Life And Death At Paloma: Practices In Peruvian Village

1. Climate, Chronology, and Culture in Early Peru

1. Climate, Chronology, and Culture in Early Peru Climate and Environment The presence of one of the world's driest deserts on the central coast of western South America (fig. 2) often surprises beginning students used to equating the tropics with rain forests. Rain forests do exist further east in the Amazon Basin; but in between the sand and jungle is one of the world's highest mountain ranges, the Andes. Thus, the geography of Peru and other Andean countries is often simplified as consisting of three vertical strips on the map: coast, sierra, and tropical forest. Although this schema is basically true, there are important complexities primarily caused by three major factors: altitude, winds, and temperature. The tropic latitude of Peru provides relatively constant temperatures. But the great vertical variability of the landscape results in narrow environmental strips layered like the strata of an ideal archaeological site. While one can travel horizontally for many days in the same environment, vertical movement entails traversing distinct zones-from warm lower altitudes where tropical fruits can be raised, through succeeding levels suitable for maize agriculture and then only root crops, to higher levels where only bunch grass and herding can be practiced, to snow fields, and down again in reverse order. Karl Troll (1931, 1958) and John Murra (1972) have stressed the role of vertically stacked resource zones in Andean culture, in which native peoples have utilized the proximity of different environments to secure a diversity of foods and materials to maintain and enrich their lives. The geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal (1987) has discussed eight natural regions of Peru primarily defined by their altitude, each having a distinct climate, flora, and fauna. The coast or chala (0-500 meters above sea level) is unique to extreme western Peru and consists of the littoral and its immediate vicinity . Next comes the yunga (500-2,300 meters ), the Inca term for warm valley. The lower river valleys were densely populated in prehistory and remain important as the chief areas for irrigation agriculture. On the western side of the Andes the region outside of the productive zones of the littoral and the yunga proper are in a rain shadow and are desertic. The exception to this rule is the lomas, or vegetation nurtured by fogs, of which more will be said below. The quechua (2,3003 ,500 meters) is the traditional area for the growing of maize, while the higher suni or jalca (3,500-4,000 meters) is the source of many native Andean foods such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and a wide range of root crops, including a great variety of potatoes as well as oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and olluca (Ullucus tuberosus). The puna (4,0004 ,800 meters) is famed for its camelids and pastoralism, being generally unsuitable for agriculture, while the highest peaks of the janca or cordillera (4,800-6,768 meters) are snowcapped, offering relatively few resources for human exploitation. Descending the east- 2 Climate, Chronology, and Culture in Early Peru ....................................... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . " " '" " . .. . . " " . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. ...... ..... .. . . ...... ... .. " .. . .... . .. .. .. .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. .. . . .. . ..· . .. . .. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. . . . . .. .. . .. ..· .. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. ..· ,. . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. .. . . .. . .. .· . .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . . . . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . . . . .. . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . . .. . . . . . .. . . .. . .. .. .. ..· .. 2. Early Andean sites discussed in the text: I, Vegas; 2, Huaca Prieta, Alto Salaverry; 3, Piedras Negras, Las Haldas; 4, Aspero, Bandurria, Rio Seco; 5, Ancon , EI Paraiso, Paloma, Chilca I, Tres Ventanas, Asia; 6, Paracas sites; 7, Ayacucho; 8, early Chilean sites. Due to scale, numbers show general areas of site locations. ern slopes of the Andes, quechua and'yunga zones are again encountered, followed by the rupa rupa or high tropical forest (400-1,000 meters) and the omagua or low tropical forest (80-400 meters) of the Amazon Basin proper. These tropical forests, although relatively distant from the centers of Andean population, were and are sources of exotic plants, animals ' and other resources for peoples of the other zones from very early in antiquity. River valleys vary in altitude as they wend their way to the sea. The continental divide is near the western edge of South America, so that rain falling only a hundred kilometers from Lima flows to the Atlantic. Many rivers formed in the highlands, however, flow directly to the Pacific in roughly parallel routes. The Santa River is an exception, coursing through the central highland valley of the Callej6n de Huaylas for almost 300 kilometers only to turn westward and empty into the Pacific . Variations in the course of mountain ranges and rivers exist in different parts of Peru, but these patterns generally hold true for most of the...