Mesoamerica and the South America are traditionally heralded as the homes of the most sophisticated Pre-Columbian civilizations. Geographically, this tremendous continent may be very broadly divided into three major segments: the western coastal strip, the Andean highlands, and the selva. Relatively little archaeological work has been done in the Amazonian selva, but some tantalizingly early dates for pottery and domesticated plants suggest this may have been a seminal region for the growth of South American culture.
The coastal region boasts numerous early sites, from Puerto Harmiga in Colombia to Valdivia in Ecuador and Huaca Prieta in Peru. The section of the coast between southern Ecuador and northern Chile is noteworthy for its aridity. Its saving grace, as a location for early cultures, is the richness of the sealife off-shore. The cold Humboldt current here causes an upwelling of nutrients that supports sea life from the small anchovetas to larger schools of fish and sea mammals and birds. On rare occasions, a warm water current from the north (El Nino) overwhelms the Humboldt, resulting in severe rainfall and flooding.
This is a view of the Paracas Peninsula, in the southern coastal region of Peru. Distinguished by mountainous sand dunes and a nearly rainless climate, Paracas typifies much of the Peruvian coast. The design on the dune in the background is, incidentally, a Pre-Columbian "geoglyph," similar in form to the more famous Nazca lines located nearby.
The highland area was a challenging area for early South American cultures. Man's physical adaptations, such as enlarged lungs and hearts, developed over time, and were accompanied by cultural adaptions, such as the domestication of llamas and alpacas and high altitude crops such as potatoes and quinoa (a highly nutritious grain). A number of important Initial Period and Early Horizon sites emerged in this area, such as Kotosh and the spectacular Chavin de Huantar.