Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EARLY & MIDDLE HORIZONS
The so-called Early Horizon (1400-400 BC) was an era of architectural activity and innov-
ation, most evident in the ruins of Chavín de Huantar, on the eastern slopes of the Andes in
Peru. Chavín influences resounded far and wide, even after the decline of Chavín society,
and spilled over into the Early Middle Horizon (400 BC-AD 500).
By 700 BC, Tiwanaku had developed into a thriving civilization. A highly advanced cul-
ture for the Andes, it had an extensive system of roads, irrigation canals and agricultural
terraces. This system is believed to have supported a population of thousands of people in
the 83-sq-km Tiwanaku Valley.
The Middle Horizon (AD 500-900) was
marked by the imperial expansion of the Ti-
wanaku and Huari (of the Ayacucho Valley of
present-day Peru) cultures. The Tiwanakans
produced technically advanced work, most not-
ably the city itself. They created impressive
ceramics, gilded ornamentation, engraved pil-
lars and slabs with calendar markings, and
designs representing their bearded white leader and deity, Viracocha.
Tiwanaku was inhabited from 1500 BC until AD 1200, but its power in the region -
based more on religious than economic factors - was strongest from AD 600 to around AD
900, when the civilization began the mysterious decline that lasted until the 1200s. One
speculation is that Tiwanaku was uprooted by a drop in Lake Titicaca's water level, that left
the lakeside settlement far from shore. Another theory postulates that it was attacked and
its population massacred by the warlike Kollas (also known as the Aymará) from the west.
When the Spanish arrived, they were told an Inca legend about a battle between the Kollas
and 'bearded white men' on an island in Lake Titicaca. These men were presumably Ti-
wanakans, only a few of whom were able to escape. Some researchers believe that the dis-
placed survivors migrated southward and developed into the Chipaya people of the western
Oruro department.
The Inca spoke Runasimi (later called Quechua by
the conquistadors). They lacked a writing system
but did have advanced math systems, keeping track
of accounts - and perhaps other information - with
knotted collections of cords known as
quipus
.
