Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú by Lulu M.

UA Peru Delegate, Lulu M., shares her experience at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima:

Today we went to Museo Arqueologico! It was a lot of fun! We got to learn about the different pre-Hispanic civilizations of Peru such as: the Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Inca, and Wari. We started off the day learning about the Norte Chico, or Caral, civilization, which is considered to be the oldest civilization of the Americas (approximately 9200 BCE to 1800 BCE) and was only recently discovered in the 1994! Then we learned about the Chavin civilization (approximately 1000 BCE to 200 BCE), which was the 2nd oldest major civilization in this region. Since the Chavin are very well known in Peru, we focused on them for quite a bit. We learned about their gods (the jaguar, snake, and condor) and their scripted stones.

The stone tablet behind our tour guide, Nancy, shows, from bottom to top, the snake (representation of the underworld), the jaguar (the representation of the world of the living), and the condor (representation of the heavens)

Next, we moved on to the Paracas culture (approximately 800 BCE to 100 BCE) which was known for having excellent doctors, great weavers, and artisans of beautiful textiles. We saw a display of a mummy and how it was mummified and all the tomb offerings, such as necklaces, bracelets, pottery, etc.

Later, we learned about the Moche! The Moche (approximately 100 AD to 800 AD) were very realistic and more pictoral in their art. They also had the best pottery, excellent gold and silver smiths, and were known for being the richest, oldest and farthest archeological sites in the north.

This vessel made to look like an owl is an example of the more realistic representation style of the Moche as well as their superior skill with pottery. 

After, we learned about the Wari (approximately 600 AD to 1100 AD) who are known for being very proud of their warriors. For that reason, most of their pottery were sculptures of soldiers.

Can you see the warrior face?

Last but not least, we learned about the Incas (approximately 1300 AD to 1533 AD). The Incas, as most of the preceding cultures in Peru, performed human sacrifice. We saw the beautiful jewelry they made and learned about their vast and widely connected empire.



Because gold and silver were so easily found in rivers by the Incas, this jewelry made from shells which could only be had by trading with other peoples was actually considered more valuable.

Overall, it was a great day and we learned a lot about the many Peruvian civilizations. The history of Peru and Lima will continue tomorrow!

On a side note, Angie met the President of Peru, Presidente Humala, at the Larcomar during the holiday weekend.

Making global connections--GO ANGIE!