ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of Andean civilization, which culminated in the Inca Empire. Julio Tello's research led to a long-held belief among Peruvianists that the widespread Chavn art style was a "mother culture" for all later Andean civilizations, somewhat equivalent to the Olmec phenomenon in Mesoamerican prehistory. The initial period saw the development of distinctive coastal and highland societies at either end of the Andean world, on the north coast and on the shores of Lake Titicaca far to the south. There was constant and often intensive interaction between two poles of Andean civilization in the highlands and lowlands, each with quite different food resources and products. During the Late Horizon of Peruvian prehistory, there was unification of the highlands and the lowlands under the Inca Empire, which may have emerged as early as 1200 and lasted until the Spanish conquest in 1532-1534.
