10.8 America: 500 to 401 b.c.  (Page 2/2)

South america

The complete disappearance of the Chavin society of Peru in this century was so sudden that a cataclysm is suggested. It may have resulted from a climatic crisis in that it is known that the sea level oscillated as much as 23 feet in this time period. Engel (Ref. 62 ) states that in the north central part of Peru there were two new societies after about 500 B.C., the Mochica and the Gallinazo, both in an area no more than about 240 miles long. South of there from the Huarmey Valley to the Lurin, south of Lima, with an area of almost 1,200 square miles there appears an archeological gap of about 1,000 years.

Still farther south the Paracas Society appeared at the end of the Chavin time or after a short gap and the very far south has not really been studied.

The exact time of origin of the Mochican society is disputed and even radio-carbon dates are somewhat confusing. Engel feels that it existed from this 5th century B.C. until at least A.D. 100 and was contemporary with the Gallinazos with whom the Mochicans fought. The chief phenonemon of Mochica is a classical pottery, handsome, of various shapes, decorated and some of it pink-fired. On some pottery the paintings show circumcised prisoners shackled together, but none of the Mochicas are shown nude. Since circumcision was essentially unknown in early South America, from whence did the prisoners come?

Ceramic portrait paintings of many classes of men are found, including warriors, farmers, priests, etc.. The warriors may have arrived later, representing a new, conquering group. Some of the Mochican sites contained metal objects but the sites had been looted long before any professional archeologists arrived. (Please also see South America in the 2nd century B.C. for Barry Fell's thoughts).

In nearby Viru Valley lived the Gallinazo, named after a vulture, with a great building society superimposed on an age old strata of previous peoples. One ziggurat, 82 feet high, obviously had religious significance. Most sites have been looted centuries ago, as they contained gold objects, and finally the valley seems to have been conquered anyway by the Mochicans.

On a treeless, barren plain 12,500 feet above sea level in central Peru, there existed perhaps at this time, the Tiahuanaco civilization

Forward to America: 400 to 301 B.C.

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