Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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Abstract. “CABALLITO DE TOTORA” - THE TOTORA REED BOAT DEVELOPED BY THE MOCHICA CIVILIZATION (1-8th c. AD) AND THE ORIGINS OF SURFING. A CONTRIBUTION TO RECOVER PART OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN INDIGENOUS HISTORY AND ITS LINKS TO OUR TIME.
The ocean-going navigation, including the trans-ocean navigation, was a popular topic in the Andean World (AW)[3] as an increasing number of recent studies reveal. This paper deals only superficially with seafaring[4] since the author’s main concern is the unique fishing boat named Caballito[5] de Totora[6] - CT[7] used by the AW peoples since the remote times. This idea is widespread and accepted in Peru, so much so that the CT has been pronounced as National Cultural Heritage (Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación.)[8].
In order to catch fish using this one-seat boat, of a size comparable to the modern surfing board, the ancient fishermen had to cut through some huge waves before reaching a proper fishing location which could easily be more than 30 kilometers away from the coastline. After working, they returned in the same way, carrying their catch inside a cleft on the back part of each CT. It probably fit around 50 kilograms of fish. Extraordinary skills were required from these men to maneuver such a small boat through huge waves and not turning it over, plus keeping the results of their catch.[9] The description refers to an activity still practiced today consisting of surfing the waves, with the rider seated or squatted on the CT. This explains the trend in the Peruvian surfing community including the former world surfing champion Felipe Pomar to claim that the use of the CTs by these ancient peoples should be considered by the International Surfing Association as the origin of surfing as we know it today.
Caral... represents the most ancient civilization in America, and was developed almost simultaneously with Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. Peru’s inhabitants got there at least 1500 years ahead of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica which is another [American] civilizing center included in the worldly acknowledged six-center group, and more than 3000 years ahead of the society that built the remarkable Maya cities.[12]
The urban history started in the AW earlier than in any other part of the Americas. Archaeological sites show that Caral, in Supe Valley, is by far the oldest urban area in the whole continent, and one of the oldest urban areas worldwide[13], although cities even older than Caral could have existed in the AW.[14] For the purposes of this paper, it is important to point out that, from its origin, Caral provides clear evidence of the considerable relevance of the sea to the ancient Peruvians (regarded by them as a real treasure). Several prestigious scholars have said that the extraordinary fishing resources in the Peruvian seacoast could explain its unique history in the sense that maybe the agriculture there was preceded by fishing and shellfish gathering. About Caral, located at approximately 20 kilometers off the seacoast, Shady says:
The production of cotton and the manufacture of fiber used to make clothing, especially fishing nets, encouraged the labor specialization, and supported the economic supplementation through a non-stop trading of products between farming settlements and fishermen. Thereby it was possible to achieve the accumulation of products, social division of labor, specialization, and trading over short or long distances. [15]
According to Shady, there was unequal distribution of the production surplus from the agriculture and fishing activities, a fact that would hint at the existence of a class-divided society. In addition, part of the aggregated value in the cotton fiber production and fish processing (such as anchovies and sardines) was intended also for trading purposes. A number of people, the “principals”, traded over different territories, and became remarkably rich and prestigious. Ancient stratified societies such as this spread over valleys and the sea coast. And the Hunu, the Lord of Lords, stood out among the authorities in these societies,
... the Lord of the land between Santa and Chancay valleys ruled over all Hunus. This model of political organization went on in pre-Colombian Peru for a long time...[16]
However, agriculture and fishing were not the only important activities in this city built almost 5000 years ago. Still about this metropolis,
The same author explains that the Mochica pottery depicted different versions of ocean-related scenes, the Mythical representations and the Real representations. The latter are “the versions developed in the real world” (Hocquenghem: 126). This paper focus on the iconographic versions depicting scenes from the real world, since our concern is a unique kind of CT (the SCT) that falls under this category.
It is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the capacity and technology implied in the ship building developed by AW ancient peoples, nor the knowledge about astronomy required to handle their boats. In this respect, according to the same brochure on Caral: In this exhibit, visitors can also learn about the science and technology developed by this civilization, such as the quipu, the most ancient data recording system in Peru; and about the geoglifos representation and the different elements of astronomic observation, calendar elaboration, control of climate changes, canal building, etc. The Incas were just the last people who tried to accomplish the process of unification of the AW, before the arrival of the conquistadores with the consequent destruction of the Andean world. The Incas inherited the knowledge developed by those earlier cultures.
The Incas were not the first Andean people to do sky observations, and certainly not the only ones to worship the sun. Historical reports say that the Andean interest in astronomy has an agrarian basis that precedes the Incas. [22]
That full size bundle-boats of totora reeds, such as illustrated in pre-Peruvian art, could have reached Polynesia had then just been demonstrated by Kitin Muñoz, one of the first to visit the reed-boat reliefs in Túcume after personally having sailed such a totora vessel from Callao harbour to the Marquesas Islands, twice the distance to eastern Island…[29]
What Heyerdhal’s KON TIKI did to prove that the AW balsa wood rafts had the capacity to accomplish trans-ocean voyages, was done by Muñoz’ URU with respect to the totora rafts. It is worth to mention that nearly all these modern large rafts were built by Paulo Esteban and his family.
And so the capacity of the AW great rafts to sail the world seas has been proved.
Besides the Mochica, Tiahuanaco, and Lambayeque, nearly all the cultures in the southern Pacific coast were navigators too, such as the Chincha, Chimus, Punás (from Puná Island in Golf of Guayaquil), Mantas, etc. Their tradition was passed on to the Incas whose culture originated in the Andean mountains, far away from the sea.
... other people from Piura and Tumbes, on the far northern Peruvian coast and modern Ecuador coast, forming a network to deal with their common interests which we could call Liga Chanchay (Chanchay League) ....[the league] enabled them to have access to exotic products originating ... from Ecuador – perhaps from Central America ...[32]
Torero, linguist and historian,[33] says that the importance of the Chincha people was such that, once they were incorporated to the Tahuantinsuyu[34], one of its 4 regions was named Chinchaysuyo.[35]
Del Busto gives details about these figures, and concludes: “we estimate that 740 crew members and 1,480 soldiers were on board Túpac Yupanqui’s 148 rafts”.[50]
This journey cannot be explained just by the books, but also by the success of the 14 voyages on rafts mentioned by Heyerdahl. Some of them were almost as big as the ones used by Tupac Yupanqui. Nevertheless, the most extraordinary journey was done by Alvaro de Mendaña in 1567. He left Callao following the “Route of the Inca”, ending up in Solomon Islands, in the first of a series of ocean expeditions under the Peruvian Viceroyalty aiming to colonize Oceania. In a historic site in Peru, a rock facing the ocean has the following words engraved on it:
From this port of Callao, Alvaro de Mendaña and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa left with two ships, on November 19 of 1567, to discover new worlds. They found the Solomon Islands, across the wide ocean, in distant Oceania, thus giving to Peru the glory of participating in the finding of the earth’s last continent. In the 4th centennial of this grand event, Peru reasserts its maritime destiny ... 1567 – November 19, 1967 (reproduced by the author).
After he obtained from the king of Spain the same position as Mendaña’s, Pedro Fernández de Quirós (1565-1615) left Callao,
Fernández de Quirós fell ill and was involuntarily separated from his group, so he was forced to return to Peru after a stop at Mexico. The expedition went on under other Portuguese Luis Vaez de Torres who carried on with the original voyage plans,
… sailing around New Guinea, proving that it is an island. Torres sails between Australia and New Guinea, through the strait named after him, and arrives in Manila, May 1607.[56]
Therefore, the AW in its status of colony did play a role in the navigation to conquest and incorporate other lands into the western powers. Several expeditions left the port of Callao (Lima), and they: started the process to incorporate Oceania to the West; put the name Australia to the land that later on would become that country; proved that New Guinea was an island, and established direct contacts between South America and Asia (Philippines).
He also says that, on the first journey, “Mendaña´s orders were to steer for the islands referred to by the Incas…” (Ib.: 117; italics by me). And goes on: “... jealously was bound to arise between the experienced navigator Sarmiento, who had originated the expedition to search for the Inca islands, and the younger man in supreme command…” (Ib.). It is worth to notice that the Viceroy of Peru who allowed this journey to happen was Mendaña’s uncle (Elias de Zevallos: 5). And with respect to Inca Túpac Yupanqui’s actions that launched this massive navigation process in the Pacific, he concludes that: “there were men in action in Peru long before the coming of Pizarro...” (Heyerdhal 1996: 119).
The unifying thread between the pre and post-Hispanic stages in the AW is provided by the long-term persistence and power of the indigenous history as an element which permeated the western imaginary, in a permanent historical process manifested through the collective unconscious. The navigation with big rafts, including inter-ocean navigation, was a key element in the AW history. A researcher of indigenous navigation in different places, including the European native navigation, says:
Rafts could be simple or complex, as is obvious in two models from the coast of Peru. One, the caballito (sic), is a two - or four – bundle raft of totora (sic) reed notable for a fat body that tapers to an upswept point at the prow. Straddled by fishermen using rude paddle consisting of a length of heavy cane split in half, these unlikely seagoing contraptions garnered praise in the logs of yearly Yankee and European skippers, but not nearly that heaped on the great Inca voyaging rafts described in the early explorers´ accounts. These were platforms of odd numbers of balsa wood logs (3,5,7,9,etc) up to 60 feet in length and cut so that the center log was the longest and each succeeding outboard pair shorter, thus resulting in a square stern and tapered bow. An engraving from an account of Spilbergen´s expedition of 1615 shows a built-up raft, i.e., one with a cargo deck raised above the buoyant platform, a model fitted with stone anchors and water jars and a crew manipulating multiple centerboards or guares (sic) to steer the platform driven by two latteen sails. These freighters frequently carried deck houses, were fitted with fire or cooking box accommodations and ranged at least 1.M500 miles on South America´s northwest coast delivering up to 70 tons of merchandise as far north as Panama. These Peruvian models were by far the largest and most advanced form of raft deployed by primitive man, except Noah´s Ark.[59]
Spilbergen, a Dutch admiral who traveled around the world between 1614 and 1617, arrived to the AW and made accurate drawings of a big raft with its guaras[60], a device that allowed the raft to turn around, sail against the stream and go to any direction at the choice of the navigator. About this, Heyerdhal says:
… the balsa raft encountered by the Conquistadores could clearly sail to any destination at the choice of the crew and come back to their own port. Admiral Spilbergen accompanies his balsa raft drawing made nearly four hundred years ago, with the following text: “In the afternoon a fisherman came from the sea… having a boat and sails very wonderfully made, and in it were Indians, all young, strong and robust men, they had been out fishing for two months…”. The Admiral stressed that they had so much fish onboard that they could supply all his fleet.[61]
The guara replaced the rudder, typical of the Old World and an essential device for sailing. Sails and ropes are key parts too, and different types of sails were in use in the AW, as Heyerdhal proved.[63] It is worth to mention the opinion by Pascual de Andagoya who went from Panama to the northern part of the AW before Pizarro, and whose reports were crucial to convince Pizarro to attack the Incas. Andagoya said in 1524, in relation to the peoples and the land now in modern Ecuador and northern Peru:
They go to fish and navigate along the coast in balsa made of light logs, which are so strong that the sea has much ado to break them. They carry horses and many people, and are navigated with sails like ships… The inhabitants have a manufactory where they made cordage of a sort of nequen, which is like carded flax; the cord is beautiful, and stronger than that of Spain, and their cotton canvass is excellent…[64]
Sails and ropes in the AW had to be made of excellent materials, since this equipment was even more important than in Europe, given that the rafts were made by tying the balsa wood or totora reeds together with the use of ropes instead of metal. Not using metal to join the pieces (therefore no nails) forced the ancient navigators to have excellent knots and moorings made out of excellent ropes.
Even before the arrival of the Spaniards, the navigation development had been contained in the AW. After the Conquistadores, it was permanently destroyed, and the coast inhabitants forced into a long, slow process of desertion and forgetfulness in relation to their past as great navigators. Much later on, the Caballito de Totora became the last refuge in this process. This requires an explanation.
As we said, at the arrival of the conquistadores, the art of navigation it was contained in its developing in the AW, a fact related to the Inca’s state policy and logics of power. This situation was expressed by the presence in Cajamarca in 1532 of the Lord of the Chinchas, the very powerful man from the coast, together with Atahuallpa, the ruler from the high Andes. Atahuallpa (and probably every Inca king since Túpac Yupanqui[66]) wanted to be close to the Lord of the Chinchas, either to learn from him or to control him.
The Incas, a people from the high mountains, were not familiar with the ocean.[67] In order to know and use the ocean, they depended on the expertise of the maritime civilizations, and this was a problem since there was distrust between them (the Incas had had bad experiences with the sea men). Learning their navigation secrets could take a very long time, perhaps several generations.[68]
Rostworowski’s book Historia del Tahuantinsuyu, shows how the Incas used their armies only as a last resource, for their expansion plans. They preferred to negotiate or make voluntary annexation agreements by offering gifts, marriages, respect for religion and beliefs (together with the acceptance of the Incas Cult of the Sun), and allowing the use of the local languages (although the Quechua language should also be accepted). They also offered to take the aristocrats to Cuzco, build irrigation systems, provide know-how, etc. If everything failed, they would appeal to war as the last resort.[69]
They fought many wars, several of them on the coast, which in some cases were traumatic to the Incas such as the Puná events which made them even more distrustful. The island of Puná is at the entrance of Golf of Guayaquil, and apparently its leaders accepted the annexation, so Túpac Yupanqui sent a visiting garrison led by a team of Orejones (Big Ears, or upper class people who had their ears extended).[70] They were transported to Puná in rafts commanded and operated solely by the island’s natives (this fact shows the tacit acceptance that the Incas were at disadvantage). The islanders commemorated the garrison’s arrival, however some time later, when the Incas were taken back to the main land, the natives (great swimmers) plunged into the sea, cut all the moorings in the rafts, and waited for the Incas (not so great swimmers) to jump to the water and get drowned or killed.[71] Some time later, Túpac Yupanqui sent to Puná a fleet with his army that nearly exterminated its inhabitants (and it was the beginning of resentments and distrust not totally forgotten yet by their descendants of today, Peruvians and Ecuatorians).
At any rate, to the Incas, the sea was a key resource used also to obtain the most precious good in the AW, the Spondylos shell, [72] and so they needed to learn the secrets held by those who knew the ocean very well (the coast inhabitants) while trying to control them.[73] Probably this control prevented the navigation techniques from developing. And we cannot know if it would be just temporary, while the Incas learned how to navigate before taking the position of admirals themselves.[74] We will never find out because the short 50-year period was definitively interrupted by the arrival of Pizarro. The conquistadores adopted a policy of destruction not only in terms of navigation, but of Indigenous America (IA) in general. Needless to repeat what the Berkeley school (of demographic history) has concluded, that the worst crime in human history is the demographic disaster caused by the Conquest, and its lasting consequences. In 1492, the IA population was nearly one hundred (100) million,[75] while in 1580 it was close to ten (10) million. And the AW population that in 1492 was around twenty (20) million, by 1580 was lower than two (2) million.
The worst destruction was in the coastal areas, not only because the destructive conquistadores landed there first, but also because the large maritime cities (which had been in contact with Mesoamerica since pre-Colombian times)[76] were the first ones to get the viruses and microbes brought by the Europeans. Unwittingly, the Andean navigators carried those microorganisms to their cities as soon as the Spanish arrived to Panama (around 1500) so that, even before Pizarro,[77] they suffered the devastating impact of some European diseases (the conquistadores had already acquired immunity against those virus and microbes).
The great maritime cities were devastated and some became extinct, as Tucume[78] sadly illustrates. The book Pyramids of Tucume: the quest for Peru´s forgotten city, contains a study in depth (based on methods of archaeology and history) showing that although the city was located 20 km off the coast, it was a maritime city. On high-relief friezes, they depicted navigators sailing rafts, including the bird-man god, etc. Heyerdhal says that, since remote times, people from those civilizations, including Mochica and Lambayeque, visited the Easter Island taking with them cultural and material goods (agricultural devices, etc). Tucume was a city that ceased to exist. The Discovery Channel series Lost Cities of the Ancients dedicated to Tucume says: a few years after the conquest (around 1535), Tucume’s leaders and priests decided to destroy the city with fire. The reason would be that, in the priests’ view, Tucume’s gods had not protected the city’s population (who venerated them) and therefore they should be destroyed altogether. However, a more tragic possibility would be that the systematic fires were the extreme resource the leaders used to fight the malignant, invisible beings that killed Tucume’s people: the viruses and microbes.[79] Diseases brought by the Europeans (even the influenza virus) were devastating for the natives and could kill an entire population.
However, the microorganisms are not the only explanation for the destruction of the maritime cities and of IA in general.
Rostworowski says,
... Brother Reginaldo de Lizárraga ... had “Aviso” in his hands... data provided by him about the Chincha valley are nearly a copy of [“Aviso”]... He mentions thirty thousand taxpayers who were in Chincha before the Spanish conquest, and says that [after] only six hundred remained since the land was depopulated.[80]
Still the same author:
Brother Pablo de Castro... his sermons’ subject was the native’s idolatry and their decrease as a consequence of divine punishment... he thinks ... so many natives disappeared because of “God’s secret judgments” and it was better for them to die than to go back to “their bad pagan habits”.[81]
And she adds:
Brother Pablo de Castro was one the first “Conventuales” and Founders of the Monastery of Saint Thomas of Aquino in the valley of Chincha... great preacher of the natives, enthusiastic of their conversion, enemy of the idols and their vices. Whenever he preached them ... the only subject in his sermons was against idolatry and drunkness, he told them (and repeated many times) that they had to abandon those sins ... or else the justice of God would have to put an end to them ... ; and what was preached by this man of God happened promptly because from thirty thousand natives who lived in the valley when the preachers and brothers of our Father Santo Domingo first arrived only 300 are still alive... The honorable Archbishop of Lima Gerónimo de Loayza, satisfied with the dedication shown by Brother Pablo, made him General Vicar and Inspector against the Idolatry, a labor that he did with complete Catholic devotion to our Mother the Church, knocking down many Huacas and burning many idols ... He died after he received the Church’s Holy Sacraments...[82]
So we can infer that the Catholic church encouraged Brother Pablo’s sinister ideas (in summary: if the natives did not convert into Christians, they would better die) as part of the catechization policies, or eradication of paganism. The above described atrocities took place in Chincha (home of great navigators in the AW). Every native culture went through similar events during the long period known in Peru as Persecución de Idolatrías (idolatry persecution) which lasted hundreds of years (roughly from 1550 up to the Independence in 1821) under the command of the Sacred Inquisition - SI. Not by chance Lima and Mexico were the only cities in the continent to be “honored” with the Inquisition tribunals.[83] In both cases, their mission was to persecute and destroy indigenous temples and priests, as well as those who failed to convert. There is no death toll for these cases, but I am sure they were one of the reasons that explained the “success” of such catechization and conquest that came close to the extermination of the indigenous heretic population.
