Polychrome pottery showing bird and serpent

Before the appearance of pottery in Peru, the central coast valleys were the scene of the earliest large ceremonial architecture now known in ancient America, built between 2000 and 1800 B.C. At Chuquitanta in the lower Chillón Valley, clay walls with stone facings formed a temple upon a mound, flanked by long wings, capable of housing a thousand persons. In later periods, originality in the repertory of expressive forms is rare throughout the region between the Paramonga and Cañete Valleys. …