CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CENTRAL 
ANDES— PERU AND BOLIVIA 
By ALFRED KIDDER II 
University Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
LUIS G. LUMBRERAS S. 
Universidad de Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru, 
and 
DAVID B. SMITH 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
In 1940 Kidder read a paper at the Eighth Pan-American Science 
Congress entitled "Speculations on Andean Origins" (Kidder, 1942). 
At that time the archeology of the Central Andes began with the 
highly developed, florescent civilizations of Mochica and Nazca. Cha- 
vin was still considered by many North American archeologists to be 
post-Mochica. Although it was possible to postulate, as Kidder did, a 
series of early developments, they remained largely speculative until 
after World War II and the resumption of fieldwork in the area. 
Twenty years ago it was impossible to compare Peruvian culture his- 
tory, in its overall growth from a preagricultural stage, to the other 
civilizations of the world. Today this can be done, at least in broad 
outline. 
The increase in knowledge of Central Andean prehistory has largely 
been one of the discovery of whole cultures previously quite unknown, 
with a heavy emphasis on the coast, particularly the northern coast. It 
is thus now possible to discern an early hunting and gathering stage, 
not yet sufficiently well known to link it with the succeeding stage of 
early horticulture, which seems to begin on the coast at about 4000 
B.C. This is followed by the introduction of pottery at about 1200 
B.C. and the development that culminates in the first of a succession 
of three culture climaxes in Kroeber's (1939) sense of that concept. 
This is the Chavin Culture, now proved to precede the classic cultures 
of Mochica, Nazca, and Tiahuanaco, and separated from them by a 
further developmental stage marked by great technological advances. 
From the appearance of the second climax, marked especially by 
Mochica, Nazca, and Tiahuanaco, the further history of the Central 
Andes, culminating in the Inca Empire, which we consider our third 
climax, was known prior to 1940. A good deal has been added to that 
knowledge, particularly in the field of more accurate dating, thanks to 
carbon-14, but there are still a number of large gaps to be filled. 
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