Apparently, microorganisms and Christianity are part of the explanation for the depopulated areas in the IA in general, and particularly in the AW coast. However at least two other factors contributed to population decrease: i) the sudden and violent change from an agricultural economy (agriculture was more developed in the AW and Mesoamerica than in Europe at that time) into an economy centered on the production of precious metals (key for “the primitive accumulation”), with the main centers in Lima and Mexico; this caused a widespread famine in the area. ii) the severe mistreatment of the population by the conquistadores who turned into big landowners (Encomenderos) and owners of every native (Encomendado) who lived in those lands (Encomiendas). Since natives were just delivered to the encomenderos free of cost, they were refused the minimum care provided to the other major victims of the conquest, the African slaves who had been paid for.
Furthermore, for several decades (up to the 1550s) the natives were not considered as human beings as the Catholic church questioned whether or not they had souls, making it appropriate to treat them as objects or animals. The extraordinary campaign led by the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas changed this situation.
One of my hypothesis to explain why the coast people were special victims of the Catholic church can be related to the phrase “...ten thousand fishermen in Chincha. ‘Aviso’ clearly says they were totally dedicated to fishing, and that ‘while they were not in the ocean, all they cared for was drinking, dancing, and the rest’ “. What is implied in the rest? It could mean anything including sex, one of the activities most feared and repressed by the ruling monotheistic religions especially Christianity. Trying to solve this problem, the church turned to repression and so it launched the Sacred Inquisition in the AW (history shows that the SI was created with this purpose). Phrases as the above help to enlighten the process which is often mentioned by the chroniclers referred to in this paper. The culture of these people living on the coast was probably similar to other cultures that flourish in many shores and ports everywhere in the world, especially in tropical areas where people tend to be joyful, and fun-loving. If they enjoyed drinking and dancing so much, one could think they were sensual people, perhaps inclined towards eroticism and sexual freedom.[84]
All the above helps to explain that, as a consequence of the Conquest, the art of navigation nearly vanished from the AW, and got reduced almost only to the caballito de totora (CT).[85]
How to explain the survival of the CT, a fishing boat used almost from the start of the AW civilization? It first appeared nearly 5000 years ago, and can be seen today, for instance on the beaches of Huanchaco, Peru (an important fishermen port since at least the Chimu era). However, the only model to survive was the CT (used for fishing) which we could call “old”. The derived model, which could be called “new”, made for entertainment purposes or surfing (SCT) totally disappeared. We call it “new” because it started to exist before the year 400 AD, and disappeared after 1500 AD (another consequence of the conquest).
The assertion above is based on the analysis of the huacos whose pictures are presented now. They provide an objective evidence of the existence of SCTs for surfing purposes. Picture 2 has the legend: “ceramic art, Moche IV (400 AD). Collection: Amano”.[86] Picture 3 has a legend: “Chimu ceremonial ceramic”.[87] Pictures 1 and 4 were taken by the author, at the Museo Bruning in Lambayeque, and the ceramics could be from the 6 c. AD.[88] The SCTs in picture 4 look different from each other, and they are probably portraits or retratos [89] of two SCTs built with different materials: the one on the left (which is also in Picture 1) resembles a cannon bullet, is streamlined and, in my opinion, was made out of balsa wood; the one on the right has quite different features since it was probably made out of totora reed. Pictures 1, 2 and 3 show very similar SCTs used for surfing (same material?) although between the first and the last one more than 1000 years had elapsed.
In the proximity of the Andean World coasts, the waves are usually rough, and to cut through them was not an easy task, so an initiation ceremony was required. We already know that these boats are small and fragile “....from 3 to 4 meters long, and a weight of approximately 40 kilos when dried”.[90] (see pictures 5 and 6). Therefore, to be deemed as ready to cut through the waves with a CT, “the young candidate must hunt a jaguar [sic] from the Andes and cut off its head as a trophy (Antonio Raimondi: Notas de Viaje, 1942)”. [91] Only then he would confront the ocean since he had been trained [92] to “be familiarized with the waves and beat them, avoiding the threats, safely arriving to the shore, and keeping intact the fishing products”.[93] The training included the notion that if a man could not carry his CT “...he should not go into the ocean because he was unable to control it”. [94] In another rite, to be allowed to ride a CT, a man:
In relation to the question: why did the CT survive?, at least three reasons can be mentioned. 1) The raw material was easy to find, at almost zero cost, and the ones with the know-how could build it in a very short time. [96] Totora reeds and balsa wood were abundant, and did not call the attention of the conquistadores. 2) In relation to the above, the Europeans despised everything developed by the natives, so these materials were left for the miserable, socially lowest members of the society. Things were different in Hawaii, and part of the native aristocracy resisted and concealed the board surfing which in the late 19th century they contributed to recover. This was possible because Hawaii, despite the British influence and the Calvinists, was formally independent until the USA took it over in 1893. [97] Until then, the cultural resistance in Hawaii took place from above, backed by the native aristocracy, while in the AW, the nobles were destroyed or turned into common and miserable natives – and finally they all were leveled under the word “indio” with its connotation of lowest possible social level (this becomes clearer in the Andean World after the rebellion led by Inca Túpac Amaru II). So the lowest people on the coast were allowed to use the CT, an essential tool for the survival of natives, and despised by the conquistadores. Their resistance came from below, as part of the process that explains why the AW population was not exterminated. 3) Because the Catholic church was not likely to systematically persecute the fishermen who used the CT – after all, these were working people and not people searching for pleasure or in other words they were not sinners.
On the other hand, the SCT users were likely to be subject to furious persecution, eliminated and forgotten. Their lifestyle was somehow similar to the native surfers in Hawaii. We can imagine the sort of party that would be thrown to the champion (almost turned into a god) and the other participants in those bird-men contests, and it was probably not so hard to go from ludic (while playing in the water) to lubricious (on the beaches) and ... the rest ... as in the phrase above. Perhaps that phrase was about the SCT riders.
Notice that, in Picture 1, the man’s eyes are bulged – would that be an effect of Sanpedro?[98] As explained by Arturo Exebio Balladares, the Bruning Museum guide, bulged eyes may indicate the use of the hallucinogenic plant, Sanpedro. This huaco is black, a color considered to be associated to happiness by the Mochica, also a night symbol, a time perceived as bringing happiness to men and women. The queen of the night was the Moon “female in the Mochica iconography associated to a woman”. [99] Probably all the above contributed for the very happy face we see on the man in picture 1. This was certainly unacceptable from the church point of view and the dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary (so different from this woman = moon = happiness = negritude). Also unacceptable for a church that preached the need of suffering to have access to heaven, and by the sweat of your face you will eat bread. This kind of church was likely to find the existence of SCTs unacceptable.
An additional explanation for their vanishing could be the increasing deprivation the natives went through. In a situation of extreme poverty, the chances of developing entertaining and sports activities are almost nonexistent since most people would spend their time and energy to ensure survival. The natives’ descendants are amazingly poor.
In Huanchaco (the “capital” of CTs), the community named Mocheros (Mochica and Chimu descendants) lives in close contact with the ocean, and they use the CTs since childhood. However they probably wish they had those modern, expensive surfing boards, and they certainly ignore that a long time ago their ancestors had fun with SCTs they made themselves. Today, those few among them who have boards (usually gifts from generous tourists), show great surfing ability, and in a short time some of them become surfing instructors. Mocheros find it easy to cut through the waves on a board because this is a kind of sporting return to their old acquaintance, the ocean. It has been suggested that, should they have surfing boards, people from Huanchaco (Huanchaqueros) could easily become great surfers.[100]
Currently, several community associations, companies and lol governments in the Mochica - Chimu areas (mainly Huanchaco) try to recover a few ancient activities. So they organize the Sea Festivals in which board surfers and CT surfers mix together and compete (pictures 10 and 11). However, the CTs are heavy, lack a streamlined design, and make it almost impossible for the surfer to stand up. Today the population do not know the SCTs – made to cut through the waves just for fun, on which the surfer was not required to stand up but instead, he would ride it as a jockey (pictures 1, 2, 3 and 4).
IV. CONCLUSION.
This paper is centered around the individual totora reed boat (CT) that people used for fishing, some 5000 years ago in the AW (mainly in what is now Peru). There is plenty of literature about this subject. However, the author was unable to find written research about the existence of those CTs that were used for entertaining and sporting purposes just for surfing SCTs, as attested by the ceramic art. So this study has the advantage of being original, and at the same time the disadvantage of not counting with the support from existing data, with the consequent possibility of errors. The main point is: the caballito de totora- CT used to fish thousands of years ago originated (probably around the 4th c. AD) a device made of the same materials with the specific entertaining purpose of surfing the ocean waves, similarly to the current surfing board, the SCT.
[1] A first version was presented at the First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean - May 22-23, 2008 - University of California, San Diego.
[2] Acosta, fray José de. Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1940 [1550]. Maria Rostworowski quotes Acosta. The full quotation is: “Father Acosta (1940: 182 [1550]) reports that it was great fun to watch how [the natives] fished at El Callao: ‘Because they were so many, looking like jockeys or seating on their individual little raft ... cutting through the ocean waves, and the sea is rough down there where they fish, they looked like Tritons or Neptunes painted on the water...’ ”.Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Recursos Naturales Renovables y Pesca. Siglos XVI y XVII. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1981: 107. Translations into English from originals in other languages are the author’s sole responsibility. Many thanks to my Brazilian wife Genny Cemin for helping me with the English language.
[3] Andean World (AW) means the territory eventually unified by the Incas (13th–16th c. AD). It goes from the south, Rio Maule (currently in Chile) and Tucuman (modern Argentina) up to Pasto (modern Colombia). The AW encompassed nearly the entirety of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru including massive portions of the Amazon region.
[4] Amayo Z., E. “Proyecciones Andinas en el Pacífico: del pasado al presente”. In Geopolítica de América Latina y el Caribe. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1999: 43-72. This book focuses on the seafaring literature.
[5] “In Mochica and Chimu ceramic art there are numerous illustrations of human beings and gods fishing or navigating on these boats. The Spaniards called them ‘little horses’ (‘caballitos’) because the natives would ride them keeping their feet in the sea water”. Rostworowski de D.C., M., 1981: 106. The Mochica civilization (1-8th c. AD) existed in what is currently northern Peru (La Libertad, Lambayeque and part of Piura). The Mochica disappeared from part of their territory (La Libertad), where another great maritime civilization was developed a few centuries later. Its name was Chimu.
[6] “Totora, v. Scirpus Californicus, Typha spp., Momordica charatia, Juncus spp. Scirpus Californicus sub specie totora Koyama. Family, Ciperáceas. Common names, totora. Location: [Peru] Coast and Mountains in lagoons and marsh. Forms: wild and cultivated (Lake Titicaca). Uses. Tender sprouts are... foliage....the Uros [natives] from Lake Titicaca use it to build islets, houses and boats [and floating islets]... medicine: astringent and anti-fever, forage for cattle...” Brack Egg, A. Diccionario Enciclopédico de Plantas Utiles del Perú. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo – Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de las Casas, Cuzco, 1999: 448 and 502. Based on this information (p. 9) it is possible to say that Totora is a native plant from the AW.
[7] From now on referred to as CT.
[8] National Executive Resolution 648 (Resolución Directoral Nacional No. 648) by the National Institute of Culture (Instituto Nacional de Cultura – INC de 27/08/2003) provides: “Sole clause – To pronounce CABALLITO DE TOTORA as National Culture Heritage, a boat considered as the expression of live cultural traditional manifestations that mark the communities settled down along the Peruvian northern coast, and a contribution to the regional and national identity”. INC is the Cultural State Agency of Peru.
[9] In the AW, the ocean spreads between Arica in northern Chile and Guayaquil in southern Ecuador (a coastline of approximately 3,500 Km). Its central part corresponds to today’s Peruvian Sea (PS), one of the richest in the world, famous for its unique, great swell. In 2005, the PS still ranked second worldwide in fishing volume (9.338.662 tons - FAO – Statistics Iceland, Google search, 03/22/08). A Brazilian site informs that “Peru is one of the richest countries in waves, and the swells on its long coastline come from the South, Southeast, Northeast and North, all year round... in Pico Alto one could surf 25-foot waves. In Cabo Blanco you can get 10-second tubes. In Chicama, you can maneuver in walls up to 2-kilometer long...” (Terra – WAVES – Virtual surf community – Google search, 03/21/08).
[10] Referred to as SCT.
[11] The huaco pictures were taken by the author at the Bruning Museum of Lambayeque city, Peru. This Museum is dedicated to the northern Peru civilizations among which the Mochicas have a special status. In order to take the pictures inside the museum, I was helped by a knowledgeable guide, Mr. Arturo Exebio Balladares. After listening to my question: “are there any huacos depicting surfing men?” he took me to a place where these two wonders were sitting.
[12] Shady S., R. “I. Introducción”. In Las Investigaciones en Caral: su significado y trascendencia para el Perú y el Mundo. Google search, 02/17/07. Dr. Ruth Shady Solís, archaeologist, is the head of the Archaeology Special Project, Caral-Supe/INC – Peru.
[13] “On 27 April 2001, a stunning announcement in the journal Science revealed that the urban life and a complex agriculture emerged in the New World nearly a millennium earlier than was previously believed (Shady Solis, Ruth, Jonathan Haas, and Winifred Creamer. Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru.Science 292:723-726, 2001). Radiocarbon tests in ancient Caral, Supe Valley, Peru, 23 km off the coast, show that its monumental architecture started as early as 2627 B.C. and went on until about 2000 B.C., even before ceramics and maize were taken to that region. (By comparison, Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Khufu was built between 2600 and 2480 B.C.). The massive size of this urban system is also remarkable: 65 hectares in the very central zone…” Caral: Oldest City in the New World. A conversation with Dr. Ruth Shady. The Archeology Channel (Google search, 07/05/05)
[14] “The team formed by Haas, Winnifred Creamer and Alvaro Ruiz found some evidence that people lived inland off the coast as early as 9210 BC, while the oldest date associated to a city is 3500 BC. Other urban sites in the region are now dated earlier than Caral: Caballete at 3100 BC, Porvenir and Upaca at 2700 BC….” (Coppens, Ph. Caral, the oldest city in the new world. This article first appeared in Frontier Magazine 8.3 (May 2002) and was edited twice after it was first published; Google search, 03/20/04). The above described area, near Caral, is part of Norte Chico (Lima Department, approx. 200 Km towards north from Lima city).
[15] Shady, S., R. “II. La Sociedad de Supe en los Albores de la Civilización”. In Las Investigaciones en Caral: su significado y trascendencia para el Perú y el Mundo. Google search, 02/17/07; italics added by the author.
[16] Ib.
[17] Ib.
[18]. A brochure from the 09/06/07 exhibit says: “This evidences the intense trade [of Caral] with other peoples settled down on the shore, valley, high Andes, high Amazon, and places as distant as the Gulf of Guayaquil”. MUESTRA CIENTÍFICA Y ARQUEOLÓGICA – La Civilización de Caral-Supe: 5000 anõs de Identidad Cultural en el Peru. 2007. Caral-Supe Project, sponsored by Universidad de San Martín de Porres. Address: Av. Brasil N° 3160, Magdalena, Lima, Peru.
[19] Tramontana, F., O. “Caballito de Totora – La primera embarcación unipersonal para surcar olas del mundo. Fragmento del Capítulo 2”. In Cinco mil años surcando olas. http://www.perulongboard.com/historia2.htm Google search, 10/18/07: 6 of 10.
[20] Tramontana (0p. cit. 8 0f 10) mentions the following writings: Rafael Larco Hoyle. Archaelogía Mundi. Perú, 1966; Hermann Buse, Perú, 10.000 años; Bird: Art and life in Old Perú. They were no available in Sao Paulo city, so the author had no access to them. Viru and Gallinazo are names of ancient cultures settled in today’s La Libertad Department, Peru.
[21] Hocquenghem, A.M. Iconografía Mochica. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, Lima, 1989: 19. His criteria to define the Mochica is different from the author’s. That could explain the lack of consensus to define the duration of the AW urban societies).
[22] Bauer, B. S. Y Dearborn, D.S. Astronomía e Imperio en los Andes. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos “Bartolomé de Las Casas” – Cuzco, Peru, 1998: 16.
[23] “Balsa wood, V. Apeiba tibourbou, Heliocarpus popayanensis, Ochroma pyramidale. Apeiba tibourbou, Aub. ... Tiliácea. ... lower and higher Amazon. Wild tree. Light wood as the balsa type. Fibers... for... ropes. Heliocarpus popayanensis HBK. ... Tiliácea... Lower and Higher Amazon up to 3000msnm. Wild and cultivated tree. ... very light, similar to ... Ochroma pyramidale. Fibers...for making... ropes. Ochroma pyramidale. (Cav. Ex Ur) Urb. ... Bombacácea... tall tree with wide crown... wild and cultivated... in the Amazon and Tumbes up to 2000 msnm... from Central America to Tropical South America... soft wood for crafts and model aeronautics. ... lighter of all others that are known (specific weight 0,11). Fiber ... to manufacture ropes... very demanded wood around the world ... ”. Brack E. A., op. cit.: 361, 42, 241, 348.
[24] Morris. C y Von Hagen, A. The Inka Empire and its Andean Origins. American Museum of Natural History, Abbeville Press Publishers, 1993: 18.
[25] Heyerdahl, T. A Expedição Kon Tiki. 8,000 km numa jangada a través do Pacífico. Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo, 1951. The book about this voyage was translated into several languages, and became a best - seller worldwide. The movie based on the book was awarded the Oscar in 1950. Kon Tiki is also the name of a major museum in Oslo in which the Kon Tiki raft is permanently exhibited.
