PUKARÁ CULTURE: LOCATION, ECONOMY AND CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2025

The pukará or pucará culture was a society that developed in Peru before the arrival of Europeans to the American continent. It arose approximately in the year 100 a. C. and it was dissolved in the year 300 d. C.

They were located in the south of the country, in the area that today corresponds to the department of Puno. In their period of territorial expansion they came to occupy the valley of Cuzco and Tiahuanaco. The capital of this civilization was Kalasasaya, whose ruins still exist.

This society was organized in a very systematic way. Three levels can be distinguished in which the Pukará people were structured: the primary centers, the secondary centers and the tertiary centers.

In a way, these correspond to the current division of the sectors of the economy: collection of raw materials, processing thereof, and distribution of goods.

With regard to the arts, they developed ceramics, architecture and lithosculpture, which is the carving of stone.

Location

The pukará civilization arose on the shores of Lake Titicaca located in southern Peru. This society expanded to the north, occupying territories of the Sierra Norte and the valleys of Cuzco. In the south, the pukará exercised dominion until Tihuanaco.

There is evidence that these aborigines also settled on the Pacific coasts, mainly in the Moquegua and Azapa valleys.

History

It was developed during the pre-Columbian period, between 100 BC and 300 AD in the current department of Puno, located in southern Peru in the province of San Román.

The Pucará culture is pre-present of two cultures: the Chiripa culture (south of Titicaca) and the Qaluyo culture (north of Titicaca).

The language used for communication was pukina or puquina, a now extinct language.

The Pukina language has been studied since the 19th century and is considered an isolated language, since it has not been possible to prove any relationship with another language of the Andean region or with others of South America.

Economy

The Pukará were one of the first civilizations to develop an efficient farming system in the highlands. The main cultivated products were olluco, goose, potato and corn.

They acquired knowledge about the operation of hydraulic systems. This allowed them to irrigate parts of the land that were dry from lack of water.

Another important economic activity was livestock, especially the breeding of camelids such as vicuña, llamas and alpacas.

These animals provided meat, leather and fur for the production of fabrics. The camelids were also used as a means of transportation.

In reference to the fabrics with alpaca wool, these were of great commercial importance, since they constituted a good that attracted other contemporary cultures.

The pukará expanded into the territory bathed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. They did this in order to obtain marine products, such as fish and shells.

The latter could be exchanged for other goods or could be used as decorative elements.

The economy and society

The pukará society was organized in three levels, called primary, secondary and tertiary centers.

In the primary center were the members of the population who were dedicated to the production and extraction of raw materials.

In the secondary centers, the materials obtained previously were processed and transported to the tertiary centers.

Finally, in tertiary centers, goods were redistributed among the three levels of society, taking into account the needs of each sector.

The tertiary center also took advantage of the goods to transform them into services. For example, if a craftsman had produced a musical instrument, it was given to a musician so that he could serve by playing at religious rituals and other festivals.

Religion

The pukará culture was polytheistic, since they worshiped various gods. The main deity was the Sun, to whom they dedicated various works of art such as temples and ceramic pieces, among others.

The settlers worshiped natural phenomena such as rain, sun, lightning strikes, etc.

Although they were polytheists, a very popular God was the God of Wands or Staves: a surviving figure of the Inca empire who changed aspects according to the civilizations that worshiped them, but never in essence.

Society organization

Pukara society was organized around a theocratic system. This means that the central figure of civilization was the one who was in direct contact with the deities: the priest.

The priest was subordinated to other members of society: artisans, farmers, goldsmiths, among others.

buildings

This pre-Hispanic culture stood out a lot in construction, which was a clear hierarchical representation of society. The construction was classified into three types by archaeologists:

-Villages: simple stone houses or huts located in fertile lands, near water sources and where there were pastures for cattle.

-Secondary Centers: small pyramids.

-Ceremonial center or main nucleus: six stepped pyramids that have an evident ceremonial character. The most famous is the "Kalassaya" pyramid, thirty meters high.

Ceramics

The Pukará differed from other cultures in terms of the techniques used to produce pottery. The material used was sifted clay, which was mixed with ground stone and sand.

The texture obtained from this mixture was different from the texture obtained if only clay was worked.

Once the pots were cooked, the surfaces of the pots were more polished (thanks to the sand), thus resembling the glass that is produced today.

The vessels were made in shades of white, red and ocher. They were adorned with fine grooves, forming geometric figures and straight and curved lines.

After the piece was fired, these grooves were painted with natural pigments in yellow, red, gray and black.

On some occasions figures in relief were added to the pieces as an ornament. You can get pots with reliefs of cats, jaguars, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, snakes, eagles and other animals.

The ceramic bulls of Pucará

These ceramic bulls are very popular; Placing two of these pieces and a cross in the middle on the roofs of the houses is a common custom in Peru (especially in the south).

The tradition began when the Spanish brought the bull to a local festival celebrating the payment to the land. The aborigines adopted this animal as a symbol of fertility, happiness and protection in the homes, and soon after they began with the manufacture of the piece.

On the other hand, it is said that the tradition began when an indigenous person decided to make an offering to God Pachakamaq; To do this, he had to climb a mountain where he would offer a bull in exchange for rain.

Once at the top, the bull was scared and by means of a sudden movement, he nailed his horn into a rock, from which water began to flow.

Architecture

The pukará used stones in their constructions. The techniques used in architecture were superior to those of other contemporary civilizations.

They polished the stone and gave it shape, so that it could fit perfectly when making a wall.

At present there are some archaeological ruins that show the magnificence of the pukará civilization. One of these is the Kalasasaya archaeological complex, which means “standing stone”, located in Pukará Puno.

The center of the complex is a pyramid 300 meters long by 150 meters wide, with a height of 30 meters. This ruined city is considered to be the capital of the Pukará society.

Lithosculpture

Lithosculpture refers to the carving of stone to produce figures. The Pukará people developed various techniques that allowed them to create zoomorphic and anthropomorphic sculptures.

Among these sculptures, the Ñakaj stands out, which means "the cutthroat". This is a sculpture just over a meter high that represents an anthropomorphic figure with a tiger's mouth. In his hands, he holds a slaughtered head, an element that gives the work its name.

They also made stone reliefs in which birds, fish, eagles and snakes are represented.

Lithosculpture today

Nowadays, many monoliths and lithic sculptures are exhibited in the "Lithic Museum of Pukara" in the province of Lampa.

These pieces were recovered in the archaeological complex during the restoration work and are classified into three groups:

1-Monoliths.

2-Stelae.

3-Zoomorphic sculptures.

The exhibition rooms have important lithic figures such as:

• The devourer: a small stone monolith that represents a naked person devouring a child.
• The ray (or wake of the rain): it is a monolith with the head of a puma and the body of a fish that measures approximately two meters high.
• The cutthroat (or Hatun Ñakaj): represents a seated man holding a human head with his right hand and a weapon with his left hand. He wears a hat with three puma heads and his back is adorned with human faces.

References

1. Pucará Litico Museum in Pucará. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from lonelyplanet.com
2. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from wikipedia.org
3. Pukara Archeological Project. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from pukara.org
4. Pukara archeological site, Peru. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from britannica.com
5. Pukara Town. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from delange.org
6. Pukara Puno. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from wikipedia.org
7. Retrieved on November 1, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org