds. At completion, the Huaca del Sol consists of an estimated 143 million individual adobe bricks painted red on the outside.

100 CE Inhabiting the fertile coastal valleys of north-central Chile, the El Molle peoples place decorated ceramics, stone pipes, and lip plugs of polished jasper, opal, and onyx in the tombs of their dead.

100 CE The site of Gallinazo in the middle Virú Valley covers approximately three square miles; it is one of the first urban centers in the central Andes. Its ceremonial heart is a complex of adobe structures, pyramids up to seventy-five feet high, platforms, and walled courtyards. Surrounding it are apartment-like rooms, presumably dwellings for a resident population. Gallinazo may be the capital of the first multivalley state in the central Andes.

150 CE Cahuachi, on the south bank of the Nazca River, is the dominant ceremonial site in southern Peru. Sprawling over forty low-lying hills capped with adobe structures, it is a pilgrimage center that attracts hundreds of worshippers to the region.

150 CE Gallinazo ceramics emphasize modeling and resist, or negative, painting. Bottles with strap handles and single, tapering spouts, decorated with a variety of animals and humans, are typical; trophy heads and erotic scenes are new subjects.

200 CE At Cerro Callingará, close to the town of Frías near the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border, an impressive number of exquisitely crafted gold objects, totaling 3.7 kg in weight, are buried. Stylistically and technologically related to gold works from Ecuador and Colombia, the remarkable pieces are sizable headdresses, ear ornaments, staff decorations, and sculptures of humans and animals. The objects are made of individually shaped pieces of sheet gold joined mechanically or by soldering.

200 CE In the desert region of the Pampa of Nazca, south coast peoples create a labyrinth of large-scale geoglyphs, or ground drawings, of animals, birds, straight lines, and geometric shapes, by removing the dark surface layer revealing the lighter colored soil beneath.

250 CE The ruling elite of the northernmost province of the Moche state is buried in the cemetery known as Loma Negra in the Piura Valley. Sumptuous tomb furnishings include large numbers of gold and silver ornaments, and sizable decorated gilt-copper disks and emblems.

260 CE A funerary chamber measuring about 15 by 15 feet is built of sun-dried bricks at Sipán, perhaps the seat of a regional Moche court in the Lambayeque Valley. The wooden coffin of the ruler is surrounded by numerous offerings and the mortal remains of eight retainers. The ruler's body is enveloped in a rich and varied array of finery, emblems, metallic vestments, and ornaments made of precious materials.

300 CE Fine ceramics, brilliantly colored with mineral-based pigments before firing, are produced by Nazca potters on Peru's south coast. Vessel forms are double-spout-and-bridge bottles, bowls, and tall vases with round bottoms. Subject matter ranges from naturalistically rendered plants and animals to complex mythological beings wearing masks and elaborate costumes.

300 CE Metalworking is well established in northwest Argentina. Condorhuasi metalsmiths produce ornaments of hammered gold, copper, and silver; plaques, probably worn as pendants, in the form of elongated hexagons with an hourglass-shaped cutout in the center, are typical.

350 CE The Huarpa people live in small, scattered residential communities in the Ayacucho area of the Peruvian highlands, where they build agricultural terraces. Their ceramics are embellished with red and black designs on white-slipped surfaces. They show a mix of local styles and Nazca influence from the coast.

400 CE In central Tiwanaku, the impressive ceremonial/civic structures of the Kalasasaya platform, the Akapana, and the semi-subterranean temple, are constructed using architectural forms characteristic of the earlier, local Yama-Mama tradition. Precisely cut stone and grand monolithic gateways, some carved with sacred imagery, are featured.

400 CE In the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, located 7,800 feet above sea level, farmers and herders live in small villages of single architectural complexes build around patios and passages. Decorated wooden snuff trays and clay pipes for the consumption of hallucinogenic substances and tobacco are in use.

400 CE Maranga in the Rímac Valley is the preeminent center on Peru's central coast. Several tiered platform mounds are constructed of thousands of adobe bricks (some are still visible within modern Lima). The largest measures about 840 by 320 feet at its base and is covered with plaster and painted yellow.

400 CE The Tafí culture of northwest Argentina produces a wide range of works in stone. Geometricized masks of human faces, ceremonial vessels and mortars in the form of humans and animals, and stelae up to five feet tall, bearing relief carvings of human faces and snakes, are among them.

450 CE The Huaca de la Luna at Moche and the principle temple mound at El Brujo in the Chicama Valley are decorated with polychrome adobe friezes and murals depicting deities and rituals.

500 CE In the Callejón de Huaylas in the central highlands, small independent militaristic polities, such as Recuay, produce sculpture depicting squat human figures, about three feet tall, carrying clubs, shields, and trophy heads. Ceramics made of a white kaolin clay are decorated with tricolor resist painting. A feline creature with a curled tail, large clawed paws, a round eye, and an open, heavily toothed mouth is a prominent image.

500 CE  The largest administrative and ceremonial center of the Moche in the Moche Valley has an urban population of some 10,000 people. Highly skilled, full-time craft specialists produce large amounts of modeled and painted ceramic vessels, colorful textiles, and grand metal ornaments bearing religious images for the rulers and deities.

500 CE  The important center of Cahuachi in the Nazca Valley becomes a burial ground and site for special offerings. It has been the location of organized ritual and pilgrimage activity for many centuries.

500 CE The Gateway of the Sun is erected at Tiwanaku. Cut from a monumental, rectangular block of stone, it has a narrow doorway cut through the center. The frieze is carved in low relief with a complex grouping of mythological figures.