[26] Heyerdahl, T. La navegación marítima en el Antiguo Perú – Seafaring in Early Peru. Published by Instituto de Estudios Histórico - Marítimos del Perú. Lima, 1996: 74. This is the opinion of a proud Viking descendant, a Norwegian navigator considered as the “father” of worldwide navigation using non-western watercraft and technology. He is a remarkable scientist (botany and archeology) and one of the unique kind of adventurers who risk their lives to proof their theories.
[27] Words copied from Expo 92. Spanish shipbuilders and explorers have a world class maritime tradition, and they say that the technology applied to the URU dates from “...approximately 1st c. AD...”
[28] I must thank Juan Ginés García y Pérez, one of the 5-member Spanish crew in the URU, for the pictures of this balsa in the Pacific. He has a true researcher’s spirit and went to great lengths to send me some data on this great maritime adventure, and others he was part of.
[29] Heyerdahl, T. “Tucume and the Continuity of Peruvian Culture”. In Pyramids of Tucume, The Quest For Peru´s Forgotten City. Thames and Hudson, 1995: 226. On its Preface, Thor Heyerdhal, Daniel H. Sandweiss and Alfredo Narváez say: “Rising out of the coastal plains of northern Peru, the vast, barren ruins of the Pyramids of Tucume, though eroded over the centuries, still bear witness to their original grandeur. Covering over the 220 ha (540 acres) and including 26 major pyramids as well as myriad smaller structures, the ancient city is truly impressive. First built around AD 1100 by people of the Lambayeque culture, it survived and even grew under successive waves of conquest by Chimu and later Inca armies, only to fall into ruins within a few years of the Spanish conquest”. After the fall of the Mochica Civilization in their territories of Lambayeque, another culture with the same name flourished in that area (approx. 10th –16thc.AD).
[30] Heyerdahl, T. “Tucume and the Maritime Heritage of Peru’s North Coast”. Ibid: 31.
[31] Torero, A. El Quechua y la Historia Social Andina. Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima, 1974.
[32] Ib.: 123.
[33] Torero, who died in 2004 while in exile in Spain, in his great book published after his death Idiomas de los Andes. Lingüística e Historia. Editorial Horizonte, Lima, 2005, fully develops his very long term hypothesis that the Coast (see Note 47) was priviledged in comparison to the Mountains because of its great natural richness – in sea resources and agriculture – and so the origin of the Andean Civilization was in the Coast areas. Archaeology research, with its increasing activities in Caral, has found evidence of this hypothesis; see: Shady S., R. Los Valores Sociales y Culturales de Caral-Supe, la civilización más antigua del Perú y América y su rol en el desarrollo integral y sostenible. Instituto Nacional de Cultura – Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe, Lima, 2007; Shady S., R. y Cáceda G., D. Aspero, la ciudad pesquera de la Civilización Caral. Recuperamos su historia para vincularla a nuestro presente. Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe - Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima, 2008; Shady S., R., Crispín B., A. y Quispe L., E. Vichama de Végueta comparte con Caral 5000 años de identidad cultural. Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe - Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima, 2008.
[34] Tahuantinsuyu is the Quechua word used by the Incas to name their own society. An AW historian said, “The indigenous desire towards unity is expressed by the word Tahuantinsuyu meaning ‘four united regions’, an intent or drive for integration, perhaps at the unconscious level, that unfortunately never took place, and was cut short by Pizarro troops; people from Cuzco were short of time to consolidate their purposes. So we adopt the word Tahuantinsuyu instead of ‘Empire’ since the cultural meaning of empire does not correspond to the Andean reality but to circumstances referred to other continents”. Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Historia del Tahuantinsuyu. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1988: 16. This historian of the WA, perhaps the most important one alive, explains that, when talking about the Inca Society, she refuses to use the word Empire because it corresponds to the European reality: “In this book, readers will notice the absence of the word ‘Empire’ to refer to the Inca society, which is not by chance because this word carries too many connotations from the Old World” (Ib: 15)
[35] This region, on the Pacific coast, spread from Ica (modern Peru) to Pasto (modern Colombia), around 3000 km.
[36]Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Costa Peruana Prehispánica. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1989: 218; quotation from Pizarro, P. Relación del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Perú. Buenos Aires, 1944 [1571]: 186. Francisco’s cousin Pedro Pizarro was one of the chroniclers who witnessed the Conquest.
[37] Del Busto D., J.A. Túpac Yupanqui, Descubridor de Oceanía. Nuku Iva, Mangareva, Rapa Nui. Fondo Editorial del Congreso del Perú, Lima, 2006: 49.
[38] Cunningham R.W. California Indian Watercraft. EZ Nature Books, San Luis Obispo, California, 1988: 21.
[39] This number is result of calculations. The Spanish navigator Bartolomé Ruiz arrested one raft in 1526, probably from the Chinchay League. Francisco Pizarro ordered Ruiz to explore the Tahuantinsuyu shores before the attack. The arrest probably took place off Tumbes in an event known as the “Tumbesinos raft”. See Torero’s detailed description, pages 84-86. As Torero computed the raft’s load capacity, he thanked scholar Pierre Duviols: “since ...he provided the data required to arrive to [22 tons] ’’ (Torero, op.cit: 219).
[40] Del Busto D., J.A. “Apéndice I – Una cronología aproximada del Tahuantinsuyo” in op.cit: 143-157.
[41] On the map, a legend says (Heyerdahl, 1996: 117): “Gambier Islands (after Laval 1938). The foreign king Tupa arrived from the east through Teava-o-Tupa”. Del Busto says that the “Tiripone manuscript... transcribed by Buck in 1938... was written in the middle of 19th c. by Mama Tairi Putari, son of a Mangarevan leader who helped priest Honoré Laval, a missioner working in Mangareva from 1834 to 1871”. So Putari, a native Mangarevan, told the story to Laval who included this and other Mangarevan oral reports in the Tiripone Manuscript, transcribed into English by Buck (Buck, P.H. Ethnology of Mangareva, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 157, Honolulu, Hawai, 1938); in his 1996 book, Heyerdhal (Del Busto’s source) used Buck’s writings.
[42] Del Busto’s Túpac Yupanqui, Descubridor de Oceanía... is the latest recreation, as far as I know, of Tupac Yupanqui’s voyage. He sets the date of 1465. The following chapters are especially important to this paper: Part I, Chapter II: The Balsa Rafts; Chapter III: The Great Balsa Rafts; Part III: Chapter I: The Mangareva Island; Chapter II: Eastern Island; Epilogue.
[43] These books were not available to the author for the same reasons of note 20.
[44] “Tupac Yupanqui first used balsa rafts on his victorious expedition to Brazil, and took 10,000 soldiers and their provisions down the tributaries of the Amazon, with between 30 and 50 men in each raft. Later he embarked on his famous expedition into the open Pacific, following literally in the footsteps and wake of his ancestor-god Viracocha, first from Cuzco to the coast at Manta in Ecuador and then into the open ocean…” Heyerdahl, T. 1995: 30. In the world history, it is rare to find a king with his qualities: an explorer, willing to expand his knowledge about the world, and risking his life during his enterprises.
[45] In this book, see: Galapagos versus Mangareva; Memories at Ica and Arica of prehistoric voyages to distant Pacific Islands; Other Peruvian traditions of voyages to distant islands; Sarmiento´s search for the islands described by the aborigines of Peru; Canoes versus rafts.
[46] See Rostworowski, Costa Peruana, see especially: The Chinchas; The Mochicas; The Myth of God Con; Chincha Valley merchants during the pre-Colombian era: a document and some comments; fishermen; merchants; Chincha traders; northern traders. From her book Recursos Naturales...: Fishing and fishermen in the 16th and 17th centuries; Water craft. From Historia del Tahuantinsuyu: The “merchants”; The coast trading; local exchange; Chincha “merchants” trading over distant locations; The northern “merchants”.
[47] See Torero, El Quechua y la historia... the chapter: The interregional relations and Quechua´s diffusion in Ancient Peru. a – Several factors that benefited the coast in its relations with the Andean inland. (see footnote 33).
[48] The URU expedition was the basis for Kitin Muñóz’s book: La Expedición Uru. La Leyenda del Dios Blanco. Plaza & Janes Editores, Barcelona, 1990. It is very hard to find a copy of this book – thanks to URU’s navigator Juan Ginés García y Pérez, I have a scanned copy of it.
[49] Torero: 83; he quotes chronicler Sarmiento de Gamboa, P. Historia de los Incas [1572].Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires, 1943: Chapter XLVI. This chronicler says that when Túpac Yupanqui was in the northern part of the AW, he met some navigators coming from the West in sail rafts; they said they were coming from Auachumbi and Niñachumbe islands, and so the Inca made his decision of extending his domains to that region. According to a researcher “currently very few remember the old Quechua toponymy referring to two major Galapagos Islands... Auachumbi (‘outside’) and Niñachumbe (‘of fire’)... ” Melgar B., R. “Las Islas del Pacífico Sudamericano: una historia negada”. Cuadernos Americanos. Nueva Epoca. No. 54, Vol. 6, UNAM, Mexico: 153. So the names in Quechua - the language of the Chincha navigators and merchants - reveal that these islands were old acquaintances to them.
[50] Del Busto: 43.
[51] Grant, N. The Great Atlas of Discovery. A Pictorial Atlas of World Exploration. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992: 43.
[52] Ib.
[53] Elias de Zevallos, H. El entorno de Isabel Barreto Castro de Mendaña y su viaje hacia las Islas Salomón 1595 - 1596. Issued by Asociación Nacional Pro-Marina del Perú, Lima, 1995: 81.
[54] Ib.: 83.
[55] Ib.: 130; italics added by the author, to point out how the name Australia was incorporated to the world history.
[56] Grant: 42-43.
[57] He used every means available. Sarmiento was the official historian at the service of the 5th Viceroy of Peru (1569-81) Francisco de Toledo, deemed as the true AW destroyer. In order to write his history, Sarmiento used the resources considered as legal by the holy inquisition to interrogate mainly the indigenous priests (similarly to Europe, priests were the knowledge main trustees). Let us remind ourselves that the conquest was a catholic crusade against indigenous religions.
[58] Heyerdhal 1996: 116.
[59] Cuningham, op. cit. : 22. The word “primitive” used to qualify the Peruvian indigenous navigation implies the idea that the other is the civilized navigation. Certain Western-centered views consider as primitive (non-civilized or anti-civilized) at different levels all non-Western elements (inside the world created under the European rule since the 16th century). As to the great European expeditions of the 16th century, would they have been possible without the contribution given by Phoenicians, Arabs or Chinese? While the large rafts in the AW resulted from human actions (therefore within the sphere of history and the real world) Noah´s Ark was the result of divine action (within the sphere of faith and myth).
[60] “Dutch Admiral Spilbergen first illustrated in 1619 the way in which the balsa rafts were sailed with the help of guaras. He depicted three men rising and lowering those vertical boards to steer the raft, while two others attended to the sails. Notice the water jars and anchor stones… Unwittingly, without a comment, Spilbergen provides the first illustration of a balsa raft being sailed by merely lowering and raising the boards called guaras, an ingenious system of deep-sea navigation unknown to the Europeans before the middle of the next century [18th Century]” (Heyerdahl 1995: 25).
[61] Heyerdhal 1996: 91; Spilbergen reported from Port of Paita, and Heyerdahl quotes: Spilbergen, J. 1906 [1619] The East and West Indian Mirror Being and Account of Jaris van Spilbergen´s Voyage Around the World (1614-1617) and the Australian Navigation of Jacob Le Maire. Hakluyt Society 2nd. ser. Vol. 18, London.
[62] Del Busto, op.cit: 54. His opinion is important since he was not only a great historian but an experienced navigator who traveled every ocean including the Pacific. Del Busto visited the areas where, according to him, Túpac Yupanqui had arrived in 1465, and sailed the Amazon River and its tributaries from Peru to Brazil. He was also the “official chronicler” of the Peruvian expedition that established the Peruvian base of Machu Pichu in the Antarctic Continent.
[63] See Heyerdahl 1996: 30-37; he describes four types of sails used in the AW according to the circumstances: sails as triangles attached on the upper part, as triangles attached on the lower part, as squares and as rectangles. The1587 map by Abraham Ortelio America Sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio shows a few rafts bearing 3 types of sails (triangle attached on the lower part, square and rectangle) along with some Spanish caravels, on the coast roughly from Antofagasta to Manta. See Atlas Histórico geográfico y de Paisajes Peruanos. Instituto Nacional de Planificación, Lima, 1969: 69.
[64] Heyerdhal 1995: 23, quotes Andagoya, P. 1865 [1541-46] Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila in the Provinces of Tierra Firme or Castilla del Oro and of the Discovery of the South Sea and the Coasts of Peru and Nicaragua. Hakluyt Society Vol. 34, London: 36, 45, 58.
[65]Rostworowski, 1977: 228 (Italics by the author). The so called “Aviso” is as follows: “At the library in the Royal Palace of Madrid, in volume XXII of ‘Miscelanea de Ayala’ (pages 261-273v), there is an anonymous manuscript named: Aviso de el modo que havía en el gobierno de los indios en tiempo del Inga y cómo se repartían las tierras y tributos (sic) [Notice about the rules under the Indian government during the Inga times, and how they shared the land and taxes]”: 213.
[66] That is, the period going from the date when Tupac Yupanqui becomes king of the Incas (1471; he was a Prince when he sailed the Pacific) to the hanging of Atahuallpa by Pizarro(07/26/1533): 52 years and 04 kings (Tupac Yupanqui, Huayna Capac, Huascar and Atahuallpa).
[67] As the case, for instance, of the Mongol Emperors (these men from the mountains were excellent in cavalry and infantry, but never as seamen) who ruled China for at least 200 years (13th c. and 14th c. AD). See the Discovery Channel one-hour documentary, Khubilai Khan: Fall of the Mongol Hordes.
[68] In the above mentioned documentary movie, Kublai Kan faces the same problem, and so he trusts his massive fleet of over 4,000 boats and almost 150,000 men to a General (a mountain man from the cavalry) instead of an Admiral (a seaman) to conquest Japan in 1281, only because the General was a Mongol. This was a serious mistake and one of the factors that explain the disaster suffered by his fleet which got lost and was destroyed in the ocean without ever arriving to Japan.
[69] Examples of annexation range from “peaceful conquest: the lordship of Chincha” (pages 100-104) to “the lordship of Chimu: a resistance example” (pages 111-112). The Chimus (13th–15th c. AD) built Chan Chan, its capital city, facing the sea, the largest maritime city in Indigenous America, with approximately 5 km2 and 200,000 inhabitants. The archaeological sites and the ornaments of low relief decorating the city show that everything in there is related to the ocean and the sky: “... really almost to the exclusion of any other type of imagery” (Heyerdahl 1996: 95). Chan – Chan is 5 km away from Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru.
[70] The Inca aristocrats had their ears extended from a very early age, as a symbol of social status. Babies had to bear discs of various sizes in their ear-laps, at first small but then increasingly larger, usually beautiful, circular pieces of jewel.
[71] “... all of them were killed, no one was kept alive. Although the Incas made attempts to swim and save their own lives,... they couldn’t help it. Because the coast people, being so familiar with the ocean, have over the inlanders the same advantage the marine animals have over the terrestrial animals”. Garcilaso de la Vega, Inca [1609]. Comentarios Reales de los Incas II. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Lima – Mexico – Madrid, 1991: 571.
[72] Its color is pinkish white, and the outside is thorny. Since the most remote times, this was a religious item, essential to make the sophisticated jewelry pieces, and more valuable than gold. The Spondylus shell is typically found in the ocean hot waters, from Tumbes up to Mesoamerica, and is especially abundant in what is modern Ecuador. The goal of obtaining Spondylus was a powerful force driving navigators in the AW.
[73] Seamen were often a problem for their leaders, mainly if they succeeded and became popular. Kings believed their own power could be threatened by the popularity some seamen gained from their remarkable feats. Admiral Zheng He, under the Chinese Ming emperor Zhu Di, made 7 journeys (1405-1433) as the commander of a fleet of wooden boats whose size and load capacity were lower only to the steel boats built by the USA in World War One (see National Geographic documentary on this Admiral). Zheng He’s great success made the emperor suspicious and afraid that the Admiral and his subordinates (famous and powerful seamen) could try to seize power. So the emperor, acting under the logics of a state centralized in his person, decided to put an end to the seamen power by prohibiting new voyages and destroying the fleet. See Wallerstein, I. The Modern World System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the origins of the European World Economy in the Sixtennth Century. New York, Academic Press, 1974.
[74]An ancient myth from the AW known as Mito del Zorro de Arriba y del Zorro de Abajo (myth of the upper part fox and the lower part fox) says that there were two foxes-gods who could take any human form they pleased. They were eternally fighting each other and then playing with each other, competing and then supplementing each other, running and standing still, although they were always together. The myth masterly summarizes the following process: before the Incas, other people from the mountains (Sierra) attempted to unify the AW: these were the Chavin Civilization (8thc. BC-1st c. BC). Centuries later, the same was attempted by another high-mountain people, the Wari (8th c. AD–13th c. AD). However, on the coast, and much before the Chavin, there were other cultures, including the Caral Civilization. After the Chavin, also on the coast, we had the Nazca and Mochicas, while the Tiahuanaco people were in Lake Titicaca. Still later on, on the coast, we had the Chincha and the Chimús. The Moyobamba were in the Amazon (Chincha, Chimu and Moyobamba were contemporary of the mountain people Wari). We cannot know what would happen after the Incas, if the Spanish didn’t go there. So we can say two things: 1) those cultures from the high mountains tended to unify the AW, while the ones from the coast (lower parts) tended to form Independent Regional Kingdoms; 2) there were long periods in which the people from the high mountains were hegemonic, followed by long periods in which the people from the lower parts (coast) were hegemonic, and so on. Based on this myth, Jose Maria Arguedas wrote his novel El Zorro de Arriba y el Zorro de Abajo.
[75] “... even less is known about the population in Europe and Asia in those times [1492]. America has been provided with a good amount of data, thanks to the Berkeley school of historic demography, especially with Cook and Borah. Merely on basis of comparison, one could think that Europe, from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, had between 60 and 80 million inhabitants in 1500. If this was really so, then one continent would have accomplished the sad feat of depopulating another continent with a much larger population”. Da Cunha, Carneiro M. História dos Índios no Brasil. Companhia das Letras, São Paulo, 1998:14.
