In Peru before the Incas, Lanning has given us a concise survey of Peruvian prehistory beginning with the hunting and gathering peoples of the central coast—about 12,000 years ago—through the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire. He examines culture change through the centuries as revealed in the archaeological remains in an effort to isolate the factors leading to the development of civilization, which he views as “an adaptive mechanism that serves to insure the survival and prosperity of a human population” (p. 3).
Following John H. Rowe, he divides Peruvian culture history into two stages (preceramic and ceramic), which are further subdivided into periods. Each period “is a discrete unit of time with a definite beginning and ending date” (p. 24). The preceramic periods are: I, ? to 9500 B.C.; II, 9500 to 8000 B.C.; III, 8000 to 6000 B.C.; IV, 6000 to 4200 B.C.; V, 4200 to 2500 B.C.; and VI, from 2500 to 1500 or 1800 depending on the area. The ceramic stage is divided into the Initial Period, 1800/1500 to 900 B.C.; Early Horizon, 900 to 200 B.C.; Early Intermediate, 200 B.C. to 600 A.D.; Middle Horizon, 600 to 1000 A.D.; Late Intermediate, 1000 to 1476 A.D.; and the Late Horizon, 1476 to 1543 A.D.
After summarizing preceramic periods I to V, Lanning devotes a chapter to each of the following periods. He reviews the archaeological data for each period in terms of general developmental trends throughout Peru and specific development within cultural and/or regional areas. In a concluding chapter he examines some of the factors which contributed to the development of civilization. The underlying theoretical model appears to be Julian Steward-cultural ecology, emphasizing the intricate interplay between environmental conditions, technology, and social arrangements.
This is a very up-to-date book. Lanning draws heavily on the results of the extensive archaeological work of the past decade, much of which yet remains to be published in full detail. Peru before the Incas most certainly will replace Bennett and Bird’s Andean Culture History, Bushnell’s Peru in the Ancient Peoples and Places series, and Mason’s The Ancient Civilizations of Peru as the textbook for courses on Peruvian prehistory.
