ABSTRACT
Civilization evolved aboriginally in two geographically separated but environmentally similar parts of the New World: Mesoamerica and the Central Andes. In both regions, priority in the transition from wild to domesticated subsistence dependence afforded a head start, and cultural development increasingly out-distanced that elsewhere in the Americas during subsequent millennia. Although the environmental ingredients are generally similar, they are combined in different proportions and arrangements in the two regions that compose Nuclear America. The fact that the Intermediate Area, which has a predominantly tropical climate, failed to reach an equally high level of cultural complexity in spite of continuous exposure to influences from both Nuclear Areas argues forcefully for the interpretation that environment was the more significant variable. Although the general level of cultural development was comparable to that in contemporary Mesoamerica, the specific content was different. Regionalism temporarily regained ascendancy, but the Wari unification had an enduring impact on Andean cultural development.