[76] See Del Busto: chapter “Las Islas de las perlas” op. cit. : 67-82
[77] For instance, Pascual de Andagoya arrived to the AW and wrote his “reports” in 1524 (8 years before the “successful” arrival of Pizarro). As history shows, the Europeans carried microorganisms that were new to the IA inhabitants, and fatal as well, because their bodies had not acquired yet the required natural biological immunity.
[78] See note 29.
[79] At the same time, poor Europe (which became rich after the conquest given that, while destroying the IA, the Europeans took away and accumulated the IA richness) solved its constant problem of plague by setting fire on towns, fields, etc.
[80]Rostworowski 1977: 214; italics added by me, the author.
[81] Ib.: 216-17; idem.
[82] Ib.: 217.Rostworowski quotes Meléndez, Fray Juan de [1681-82]. Tesoros Verdaderos de Indias. Roma, Tomo I, Cap. XV: 459. Huaca is the AW Temple; idem.
[83] See the author’s article “Lima na história da América Latina”. In 500 Anos. A chegada dos europeus à América. Revista PUC-VIVA – Publicação Acadêmica e Informativa Trimestral dos Professores da PUC-SP, São Paulo, Ano II, No. 7, December, 1999: 27-41.
[84] “It wasn’t until 1779 that the Western world heard of surfing, when … James King, assigned to a British expedition led by … James Cook, published his accounts of the Hawaiian islands and the exotic ocean pastime and beach lifestyle enjoyed by locals. The European soon began to use Hawaii as a Pacific crossroads and trading post, so it wasn’t too long after in 1821 that Calvinist missionaries arrived from Britain to impose their religion and repressed ideologies on a population which they viewed as frivolous. As surfing was often a pre-cursor to couples getting it on, the missionaries decided that it wasn’t at all right or proper, so dealt a heavy blow by banning surfing which almost wiped the pastime out completely. This almost lead to the extinction of traditional Hawaiian culture…” Surf History – Surf history a guide to the origins of surfing and the mdern surfing pioneers. Extremehorizon http://www.extremeholrizon.com/surfhistory.asp; Google search, 10/23/2007. In relation to the same there is another text: “The only thing dying faster than Hawaiian culture were the Hawaiians themselves. Ravaged by diseases, alcohol and other poisons brought ashore by the flood of post-Cook, the Hawaiian population dwindled from somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 natives at the time of Cook’s arrival, to a mere 40,000 by 1896. Despite the imposed Calvinist morality, surfing didn’t disappear …” Marcus. B. From Polynesia, with love. The history of surfing from Captain Cook to the present. http://www.surfingforlife.com/history.html; Google search 10/23/2007. Notice that, on a smaller scale, the Hawaiian history has similarities with the AW’s history. In Hawaii, a fierce repression and destruction was carried out not by Spanish or Catholic individuals, but by British and Calvinist individuals. The cultural resistance took place in Hawaii too, and the board surfing was kept alive, almost in secret. The author added the italics to the phrase and all the rest and to the first part of this note “as surfing was often a pre-cursor to couples getting it on” to emphasize the obsessive concern of Catholics and Calvinists to control people’s sensuality.
[85] Reduced almost only to: this is so because, until the early years of the 20th c., it was possible to see large rafts still in use. A photo legend says: “a large balsa trading raft photographed on 6/11/1899 by Hans Heinrich Bruning off the north coast of Peru...” (Heyerdhal, 1995: 29). Brunning, a German, started a collection that gave origin to the Bruning Museum. Another part of his collection is in Hamburg, Germany.
[86]Rostworowski 1981: see last cover and its inside. Moche is a synonym for Mochica. The Amano Collection is in the Amano Museum of Lima.
[87] Photo copied from “Trujillo. O berço do Senhorio Chimú e seus arrededores. Destinos do Peru. Um guia básico para viajantes”. PromPeru, http://www.peru.org.pe/ Promperu is the Peruvian official body in charge of tourism. The Chimu people, major heirs of the Mochica, were incorporated to the AW by force, under the Incas (in 1466, according to Del Busto: 151).
[88] See note 10. After a thorough visit to this museum, and talks with the museum guide Arturo Exebio Balladares, the author ’s conclusion was: 6th c. AD.
[89] The Mochica ceramic artists are historically famous in Peru as the authors of “Huacos Retrato” (portrait huacos). The name Retrato refers to the realism and perfection with which they portrayed people and objects – their pottery could be compared to small-size photographs: the ones in number 4 are probably 30 centimeters long by 10 centimeters wide, and 12 centimeters high.
.
[90] See “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Nación – Navegando los mares con el caballito de totora – Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana – Temporary Exhibits”. http://museodelacultura.perucultural.org.pe/pieza10.shtml Google search, 10/23/2007: 1 of 2. See also pictures 5 and 6.
[91] Tramontana op. cit: 4 of 10; Raimondi’s writings were not available for consultation by the author. Raimondi is a key geographer in modern Peru. Notice that in the indigenous Hawaii the surfers also had to go through initiation ceremonies.
[92] “...architect Emilio Harth-Terré argues that the two depressions in Chan Chan were sea ports... but I found that the ancient people from Huanchaco used these pools to train how to ride their caballitos [de totora] before entering the sea; it is a personal reference by Francisco Pimimchum that this took place around the 1920s” (email received on 05.29.98 by the author, from archaeologist Miguel A. Cornejo G., National University of Trujillo. In today’s Huanchaco, Señor Pimimchum is seen as a sort of patriarch by the CT fishermen; he kindly gave an interview to the author on 07. 29.08 and, judging by his appearance and stamina, you could hardly guess he was almost 80 years old.
[93] Ib.: 5 of 10.
[94] ” See op. cit. “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio...”: 1 of 2.
[95] Tramontana op. cit. : 7 of 10. Extraordinary skills were required to carry a bird egg in those conditions, because of its extreme fragility. More so if you think of the watercraft’s small dimensions, huge waves and the islands’ around 10 miles from the coast. This important ceremony was depicted in Tucume friezes including the deified being Bird Man. The same character existed in Eastern Island. See pictures 7, 8 and 9.
[96] “These experts take around 30 minutes to assemble [manufacture] a caballito”, op. cit. “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio...”: 1 of 2.
[97] ... of the 40,000 Hawaiians that remained, a handful attempted to resist the 1893 illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy by a coalition of businessmen, plantation owners and missionaries, assisted by U.S marines…” Marcus B. op.cit.: 10 of 10.
[98] Sanpedro is the popular name for the plant Trichocereus peruvianus: a strong hallucinogenic cactus used among the coast AW cultures since the most remote times (see picture 12).
[99] Hocqquenghem op. cit. : 127.
[100] See Leveratto S., R. Los Huanchaqueros Tablistas. Anthropology. Ethnographic Field School. Huanchaco, Peru. Student Ethnographies. http://www.usu.edu./anthro/peru/2003/richard.html Google search, 10/23/2007; Alva M., J.V. Huanchaco y el mar en la memoria de un pueblo de pescadores. http://derroteros.perucultural.org.pe/textos/derroteros11/huanchaco.doc Google search 02/10/2008.
[101] For the Peruvian cuisine, which recently has been more and more appreciated internationally, fresh fish is a major ingredient. A large part of it is provided by fishermen who still use the CT to catch fish.
FORUM TPSIPOL : RED DEMOCRATICA (RED)
ESPECIAL : “Caballito de Totora” - The Totora reed boat developed by
ESPECIAL : “Caballito de Totora” - The Totora reed boat developed by
the Mochica Civilization (1-8th c. AD) and the origins of surfing.
A Contribution to recover part part of the pre-columbian indigenous
history and its links to our time.
09/12/08
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“CABALLITO DE TOTORA” - THE TOTORA REED BOAT DEVELOPED BY THE MOCHICA CIVILIZATION (1-8th c. AD) AND THE ORIGINS OF SURFING. A Contribution to recover part of the Pre – Columbian indigenous history and its links to our time.
By Enrique Amayo – Zevallos, Ph.D.
Professor of Latin American Economic History and International Studies
Department of Economics & Graduate Program of Sociology
University of the State of Sao Paulo - UNESP
Inter - University Graduate Program of International Relations “San Tiago Dantas”
UNESP – UNICAMP – PUC-SP
Coordinator - “Núcleo de Pesquisas sobre o Pacífico e a Amazônia – NPPA”
BRAZIL
E-mail: eazamayo@amayo.pro.br,eazamayo@amayo.pro.br
Tel. + 55 11 3816 2689, + 55 16 3301 6214
Fax: + 55 16 3301 6258
By Enrique Amayo – Zevallos, Ph.D.
Professor of Latin American Economic History and International Studies
Department of Economics & Graduate Program of Sociology
University of the State of Sao Paulo - UNESP
Inter - University Graduate Program of International Relations “San Tiago Dantas”
UNESP – UNICAMP – PUC-SP
Coordinator - “Núcleo de Pesquisas sobre o Pacífico e a Amazônia – NPPA”
BRAZIL
E-mail: eazamayo@amayo.pro.br,eazamayo@amayo.pro.br
Tel. + 55 11 3816 2689, + 55 16 3301 6214
Fax: + 55 16 3301 6258
INDICE
Abstratc
1. Introduction
2.Background
3. Fishing and cutting through the waves on a Caballito de Totora.
4. Conclusion
5. References
5. References
Abstract. “CABALLITO DE TOTORA” - THE TOTORA REED BOAT DEVELOPED BY THE MOCHICA CIVILIZATION (1-8th c. AD) AND THE ORIGINS OF SURFING. A CONTRIBUTION TO RECOVER PART OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN INDIGENOUS HISTORY AND ITS LINKS TO OUR TIME.
Researchers found evidence of exceptional navigation skills held by the ancient Peruvian civilization Mochica including the use of ocean-going large watercraft, but few have explored the hypothesis of the Caballito de Totora - CT (local reed boats) as a probable origin of surf sports. This study focus on Mochica huacos (ancient ceramic art), probably made between the 4th and 15th c. AD, depicting a different kind of CT used as surfing devices for entertainment purposes. Today's Mochicas, the Mocheros, still use the traditional CTs for fishing purposes (referred to as CT) These communities spread along the Peruvian coast which currently is visited by numerous surfers attracted by the impressive, huge waves. To revive the use of the CT for surfing could be an additional resource and contribution to enhance eco-tourism projects, thus helping modern Mochicas out of poverty.
Resumen. EL CABALLITO DE TOTORA MOCHICA (S. I - VIII d.c.) Y EL ORIGEN DEL “SURF”. CONTRIBUCIÓN PARA RECUPERAR UNA HISTORIA INDÍGENA PRE-COLOMBINA Y SUS VINCULOS CON EL PRESENTE.
Resumen. EL CABALLITO DE TOTORA MOCHICA (S. I - VIII d.c.) Y EL ORIGEN DEL “SURF”. CONTRIBUCIÓN PARA RECUPERAR UNA HISTORIA INDÍGENA PRE-COLOMBINA Y SUS VINCULOS CON EL PRESENTE.
Bibliografía creciente demuestra la capacidad de navegación, incluso interoceánica, de sociedades del Antiguo Perú como los Mochica. Pero poca bibliografía explora la hipótesis: “el Caballito de Totora – CT probablemente es el origen del ‘surf’ “. Huacos Mochica, manufacturados probablemente entre los siglos IV y XV d.c., retratan “surfistas” usando un caballito especial, hecho solo para “surfar”; en este artículo se hará su descripción y análisis. Los Mochica de hoy, Mocheros, pescan en CT y viven en pobres comunidades indígenas que poseen costas con olas que impresionan al “surfista” moderno. Recuperar el “surf” en el caballito especial, como parte de un programa de desarrollo de turismo ecológico, ayudaría a superar la pobreza de los “Mocheros”.
“CABALLITO DE TOTORA” - THE TOTORA REED BOAT DEVELOPED BY THE MOCHICA CIVILIZATION (1-8th c. AD) AND THE ORIGINS OF SURFING. A Contribution to recover part of the Pre- Columbian indigenous history and its links to our time. [1]
INTRODUCTION.
Because they were in great numbers, each one riding or squatting on their small rafts ... cutting through the stormy sea waves right there where they catch fish, looking like tritons and neptunes painted over the water....[2] (Acosta 1550)
INTRODUCTION.
Because they were in great numbers, each one riding or squatting on their small rafts ... cutting through the stormy sea waves right there where they catch fish, looking like tritons and neptunes painted over the water....[2] (Acosta 1550)
The ocean-going navigation, including the trans-ocean navigation, was a popular topic in the Andean World (AW)[3] as an increasing number of recent studies reveal. This paper deals only superficially with seafaring[4] since the author’s main concern is the unique fishing boat named Caballito[5] de Totora[6] - CT[7] used by the AW peoples since the remote times. This idea is widespread and accepted in Peru, so much so that the CT has been pronounced as National Cultural Heritage (Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación.)[8].
In order to catch fish using this one-seat boat, of a size comparable to the modern surfing board, the ancient fishermen had to cut through some huge waves before reaching a proper fishing location which could easily be more than 30 kilometers away from the coastline. After working, they returned in the same way, carrying their catch inside a cleft on the back part of each CT. It probably fit around 50 kilograms of fish. Extraordinary skills were required from these men to maneuver such a small boat through huge waves and not turning it over, plus keeping the results of their catch.[9] The description refers to an activity still practiced today consisting of surfing the waves, with the rider seated or squatted on the CT. This explains the trend in the Peruvian surfing community including the former world surfing champion Felipe Pomar to claim that the use of the CTs by these ancient peoples should be considered by the International Surfing Association as the origin of surfing as we know it today.
However, these boats could be used for a different purpose, unknown to this author until recently. The activity was performed with the help of a special CT used by the ancients not to fish but to entertain themselves by surfing the ocean waves. They built something similar to the modern surfing board, and used it for entertainment on the sea. Probably this Surfing CT[10] was used in competitions and games involving sports activities. This is the main hypothesis explored in this paper, based on the analysis of two ancient ceramic or huacos each of them depicting a man riding his respective SCT. In my view these are Mochica huacos. One of them has a particularly aerodynamic shape evoking a cannon bullet mounted by a smiling man, his head protected by a helmet while he is clearly having fun, posing as a jockey and surfing the waves.[11] (see picture 1).
II. BACKGROUND
II. BACKGROUND
Caral... represents the most ancient civilization in America, and was developed almost simultaneously with Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. Peru’s inhabitants got there at least 1500 years ahead of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica which is another [American] civilizing center included in the worldly acknowledged six-center group, and more than 3000 years ahead of the society that built the remarkable Maya cities.[12]
The urban history started in the AW earlier than in any other part of the Americas. Archaeological sites show that Caral, in Supe Valley, is by far the oldest urban area in the whole continent, and one of the oldest urban areas worldwide[13], although cities even older than Caral could have existed in the AW.[14] For the purposes of this paper, it is important to point out that, from its origin, Caral provides clear evidence of the considerable relevance of the sea to the ancient Peruvians (regarded by them as a real treasure). Several prestigious scholars have said that the extraordinary fishing resources in the Peruvian seacoast could explain its unique history in the sense that maybe the agriculture there was preceded by fishing and shellfish gathering. About Caral, located at approximately 20 kilometers off the seacoast, Shady says:
The production of cotton and the manufacture of fiber used to make clothing, especially fishing nets, encouraged the labor specialization, and supported the economic supplementation through a non-stop trading of products between farming settlements and fishermen. Thereby it was possible to achieve the accumulation of products, social division of labor, specialization, and trading over short or long distances. [15]
According to Shady, there was unequal distribution of the production surplus from the agriculture and fishing activities, a fact that would hint at the existence of a class-divided society. In addition, part of the aggregated value in the cotton fiber production and fish processing (such as anchovies and sardines) was intended also for trading purposes. A number of people, the “principals”, traded over different territories, and became remarkably rich and prestigious. Ancient stratified societies such as this spread over valleys and the sea coast. And the Hunu, the Lord of Lords, stood out among the authorities in these societies,
... the Lord of the land between Santa and Chancay valleys ruled over all Hunus. This model of political organization went on in pre-Colombian Peru for a long time...[16]
However, agriculture and fishing were not the only important activities in this city built almost 5000 years ago. Still about this metropolis,
… by using a complex networking, it managed to benefit from the surplus produced in a vast territory including the coast, Callejon de Huaylas, Huallaga and Marañon….[17]
It is clear that, from the start, the AW civilization had an enduring organizational model that included the tendency to keep people in contact throughout great distances, over a geographically hard and complex landscape. Caral is roughly 20 kilometers off the sea coast and, to keep in touch with other communities in “Callejon de Huaylas”, its inhabitants would travel a long way across the unique territory of the Andes where this mountain system turns into the world’s highest tropical mountains. To be in contact with the valleys of rivers Huallaga and Marañon (Marañon joins Ucayali river to form the Amazon river) means to have access to the Amazon area, the greatest and most complex tropical jungle. Such distances are measured in hundreds of kilometers, but they probably traveled even longer distances to reach Guayaquil (in modern Ecuador) and carry out their trading activities.[18] This was a 2,000-kilometer journey comparable to the distance between the Great Pyramids and Babylon. In Europe, it would be like going across the Italic Peninsula from the south to the northern part.
So far many researchers consider Caral as the site where the urban history started in the AW and in the Indigenous America - IA. The ocean played a major role in its development as the city was very close to the Pacific (Guayaquil is on the same coastline). For this reason, some say that,
because the northern cultures of Peru were found ... evidences were found that... men were already surfing the waves some five thousand years ago. This is the case with the recently found Caral ruins.[19]
because the northern cultures of Peru were found ... evidences were found that... men were already surfing the waves some five thousand years ago. This is the case with the recently found Caral ruins.[19]
The same author informs that, according to archaeologist Rafael Larco Hoyle, the earliest ceramic representation of a man riding a CT was made by the Viru culture. The Viru culture was developed during the 1st millennium BC, and in close contact with the ocean. They depicted the CTs from 800–600 BC. So, Tramontana says: “we agree with Buse’s conclusion that ‘we have highly valuable ceramic art representing CTs – similar to the ones still used today by Huanchaco and Lambayeque fishermen – which indicates the existence of CTs approximately five thousand years ago’ “. And concludes: “In this respect there is plenty of testimonies. So this amazing chronology is closely followed by the chronology suggested by Bird: ‘The 2,200-year old Gallinazo vases also represent the same CTs that are still used in the northern coast’ ”.[20]
The Mochica iconography, with plenty of rafts and CTs, is defined as follows:
The Mochica iconography consists of molded or painted images applied to funerary items stored in graves, and to temple walls, in the northern Peruvian coast, between 200 BC and 700 AD. [21]
The Mochica iconography consists of molded or painted images applied to funerary items stored in graves, and to temple walls, in the northern Peruvian coast, between 200 BC and 700 AD. [21]
The same author explains that the Mochica pottery depicted different versions of ocean-related scenes, the Mythical representations and the Real representations. The latter are “the versions developed in the real world” (Hocquenghem: 126). This paper focus on the iconographic versions depicting scenes from the real world, since our concern is a unique kind of CT (the SCT) that falls under this category.
