INTRODUCTION

The nature of pre-Hispanic urbanism is one of the most controversial issues in the archaeology of the Central Andes. The contrasting positions range from the nature of the concept itself to the chronology of the process, the role of presumably urban complexes, and the characteristics of the social and economic context. The discrepancies and contradictions were heightened in the last decade when the astonishing monumental architecture of the Late Pre-ceramic Period (2700-1800/1500 BC) on Peru’s north-central coast (“norte chico”) was reinterpreted by Ruth Shady (2006; Shady and Leyva 2003; Shady et al. 2001), on the basis of her fieldwork at Caral in the Supe Valley, as evidence of a process of nuclea-tion (Figure 32.1). Shady explains the architectural complexity of Caral and the diffusion along the norte chico of ceremonial architecture with pyramids, raised atriums, ventilated hearths and sunken circular courts as an effect of the presumed rise of the inchoate state, its capital city, and its secondary and tertiary administrative centers. Shady (Shady and Leyva 2003) adapts Childe’s (1974 inter alia) theory of the urban revolution to approach the issue from a perspective that is eclectic, pragmatic, comparative, and axiomatic at the same time. Additional data have been generated by the multi-valley project of Jonathan Haas and collaborators. Haas has some reservations as regards the centralized characteristics of the norte chico’s political institutions while recognizing the remarkable complexity of the norte chico phenomenon (Haas and Creamer 2004; Haas et al. 2004). Many questions come to mind if the scenario of Late Pre-ceramic urbanism is assumed as possible:

•  What kind of urbanism could have developed in a technological context prior to the domestication of camelids, with only an incipient agriculture (Dillehay et al. 2004) and devoid of land or maritime transportation? [Note 1]

•  Why does the archaic tradition of monumental ceremonial architecture vanish at the beginning of the Early Horizon save in some highland centers, such as Chavin and Kunturwasi (Burger 1992; Onuki 1995)?

Handbook of South American Archaeology, edited by Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell.

Springer, New York, 2008

Why does the presumably urban settlement pattern of the Late Pre-ceramic Period have few similarities with the urbanism known later on the north coast when several regional states—e. g., Moche and Wari—fought with each other for regional mastery?

Figure 32.1. Caral, in the Supe Valley. a. Panoramic view (photographer: George Steinmetz); b. Circular plaza (photographer: Sonia Lopez T.);

Figure 32.1. (continued) c. Residential zone (photographer: not printed on image). (photos from the uncopyrighted work: Caral, Supe, Peru. La Ciudad Mas Antigua de America. Calendario 2004)