Cuzco - Late Formative

  General Description   The Formative period in the Cuzco valley (2200-500 BCE) marks the transition from small-scale semi-nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers to sedentary villages associated with ceramic production and agriculture. Traditionally, it has been subdivided into three periods. The Early Formative (2200-1500 BCE) corresponds to the beginning of ceramic production and quinoa cultivation and the establishment of large, permanent villages. ^[1] During the Middle Formative (1500-500 BCE), Marcavalle ceramics appeared and villages grew, possibly leading to the beginnings of ranked village societies. ^[2] The domestication of camelids was also under way. ^[3] The Late Formative (500 BCE-200 CE) saw the emergence of a three-tiered settlement pattern in the Cuzco and Oropesa basins, dominated by the settlement of Wimpillay. ^[4] This period is also known as Chanapata, in reference to a dominant ceramic style discovered in the 1940s. ^[5] It is possible that other small chiefdoms existed in the region: a few early villages have been found near Raqchi in the Chit’apampa Basin, ^[6] and there may have been some small independent polities near Paruro and Cusichaca. ^[7] In the Lucre Basin to the east of modern Cuzco, a small chiefdom may have centred around the site of Choquepukio. ^[7]
Population and political organization
The population of these early polities remains unknown, but over 80 archaeological sites dating to this period have been surveyed in the valley by archaeologist Brian Bauer. ^[5] Some of these were identified as hamlets and small villages, with between a few dozen and a few hundred inhabitants. ^[8] More research is needed in order to understand sociopolitical relations at the time, but Bauer has interpreted the Late Formative as the period in which chiefdoms begin to emerge. ^[9] This process continued and solidified in the Early Intermediate Period.

[1]: (Bauer 2004, 39) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[2]: (Bauer 2004, 40) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[3]: (Bauer 2004, 41) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[4]: (Bauer 2004, 44-45) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[5]: (Bauer 2004, 42) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[6]: (Covey 2006, 61) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[7]: (Bauer 2004, 46) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[8]: (Bauer 2004, 43) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[9]: (Bauer 2004, 45) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.