It is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the capacity and technology implied in the ship building developed by AW ancient peoples, nor the knowledge about astronomy required to handle their boats. In this respect, according to the same brochure on Caral: In this exhibit, visitors can also learn about the science and technology developed by this civilization, such as the quipu, the most ancient data recording system in Peru; and about the geoglifos representation and the different elements of astronomic observation, calendar elaboration, control of climate changes, canal building, etc. The Incas were just the last people who tried to accomplish the process of unification of the AW, before the arrival of the conquistadores with the consequent destruction of the Andean world. The Incas inherited the knowledge developed by those earlier cultures.
The Incas were not the first Andean people to do sky observations, and certainly not the only ones to worship the sun. Historical reports say that the Andean interest in astronomy has an agrarian basis that precedes the Incas. [22]
As to the navigation operations in the AW, my paper “Proyecciones Andinas en el Pacifico” mentions two types of materials mostly used in raft building. Rafts could be as small as CTs, or medium-sized and also extremely large. They were made of totora reeds and balsa wood.[23] These are unsinkable materials, a fact that has hindered the attempts to find out more about these boats since none was ever found at the sea bottom (remains of boats built by Fenicians, Romans, Vikings, Chinese, Spanish, etc. have been found and enabled researchers to collect data about the boats, their loads, etc). For this reason, some people have questioned their very existence. Because they were safe (unsinkable), their remains cannot be found by archeologists and explorers.
From the very old times, the earlier civilizations on the Pacific coast and Lake Titicaca used the native plant totora reed to build their boats. A major culture living in what is now Peru and Bolivia - the Tiahuanaco Civilization, 400 AD -1000 AD [24] - practiced the navigation on this magnificent midland lake, and as they moved to the coast, they built ocean going rafts with the same totora reed and started sailing the Pacific. These people were on the southern part of the AW (roughly Arequipa, in modern Peru, and Arica, in modern Chile). One could say that the most important builders of ocean-going rafts made of totora reeds were the Tihuanaco. Both totora reeds and balsa trees were available in great amounts to the civilizations on the central and northern parts of the AW (roughly Ica, in Peru, and Puerto de Manta, in Ecuador), and they became probably the most important builders of ocean-going balsa tree rafts.
Thor Heyerdahl used totora and indigenous technology inspired in the old rafts to build the famous KON TIKI[25] which left the port of Callao in Peru, on 04/28/1947, and ran aground the Raroia reef in Tuamotu Islands, Polynesia, Oceania, after sailing about 5 thousand miles in 97 days. Then he started the process to demonstrate the capacity of the ocean going rafts. Heyerdahl wrote:
... highly maritime cultures dominated the Pacific coast of Peru earlier than any maritime kingdom on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Centuries before de Vikings of Norway began to sail the open seas, balsa raft voyagers from the Lambayeque valley had started navigating in the open Pacific, to fetch Spondylus shell from Ecuador and Panama and lapislazuli from Ecuador to produce sophisticated jewelry, and to spread kamote, yucca, gourd, totora and even ear-extension and bird-man cult to distant Polynesia. [26]
In 1992, among the activities marking the beginning of the destructive bursting of the Western world into America, Spain organized the Expo 92 in Seville, in which the Balsa Uru was displayed. On a sign, you could read:
Balsa URU, Replica. In 1988, it sailed five months across the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to Polynesia. This trip proved that the Amerindian peoples used watercrafts that were able to carry out long journeys. Origin: Peru and Bolivia. Date: circa 1st C. Watercraft built in: 1988. Explorer: Kitin Muñoz (Spain). Built by: Paulo Esteban (Aymara People, Bolivia). The construction took place in Peru.[27]
Balsa URU, Replica. In 1988, it sailed five months across the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to Polynesia. This trip proved that the Amerindian peoples used watercrafts that were able to carry out long journeys. Origin: Peru and Bolivia. Date: circa 1st C. Watercraft built in: 1988. Explorer: Kitin Muñoz (Spain). Built by: Paulo Esteban (Aymara People, Bolivia). The construction took place in Peru.[27]
Heyerdahl wrote about the huge URU[28] (see picture 13),
That full size bundle-boats of totora reeds, such as illustrated in pre-Peruvian art, could have reached Polynesia had then just been demonstrated by Kitin Muñoz, one of the first to visit the reed-boat reliefs in Túcume after personally having sailed such a totora vessel from Callao harbour to the Marquesas Islands, twice the distance to eastern Island…[29]
What Heyerdhal’s KON TIKI did to prove that the AW balsa wood rafts had the capacity to accomplish trans-ocean voyages, was done by Muñoz’ URU with respect to the totora rafts. It is worth to mention that nearly all these modern large rafts were built by Paulo Esteban and his family.
Thor Heyerdahl said,
Since 1947, when the balsa raft Kon Tiki sailed from Callao to Polynesia, 14 manned rafts of balsa logs or totora reeds have sailed from Peru and Ecuador. Two of them reached the Galapagos and 12 reached islands in Polynesia, of which five continued to Melanesia, and four successfully traveled on to Australia. [30]
Since 1947, when the balsa raft Kon Tiki sailed from Callao to Polynesia, 14 manned rafts of balsa logs or totora reeds have sailed from Peru and Ecuador. Two of them reached the Galapagos and 12 reached islands in Polynesia, of which five continued to Melanesia, and four successfully traveled on to Australia. [30]
And so the capacity of the AW great rafts to sail the world seas has been proved.
Besides the Mochica, Tiahuanaco, and Lambayeque, nearly all the cultures in the southern Pacific coast were navigators too, such as the Chincha, Chimus, Punás (from Puná Island in Golf of Guayaquil), Mantas, etc. Their tradition was passed on to the Incas whose culture originated in the Andean mountains, far away from the sea.
The Chincha culture has a special importance for this study. The Chinchay or Chincha Lordship lived independently, in what is today the central Peru, before being absorbed by the Incas probably in early 16th C. The Chincha “merchants” (barterers) traveled great distances, and some authors[31] say that, because of their trade, the Chincha spread their language, a variation of the Quechua. Later on, the Incas found out that this Quechua variation was spoken in the most remote locations, and they adopted and spread it as a general language. The Chincha’s communities lived on the coast, and the boats were key trading tools. Torero says that, thanks to their power as “merchants” and navigators, the Chinchas were able to keep in contact with
... other people from Piura and Tumbes, on the far northern Peruvian coast and modern Ecuador coast, forming a network to deal with their common interests which we could call Liga Chanchay (Chanchay League) ....[the league] enabled them to have access to exotic products originating ... from Ecuador – perhaps from Central America ...[32]
Torero, linguist and historian,[33] says that the importance of the Chincha people was such that, once they were incorporated to the Tahuantinsuyu[34], one of its 4 regions was named Chinchaysuyo.[35]
In the historical events of 1532, when the last Inca ruler Atahuallpa was betrayed and arrested by Francisco Pizarro in Cajamarca, the only nobleman in the company of the Inca was the Lord of the Chinchas. Some time after his arrest, Atahuallpa explained the importance of the Chincha Lord who was murdered during the assault by Pizarro’s troops. In Rostworowski’s words,
During the Cajamarca events, just one litter-carried Lord was present, apart from Atahuallpa, He was the Curaca from Chincha. It is told that one day ... when Pizarro inquired the Inca about such privilege, Atahuallpa answered that this was a friend of his, the greatest Lord of the Plains, the owner of one hundred thousand ocean rafts. [36]
During the Cajamarca events, just one litter-carried Lord was present, apart from Atahuallpa, He was the Curaca from Chincha. It is told that one day ... when Pizarro inquired the Inca about such privilege, Atahuallpa answered that this was a friend of his, the greatest Lord of the Plains, the owner of one hundred thousand ocean rafts. [36]
In Torero’s view, these figures may be overstated, or may include all the available rafts, from CTs and medium-sized to big ones that carried at least 50 men[37] or 70 tons. [38] He estimates that, if we accept just 10% of that number, we have 10 thousand rafts, each with an average load capacity of 20 tons. [39] The total load capacity was estimated in 200,000 tons. The reason why the powerful Lord of Chincha was Atahuallpa’s guest in Cajamarca’s dramatic events could probably be explained by these impressive figures.
This paper’s main purpose is not to go into detail about ocean navigation expertise in the AW, however the following information is key to understand what comes next. The Incas (late 13th c.AD–1533 AD)[40] assimilated the collective wisdom of the earlier civilizations including their knowledge about navigation. This explains that Túpac Yupanqui, the 10th Inca king, was able to launch a 9 to 12-month’s duration maritime expedition (two ways) to Polynesia (Oceanic Continent) reaching Mangareva Island, [41] part of the Gambier Islands. There are evidences that Túpac Yupanqui would be the first navigator known who departed from the West (South American coast, between Piura and Manta), and traveled an approximate distance of 3 to 4 thousand maritime miles to arrive to Oceania, probably in 1465.[42]
Books about Tupac Yupanqui voyage started to turn up soon after the Incas Conquest (1533) and this went on along the years. Some of these books are: Fray José de Acosta: Historia natural y moral de las Indias, 1550; Pascual de Andagoya: Relación, 1541-46; Juan Diez de Betanzos: Suma y narración de los Incas, 1551; Miguel Cabello de Balboa: Miscelánea Antártica, 1586; Pedro Cieza de León: Crónica del Perú, 1553; Fray Bernabé Cobo: Historia del Nuevo Mundo, 1653; Pedro Pizarro: Relación del descubrimiento y conquista de los Reinos del Perú, 1571; Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa: Historia de los Incas, 1572; Samano-Xerex: Relación, 1528; Agustín de Zarate: Historia del descubrimiento y conquista del Perú, 1555; Antonio y Jorge Juan de Ulloa: Relación histórica del viaje a la América Meridional, 1748, etc.[43] Several modern researchers carefully analyzed these sources, one of them is Del Busto who studied Túpac Yupanqui’s voyage and the knowledge, material conditions and technology that made the expedition possible. This subject was also studied by Heyerdahl in his writings[44] especially in Seafaring in Early Peru.[45] The same was done by Rostworowski[46] and Torero.[47]
Heyerdahl shows that Túpac Yupanqui based his journey on a very ancient AW religious belief: an extraordinary civilizing being named Viracocha or Kon took the form of a white man and released human beings from the wild state (the idea is that, before Viracocha, men lived in caves). He revolutionized the AW in terms of agriculture, city planning, laws, principles, and so on, as he had divine powers, and for this reason he was considered as a powerful god even by the Incas. After finishing his tasks in the AW, Viracocha was on the coast when he turned several ocean snakes into a raft on which he sailed the Pacific Ocean to continue his mission elsewhere, and he left with the promise of coming back one day. This myth was an inspiration not only to Tupac Yupanqui’s journey, but to Heyerdahl’ Kon–Tiki and the voyage by Kitin Muñoz as well.[48]
For his journey, Túpac Yupanqui,
... ‘built a great amount of rafts on which he put more than 20,000 selected soldiers; Túpac Yupanqui and his men sailed to Auachumbi and Niñachumbe on a 9 months to 1 year-duration two-way journey ....[49]
For his journey, Túpac Yupanqui,
... ‘built a great amount of rafts on which he put more than 20,000 selected soldiers; Túpac Yupanqui and his men sailed to Auachumbi and Niñachumbe on a 9 months to 1 year-duration two-way journey ....[49]
Del Busto gives details about these figures, and concludes: “we estimate that 740 crew members and 1,480 soldiers were on board Túpac Yupanqui’s 148 rafts”.[50]
This journey cannot be explained just by the books, but also by the success of the 14 voyages on rafts mentioned by Heyerdahl. Some of them were almost as big as the ones used by Tupac Yupanqui. Nevertheless, the most extraordinary journey was done by Alvaro de Mendaña in 1567. He left Callao following the “Route of the Inca”, ending up in Solomon Islands, in the first of a series of ocean expeditions under the Peruvian Viceroyalty aiming to colonize Oceania. In a historic site in Peru, a rock facing the ocean has the following words engraved on it:
From this port of Callao, Alvaro de Mendaña and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa left with two ships, on November 19 of 1567, to discover new worlds. They found the Solomon Islands, across the wide ocean, in distant Oceania, thus giving to Peru the glory of participating in the finding of the earth’s last continent. In the 4th centennial of this grand event, Peru reasserts its maritime destiny ... 1567 – November 19, 1967 (reproduced by the author).
Alvaro de Mendaña was born in Galicia, Spain. He was 25 years old when his ship Los Reyes left Callao. His two-way journey across the Pacific lasted two years. Together with a group of explorers, he experienced hunger, thirst, disease and hurricanes: “but, Mendaña and his captain, Pedro de Sarmiento (sic), discovered the Solomon Islands on this first trip”[51]. He returned to Peru passing by Mexico, and from there to Callao where he arrived in September of 1569. This is how the continent of Oceania was first incorporated into the western history.
Mendaña left Callao for a second journey, on 04/04/1595:
... along with the Portuguese captain Pedro Fernández de Quirós. His aim was to start a colony, so Mendaña took [from Peru] 378 settlers with him. The trip was a complete disaster, leading eventually to the death of Mendaña and many of the crew.[52]
Surprisingly, in his second journey, Mendaña
... takes with him his wife Isabel Barreto who wants to follow him to Oceania, to colonize the Solomon Islands. Moreover, Isabel talks her four brothers into undertaking the so much wanted journey ... their financial contribution was used to prepare the expedition...[53].
Mendaña left Callao for a second journey, on 04/04/1595:
... along with the Portuguese captain Pedro Fernández de Quirós. His aim was to start a colony, so Mendaña took [from Peru] 378 settlers with him. The trip was a complete disaster, leading eventually to the death of Mendaña and many of the crew.[52]
Surprisingly, in his second journey, Mendaña
... takes with him his wife Isabel Barreto who wants to follow him to Oceania, to colonize the Solomon Islands. Moreover, Isabel talks her four brothers into undertaking the so much wanted journey ... their financial contribution was used to prepare the expedition...[53].
The title of Adelantado (similar to Captain General) was given by the Spanish king Felipe II to Mendaña, meaning he was authorized to conquer lands for his king. For this reason he got the support of the Peru Viceroy the Marquis Hurtado de Mendoza and especially his wife, the Marquise (“Marquesa” in Spanish). Mendaña returned the favor naming the islands he had found as the Marquesa Islands of Hurtado de Mendoza (a tribute also to the Viceroy’s wife)[54] today simply known as the Marquesas Islands.
Mendaña died near the Solomon Islands, and was never able to find them in his second voyage, a fact that caused great problems to him. His wife Isabel assumed command along with Fernández de Quirós. This is probably the only case, among the great ocean expeditions in the Western worldwide expansion process in which a woman had such an active participation and became the top leader. Elías de Zevallos’ book has a detailed description of these events. Finally the expedition arrived to Manila in February of 1596 thus linking for the first time, as far as it is known, the Viceroyalty of Peru to distant Philippines.
After he obtained from the king of Spain the same position as Mendaña’s, Pedro Fernández de Quirós (1565-1615) left Callao,
... on December 21 of 1605, ... taking with him 300 people aboard the three ships to colonize the Solomon Islands. He was unable to find the place, however he found the New Hebrid Islands which he named Australia Holy Spirit. He was set apart from the other ships by an intense storm, and decided to return, arriving to Acapulco on October 21 of 1606.[55].
Fernández de Quirós fell ill and was involuntarily separated from his group, so he was forced to return to Peru after a stop at Mexico. The expedition went on under other Portuguese Luis Vaez de Torres who carried on with the original voyage plans,
… sailing around New Guinea, proving that it is an island. Torres sails between Australia and New Guinea, through the strait named after him, and arrives in Manila, May 1607.[56]
Therefore, the AW in its status of colony did play a role in the navigation to conquest and incorporate other lands into the western powers. Several expeditions left the port of Callao (Lima), and they: started the process to incorporate Oceania to the West; put the name Australia to the land that later on would become that country; proved that New Guinea was an island, and established direct contacts between South America and Asia (Philippines).
What was the drive behind this cycle of western expeditions across the Pacific, the largest ocean of all? It was probably the obsession by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, a chronicler in ancient Peru determined to find the Inca Route. In the early times of the conquest, in Lima, he dedicated his life to study and recover[57] the layout of the Pacific routes sailed by the ancient Andean navigators, especially Tupac Yupanqui. In relation to this, Heyerdahl says that, after the civil wars between the Conquistadores were over, the Spanish colonial government consolidates, and Lima:
... became no place for the Spanish adventurers. [Then] they became more and more interested in the tales of inhabited islands in the ocean, as current among the aboriginal Peruvian mariners. The rumours of… Tupac Yupanqui´s visit to some islands became a fable in the taverns as well as a debated question in the palace [of the Viceroy]. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who had devoted years to the study of aboriginal Peruvian history and traditions and, in opinion of the Viceroy, was the most able connoisseur on this subject, professed to be able to fix the bearings of the islands from what he had learnt from the natives…[58]
... became no place for the Spanish adventurers. [Then] they became more and more interested in the tales of inhabited islands in the ocean, as current among the aboriginal Peruvian mariners. The rumours of… Tupac Yupanqui´s visit to some islands became a fable in the taverns as well as a debated question in the palace [of the Viceroy]. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who had devoted years to the study of aboriginal Peruvian history and traditions and, in opinion of the Viceroy, was the most able connoisseur on this subject, professed to be able to fix the bearings of the islands from what he had learnt from the natives…[58]
He also says that, on the first journey, “Mendaña´s orders were to steer for the islands referred to by the Incas…” (Ib.: 117; italics by me). And goes on: “... jealously was bound to arise between the experienced navigator Sarmiento, who had originated the expedition to search for the Inca islands, and the younger man in supreme command…” (Ib.). It is worth to notice that the Viceroy of Peru who allowed this journey to happen was Mendaña’s uncle (Elias de Zevallos: 5). And with respect to Inca Túpac Yupanqui’s actions that launched this massive navigation process in the Pacific, he concludes that: “there were men in action in Peru long before the coming of Pizarro...” (Heyerdhal 1996: 119).
