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Although evidence has been found confirming the existence of ancient communities in Peru dating back many thousands of years, only scanty knowledge about the daily lives of their inhabitants has been gleamed from the scattered remnants of such ancient cultures as the Chavin, Chimu, Huari, Moche, Nazca, Paracas, and Tiahuanacu. This has resulted in the acknowledgement of Peru and the Andes as a catalytic crucible for the emergence of a millennia long string of diverse cultures. Since none of the ancient Peruvian cultures kept written records, much of the information obtained about them came from archaeological sites, graves, graphically illustrated ceramics, stylized metalwork, and stone sculptures. Peruvian cultural timelines vary somewhat depending on the archaeologist, historian, chronicler, or scholar. A relative chronological time line used by archaeologists for the ancient Peruvian cultures is: Initial Period (1,000 to 700 BCE), Early Horizon Period (700 BCE to 1 ACE), Early Intermediate Period (1 to 650 ACE), Middle Horizon Period (650 to 1000 ACE), Late Intermediate Period (1000 to 1450 ACE), and the Late Horizon Period (1450 to 1532 ACE). The Peruvian Art Cultures have been placed into the following timeframes: the Preclassic Period from 1200 to 200 BCE which included the Chavin and Paracas; the Classic Period from 200 BCE to 1000 ACE which included the Moche, Nazca, Tiahuanacu and Huari; and the Post Classic Period from 1000 to 1470 ACE which included the Chimu and the Inca. The oldest of the high Andean cultures was the Chavin culture which lasted from around 1200 to 200 BCE. Their capital was Chavin de Huantar, a stone built city in a narrow valley in the central Andes. By the time the Incas arrived in Peru and Manco Capac founded Cusco about 1200 ACE, humans had been living along the coastline for thousands of years, weaving cotton, and, planting corn, squash, and beans, since before 3,000 BCE.
Other cultures that
developed over time included: the Paracas culture renown for its textile
weavings (1100 to 200 BCE); the Moche culture, a caste orientated society with
highly skilled craftsmen (200 BCE to 700 ACE); the Nazca culture with mysterious
desert plateau drawings (400 BCE to 600 ACE), the Huari culture a warrior
society whose polychromatic pottery had austerely stylized religious imagery
(200 to 600 ACE), and the Chimu culture who had irrigated gardens and step
pyramids and ruled over 600 miles of the Peruvian coastline from their capital
at Chan Chan (1000 to 1470 ACE).
The Chavin Culture from 1200 to 200 BCE arose in the Andean highlands of north central Peru around the same timeframe as the Olmecs in Central America, the Chavins also revered a jaguar man god. Distinctive jaguar designs were found on the bone and stone carvings, the metal work, and the textiles of the Chavin. Their main city and the center of Chavin urban and ceremonial culture was Chavin de Huantar. Besides the developed agricultural systems found at this site, there was also a central building called The Castillo. The building most likely served as a religious hub for the Chavin since it was ornamented with intricately designed stone reliefs and sculptures of birds, animals, and humans. For about 500 years the Chavin dominated Peruvian culture, and, skillful artisans in their outposts in the northern Peruvian coastal valleys at Cupisnique, Chongoyape, and Tembladera, produced effigy pots with elaborate designs. From around 1100 to 200 BCE the Paracas culture developed along the southern Peruvian coastline where the winds and the sea temperatures have created a natural haven for birds and thousands of species of marine life. Amidst the beauty of the landscape and the abundant habitat, the Paracas thrived for almost a millenium. Desert burial tombs found by archaeologists in the Paracas necropolis, contained mummies wrapped in layers of perfectly preserved textiles with elaborate graphic designs and embroidery. Paracas effigy pots exhibited the distinctive feline deity symbology of the Chavin, but, their double spouted, round bottom pottery was shaped differently than the northern coastal pottery. Overall the decorative Paracas ceramics were intricately designed and vibrantly multicolored. The Paracas culture, however, was most renown for its uniquely superb and matchless weavings.
The Moche (Mochica) were a
militaristic culture around 200 BCE to 700 ACE named after a river that flows
into the ocean south of Trujillo. As the Moche thrived along the northern
Peruvian coast, there was a gradual overall improvement in their architecture,
ceramics, metalwork, and textiles. Despite the fact that they were a society of
warriors, the Moche were also proficient artisans and metallurgists, noted for
their realistic sculptures and descriptive drawings that portrayed human
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Peruvian Ancient Civilization 
