To Nazca, Tiwanak, and the Inca Empire
The ancient Andean civilization refers to the whole variety of cultures that have been withered in the time of about 15,000 years from prehistoric times to the destruction of the Inca Empire in the vast space of 4,000 km north and south of the Pacific coast of South America and an altitude difference of 4,500 m.
In this exhibition, there are a number of cultures that are linked to each other, influenced by each other, myths and rituals nurtured, superior skills to create temples and pyramids, lifestyles adapted to diverse natural environments of the ancient Andean civilization.
We will introduce you with precious materials selected from nine representative cultures.
Ancient Civilization of The Andes Exhibition is an exhibition of truly epic scale, the Nagoya City Museum looks at ancient Andean culture which covered a whopping 15,000 years, nine distinct civilisations and a geographical area that corresponds to most of the southern and northern side of South America. Said civilisations range from the prehistorical settlers of Caral in modern-day Peru to the Incas, who ruled over a mountainous empire from the 13th to the mid-16th century before being conquered by the Spanish. Split into ten chronological sections, the display also highlights the creators of the famed Nazca Lines and displays artistic masterpieces from across the Andes, including golden masks and accessories, ceramics and clothing.
Even with rapid modern technological progress, the Andean civilization is still shrouded in a thick cloud of mystery. The Nazca Lines, Uyuni Salt Lake and the Machu Pichu are only some of the perplexing remnants the civilization had left behind.
Various cultures within the Andes civilization repeated destruction and creation, and continued so for 15,000 years across a massive geographical area with severe climate. This exhibition will bring the latest findings of the unknown ancient people, with 200 historical items carefully selected to show the complex cultural weaving between cultures and technological progress that took place.
The Andean civilizations were a patchwork of different cultures and peoples that developed from the Andes of Colombia southward down the Andes to northern Argentina and Chile, plus the coastal deserts of Peru and northern Chile. Archaeologists believe that Andean civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The Norte Chico civilization of Peru is the oldest known dating back to 3200 BCE.
Despite severe environmental challenges, the Andean civilizations domesticated a wide variety of crops, some of which became of worldwide importance. The Andean civilizations were also noteworthy for monumental architecture, textile weaving, and many unique characteristics of the societies they created.
Less than a century prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the Incas united most of the Andean cultures into the Inca Empire which encompasses all of what is usually called Andean civilization. The Muisca of Colombia and the Timoto Cuica of Venezuela remained outside the Inca orbit. The Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples.
Spanish rule ended or transformed many elements of the Andean civilizations, notably influencing religion and architecture.
Andean civilization was one of five civilizations in the world deemed by scholars to be "pristine", that is indigenous and not derived from other civilizations.[2] Due to its isolation from other civilizations, the Indigenous people of the Andes had to come up with their own, often unique solutions to environmental and societal challenges.
Andean civilization lacked several characteristics distinguishing it from the pristine civilizations in the Old World and from the Mesoamerican cultures. First, and perhaps most important, Andean civilizations did not have a written language. Instead, their societies used the quipu, a system of knotted and colored strings, to convey information. Few quipus survive and they have never been fully deciphered. Scholars differ on whether the knotted cords of the quipu were able only to record numerical data or could also be used for narrative communication, a true system of writing. The use of the quipu dates back at least to the Wari Empire (600-1000 CE) and possibly to the much earlier Norte Chico civilization of the third millennium BCE.
Andean civilizations also lacked wheeled vehicles and draft animals. People on land traveled only by foot and the transport of goods was only by humans or llama, pack animals which could carry loads of up to one-fourth of their weight, a maximum of 45 kilograms (99 lb). Llamas were not big or strong enough to be used for plowing or as riding animals for adults.
Moreover, Andean civilizations faced severe environmental challenges. The earliest civilizations were on the hyper-arid desert coast of Peru. Agriculture was possible only with irrigation in valleys crossed by rivers coming from the high Andes, plus in a few fog oases called lomas. In the Andes, agriculture was limited by thin soils, cold climate, low or seasonal precipitation, and a scarcity of flat land. Freezing temperatures may occur in every month of the year at altitudes of more than 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the homeland of many of the highland Andean civilizations.
Finally, the Andean civilizations lacked money. Copper axe-monies (also called "naipes") and Spondylus shells functioned as mediums of exchange in some areas, especially coastal Ecuador, but most of the Andes area had economies organized on reciprocity and redistribution rather than money and markets. These characteristics were especially notable during the Inca Empire but originated in much earlier times.
Agriculture in South America may have begun in coastal Ecuador with the domestication of squash about 8000 BCE by the Las Vegas culture.
Some scholars believe that the earliest civilizations on the Peruvian coast initially relied more upon maritime resources than agriculture during the formative period of their societies. However, as in all civilizations until the late 19th century, agriculture was the principal occupation of the great majority of the people. The greatest contribution of Andean civilization to the modern world has been the plants its people domesticated. Crops grown by the Andeans were often unique to the region. Maize, which found its way to the Andes from Mexico, was often the most important crop at lower and intermediate elevations. The Andeans cultivated an estimated 70 different plants, almost as many as were cultivated in all of Europe and Asia. Many of these plants are no longer cultivated, or are minor crops, but important plants which were domesticated in or near the Andes include potatoes, quinoa, tomatoes, chile peppers, cotton, coca, tobacco, pineapples, peanuts, and several varieties of beans. Animals domesticated in the Andes were llamas and guinea pigs.
The challenges of the environment required sophisticated agricultural technology. Unlike the Middle East, the Andes lacked easily domesticated and large-seeded plants such as wheat and barley and large and easily domesticated animals such as horses and cattle. Agriculture on the desert coast required the development of irrigation. In the mountains, the climate and steep terrain required a range of technological solutions such as terraces (Andenes), exploitation of microclimates, and selective breeding. Due to the climatic uncertainties, farmers traditionally farmed several crops at several elevations and exposures. At a macro level, societies and states did the same with the vertical archipelago, establishing colonies at different elevations and locations to increase the possibilities of agricultural success.
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