The unifying thread between the pre and post-Hispanic stages in the AW is provided by the long-term persistence and power of the indigenous history as an element which permeated the western imaginary, in a permanent historical process manifested through the collective unconscious. The navigation with big rafts, including inter-ocean navigation, was a key element in the AW history. A researcher of indigenous navigation in different places, including the European native navigation, says:
Rafts could be simple or complex, as is obvious in two models from the coast of Peru. One, the caballito (sic), is a two - or four – bundle raft of totora (sic) reed notable for a fat body that tapers to an upswept point at the prow. Straddled by fishermen using rude paddle consisting of a length of heavy cane split in half, these unlikely seagoing contraptions garnered praise in the logs of yearly Yankee and European skippers, but not nearly that heaped on the great Inca voyaging rafts described in the early explorers´ accounts. These were platforms of odd numbers of balsa wood logs (3,5,7,9,etc) up to 60 feet in length and cut so that the center log was the longest and each succeeding outboard pair shorter, thus resulting in a square stern and tapered bow. An engraving from an account of Spilbergen´s expedition of 1615 shows a built-up raft, i.e., one with a cargo deck raised above the buoyant platform, a model fitted with stone anchors and water jars and a crew manipulating multiple centerboards or guares (sic) to steer the platform driven by two latteen sails. These freighters frequently carried deck houses, were fitted with fire or cooking box accommodations and ranged at least 1.M500 miles on South America´s northwest coast delivering up to 70 tons of merchandise as far north as Panama. These Peruvian models were by far the largest and most advanced form of raft deployed by primitive man, except Noah´s Ark.[59]
Spilbergen, a Dutch admiral who traveled around the world between 1614 and 1617, arrived to the AW and made accurate drawings of a big raft with its guaras[60], a device that allowed the raft to turn around, sail against the stream and go to any direction at the choice of the navigator. About this, Heyerdhal says:
… the balsa raft encountered by the Conquistadores could clearly sail to any destination at the choice of the crew and come back to their own port. Admiral Spilbergen accompanies his balsa raft drawing made nearly four hundred years ago, with the following text: “In the afternoon a fisherman came from the sea… having a boat and sails very wonderfully made, and in it were Indians, all young, strong and robust men, they had been out fishing for two months…”. The Admiral stressed that they had so much fish onboard that they could supply all his fleet.[61]
Those rafts, big and small, made a deep impression on the Europeans and others, and the impact caused by the guaras was considerable. According to Del Busto, “the guaras were the object of admiration by every European who saw them. To them, and to other navigators, the guara, unknown in Europe, was the eighth nautical wonder”.[62]
The guara replaced the rudder, typical of the Old World and an essential device for sailing. Sails and ropes are key parts too, and different types of sails were in use in the AW, as Heyerdhal proved.[63] It is worth to mention the opinion by Pascual de Andagoya who went from Panama to the northern part of the AW before Pizarro, and whose reports were crucial to convince Pizarro to attack the Incas. Andagoya said in 1524, in relation to the peoples and the land now in modern Ecuador and northern Peru:
They go to fish and navigate along the coast in balsa made of light logs, which are so strong that the sea has much ado to break them. They carry horses and many people, and are navigated with sails like ships… The inhabitants have a manufactory where they made cordage of a sort of nequen, which is like carded flax; the cord is beautiful, and stronger than that of Spain, and their cotton canvass is excellent…[64]
Sails and ropes in the AW had to be made of excellent materials, since this equipment was even more important than in Europe, given that the rafts were made by tying the balsa wood or totora reeds together with the use of ropes instead of metal. Not using metal to join the pieces (therefore no nails) forced the ancient navigators to have excellent knots and moorings made out of excellent ropes.
Even before the arrival of the Spaniards, the navigation development had been contained in the AW. After the Conquistadores, it was permanently destroyed, and the coast inhabitants forced into a long, slow process of desertion and forgetfulness in relation to their past as great navigators. Much later on, the Caballito de Totora became the last refuge in this process. This requires an explanation.
III. FISHING AND CUTTING THROUGH THE WAVES ON A CABALLITO DE TOTORA:
... ten thousand fishermen in Chincha . “Aviso” clearly says that they were totally dedicated to fishing, and that “while they were not on the ocean, all they cared for was drinking, dancing and the rest”. [65]
... ten thousand fishermen in Chincha . “Aviso” clearly says that they were totally dedicated to fishing, and that “while they were not on the ocean, all they cared for was drinking, dancing and the rest”. [65]
As we said, at the arrival of the conquistadores, the art of navigation it was contained in its developing in the AW, a fact related to the Inca’s state policy and logics of power. This situation was expressed by the presence in Cajamarca in 1532 of the Lord of the Chinchas, the very powerful man from the coast, together with Atahuallpa, the ruler from the high Andes. Atahuallpa (and probably every Inca king since Túpac Yupanqui[66]) wanted to be close to the Lord of the Chinchas, either to learn from him or to control him.
The Incas, a people from the high mountains, were not familiar with the ocean.[67] In order to know and use the ocean, they depended on the expertise of the maritime civilizations, and this was a problem since there was distrust between them (the Incas had had bad experiences with the sea men). Learning their navigation secrets could take a very long time, perhaps several generations.[68]
Rostworowski’s book Historia del Tahuantinsuyu, shows how the Incas used their armies only as a last resource, for their expansion plans. They preferred to negotiate or make voluntary annexation agreements by offering gifts, marriages, respect for religion and beliefs (together with the acceptance of the Incas Cult of the Sun), and allowing the use of the local languages (although the Quechua language should also be accepted). They also offered to take the aristocrats to Cuzco, build irrigation systems, provide know-how, etc. If everything failed, they would appeal to war as the last resort.[69]
They fought many wars, several of them on the coast, which in some cases were traumatic to the Incas such as the Puná events which made them even more distrustful. The island of Puná is at the entrance of Golf of Guayaquil, and apparently its leaders accepted the annexation, so Túpac Yupanqui sent a visiting garrison led by a team of Orejones (Big Ears, or upper class people who had their ears extended).[70] They were transported to Puná in rafts commanded and operated solely by the island’s natives (this fact shows the tacit acceptance that the Incas were at disadvantage). The islanders commemorated the garrison’s arrival, however some time later, when the Incas were taken back to the main land, the natives (great swimmers) plunged into the sea, cut all the moorings in the rafts, and waited for the Incas (not so great swimmers) to jump to the water and get drowned or killed.[71] Some time later, Túpac Yupanqui sent to Puná a fleet with his army that nearly exterminated its inhabitants (and it was the beginning of resentments and distrust not totally forgotten yet by their descendants of today, Peruvians and Ecuatorians).
At any rate, to the Incas, the sea was a key resource used also to obtain the most precious good in the AW, the Spondylos shell, [72] and so they needed to learn the secrets held by those who knew the ocean very well (the coast inhabitants) while trying to control them.[73] Probably this control prevented the navigation techniques from developing. And we cannot know if it would be just temporary, while the Incas learned how to navigate before taking the position of admirals themselves.[74] We will never find out because the short 50-year period was definitively interrupted by the arrival of Pizarro. The conquistadores adopted a policy of destruction not only in terms of navigation, but of Indigenous America (IA) in general. Needless to repeat what the Berkeley school (of demographic history) has concluded, that the worst crime in human history is the demographic disaster caused by the Conquest, and its lasting consequences. In 1492, the IA population was nearly one hundred (100) million,[75] while in 1580 it was close to ten (10) million. And the AW population that in 1492 was around twenty (20) million, by 1580 was lower than two (2) million.
The worst destruction was in the coastal areas, not only because the destructive conquistadores landed there first, but also because the large maritime cities (which had been in contact with Mesoamerica since pre-Colombian times)[76] were the first ones to get the viruses and microbes brought by the Europeans. Unwittingly, the Andean navigators carried those microorganisms to their cities as soon as the Spanish arrived to Panama (around 1500) so that, even before Pizarro,[77] they suffered the devastating impact of some European diseases (the conquistadores had already acquired immunity against those virus and microbes).
The great maritime cities were devastated and some became extinct, as Tucume[78] sadly illustrates. The book Pyramids of Tucume: the quest for Peru´s forgotten city, contains a study in depth (based on methods of archaeology and history) showing that although the city was located 20 km off the coast, it was a maritime city. On high-relief friezes, they depicted navigators sailing rafts, including the bird-man god, etc. Heyerdhal says that, since remote times, people from those civilizations, including Mochica and Lambayeque, visited the Easter Island taking with them cultural and material goods (agricultural devices, etc). Tucume was a city that ceased to exist. The Discovery Channel series Lost Cities of the Ancients dedicated to Tucume says: a few years after the conquest (around 1535), Tucume’s leaders and priests decided to destroy the city with fire. The reason would be that, in the priests’ view, Tucume’s gods had not protected the city’s population (who venerated them) and therefore they should be destroyed altogether. However, a more tragic possibility would be that the systematic fires were the extreme resource the leaders used to fight the malignant, invisible beings that killed Tucume’s people: the viruses and microbes.[79] Diseases brought by the Europeans (even the influenza virus) were devastating for the natives and could kill an entire population.
However, the microorganisms are not the only explanation for the destruction of the maritime cities and of IA in general.
Rostworowski says,
... Brother Reginaldo de Lizárraga ... had “Aviso” in his hands... data provided by him about the Chincha valley are nearly a copy of [“Aviso”]... He mentions thirty thousand taxpayers who were in Chincha before the Spanish conquest, and says that [after] only six hundred remained since the land was depopulated.[80]
Still the same author:
Brother Pablo de Castro... his sermons’ subject was the native’s idolatry and their decrease as a consequence of divine punishment... he thinks ... so many natives disappeared because of “God’s secret judgments” and it was better for them to die than to go back to “their bad pagan habits”.[81]
And she adds:
Brother Pablo de Castro was one the first “Conventuales” and Founders of the Monastery of Saint Thomas of Aquino in the valley of Chincha... great preacher of the natives, enthusiastic of their conversion, enemy of the idols and their vices. Whenever he preached them ... the only subject in his sermons was against idolatry and drunkness, he told them (and repeated many times) that they had to abandon those sins ... or else the justice of God would have to put an end to them ... ; and what was preached by this man of God happened promptly because from thirty thousand natives who lived in the valley when the preachers and brothers of our Father Santo Domingo first arrived only 300 are still alive... The honorable Archbishop of Lima Gerónimo de Loayza, satisfied with the dedication shown by Brother Pablo, made him General Vicar and Inspector against the Idolatry, a labor that he did with complete Catholic devotion to our Mother the Church, knocking down many Huacas and burning many idols ... He died after he received the Church’s Holy Sacraments...[82]
So we can infer that the Catholic church encouraged Brother Pablo’s sinister ideas (in summary: if the natives did not convert into Christians, they would better die) as part of the catechization policies, or eradication of paganism. The above described atrocities took place in Chincha (home of great navigators in the AW). Every native culture went through similar events during the long period known in Peru as Persecución de Idolatrías (idolatry persecution) which lasted hundreds of years (roughly from 1550 up to the Independence in 1821) under the command of the Sacred Inquisition - SI. Not by chance Lima and Mexico were the only cities in the continent to be “honored” with the Inquisition tribunals.[83] In both cases, their mission was to persecute and destroy indigenous temples and priests, as well as those who failed to convert. There is no death toll for these cases, but I am sure they were one of the reasons that explained the “success” of such catechization and conquest that came close to the extermination of the indigenous heretic population.
Apparently, microorganisms and Christianity are part of the explanation for the depopulated areas in the IA in general, and particularly in the AW coast. However at least two other factors contributed to population decrease: i) the sudden and violent change from an agricultural economy (agriculture was more developed in the AW and Mesoamerica than in Europe at that time) into an economy centered on the production of precious metals (key for “the primitive accumulation”), with the main centers in Lima and Mexico; this caused a widespread famine in the area. ii) the severe mistreatment of the population by the conquistadores who turned into big landowners (Encomenderos) and owners of every native (Encomendado) who lived in those lands (Encomiendas). Since natives were just delivered to the encomenderos free of cost, they were refused the minimum care provided to the other major victims of the conquest, the African slaves who had been paid for.
Furthermore, for several decades (up to the 1550s) the natives were not considered as human beings as the Catholic church questioned whether or not they had souls, making it appropriate to treat them as objects or animals. The extraordinary campaign led by the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas changed this situation.
One of my hypothesis to explain why the coast people were special victims of the Catholic church can be related to the phrase “...ten thousand fishermen in Chincha. ‘Aviso’ clearly says they were totally dedicated to fishing, and that ‘while they were not in the ocean, all they cared for was drinking, dancing, and the rest’ “. What is implied in the rest? It could mean anything including sex, one of the activities most feared and repressed by the ruling monotheistic religions especially Christianity. Trying to solve this problem, the church turned to repression and so it launched the Sacred Inquisition in the AW (history shows that the SI was created with this purpose). Phrases as the above help to enlighten the process which is often mentioned by the chroniclers referred to in this paper. The culture of these people living on the coast was probably similar to other cultures that flourish in many shores and ports everywhere in the world, especially in tropical areas where people tend to be joyful, and fun-loving. If they enjoyed drinking and dancing so much, one could think they were sensual people, perhaps inclined towards eroticism and sexual freedom.[84]
All the above helps to explain that, as a consequence of the Conquest, the art of navigation nearly vanished from the AW, and got reduced almost only to the caballito de totora (CT).[85]
How to explain the survival of the CT, a fishing boat used almost from the start of the AW civilization? It first appeared nearly 5000 years ago, and can be seen today, for instance on the beaches of Huanchaco, Peru (an important fishermen port since at least the Chimu era). However, the only model to survive was the CT (used for fishing) which we could call “old”. The derived model, which could be called “new”, made for entertainment purposes or surfing (SCT) totally disappeared. We call it “new” because it started to exist before the year 400 AD, and disappeared after 1500 AD (another consequence of the conquest).
The assertion above is based on the analysis of the huacos whose pictures are presented now. They provide an objective evidence of the existence of SCTs for surfing purposes. Picture 2 has the legend: “ceramic art, Moche IV (400 AD). Collection: Amano”.[86] Picture 3 has a legend: “Chimu ceremonial ceramic”.[87] Pictures 1 and 4 were taken by the author, at the Museo Bruning in Lambayeque, and the ceramics could be from the 6 c. AD.[88] The SCTs in picture 4 look different from each other, and they are probably portraits or retratos [89] of two SCTs built with different materials: the one on the left (which is also in Picture 1) resembles a cannon bullet, is streamlined and, in my opinion, was made out of balsa wood; the one on the right has quite different features since it was probably made out of totora reed. Pictures 1, 2 and 3 show very similar SCTs used for surfing (same material?) although between the first and the last one more than 1000 years had elapsed.
In the proximity of the Andean World coasts, the waves are usually rough, and to cut through them was not an easy task, so an initiation ceremony was required. We already know that these boats are small and fragile “....from 3 to 4 meters long, and a weight of approximately 40 kilos when dried”.[90] (see pictures 5 and 6). Therefore, to be deemed as ready to cut through the waves with a CT, “the young candidate must hunt a jaguar [sic] from the Andes and cut off its head as a trophy (Antonio Raimondi: Notas de Viaje, 1942)”. [91] Only then he would confront the ocean since he had been trained [92] to “be familiarized with the waves and beat them, avoiding the threats, safely arriving to the shore, and keeping intact the fishing products”.[93] The training included the notion that if a man could not carry his CT “...he should not go into the ocean because he was unable to control it”. [94] In another rite, to be allowed to ride a CT, a man:
... should find a certain egg from a marine bird, and take it to the beach to use it in the ceremony during which he would be named a “sea bird-man” (Antonio Raimondi: Notas de Viaje, 1942). [95]
In relation to the question: why did the CT survive?, at least three reasons can be mentioned. 1) The raw material was easy to find, at almost zero cost, and the ones with the know-how could build it in a very short time. [96] Totora reeds and balsa wood were abundant, and did not call the attention of the conquistadores. 2) In relation to the above, the Europeans despised everything developed by the natives, so these materials were left for the miserable, socially lowest members of the society. Things were different in Hawaii, and part of the native aristocracy resisted and concealed the board surfing which in the late 19th century they contributed to recover. This was possible because Hawaii, despite the British influence and the Calvinists, was formally independent until the USA took it over in 1893. [97] Until then, the cultural resistance in Hawaii took place from above, backed by the native aristocracy, while in the AW, the nobles were destroyed or turned into common and miserable natives – and finally they all were leveled under the word “indio” with its connotation of lowest possible social level (this becomes clearer in the Andean World after the rebellion led by Inca Túpac Amaru II). So the lowest people on the coast were allowed to use the CT, an essential tool for the survival of natives, and despised by the conquistadores. Their resistance came from below, as part of the process that explains why the AW population was not exterminated. 3) Because the Catholic church was not likely to systematically persecute the fishermen who used the CT – after all, these were working people and not people searching for pleasure or in other words they were not sinners.
On the other hand, the SCT users were likely to be subject to furious persecution, eliminated and forgotten. Their lifestyle was somehow similar to the native surfers in Hawaii. We can imagine the sort of party that would be thrown to the champion (almost turned into a god) and the other participants in those bird-men contests, and it was probably not so hard to go from ludic (while playing in the water) to lubricious (on the beaches) and ... the rest ... as in the phrase above. Perhaps that phrase was about the SCT riders.
Notice that, in Picture 1, the man’s eyes are bulged – would that be an effect of Sanpedro?[98] As explained by Arturo Exebio Balladares, the Bruning Museum guide, bulged eyes may indicate the use of the hallucinogenic plant, Sanpedro. This huaco is black, a color considered to be associated to happiness by the Mochica, also a night symbol, a time perceived as bringing happiness to men and women. The queen of the night was the Moon “female in the Mochica iconography associated to a woman”. [99] Probably all the above contributed for the very happy face we see on the man in picture 1. This was certainly unacceptable from the church point of view and the dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary (so different from this woman = moon = happiness = negritude). Also unacceptable for a church that preached the need of suffering to have access to heaven, and by the sweat of your face you will eat bread. This kind of church was likely to find the existence of SCTs unacceptable.
