Early Peruvian peasants: the culture history of a central highlands valley

Abstract

This dissertation covers the culture history of the Jauja-Huancayo basin of the Mantaro River in Peru for a period of some three millenia, from roughly the time the first ceramics occur in the valley until the present. Seen as important contributions are not only the tedious but necessary descriptions and chronological orderings of material artifacts, but also discussions regarding such important processual questions as the spread of such religious concepts as those exemplified by Chavin or the oracles of Huari, the development of urban centers in certain situations and their rejection in others, or the shift from hunting and gathering to pastoralism in some areas and to agriculture in other areas.