Peru’s heritage: from Caral to the Incas

A timeline, with its overlaps

The dates are approximate and vary according to the authors; they serve to place the cultures in relation to one another.

Three overlaps change the reading: the Nasca, Lima and Moche lived in the same centuries, each in its own region; the Lambayeque and the Chimú shared the north coast for five centuries; and Pachacámac was a sanctuary under the Lima, the Wari, the Ichma and then the Incas. The Incas, for their part, ruled most of the country for only about a century.

Eight techniques to recognise

1. Adobe, a brick of raw earth dried in the sun, the main building material on the coast. The Moche painted reliefs on it; the Chimú carved the walls of Chan Chan with friezes of fish and birds. Because it melts in the rain, Chan Chan has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 1986.
2. The “librero” technique at Huaca Pucllana: small bricks set upright, side by side, like books on a shelf, in trapezoidal panels.
3. Inca fitted stone. It is famous, but rare: most Inca buildings are in fieldstone bound with mortar or in adobe. Blocks cut and fitted without mortar, in regular courses or in polygons, were reserved for temples and palaces.
4. The stone platforms of Caral, built about four thousand years before the Incas.
5. Terraces (andenes), which make it possible to farm the slopes and hold back water and soil: Pisac, Moray, Machu Picchu.
6. Water management: at Tipón, terraces irrigated by a network of canals and fountains fed by a spring.
7. The geoglyphs of Nazca and Palpa: figures and lines traced by removing the reddish stones from the surface of the desert, which uncovers lighter ground.
8. Metalwork and pottery: the gold of the tombs of Sipán and Sicán, Moche portrait vessels, Nasca polychrome pottery, to be seen in museums.

Evidence, interpretations, legends

A good guide makes these distinctions unprompted; ask them “how do we know?”.

Three themed routes

Lima, five thousand years in three days. The Museo Larco for the overview; Huaca Pucllana for the Lima culture; Pachacámac, a sanctuary spanning four periods; and, for a long day, Caral. See Lima in one, three or five days.

The north coast: Moche, Lambayeque and Chimú. Trujillo for the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, Chan Chan and El Brujo; Chiclayo for Sipán, Sicán and Túcume. Each site has its museum: visit them together. See northern Peru, culture and beaches.

The Andes, from Chavín to the Incas. Chavín de Huántar from Huaraz, then Cusco, Tipón, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu; as an extension, the Chachapoyas and Kuélap. See Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

Human remains, conservation: visiting with respect

• Human remains. The Leymebamba mummies (219 in the museum, most of them from the Laguna de los Cóndores), the Señora de Cao, the royal tombs of Sipán: these are the dead, to be looked at as such. Follow each room’s rule on photos, without flash, and speak quietly.
• Earthen walls cannot bear being leant on or climbed: stay on the walkways and paths.
• The geoglyphs are viewed from the viewing towers or from a plane, never by walking on the pampa.
• Nothing is taken away, neither potsherd nor stone: the law forbids taking any item of cultural heritage out of the country. See travelling respectfully.

Choosing a guide

A guide brings to life sites that mostly show earth and stones. Ask them how much time is planned at each place, whether they also present the museum, and how they deal with what is still debated. A well-understood visit is worth more than a series of photo stops.