An additional explanation for their vanishing could be the increasing deprivation the natives went through. In a situation of extreme poverty, the chances of developing entertaining and sports activities are almost nonexistent since most people would spend their time and energy to ensure survival. The natives’ descendants are amazingly poor.
In Huanchaco (the “capital” of CTs), the community named Mocheros (Mochica and Chimu descendants) lives in close contact with the ocean, and they use the CTs since childhood. However they probably wish they had those modern, expensive surfing boards, and they certainly ignore that a long time ago their ancestors had fun with SCTs they made themselves. Today, those few among them who have boards (usually gifts from generous tourists), show great surfing ability, and in a short time some of them become surfing instructors. Mocheros find it easy to cut through the waves on a board because this is a kind of sporting return to their old acquaintance, the ocean. It has been suggested that, should they have surfing boards, people from Huanchaco (Huanchaqueros) could easily become great surfers.[100]
Currently, several community associations, companies and lol governments in the Mochica - Chimu areas (mainly Huanchaco) try to recover a few ancient activities. So they organize the Sea Festivals in which board surfers and CT surfers mix together and compete (pictures 10 and 11). However, the CTs are heavy, lack a streamlined design, and make it almost impossible for the surfer to stand up. Today the population do not know the SCTs – made to cut through the waves just for fun, on which the surfer was not required to stand up but instead, he would ride it as a jockey (pictures 1, 2, 3 and 4).
IV. CONCLUSION.
This paper is centered around the individual totora reed boat (CT) that people used for fishing, some 5000 years ago in the AW (mainly in what is now Peru). There is plenty of literature about this subject. However, the author was unable to find written research about the existence of those CTs that were used for entertaining and sporting purposes just for surfing SCTs, as attested by the ceramic art. So this study has the advantage of being original, and at the same time the disadvantage of not counting with the support from existing data, with the consequent possibility of errors. The main point is: the caballito de totora- CT used to fish thousands of years ago originated (probably around the 4th c. AD) a device made of the same materials with the specific entertaining purpose of surfing the ocean waves, similarly to the current surfing board, the SCT.
I hope the findings in this paper may be a motivation for the very new Ministry of Environment in Peru to take into consideration the civil society organizations and the CT fishermen communities when they request that the areas in which the totora reed and balsa wood still grow (the Pacific coast and Lake Titicaca) should become protected territory. Fishermen communities living in those areas could be in charge of protecting them, and use the resources in a sustainable way besides promoting social and economic development through, for instance, ecological tourism projects.[101] This would be an incentive to improve leaving conditions for those peoples and to help them recover some cultural traditions as the man-bird race. The City of Huanchaco has a project to build the Caballito de Totora Museum. Perhaps this project could be enlarged to include the Museum of the Navigators from the Andean World. The museum could also support research on these navigators civilizations and their descendents in order to recover their extraordinary history.
V References
[1] A first version was presented at the First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean - May 22-23, 2008 - University of California, San Diego.
[2] Acosta, fray José de. Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1940 [1550]. Maria Rostworowski quotes Acosta. The full quotation is: “Father Acosta (1940: 182 [1550]) reports that it was great fun to watch how [the natives] fished at El Callao: ‘Because they were so many, looking like jockeys or seating on their individual little raft ... cutting through the ocean waves, and the sea is rough down there where they fish, they looked like Tritons or Neptunes painted on the water...’ ”.Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Recursos Naturales Renovables y Pesca. Siglos XVI y XVII. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1981: 107. Translations into English from originals in other languages are the author’s sole responsibility. Many thanks to my Brazilian wife Genny Cemin for helping me with the English language.
[3] Andean World (AW) means the territory eventually unified by the Incas (13th–16th c. AD). It goes from the south, Rio Maule (currently in Chile) and Tucuman (modern Argentina) up to Pasto (modern Colombia). The AW encompassed nearly the entirety of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru including massive portions of the Amazon region.
[4] Amayo Z., E. “Proyecciones Andinas en el Pacífico: del pasado al presente”. In Geopolítica de América Latina y el Caribe. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1999: 43-72. This book focuses on the seafaring literature.
[5] “In Mochica and Chimu ceramic art there are numerous illustrations of human beings and gods fishing or navigating on these boats. The Spaniards called them ‘little horses’ (‘caballitos’) because the natives would ride them keeping their feet in the sea water”. Rostworowski de D.C., M., 1981: 106. The Mochica civilization (1-8th c. AD) existed in what is currently northern Peru (La Libertad, Lambayeque and part of Piura). The Mochica disappeared from part of their territory (La Libertad), where another great maritime civilization was developed a few centuries later. Its name was Chimu.
[6] “Totora, v. Scirpus Californicus, Typha spp., Momordica charatia, Juncus spp. Scirpus Californicus sub specie totora Koyama. Family, Ciperáceas. Common names, totora. Location: [Peru] Coast and Mountains in lagoons and marsh. Forms: wild and cultivated (Lake Titicaca). Uses. Tender sprouts are... foliage....the Uros [natives] from Lake Titicaca use it to build islets, houses and boats [and floating islets]... medicine: astringent and anti-fever, forage for cattle...” Brack Egg, A. Diccionario Enciclopédico de Plantas Utiles del Perú. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo – Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de las Casas, Cuzco, 1999: 448 and 502. Based on this information (p. 9) it is possible to say that Totora is a native plant from the AW.
[7] From now on referred to as CT.
[8] National Executive Resolution 648 (Resolución Directoral Nacional No. 648) by the National Institute of Culture (Instituto Nacional de Cultura – INC de 27/08/2003) provides: “Sole clause – To pronounce CABALLITO DE TOTORA as National Culture Heritage, a boat considered as the expression of live cultural traditional manifestations that mark the communities settled down along the Peruvian northern coast, and a contribution to the regional and national identity”. INC is the Cultural State Agency of Peru.
[9] In the AW, the ocean spreads between Arica in northern Chile and Guayaquil in southern Ecuador (a coastline of approximately 3,500 Km). Its central part corresponds to today’s Peruvian Sea (PS), one of the richest in the world, famous for its unique, great swell. In 2005, the PS still ranked second worldwide in fishing volume (9.338.662 tons - FAO – Statistics Iceland, Google search, 03/22/08). A Brazilian site informs that “Peru is one of the richest countries in waves, and the swells on its long coastline come from the South, Southeast, Northeast and North, all year round... in Pico Alto one could surf 25-foot waves. In Cabo Blanco you can get 10-second tubes. In Chicama, you can maneuver in walls up to 2-kilometer long...” (Terra – WAVES – Virtual surf community – Google search, 03/21/08).
[10] Referred to as SCT.
[11] The huaco pictures were taken by the author at the Bruning Museum of Lambayeque city, Peru. This Museum is dedicated to the northern Peru civilizations among which the Mochicas have a special status. In order to take the pictures inside the museum, I was helped by a knowledgeable guide, Mr. Arturo Exebio Balladares. After listening to my question: “are there any huacos depicting surfing men?” he took me to a place where these two wonders were sitting.
[12] Shady S., R. “I. Introducción”. In Las Investigaciones en Caral: su significado y trascendencia para el Perú y el Mundo. Google search, 02/17/07. Dr. Ruth Shady Solís, archaeologist, is the head of the Archaeology Special Project, Caral-Supe/INC – Peru.
[13] “On 27 April 2001, a stunning announcement in the journal Science revealed that the urban life and a complex agriculture emerged in the New World nearly a millennium earlier than was previously believed (Shady Solis, Ruth, Jonathan Haas, and Winifred Creamer. Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru.Science 292:723-726, 2001). Radiocarbon tests in ancient Caral, Supe Valley, Peru, 23 km off the coast, show that its monumental architecture started as early as 2627 B.C. and went on until about 2000 B.C., even before ceramics and maize were taken to that region. (By comparison, Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Khufu was built between 2600 and 2480 B.C.). The massive size of this urban system is also remarkable: 65 hectares in the very central zone…” Caral: Oldest City in the New World. A conversation with Dr. Ruth Shady. The Archeology Channel (Google search, 07/05/05)
[14] “The team formed by Haas, Winnifred Creamer and Alvaro Ruiz found some evidence that people lived inland off the coast as early as 9210 BC, while the oldest date associated to a city is 3500 BC. Other urban sites in the region are now dated earlier than Caral: Caballete at 3100 BC, Porvenir and Upaca at 2700 BC….” (Coppens, Ph. Caral, the oldest city in the new world. This article first appeared in Frontier Magazine 8.3 (May 2002) and was edited twice after it was first published; Google search, 03/20/04). The above described area, near Caral, is part of Norte Chico (Lima Department, approx. 200 Km towards north from Lima city).
[15] Shady, S., R. “II. La Sociedad de Supe en los Albores de la Civilización”. In Las Investigaciones en Caral: su significado y trascendencia para el Perú y el Mundo. Google search, 02/17/07; italics added by the author.
[16] Ib.
[17] Ib.
[18]. A brochure from the 09/06/07 exhibit says: “This evidences the intense trade [of Caral] with other peoples settled down on the shore, valley, high Andes, high Amazon, and places as distant as the Gulf of Guayaquil”. MUESTRA CIENTÍFICA Y ARQUEOLÓGICA – La Civilización de Caral-Supe: 5000 anõs de Identidad Cultural en el Peru. 2007. Caral-Supe Project, sponsored by Universidad de San Martín de Porres. Address: Av. Brasil N° 3160, Magdalena, Lima, Peru.
[19] Tramontana, F., O. “Caballito de Totora – La primera embarcación unipersonal para surcar olas del mundo. Fragmento del Capítulo 2”. In Cinco mil años surcando olas. http://www.perulongboard.com/historia2.htm Google search, 10/18/07: 6 of 10.
[20] Tramontana (0p. cit. 8 0f 10) mentions the following writings: Rafael Larco Hoyle. Archaelogía Mundi. Perú, 1966; Hermann Buse, Perú, 10.000 años; Bird: Art and life in Old Perú. They were no available in Sao Paulo city, so the author had no access to them. Viru and Gallinazo are names of ancient cultures settled in today’s La Libertad Department, Peru.
[21] Hocquenghem, A.M. Iconografía Mochica. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, Lima, 1989: 19. His criteria to define the Mochica is different from the author’s. That could explain the lack of consensus to define the duration of the AW urban societies).
[22] Bauer, B. S. Y Dearborn, D.S. Astronomía e Imperio en los Andes. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos “Bartolomé de Las Casas” – Cuzco, Peru, 1998: 16.
[23] “Balsa wood, V. Apeiba tibourbou, Heliocarpus popayanensis, Ochroma pyramidale. Apeiba tibourbou, Aub. ... Tiliácea. ... lower and higher Amazon. Wild tree. Light wood as the balsa type. Fibers... for... ropes. Heliocarpus popayanensis HBK. ... Tiliácea... Lower and Higher Amazon up to 3000msnm. Wild and cultivated tree. ... very light, similar to ... Ochroma pyramidale. Fibers...for making... ropes. Ochroma pyramidale. (Cav. Ex Ur) Urb. ... Bombacácea... tall tree with wide crown... wild and cultivated... in the Amazon and Tumbes up to 2000 msnm... from Central America to Tropical South America... soft wood for crafts and model aeronautics. ... lighter of all others that are known (specific weight 0,11). Fiber ... to manufacture ropes... very demanded wood around the world ... ”. Brack E. A., op. cit.: 361, 42, 241, 348.
[24] Morris. C y Von Hagen, A. The Inka Empire and its Andean Origins. American Museum of Natural History, Abbeville Press Publishers, 1993: 18.
[25] Heyerdahl, T. A Expedição Kon Tiki. 8,000 km numa jangada a través do Pacífico. Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo, 1951. The book about this voyage was translated into several languages, and became a best - seller worldwide. The movie based on the book was awarded the Oscar in 1950. Kon Tiki is also the name of a major museum in Oslo in which the Kon Tiki raft is permanently exhibited.
[26] Heyerdahl, T. La navegación marítima en el Antiguo Perú – Seafaring in Early Peru. Published by Instituto de Estudios Histórico - Marítimos del Perú. Lima, 1996: 74. This is the opinion of a proud Viking descendant, a Norwegian navigator considered as the “father” of worldwide navigation using non-western watercraft and technology. He is a remarkable scientist (botany and archeology) and one of the unique kind of adventurers who risk their lives to proof their theories.
[27] Words copied from Expo 92. Spanish shipbuilders and explorers have a world class maritime tradition, and they say that the technology applied to the URU dates from “...approximately 1st c. AD...”
[28] I must thank Juan Ginés García y Pérez, one of the 5-member Spanish crew in the URU, for the pictures of this balsa in the Pacific. He has a true researcher’s spirit and went to great lengths to send me some data on this great maritime adventure, and others he was part of.
[29] Heyerdahl, T. “Tucume and the Continuity of Peruvian Culture”. In Pyramids of Tucume, The Quest For Peru´s Forgotten City. Thames and Hudson, 1995: 226. On its Preface, Thor Heyerdhal, Daniel H. Sandweiss and Alfredo Narváez say: “Rising out of the coastal plains of northern Peru, the vast, barren ruins of the Pyramids of Tucume, though eroded over the centuries, still bear witness to their original grandeur. Covering over the 220 ha (540 acres) and including 26 major pyramids as well as myriad smaller structures, the ancient city is truly impressive. First built around AD 1100 by people of the Lambayeque culture, it survived and even grew under successive waves of conquest by Chimu and later Inca armies, only to fall into ruins within a few years of the Spanish conquest”. After the fall of the Mochica Civilization in their territories of Lambayeque, another culture with the same name flourished in that area (approx. 10th –16thc.AD).
[30] Heyerdahl, T. “Tucume and the Maritime Heritage of Peru’s North Coast”. Ibid: 31.
[31] Torero, A. El Quechua y la Historia Social Andina. Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima, 1974.
[32] Ib.: 123.
[33] Torero, who died in 2004 while in exile in Spain, in his great book published after his death Idiomas de los Andes. Lingüística e Historia. Editorial Horizonte, Lima, 2005, fully develops his very long term hypothesis that the Coast (see Note 47) was priviledged in comparison to the Mountains because of its great natural richness – in sea resources and agriculture – and so the origin of the Andean Civilization was in the Coast areas. Archaeology research, with its increasing activities in Caral, has found evidence of this hypothesis; see: Shady S., R. Los Valores Sociales y Culturales de Caral-Supe, la civilización más antigua del Perú y América y su rol en el desarrollo integral y sostenible. Instituto Nacional de Cultura – Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe, Lima, 2007; Shady S., R. y Cáceda G., D. Aspero, la ciudad pesquera de la Civilización Caral. Recuperamos su historia para vincularla a nuestro presente. Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe - Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima, 2008; Shady S., R., Crispín B., A. y Quispe L., E. Vichama de Végueta comparte con Caral 5000 años de identidad cultural. Proyecto Especial Arqueológico Caral – Supe - Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima, 2008.
[34] Tahuantinsuyu is the Quechua word used by the Incas to name their own society. An AW historian said, “The indigenous desire towards unity is expressed by the word Tahuantinsuyu meaning ‘four united regions’, an intent or drive for integration, perhaps at the unconscious level, that unfortunately never took place, and was cut short by Pizarro troops; people from Cuzco were short of time to consolidate their purposes. So we adopt the word Tahuantinsuyu instead of ‘Empire’ since the cultural meaning of empire does not correspond to the Andean reality but to circumstances referred to other continents”. Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Historia del Tahuantinsuyu. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1988: 16. This historian of the WA, perhaps the most important one alive, explains that, when talking about the Inca Society, she refuses to use the word Empire because it corresponds to the European reality: “In this book, readers will notice the absence of the word ‘Empire’ to refer to the Inca society, which is not by chance because this word carries too many connotations from the Old World” (Ib: 15)
[35] This region, on the Pacific coast, spread from Ica (modern Peru) to Pasto (modern Colombia), around 3000 km.
[36]Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, M. Costa Peruana Prehispánica. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 1989: 218; quotation from Pizarro, P. Relación del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Perú. Buenos Aires, 1944 [1571]: 186. Francisco’s cousin Pedro Pizarro was one of the chroniclers who witnessed the Conquest.
[37] Del Busto D., J.A. Túpac Yupanqui, Descubridor de Oceanía. Nuku Iva, Mangareva, Rapa Nui. Fondo Editorial del Congreso del Perú, Lima, 2006: 49.
[38] Cunningham R.W. California Indian Watercraft. EZ Nature Books, San Luis Obispo, California, 1988: 21.
[39] This number is result of calculations. The Spanish navigator Bartolomé Ruiz arrested one raft in 1526, probably from the Chinchay League. Francisco Pizarro ordered Ruiz to explore the Tahuantinsuyu shores before the attack. The arrest probably took place off Tumbes in an event known as the “Tumbesinos raft”. See Torero’s detailed description, pages 84-86. As Torero computed the raft’s load capacity, he thanked scholar Pierre Duviols: “since ...he provided the data required to arrive to [22 tons] ’’ (Torero, op.cit: 219).
[40] Del Busto D., J.A. “Apéndice I – Una cronología aproximada del Tahuantinsuyo” in op.cit: 143-157.
[41] On the map, a legend says (Heyerdahl, 1996: 117): “Gambier Islands (after Laval 1938). The foreign king Tupa arrived from the east through Teava-o-Tupa”. Del Busto says that the “Tiripone manuscript... transcribed by Buck in 1938... was written in the middle of 19th c. by Mama Tairi Putari, son of a Mangarevan leader who helped priest Honoré Laval, a missioner working in Mangareva from 1834 to 1871”. So Putari, a native Mangarevan, told the story to Laval who included this and other Mangarevan oral reports in the Tiripone Manuscript, transcribed into English by Buck (Buck, P.H. Ethnology of Mangareva, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 157, Honolulu, Hawai, 1938); in his 1996 book, Heyerdhal (Del Busto’s source) used Buck’s writings.
[42] Del Busto’s Túpac Yupanqui, Descubridor de Oceanía... is the latest recreation, as far as I know, of Tupac Yupanqui’s voyage. He sets the date of 1465. The following chapters are especially important to this paper: Part I, Chapter II: The Balsa Rafts; Chapter III: The Great Balsa Rafts; Part III: Chapter I: The Mangareva Island; Chapter II: Eastern Island; Epilogue.
