Paracas Textile, ca. 100–300 C.E., Peru
During the course of 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.
9:30–10:45 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 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 cultures; and the impressive geoglyphs called the Nazca lines.
11 a.m.–12:15 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 rituals of ceremonial sacrifice, spectacular gold and silver jewelry, and the richest un-looted 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.
12:15–1:30 p.m. Lunch (participants provide their own)
1:30–2:45 p.m. The Empire of the Sun
With a focus on the capital of Cusco, examine range and scope of the Inca imperial system, including its administrative structures, extensive network of roads, monumental architecture, and spectacular stone work at such sites as Sacsayhuaman, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo.
3–4:15 p.m. Visiting Machu Picchu
American archeologist Hiram Bingham’s early 20th-century quest to uncover the treasures of Vilcapampa, the lost refuge of the Inca, resulted in a still 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.
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.
World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit
Smithsonian Connections
View Andean native artifacts and objects in the American Indian Museum’s online exhibition An Infinity of Nations.
