At an altitude of about 3.000 masl in the High-lands, the Apurimac river valley, the Valley of Cuzco and the Lake Titicaca basin make up the second pole of development. The narrow coastal strip is connected to the High Plateau by deep gorges distant from each other. The Pisco, Ica, Palpa and Nazca valleys play a pivotal role in the southern Coast of Peru, because the route to the Ayacucho inter-Andean basin starts at their headwaters. Their history reflects the area’s harsh and extreme conditions. Scarce water, in particular on the western Andean slopes, and low temperatures in the Highlands were offset by means of technological introductions like under-ground canals on the Coast, terraces provided with forced irrigation in the Highlands, and planting on mounds amidst fields in the High Plateau. Poor and fragile soils were rendered useful through the domestication of grains and tubers specially adapted to grow at high altitude, the abundance of South American camelids, and a rich life in the cold ocean waters that are home to the world’s largest diversity of fish and shell-fish. Complex social and political organizations emerged almost 2.000 years later than in the North but this development pole was the stage for remarkable breakthroughs like the domesti-cation of camelids, sophisticated fishing methods, and elaborate funerary rites. Paracas, Nazca, Wari and Ica-Chincha evoke the main stages of pre-Inca history in the region’s southern half. The northern area evolves around the Titicaca area and has its own sequence of cultural development from Pukara to Tiawanaku to Chuquibamba and Churrajon.