550 CE Galindo, a new settlement in the Moche Valley, allows farmers to control irrigation. The settlement, covering two square miles, includes four platform mounds, residences, storage areas, llama corrals, and pottery workshops.

600 CE Monumental stone sculptures are erected at Tiwanaku. In human form, the largest, known as the Bennett Stela, is twenty-four feet tall. The column-like figures hold ritual implements: a drinking cup called a kero, and a snuff tray. The monumental figures may represent elite lineage founders.

600 CE Wari, built over an earlier Huarpa settlement north of modern Ayacucho in the south-central Andes, is a prosperous metropolis and capital of a rapidly expanding state. Luxury goods such as fine textiles, polychrome ceramics, ritual objects, and personal ornaments in shell, wood, bone, and semiprecious stones are made by artists living in specialized craft compounds within the city.

600 CE A major construction program begins at Tiwanaku. In the city center, many buildings are dismantled and new stone structures are built. The underground system of canals and drains is modified and expanded; sizable elite compounds are built of adobe brick atop cut-stone foundations. They are surrounded by substantial walls. The imposing Akapana Pyramid has seven superimposed, earth-filled platforms of successively smaller size with stone retaining walls.

630 CE Devastating rains associated with El Niño events are followed by long-lasting droughts on Peru's northern coast, undermining the power of Moche rulers. Floods destroy part of the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna at Moche. The once thriving capital of the Moche state begins to be abandoned.

650 CE The Wari build administrative centers in outlying provinces, among them Viracochapampa in the northern highlands and Cerro Baúl in the Moquegua Valley in the far south. Wari architecture features include long enclosing walls built of rough field stones that stand up to forty feet high. Rigidly planned compounds, some of two or more stories, have rectangular rooms set around patios. Access to the compounds is controlled by a limited number of streets and doors.

650 CE In northwestern Argentina, the Aguada peoples build on earlier Condorhuasi-phase developments. Their participation in the wider pan-Andean mythology is suggested by dragonlike creatures and staff-bearing figures incised on handsome gray and polychrome ceramics.

700 CE Eight large Wari portrait jars are deposited near the village of La Victoria in the Churunga Valley in the far south of Peru. The jars, almost three feet tall, reportedly contain ninety-six rectangular cloth panels covered with blue and yellow macaw feathers.

700 CE The Wari people invade and occupy the Cuzco Valley in the southern highlands.

700 CE Moche dominance of the northern coast of Peru begins to fade as Wari influence expands.

700 CE Record keeping in the form of sets of wrapped strings using threads of different colors is in use in Wari.

750 CEAt San José de Moro in Peru's Jequetepeque Valley, a Moche priestess is laid to rest in a cane coffin adorned with necklaces, ear ornaments, and bracelets of shell and bone. Her offerings include seventy-three ceramic vessels, and headdress ornaments and a face mask of hammered copper.

750 CE Aguada bronzeworking is highly developed. Characteristic are ceremonial axes and circular plaques of which the most elaborate feature a richly attired frontal figure in relief flanked by two felines with big ears and long, curled tails.

750 CE At Pikillacta, a Wari site south of Cuzco, two offerings of forty miniature turquoise figurines are buried below the floor of a room. Close to a main ceremonial area, the figurines depict clothed males and females wearing headgear and jewelry that indicate social status and identity. They may be linked to an ancestor cult.

800 CE The Sicán peoples in the Lambayeque region on Peru's northern coast gain power. They produce finely burnished blackware vessels; their shapes and decoration are influenced by both regional Moche ceramics and highland Wari ones.

800 CE Large Wari ceramic jars are intentionally shattered and buried in an offering deposit at Pacheco in the lower Nazca Valley. They are painted with male and female versions of the gateway god at Tiwanaku. Maize, quinoa, and potato plants are also depicted on them.

800 CE A much revered oracle at Pachacámac on Peru's central coast attracts large numbers of pilgrims. The site becomes urban, with ceremonial architecture, palaces, residential sectors, artisan quarters, and storage areas. It may be the regional center from which Wari religion is disseminated.

850 CE The city of Wari is abandoned.

900 CE Tiwanaku is at the height of its political power and cultural influence. The Putuni Complex in the center of the city is rebuilt. It is thought to have been the palace and court of Tiwanaku's royal dynasty. An estimated 500,000 people live in the Titicaca Basin and beyond.

900 CE Metalworkers on Peru's northern coast produce large quantities of arsenical bronze in small pear-shaped smelting furnaces. The durable, hard copper-arsenic alloy replaces copper in the manufacture of tools such as knives, chisels, and needles.

900 CE Five hundred miles south of Tiwanaku, ceramics and ritual objects made by peoples in Chile's Atacama Desert display stylistic Tiwanaku influences. Wood snuff trays carved with images from the Gateway of the Sun and ritual drinking vessels called keros are common among them.

950 CE Impressive public rituals are held at major shrines and temples at Tiwanaku. Animal sacrifices and offerings of precious goods maintain cosmic harmony and ensure prosperity and security.

950 CE Construction begins at Chan Chan, capital of the Chimú kingdom, on Peru's northern coast. Chayhuac is one of the first palace compounds built. The large royal compounds, known as ciudalelas, are constructed of adobe brick and surrounded by walls up to thirty feet high. They have only one entrance.

1000 CE At the presumed capital of the Sicán kingdom in the La Leche Valley on Peru's northern coast, Batán Grande, a ruler is buried almost forty feet below ground at the foot of a stepped pyramid. Four individuals accompany him. The 1.2 tons of grave goods include a large treasure box with sixty head ornaments of sheet gold.