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The origin and development of world civilization seem to be accompanied by great rivers and rivers. But it was not rivers and rivers that played a decisive role in the development of Andean civilization, but mountains and seas.
"The Secret Realm - Peruvian History and Culture Exhibition" Prologue Hall
So after preparing for the "Secret Place - Peru History and Culture Exhibition" and learning more about the cultural relics and the story behind them, I can't help but think of the lyrics of the theme song of the cartoon "Smurfs": There is a group of Smurfs on the other side of the mountain and the sea, they are lively and smart, naughty and sensitive... Defeated the Gingham.
The Andean civilization is a group of elves on the South American continent, adapting to the environment between mountains and seas, creating a unique civilization. Saying "unique" has two meanings: one is that the combination of mountains and seas is relatively special compared with the Dahe civilization; the other is that the mountains and seas on which the development of the Andean civilization depends are also very special, and the coastal environment of Peru is like the edge of the Taklamakan Desert; and the mountain environment is like the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Climate type of Peru in South America
In the previous article, we said "mountain", so this article will talk about the influence of the sea on Andean civilization. When we talk about the sea, we first think of the sunny beach, the turquoise waves, and the very pleasant environment. But when I took geography classes in middle and high school and studied climate types, Peru has always been described as a special case. In terms of ocean currents, Peru is adjacent to the eastern Pacific Ocean, here is the peruvian cold current from south to north, from the wind to say, Peru blows an offshore southeast wind, offshore wind and cold current make Peru coastal precipitation scarce, here is the world's only tropical desert zone located in the coastal area.
What kind of civilization will the coastal desert give birth to?
Pottery made by the Kubisnik culture off the coast of Peru
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > the runway of aliens</h1>
In 1939, a Ph.D. named Paul flew over the Nazca wilderness in southern Peru. Occasionally, I looked down and found an "unsolved mystery of the world". On the reddish-brown Nazca wasteland, there are huge patterns of fish, spiders, flowers and other patterns, along the Nazca River, a total of 500 square kilometers.
Nazca paintings
These patterns are made by scraping off the surface of brown rock formations on the upper surface of the desert and exposing light-colored rock formations to form patterns. Because the pattern is huge, so the width of each "line" is on average 15 centimeters, the length of many "lines" reaches ten meters, it is difficult to imagine, 2000 years ago, the ancestors who lived in the Nazca wasteland did not have the "airplane" of this overhead perspective, how to "paint" these patterns, so many people speculate that here is not far from the Mayan culture, the pattern on the ground is not related to aliens, after all, those long straight lines on the ground are like the runway of "aliens".
This "runway" is called the Nazca Land Painting or Nazca Line, and it is another business card of Peru besides Machu Picchu.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="48" > killer whale god who eats human heads</h1>
The Peruvian ancestors who lived near the Nazca wasteland created the "Nazca culture" on the southern coast of Peru, which flourished for 500 years, corresponding to the period from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty in China. The painting talent of the Nazca ancestors is not only reflected in the "Nazca line" on the wasteland, but also in the pottery of these cultural relics, in addition to the beautiful sense of line, their use of color is pure fire, is the highest talent for painting in the Andean civilization. This "killer whale god" clay vase is one of the most excellent works.
Faience pottery of Nazca culture off the coast of Peru
The pottery of the Andean civilization as a whole is more realistic, and this pottery vase is a very cute killer whale shape. On the killer whale-shaped clay vase, the ancestors added a lot of details to create a "cross-section" of the body of the killer whale, and in the "belly" of the killer whale, an individual's head can be seen, which is the epitome of their sacrificial activities.
The Nazca culture borders the Pacific Ocean and has been living by the sea for generations, so they have killer whale worship. They believed that the killer whale gods could bring the heads of prisoners of war they sacrificed to the underworld and help them feed their ancestors.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="49" > poseidon rowing a reed boat</h1>
While the Nazca ancestors on the southern coast continued to improve their painting techniques, the Moche ancestors who lived on the northern coast began their ultimate pursuit of the realism of pottery forms. With such a delicate piece of pottery, they completed the whole process of sacrificing the killer whale god.
Faience pottery of the Moche culture of coastal Peru
This piece of pottery was cast as the image of a man rowing a boat. The man rowing the boat was the sea god in the hearts of the Moche people, and he was preceded by a stripped-naked and tied captive. These captives may have been sacrificed to the killer whale god.
The boat rowed by Poseidon is also very distinctive, it is a pointed, round boat, the boat is made into a "shark" look, sharp teeth, tail cocked, full of detail, imagination full. This "shark" boat was made according to a kind of reed boat in their own life. Peru's coastal timber is scarce, the mountains are high, the plants are low, and there are few woods that can be used to build ships in other places, so the boats in the Andean civilization, whether coastal or along the lake, are almost all boats made of reeds, and the form is unchanged for more than a thousand years.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="50" > the changing weather along the coast</h1>
Around the 6th century AD, the environment along the Peruvian coast fluctuated greatly, and both the Nazca culture in the south and the Moche culture in the north declined at this time.
