PreInca

Pre-Inca refers to the diverse cultures and political entities that inhabited the Andean region before the rise of the Inca Empire in the 15th century. These societies extended across present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and surrounding areas, producing a range of political forms from ceremonial centers and city-states to imperial polities, bridging from early agricultural communities to complex urban states.

Important examples include Caral-Supe (Norte Chico) in central coastal Peru, one of the oldest known urban centers in the Americas; Chavín de Huantar, a religious and cultural center in the highlands that influenced later Andean cultures; the Paracas and Nazca cultures on the southern coast famed for textiles and, in Nazca’s case, the famous geoglyphs; the Moche in the north coast, noted for monumental adobe architecture and vivid ceramic art; Tiwanaku in the Lake Titicaca basin, known for ceremonial architecture and hydraulic systems; and the Wari state, a precursor to later empires with substantial administrative and road networks.

These societies developed sophisticated agricultural techniques, including irrigation, terracing, and crop diversification; they built monumental architecture, produced distinctive pottery and textiles, and maintained long-distance exchange routes that connected coast, highlands, and hinterlands. The Inca later absorbed and reorganized many of these polities, incorporating their technologies, labor systems, and cultural motifs into the empire’s expansive administration. Today, pre-Inca sites are central to understanding Andean history and are recognized as UNESCO heritage and archaeological resources.