Central and Southern Andes 1000 CE to 1200 CE

1000 CE The northern Sicán culture of Peru is at its height. Ceramics, textiles, metal objects, and painted murals bear the image of the so-called Sicán Lord. Perhaps the depiction of Naymlap, the legendary founder of the Sicán dynasty, it might also be the main Sicán deity.

1000 CE In northwestern Argentina, handsome ceramic urns are used for the burial of children. Typical Belén and Santa María urns have small, flat bases, bulging bodies with attached strap handles, and high, flared collars. Abstract human faces are painted in black on red or black on yellow on the urns. The faces are surrounded by geometric motifs, stylized snakes, and other animals.

1000 CE In the northeastern Peruvian Andes, the Chachapoya people build settlements of up to 400 structures along ridges and mountain tops. Stone buildings are circular houses topped with conical, thatched roofs. At Gran Pajatén, some structures are decorated with intricate stone mosaic friezes depicting hawks and splayed human figures.

1050 CE Thin, I-shaped blades of arsenical copper alloy, called naipes, are neatly stacked in burials from the Lambayeque region north to Ecuador. Also called ax money because of their shape, naipes are standardized to at least five different sizes. They are perhaps used by specialized traders as a medium of exchange.

1100 CE Drought begins in the Bolivian altiplano. Tiwanaku is rapidly abandoned. Numerous smaller villages in the surrounding region are settled.

1100 CE The major center at Batán Grande is burned—probably by its inhabitants—and abandoned. A new ceremonial center, Túcume, is built to the west. Several large truncated adobe mounds are constructed around the mountain and natural huaca (sacred place), Cerro La Raya. Agricultural communities are near the fields, fishing villages exist along the coast.

1150 CE In the southern highlands, a number of local ceramic styles derive from earlier Tiwanaku wares. The most widespread style is Mollo. Mollo decorated vessels have geometric designs of diamonds, rectangles, and crosshatching arranged in linear patterns in dull black and yellow-white on red.

1150 CE La Centinela in the Chincha Valley on the southern coast is the capital of a small, wealthy kingdom. Large adobe compounds feature tiered pyramids decorated with adobe friezes and sizable forecourts for public activities. Straight roads link the city to numerous sites in the valley with similar architecture.

1200 CE Pachacamac continues as an important religious center. Control of earthquakes may be among the responsibilities of the principal deity worshipped here. The Ichma peoples of the Lurín and Rímac valleys add monumental pyramids with access ramps to earlier structures at the site.

1200 CE The architecture at Chokepukio, about twenty miles east of Cuzco, features several monumental halls with wall niches similar to constructions found at earlier Wari sites. The buildings may relate to ancestor worship.

1200 CE The Chimú kingdom begins to expand north from the capital Chan Chan in the Moche Valley. They establish administrative centers in conquered valleys such as Farfán in the Jequetepeque valley. Six walled, monumental adobe compounds recall similar structures at Chan Chan.