PERSIAN Chart for Early Civilizations
ERA:
8,000 B.C.E. –
600 C.E.
POLITICAL








Leaders/groups
Forms of government
Empires
State building/expansion
Political structures
Courts/laws
Nationalism/nations
Revolts/revolutions
ECONOMIC







Agricultural, pastoral
Economic systems
Labor systems/ organizations
Industrialization
Technology/industry
Capital/money
Business organizations
Chavin de Huantar






Human trophy heads indicate raiding,
warfare and violence among local centers
before about 900 B.C.E. when the village
of Chavin became the focal point.
No Chavin Empire
Widespread religious cult that traveled on
the back of a trading network provided
economic and cultural integration to
much of the Andes.
Situated on trade routes to both the
coastal region to the west and the
Amazon rain forest to the east
Andean trade routes spread religion and
culture of the Chavin
Weavers produced elaborate textiles of
both cotton and wool from llamas and
alpacas.
Moche or Mochica State








RELIGIOUS






Belief systems/ teachings
Philosophy
Holy books
Conversion
Key figures
Deities




SOCIAL







Family/ kinship
Gender roles/relations
Social and economic classes
Racial/ ethnic factors
Entertainment
Lifestyles
“Haves” & “have nots”

Elaborate temple complex, including
galleries hidden passageways, staircases,
ventilation shafts, drainage canals, and
distinctive carvings.
Artwork suggests religion drew ideas
from both the desert coastal region and
the rain forests.
Major deities were represented as
jaguars, crocodiles, and snakes of the
Amazon basin.
Shamans or priests likely made use of the
San Pedro cactus for its hallucinogenic
properties.
Clear distinctions between an elite class,
who lived in stone houses, and ordinary
people, with adobe dwellings




Pan-Andes Chavin cult replaced by
several regional civilizations,
including the Moche by 200 B.C.E.
Dominated between 100 and 800
C.E.
Governed by warrior-priests
Later part of the region consolidated
into an Empire by the Inca
Economy was rooted in a complex
irrigation system, requiring constant
maintenance, which funneled runoff
from the Andes into fields of maize,
beans, and squash and acres of
cotton, all fertilized by rich bird
droppings
Harvested anchovies (practice
adopted from the Norte-Chico)
Each region of the state contributed
products to the larger economy of
the valley: from the highlands came
potatoes, llama meat and alpaca
wool; the central valleys supplied
maize, beans and squashes, and the
coasts provided sweet potatoes, fish,
and cotton.
Artists left abundance evidence of a
complex society with considerable
specialization of labor despite no
writing system.
Pyramid of the Sun was constructed
from 143 sun-dried bricks
Shaman-rulers often under the
influence of hallucinogenic drugs
conducted rituals, including human
sacrifice from prisoners of war.
Wealth of warrior-priest elite and
the artistry of craftsmen reflected in
the elaborate burials indicate
immense wealth.
Pottery shows life of the common
people, including the blind and sick,
aristocrats embarking on a hunting
party, warriors leading captives
bound by ropes, women working in
a primitive textile factory under the
careful eye of a supervisor, and
beggars looking for handouts on a
busy street.
PERSIAN Chart for Early Civilizations
INTERACTIONS






War/conflict
Diplomacy/treaties
Alliances
Exchanges between
individuals, groups, &
empires/nations
Trade/commerce
Globalization
ARTS











Art / Music
Writing/ Literature
Philosophy
Math / Science
Education
Architecture
Technology/ Innovations
Transportation



Chavin became a pilgrimage site and
training center for initiates from distant
centers.
Temple locations three or more weeks
from Chavin by llama caravan were
remodeled to resemble that of Chavin.

Jaguar-human images and other artwork
may reflect visions of religious leaders.
Chavin architecture, sculpture, pottery,
religious images, and painted textiles
were widely imitated within the region.
Intricate stone carvings
Experimentation with minerals led to the
discovery of gold, silver, and copper
metallurgy; fashioned metals into pieces
of jewelry or other decorative items as
well as tools





ENVIRONMENTAL










Location
Physical
Human/environment
Migration/movement
Region
Demography
Neighborhood
Settlement patterns
Disease
Urbanization/ cities (2 major)




Costal and highland regions of Peru
Village called Chavin de Huantar became
the focus of a religious movement that
soon swept through the area
Town of 2,000 to 3,000 by 750 B.C.E.
but no real cities until after the Chavin
disappear
Ceremonial centers of temples
constructed in a characteristic U shape,
associated with small-scale irrigation
projects, and suggest the growing power
of religion leaders.



Rulers received messages from
ambassadors from neighboring
states (art).
States emerged when conquers
unified the individual valleys and
organized them into integrated
societies; coordinated the building
of irrigation systems so that the
lower valley could support intensive
agriculture, established trade and
exchange networks that tied the
highlands, the central valleys, and
the coastal regions together.
Did not utilize a writing system to
record belief systems, values, and
ways of life, so we rely on
interpreting their art.
Scenes of ritual human sacrifice,
decapitation, and body
dismemberment common
Elaborate burials such as the Lords
of Sipan (3 men) who were buried
above each other, decked out in
elaborate gold masks, necklaces,
and headdresses, turquoise and gold
bead bracelets, cotton tunics
covered with copper plates, a gold
rattle showing a Moche warrior
smashing a prisoner with his was
club and a copper knife.
Superb skills of the craftspeople,
such as metalworkers, potters,
weavers, and painters
Mochica state had its based in the
valley of the Moche river
Dominated a 250-mile stretch of
Peru’s northern coast and
incorporated 13 river valleys
Region was subject to drought,
earthquakes and occasional
torrential rains associated with El
Nino episodes (dramatic changes in
weather patterns caused by periodic
warming of Pacific Ocean currents);
Moche may have feel pray to an
episode such as this in the 6th cent.