During an extraordinary 4,000-year history, the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Andean world created the earliest cities of the Western hemisphere, stupendous monumental architecture, magnificently crafted artifacts—and, on the eve of the arrival of Europeans, one of the most extensive empires the world has ever known, the Inca. George L. Scheper, senior lecturer in advanced academic programs at Johns Hopkins University, provides a cultural overview of these achievements.
Scheper has co-designed and directed National Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes on pre-Columbian culture for college and university faculty, including programs in Peru and Bolivia.
10–11:15 a.m. Environmental Contexts and the Earliest Andean Civilizations
Over thousands of years, Andean cultures developed strategies to adapt to the unique alignment of ecological zones that span towering mountain heights, Amazonian rainforests, and the coastal deserts. Starting with the 5,000-year-old "lost city" of Caral, survey the shamanistic cult centers of the Chavin; the magnificent pottery and textiles of the Paracas and Nazca; and the impressive geoglyphs called the Nazca lines.
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. North Coast Predecessors of the Inca
The Moche, who flourished on the North Coast of Peru from the 3rd to 7th centuries, were contemporaries of the Classic-period Maya of Central America. They produced unprecedentedly naturalistic ceramic sculpture and fine-line pottery depicting ceremonial sacrifices; spectacular gold and silver jewelry; and the richest intact tombs ever found in the Americas. Several centuries later in the same area, the Lambayeque and Chimu cultures developed the artisanship that became one of the foundations of the Inca Empire.
12:45–1:15 p.m. Break
1:15–2:30 p.m. The Empire of the Sun
Examine the range of the imperial Inca system, including its administrative structure, extensive network of roads, and monumental architecture and stonework, with a focus on the Inca capital of Cusco and its magnificent Temple of the Sun, the Coricancha.
2:45–4 p.m. Visiting Machu Picchu
American archeologist Hiram Bingham’s early 20th-century quest to uncover the treasures of Vilcabamba, the lost refuge of the Inca, resulted in a more extraordinary discovery: the ancient royal compound of Machu Picchu. Scheper focuses on the stonework and layout of the residential buildings and the sacred ceremonial spaces, and discusses issues of world cultural heritage, patrimony, the repatriation of artifacts, and responsible tourism.
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