Huamachuco
| Huamachuco | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 |
|
 Huamachuco
|
|
| Coordinates: 7°48′43.3″S 78°02′55.3″W / 7.812028°S 78.048694°W | |
| Country |
 Peru
|
| Region | La Libertad |
| Province | Sánchez Carrión |
| District | Huamachuco |
| Population | |
| • Estimate (2015) | 39,806 |
| Time zone | PET (UTC-5) |
| Website | Official website |
Huamachuco is a town in northern Peru and capital of the province Sánchez Carrión in La Libertad Region. The city is the seat of the Territorial Prelature of Huamachuco. Lake Sausacocha lies to the northeast.
About 30 miles away, within the Huamachuco district, is the significant archeological site of Marcahuamachuco. It is a complex of monuments, a prehistoric political and religious center of a culture that thrived 350 CE-1100 CE.
During the Andean formative and Developmental period, small settlements grew up throughout the highlands of the Huamachuco area. The Huari people built dwellings that were simple oval-shaped single rooms made of field stones, with floors of clay. These structures were used in the agricultural communities mainly for storage of crops and other goods, and sleeping.
The hamlets at higher elevations (3900–4000 m.) were bases for their herding of domesticated animals, as agriculture could not survive at those heights. The settlements in the lower elevations (2500–3000 m.) contained large amounts of agricultural tools, showing the importance of crops.
The large center of Marcahuamachuco, about 30 miles away, has monumental remains that constitute an archeological site. Researchers believe that it served as a political and religious center for the elites of the society.
The prehistoric Huari economy in the area depended on both agriculture and domesticated livestock, with additional hunting of game. The people ran animal herds of domesticated llama and alpaca in the higher elevations, and cultivated crops at lower elevations.
In the puna grasslands, the people cultivated domesticated tubers such as potatoes, oca, isanu, ulluca, maca, and arachacha. They also had crops of seed-producing plants, such as varieties of chenopods and lupines, and also amaranths, legumes, cucurbits, and beans. Agriculture was based primarily on potatoes, oca, isanu, ulluca, maca, and arachacha. Throughout this period, the people also developed and maintained intricate networks of irrigated terraces to support maize crops.
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Wikipedia