The Recuay culture was a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

culture of highland

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

that flourished from 200 BCE to 600 CE and was related to the

Moche culture The Moche civilization (; alternatively, the Moche culture or the Early, Pre- or Proto-Chimú culture, Chimú) flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche, Trujillo, Peru from about 100 to 800 AD during the Cultural peri ...

of the north coast. It is named after the Recuay District, in the Recuay Province, in the

Ancash Region Ancash (; ) is a department and region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, ...

Territory

This culture developed in the

Callejón de Huaylas The Santa Valley (Quechua language, Quechua ''Sancta'') is an inter-andean valley in the Ancash Region in the north-central highlands of Peru. Due to its location between two mountain ranges, it is known as Callejón de Huaylas, the Alley of Huayl ...

valley, and its artistic style is also known as "Huaylas." The Recuay area is very close to the area of the earlier

Chavín culture The Chavín culture was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian civilization, developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru around 900 BCE, ending around 250 BCE. It extended its influence to other civilizations along the Peruvian coast.Burger, R ...

. The important site of the latter, Chavin de Huantar, lies just to the west. Recuay people came to occupy much of the territory of the Chavín and were influenced by them. Chavín influences are seen in architecture (for instance, in the use of underground galleries) and in stonework, such as in sculpture and

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

s. The Recuay ceramics were also influenced by the Moche culture. While the Peruvian coastal cultures of that time, such as the Moche, the Lima, and the Nasca, are much better known, the high sierra also saw the emergence of powerful cultural polities. These were the

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

in the north, the Huarpa in central highlands, and the

Pucará The Pucará culture was an archaeological culture which developed in Qullaw, along the north-western shore of Lake Titicaca. It was characterized by a hierarchy of smaller centers and villages scattered throughout the northern basin of the Titi ...

in the Titicaca highlands. The relationship between the Recuay and the Moche state in the north must have been rather tense because they shared borders and competed for the same water sources. There is evidence of considerable warfare, and of the warrior-oriented society as reflected in their fortified buildings and iconography. In fact, the Recuay are associated with the earliest emergence of fortified centres and towns in the Peruvian Andes. Recuay peoples built rectangular-shaped tombs with multiple rooms and levels. The culture especially flourished in the Callejón de Huaylas region, and along the

Marañón River The Marañón River (, , ) is the principal or mainstem source of the Amazon River, arising about 160 km (100 miles) to the northeast of Lima, Peru, and flowing northwest across plateaus 3,650 m (12,000 feet) high, it runs through a deeply ero ...

. It also spread to the valleys of the Santa, Casma and Huarmey rivers. To the north, it reached the area of Pashash, in Pallasca. Willkawayin was one of their important settlements.

Ceramics

Recuay culture features a distinctive pottery with decoration in three colors: black, red, and white. Recuay potters sculptured small figures of humans, jaguars, llamas, and other animals, which they attached to the vessel. Their pottery is related to Virú cultural pottery (also known as Gallinazo). The

Viru Valley The Viru Valley is located in La Libertad Region on the north west coast of Peru. The Viru Valley Project In 1946 the first attempt to study settlement patterns in the Americas took place in the Viru Valley, led by Gordon Willey. Rather than exa ...

lies just north of the Recuay area. Like the Cajamarca, Recuay ceramics used

kaolin Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (). ...

clay, which involved highly complex work; the ceramics acquired a white color after firing. One of the central figures in Recuay art is the so-called "moon animal," a foxlike or feline animal with a long, toothy snout and head crest.

Other art forms

Recuay textiles were of very high quality, and used similar decorative motifs as the ceramics. Recuay stone carvings called ''Aija'' are found throughout the Peruvian Highlands. They are related to those of the

and

Tiwanaku Tiwanaku ( or ) is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and in ...

cultures.

Pashash culture

Pashash culture (500 – 1000 CE) is seen as a later development of Recuay culture. It developed in the northern Sierra de Ancash (Cabana) region. Its remains are found in Chacas, a town located in the east-central region of

Ancash Ancash (; ) is a department and region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, an ...

, in

Cabana, Peru Cabana is a city in Peru. It is the capital of both the Cabana District and the Province of Pallasca in the Ancash Region of northern Peru. Cabana was founded on January 2, 1857, although human habitation there likely predates arrival of the S ...

, also in Ancash, and in other places. Metallurgy was also advanced at this time. At Pashash, very fine Recuay style jewelry of gilt arsenic bronze were excavated, as well as fine pottery; the dates are between AD 300 and 600.Terence Grieder
''The Art and Archaeology of Pashash''.
University of Texas Press, 2014

Notes

References

*Parts of this article are based on Spanish Wikipedia *Lau, George F., ''Andean expressions: art and archaeology of the Recuay culture''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2011 *Lau, George F., ''An archaeology of Ancash: stones, ruins and communities in Andean Peru''. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016 *{{Cite journal , doi = 10.1179/jfa.2004.29.1-2.177, title = The Recuay Culture of Peru's North-Central Highlands: A Reappraisal of Chronology and Its Implications, journal = Journal of Field Archaeology, volume = 29, issue = 1–2, pages = 177–202, year = 2004, last1 = Lau , first1 = G. F. , s2cid = 131700430 Andean civilizations Pre-Columbian cultures Archaeological sites in the Department of Ancash

Territory

Ceramics

Other art forms

Pashash culture

See also

Notes

References