vian territory was inhabited 14,000 years ago by hunters and gatherers. Subsequent developments include the appearance of sedentary communities that developed agriculture and irrigation, and the emergence of complex socio-political hierarchies that created sophisticated civilizations, technology and monumental construction.
The oldest securely dated remains appear in 10000 BCE in the Guitarrero Cave, Yungay, then in the coast and in the highlands.
3000 years later, people became sedentary so they began to cultivate plants such as gourds and cotton. These early crops were mainly industrial, and were used in fishing. The cotton was used to make nets and lines, while the gourds were used as floats. Larger, more complex societies formed around 3000 BCE, and this is now known as the Cotton Preceramic Period, which was part of the Andean preceramic period. These early societies focused on the gathering of marine resources and did not rely on maize, as later civilizations did. Subsequent technical developments include innovations in spinning and knitting of cotton and wool. There is also evidence for some basketry, and metalwork during this period. Pottery developed in the Amazon Basin and spread to the Andean culture region around 4000 years ago. The period that ensued is now called the Initial or Ceramic. Maize was adopted as a staple crop, creating population growth because of its high carrying capacity. The population distribution moved from the coasts to river valleys because of the growing importance of farming.
Zaña Valley, northern Peru, irrigation canals have been dated to 5400 and 6700 years ago and show communal work.
Archaeologists led by Gabriel Prieto revealed the largest mass child sacrifice with more than 140 children skeleton and 200 Llamas dating to the Chimú culture after he was informed about some children had found bones in a dune nearby Prieto’s fieldwork in 2011. According to the researchers' notes in the study, there was cut marks on the sterna, or breastbones some of the children and the llamas. Children’s faces were smeared with a red pigment during the ceremony before their chests had been cut open, most likely to remove their hearts.Remains showed that these kids came from different regions and when the children and llamas were sacrificed, the area was drenched with water. “We have to remember that the Chimú had a very different world view than Westerners today. They also had very different concepts about death and the role each person plays in the cosmos, perhaps the victims went willingly as messengers to their gods, or perhaps Chimú society believed this was the only way to save more people from destruction” said anthropologists Ryan Williams.