This environmental change is related to a climatic phenomenon, which is "El Niño". Simply put, El Niño is a phenomenon in which the peruvian cold current weakens from south to north and the equatorial warm current strengthens the backflow. A stronger warm current would bring more precipitation along the Peruvian coast, but weather uncertainty increased. And although the cold current is not beneficial to precipitation, as a compensation stream, it will bring some nutrients and fish from the seabed to the surface, so where there is a cold current, there are large fisheries, and in terms of fishery, it basically belongs to God to appreciate food.
Ocean currents near Peru
Peruvian fisheries are one of the four major fisheries in the world today, fisheries are an important source of income for the country, in ancient times, these easily accessible "seafood" is an important source of food for Peruvian coastal residents, and even chips for exchanging goods elsewhere, so when climate change, food acquisition is more difficult, they are forced to migrate eastward, located in the middle of the Andes, at the junction of Peru and Bolivia, Lake Titicaca became the most prosperous place of the Andean civilization of this period.
Faience pottery excavated near Lake Titicaca
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="51" > full of characteristic seafood</h1>
After a period of unstable climate, the coastal areas once again ushered in development, and at this time, the Xikan culture located on the northern coast of Peru became the highest point of coastal culture in this period. The Development of Theikan culture began to develop around 750 AD and lasted until 1350 AD, exactly 600 years, divided into three phases according to the 200 years as a period, especially in the middle of the 200 years, which was the most prosperous period of the Xikan culture, which brought bronze manufacturing technology to northern Peru and also promoted the development of irrigation and other technologies.
Sikan culture goldware
Sikan is arguably the most gold-rich period of the archaeological culture currently found in Peru, and many exquisite artifacts have been unearthed that embody their sun worship. In addition, they also used gold to express other spiritual beliefs, such as this sea chrysanthemum clam shell patterned gold cup.
The upper part of the cup has a raised sea chrysanthemum clam shell pattern. Sea chrysanthemum clams have always been a very important food in the Coastal Andean culture, and gradually evolved some symbolic significance. Because it comes from the water, it is thought to be related to women, fertility, etc. Through the collation of known archaeological information, most of the artifacts decorated with sea chrysanthemum clam ornaments are from female tombs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > high-quality island cotton</h1>
Although the Xikan culture was very influential, there were also some very distinctive cultures in the coastal areas of the same period, such as Changkai. Although the strength of Changkai culture is not strong, there are also many cultural relics that embody coastal characteristics. This headscarf is one of the most representative.
Pukala cultural lace
Although the whole fabric looks like lace, it is actually a cotton fabric. The dry coastal areas of Peru are rich in a very high-quality island cotton, this cotton wool is very long, so it can be twisted out of the fine cotton thread, some people use: quality like wool, color like silk to describe the quality of this island cotton.
Looking at the fabrics of the entire Andean civilization, with the increasing exchange of mountains and coastal areas, many of them are mixed with cotton thread and wool in the middle and late periods, and they often use wool thread as color-rendering warp threads, and weft threads use white cotton threads.
Fabrics of the Andean civilization
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="53" > a city where palace mausoleums are two-in-one</h1>
The ChangKai culture was annexed by the Chimu culture along the northern coast in the early 14th century. The Chimu culture was the last type of culture in the Andean civilization to bear the imprint of the coast.
The Chimu culture arose in 1100 AD, and its core is the capital Changchang City, which still has architectural remains and many cultural relics excavated.
Speaking of Peru, many people's first reaction is: Machu Picchu, it is the inca Empire period of the building, large and small stones are closely interspersed, located at an altitude of more than two thousand meters above sea level of the Andean ridge, this stone architecture is the characteristic of mountain culture, coastal areas to obtain stones is not easy, it is built with air-dried adobe, Changchang Ancient City is like this.
Adobe buildings in the ancient city of Changchang
And there is a more interesting point of the Chimu culture, each of them will build their own palace, this palace is also buried after death, so there are many palaces and mausoleums in Changchang City.
During the chimu period, there was an even more powerful regime in the land of Peru, the Inca Empire. And in the 14th century, Chimu was conquered by the Incas. The Inca Empire was a regime in the Andean civilization that concentrated coastal and mountain cultures, the king's control over the local areas greatly exceeded that of the previous generation, and cultural and trade exchanges were more frequent, at that time, the Incas were the strongest presence in South America, but such a strong, can not resist the Spanish artillery, the Incas also became the last sound of the Andean civilization.
Looking at the entire Andean civilization, it is actually a collection of cultures created by the Peruvian ancestors who lived along the coast and in the mountains. The difference between mountains and seas provides many personalities for civilization; the fusion of mountains and seas is the strongest driving force for civilization to advance.
The mummy in Andean culture