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The known Pre-Inca cultures include the Chavin Culture, the Paracas Culture, the Moche Culture, the Nazca Culture, the Tiahuanacu Culture, the Huari Culture, and the Chimu Culture. The warrior Inca culture was conquered in turn by another warrior culture that of the Spanish conquistadors who defeated the Incas in 1533 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. The Paracas culture from 1100 to 200 BCE 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) Culture from 200 BCE to 700 ACE was a militaristic one 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 emotions. Their pottery was often decorated with stylized scenes from their military and religious life, legendary motifs, geometric patterns, and their esteemed feline deity. The Moche also wore gold and silver ornaments inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise. Using their highly developed architectural skills, the Moche constructed two large, terraced, platform pyramids at their main ceremonial site, using sun backed bricks. The Nazca culture from 400 BCE to 600 ACE developed technologically refined, polychromatic ceramics with stirring symbolic images. Bowls, beakers, and spout jars painted with designs of birds, fish, fruits, and mythological figures in three to eight colors were common with black, brown, gray, red, yellow, white, and violet being the favorite color choices.
Similar line drawings of
birds, fish, monkeys, plants, spiders, and a whale have been etched across more
than 800 miles of desert ground. The full import of the geoglyphs remains
somewhat of an enigma...Continue on
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Peruvian Ancient Civilization 