[43] These books were not available to the author for the same reasons of note 20.
[44] “Tupac Yupanqui first used balsa rafts on his victorious expedition to Brazil, and took 10,000 soldiers and their provisions down the tributaries of the Amazon, with between 30 and 50 men in each raft. Later he embarked on his famous expedition into the open Pacific, following literally in the footsteps and wake of his ancestor-god Viracocha, first from Cuzco to the coast at Manta in Ecuador and then into the open ocean…” Heyerdahl, T. 1995: 30. In the world history, it is rare to find a king with his qualities: an explorer, willing to expand his knowledge about the world, and risking his life during his enterprises.
[45] In this book, see: Galapagos versus Mangareva; Memories at Ica and Arica of prehistoric voyages to distant Pacific Islands; Other Peruvian traditions of voyages to distant islands; Sarmiento´s search for the islands described by the aborigines of Peru; Canoes versus rafts.
[46] See Rostworowski, Costa Peruana, see especially: The Chinchas; The Mochicas; The Myth of God Con; Chincha Valley merchants during the pre-Colombian era: a document and some comments; fishermen; merchants; Chincha traders; northern traders. From her book Recursos Naturales...: Fishing and fishermen in the 16th and 17th centuries; Water craft. From Historia del Tahuantinsuyu: The “merchants”; The coast trading; local exchange; Chincha “merchants” trading over distant locations; The northern “merchants”.
[47] See Torero, El Quechua y la historia... the chapter: The interregional relations and Quechua´s diffusion in Ancient Peru. a – Several factors that benefited the coast in its relations with the Andean inland. (see footnote 33).
[48] The URU expedition was the basis for Kitin Muñóz’s book: La Expedición Uru. La Leyenda del Dios Blanco. Plaza & Janes Editores, Barcelona, 1990. It is very hard to find a copy of this book – thanks to URU’s navigator Juan Ginés García y Pérez, I have a scanned copy of it.
[49] Torero: 83; he quotes chronicler Sarmiento de Gamboa, P. Historia de los Incas [1572].Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires, 1943: Chapter XLVI. This chronicler says that when Túpac Yupanqui was in the northern part of the AW, he met some navigators coming from the West in sail rafts; they said they were coming from Auachumbi and Niñachumbe islands, and so the Inca made his decision of extending his domains to that region. According to a researcher “currently very few remember the old Quechua toponymy referring to two major Galapagos Islands... Auachumbi (‘outside’) and Niñachumbe (‘of fire’)... ” Melgar B., R. “Las Islas del Pacífico Sudamericano: una historia negada”. Cuadernos Americanos. Nueva Epoca. No. 54, Vol. 6, UNAM, Mexico: 153. So the names in Quechua - the language of the Chincha navigators and merchants - reveal that these islands were old acquaintances to them.
[50] Del Busto: 43.
[51] Grant, N. The Great Atlas of Discovery. A Pictorial Atlas of World Exploration. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992: 43.
[52] Ib.
[53] Elias de Zevallos, H. El entorno de Isabel Barreto Castro de Mendaña y su viaje hacia las Islas Salomón 1595 - 1596. Issued by Asociación Nacional Pro-Marina del Perú, Lima, 1995: 81.
[54] Ib.: 83.
[55] Ib.: 130; italics added by the author, to point out how the name Australia was incorporated to the world history.
[56] Grant: 42-43.
[57] He used every means available. Sarmiento was the official historian at the service of the 5th Viceroy of Peru (1569-81) Francisco de Toledo, deemed as the true AW destroyer. In order to write his history, Sarmiento used the resources considered as legal by the holy inquisition to interrogate mainly the indigenous priests (similarly to Europe, priests were the knowledge main trustees). Let us remind ourselves that the conquest was a catholic crusade against indigenous religions.
[58] Heyerdhal 1996: 116.
[59] Cuningham, op. cit. : 22. The word “primitive” used to qualify the Peruvian indigenous navigation implies the idea that the other is the civilized navigation. Certain Western-centered views consider as primitive (non-civilized or anti-civilized) at different levels all non-Western elements (inside the world created under the European rule since the 16th century). As to the great European expeditions of the 16th century, would they have been possible without the contribution given by Phoenicians, Arabs or Chinese? While the large rafts in the AW resulted from human actions (therefore within the sphere of history and the real world) Noah´s Ark was the result of divine action (within the sphere of faith and myth).
[60] “Dutch Admiral Spilbergen first illustrated in 1619 the way in which the balsa rafts were sailed with the help of guaras. He depicted three men rising and lowering those vertical boards to steer the raft, while two others attended to the sails. Notice the water jars and anchor stones… Unwittingly, without a comment, Spilbergen provides the first illustration of a balsa raft being sailed by merely lowering and raising the boards called guaras, an ingenious system of deep-sea navigation unknown to the Europeans before the middle of the next century [18th Century]” (Heyerdahl 1995: 25).
[61] Heyerdhal 1996: 91; Spilbergen reported from Port of Paita, and Heyerdahl quotes: Spilbergen, J. 1906 [1619] The East and West Indian Mirror Being and Account of Jaris van Spilbergen´s Voyage Around the World (1614-1617) and the Australian Navigation of Jacob Le Maire. Hakluyt Society 2nd. ser. Vol. 18, London.
[62] Del Busto, op.cit: 54. His opinion is important since he was not only a great historian but an experienced navigator who traveled every ocean including the Pacific. Del Busto visited the areas where, according to him, Túpac Yupanqui had arrived in 1465, and sailed the Amazon River and its tributaries from Peru to Brazil. He was also the “official chronicler” of the Peruvian expedition that established the Peruvian base of Machu Pichu in the Antarctic Continent.
[63] See Heyerdahl 1996: 30-37; he describes four types of sails used in the AW according to the circumstances: sails as triangles attached on the upper part, as triangles attached on the lower part, as squares and as rectangles. The1587 map by Abraham Ortelio America Sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio shows a few rafts bearing 3 types of sails (triangle attached on the lower part, square and rectangle) along with some Spanish caravels, on the coast roughly from Antofagasta to Manta. See Atlas Histórico geográfico y de Paisajes Peruanos. Instituto Nacional de Planificación, Lima, 1969: 69.
[64] Heyerdhal 1995: 23, quotes Andagoya, P. 1865 [1541-46] Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila in the Provinces of Tierra Firme or Castilla del Oro and of the Discovery of the South Sea and the Coasts of Peru and Nicaragua. Hakluyt Society Vol. 34, London: 36, 45, 58.
[65]Rostworowski, 1977: 228 (Italics by the author). The so called “Aviso” is as follows: “At the library in the Royal Palace of Madrid, in volume XXII of ‘Miscelanea de Ayala’ (pages 261-273v), there is an anonymous manuscript named: Aviso de el modo que havía en el gobierno de los indios en tiempo del Inga y cómo se repartían las tierras y tributos (sic) [Notice about the rules under the Indian government during the Inga times, and how they shared the land and taxes]”: 213.
[66] That is, the period going from the date when Tupac Yupanqui becomes king of the Incas (1471; he was a Prince when he sailed the Pacific) to the hanging of Atahuallpa by Pizarro(07/26/1533): 52 years and 04 kings (Tupac Yupanqui, Huayna Capac, Huascar and Atahuallpa).
[67] As the case, for instance, of the Mongol Emperors (these men from the mountains were excellent in cavalry and infantry, but never as seamen) who ruled China for at least 200 years (13th c. and 14th c. AD). See the Discovery Channel one-hour documentary, Khubilai Khan: Fall of the Mongol Hordes.
[68] In the above mentioned documentary movie, Kublai Kan faces the same problem, and so he trusts his massive fleet of over 4,000 boats and almost 150,000 men to a General (a mountain man from the cavalry) instead of an Admiral (a seaman) to conquest Japan in 1281, only because the General was a Mongol. This was a serious mistake and one of the factors that explain the disaster suffered by his fleet which got lost and was destroyed in the ocean without ever arriving to Japan.
[69] Examples of annexation range from “peaceful conquest: the lordship of Chincha” (pages 100-104) to “the lordship of Chimu: a resistance example” (pages 111-112). The Chimus (13th–15th c. AD) built Chan Chan, its capital city, facing the sea, the largest maritime city in Indigenous America, with approximately 5 km2 and 200,000 inhabitants. The archaeological sites and the ornaments of low relief decorating the city show that everything in there is related to the ocean and the sky: “... really almost to the exclusion of any other type of imagery” (Heyerdahl 1996: 95). Chan – Chan is 5 km away from Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru.
[70] The Inca aristocrats had their ears extended from a very early age, as a symbol of social status. Babies had to bear discs of various sizes in their ear-laps, at first small but then increasingly larger, usually beautiful, circular pieces of jewel.
[71] “... all of them were killed, no one was kept alive. Although the Incas made attempts to swim and save their own lives,... they couldn’t help it. Because the coast people, being so familiar with the ocean, have over the inlanders the same advantage the marine animals have over the terrestrial animals”. Garcilaso de la Vega, Inca [1609]. Comentarios Reales de los Incas II. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Lima – Mexico – Madrid, 1991: 571.
[72] Its color is pinkish white, and the outside is thorny. Since the most remote times, this was a religious item, essential to make the sophisticated jewelry pieces, and more valuable than gold. The Spondylus shell is typically found in the ocean hot waters, from Tumbes up to Mesoamerica, and is especially abundant in what is modern Ecuador. The goal of obtaining Spondylus was a powerful force driving navigators in the AW.
[73] Seamen were often a problem for their leaders, mainly if they succeeded and became popular. Kings believed their own power could be threatened by the popularity some seamen gained from their remarkable feats. Admiral Zheng He, under the Chinese Ming emperor Zhu Di, made 7 journeys (1405-1433) as the commander of a fleet of wooden boats whose size and load capacity were lower only to the steel boats built by the USA in World War One (see National Geographic documentary on this Admiral). Zheng He’s great success made the emperor suspicious and afraid that the Admiral and his subordinates (famous and powerful seamen) could try to seize power. So the emperor, acting under the logics of a state centralized in his person, decided to put an end to the seamen power by prohibiting new voyages and destroying the fleet. See Wallerstein, I. The Modern World System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the origins of the European World Economy in the Sixtennth Century. New York, Academic Press, 1974.
[74]An ancient myth from the AW known as Mito del Zorro de Arriba y del Zorro de Abajo (myth of the upper part fox and the lower part fox) says that there were two foxes-gods who could take any human form they pleased. They were eternally fighting each other and then playing with each other, competing and then supplementing each other, running and standing still, although they were always together. The myth masterly summarizes the following process: before the Incas, other people from the mountains (Sierra) attempted to unify the AW: these were the Chavin Civilization (8thc. BC-1st c. BC). Centuries later, the same was attempted by another high-mountain people, the Wari (8th c. AD–13th c. AD). However, on the coast, and much before the Chavin, there were other cultures, including the Caral Civilization. After the Chavin, also on the coast, we had the Nazca and Mochicas, while the Tiahuanaco people were in Lake Titicaca. Still later on, on the coast, we had the Chincha and the Chimús. The Moyobamba were in the Amazon (Chincha, Chimu and Moyobamba were contemporary of the mountain people Wari). We cannot know what would happen after the Incas, if the Spanish didn’t go there. So we can say two things: 1) those cultures from the high mountains tended to unify the AW, while the ones from the coast (lower parts) tended to form Independent Regional Kingdoms; 2) there were long periods in which the people from the high mountains were hegemonic, followed by long periods in which the people from the lower parts (coast) were hegemonic, and so on. Based on this myth, Jose Maria Arguedas wrote his novel El Zorro de Arriba y el Zorro de Abajo.
[75] “... even less is known about the population in Europe and Asia in those times [1492]. America has been provided with a good amount of data, thanks to the Berkeley school of historic demography, especially with Cook and Borah. Merely on basis of comparison, one could think that Europe, from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, had between 60 and 80 million inhabitants in 1500. If this was really so, then one continent would have accomplished the sad feat of depopulating another continent with a much larger population”. Da Cunha, Carneiro M. História dos Índios no Brasil. Companhia das Letras, São Paulo, 1998:14.
[76] See Del Busto: chapter “Las Islas de las perlas” op. cit. : 67-82
[77] For instance, Pascual de Andagoya arrived to the AW and wrote his “reports” in 1524 (8 years before the “successful” arrival of Pizarro). As history shows, the Europeans carried microorganisms that were new to the IA inhabitants, and fatal as well, because their bodies had not acquired yet the required natural biological immunity.
[78] See note 29.
[79] At the same time, poor Europe (which became rich after the conquest given that, while destroying the IA, the Europeans took away and accumulated the IA richness) solved its constant problem of plague by setting fire on towns, fields, etc.
[80]Rostworowski 1977: 214; italics added by me, the author.
[81] Ib.: 216-17; idem.
[82] Ib.: 217.Rostworowski quotes Meléndez, Fray Juan de [1681-82]. Tesoros Verdaderos de Indias. Roma, Tomo I, Cap. XV: 459. Huaca is the AW Temple; idem.
[83] See the author’s article “Lima na história da América Latina”. In 500 Anos. A chegada dos europeus à América. Revista PUC-VIVA – Publicação Acadêmica e Informativa Trimestral dos Professores da PUC-SP, São Paulo, Ano II, No. 7, December, 1999: 27-41.
[84] “It wasn’t until 1779 that the Western world heard of surfing, when … James King, assigned to a British expedition led by … James Cook, published his accounts of the Hawaiian islands and the exotic ocean pastime and beach lifestyle enjoyed by locals. The European soon began to use Hawaii as a Pacific crossroads and trading post, so it wasn’t too long after in 1821 that Calvinist missionaries arrived from Britain to impose their religion and repressed ideologies on a population which they viewed as frivolous. As surfing was often a pre-cursor to couples getting it on, the missionaries decided that it wasn’t at all right or proper, so dealt a heavy blow by banning surfing which almost wiped the pastime out completely. This almost lead to the extinction of traditional Hawaiian culture…” Surf History – Surf history a guide to the origins of surfing and the mdern surfing pioneers. Extremehorizon http://www.extremeholrizon.com/surfhistory.asp; Google search, 10/23/2007. In relation to the same there is another text: “The only thing dying faster than Hawaiian culture were the Hawaiians themselves. Ravaged by diseases, alcohol and other poisons brought ashore by the flood of post-Cook, the Hawaiian population dwindled from somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 natives at the time of Cook’s arrival, to a mere 40,000 by 1896. Despite the imposed Calvinist morality, surfing didn’t disappear …” Marcus. B. From Polynesia, with love. The history of surfing from Captain Cook to the present. http://www.surfingforlife.com/history.html; Google search 10/23/2007. Notice that, on a smaller scale, the Hawaiian history has similarities with the AW’s history. In Hawaii, a fierce repression and destruction was carried out not by Spanish or Catholic individuals, but by British and Calvinist individuals. The cultural resistance took place in Hawaii too, and the board surfing was kept alive, almost in secret. The author added the italics to the phrase and all the rest and to the first part of this note “as surfing was often a pre-cursor to couples getting it on” to emphasize the obsessive concern of Catholics and Calvinists to control people’s sensuality.
[85] Reduced almost only to: this is so because, until the early years of the 20th c., it was possible to see large rafts still in use. A photo legend says: “a large balsa trading raft photographed on 6/11/1899 by Hans Heinrich Bruning off the north coast of Peru...” (Heyerdhal, 1995: 29). Brunning, a German, started a collection that gave origin to the Bruning Museum. Another part of his collection is in Hamburg, Germany.
[86]Rostworowski 1981: see last cover and its inside. Moche is a synonym for Mochica. The Amano Collection is in the Amano Museum of Lima.
[87] Photo copied from “Trujillo. O berço do Senhorio Chimú e seus arrededores. Destinos do Peru. Um guia básico para viajantes”. PromPeru, http://www.peru.org.pe/ Promperu is the Peruvian official body in charge of tourism. The Chimu people, major heirs of the Mochica, were incorporated to the AW by force, under the Incas (in 1466, according to Del Busto: 151).
[88] See note 10. After a thorough visit to this museum, and talks with the museum guide Arturo Exebio Balladares, the author ’s conclusion was: 6th c. AD.
[89] The Mochica ceramic artists are historically famous in Peru as the authors of “Huacos Retrato” (portrait huacos). The name Retrato refers to the realism and perfection with which they portrayed people and objects – their pottery could be compared to small-size photographs: the ones in number 4 are probably 30 centimeters long by 10 centimeters wide, and 12 centimeters high.
.
[90] See “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Nación – Navegando los mares con el caballito de totora – Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana – Temporary Exhibits”. http://museodelacultura.perucultural.org.pe/pieza10.shtml Google search, 10/23/2007: 1 of 2. See also pictures 5 and 6.
[91] Tramontana op. cit: 4 of 10; Raimondi’s writings were not available for consultation by the author. Raimondi is a key geographer in modern Peru. Notice that in the indigenous Hawaii the surfers also had to go through initiation ceremonies.
[92] “...architect Emilio Harth-Terré argues that the two depressions in Chan Chan were sea ports... but I found that the ancient people from Huanchaco used these pools to train how to ride their caballitos [de totora] before entering the sea; it is a personal reference by Francisco Pimimchum that this took place around the 1920s” (email received on 05.29.98 by the author, from archaeologist Miguel A. Cornejo G., National University of Trujillo. In today’s Huanchaco, Señor Pimimchum is seen as a sort of patriarch by the CT fishermen; he kindly gave an interview to the author on 07. 29.08 and, judging by his appearance and stamina, you could hardly guess he was almost 80 years old.
[93] Ib.: 5 of 10.
[94] ” See op. cit. “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio...”: 1 of 2.
[95] Tramontana op. cit. : 7 of 10. Extraordinary skills were required to carry a bird egg in those conditions, because of its extreme fragility. More so if you think of the watercraft’s small dimensions, huge waves and the islands’ around 10 miles from the coast. This important ceremony was depicted in Tucume friezes including the deified being Bird Man. The same character existed in Eastern Island. See pictures 7, 8 and 9.
[96] “These experts take around 30 minutes to assemble [manufacture] a caballito”, op. cit. “Mayo 2005 – Serie Patrimonio...”: 1 of 2.
[97] ... of the 40,000 Hawaiians that remained, a handful attempted to resist the 1893 illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy by a coalition of businessmen, plantation owners and missionaries, assisted by U.S marines…” Marcus B. op.cit.: 10 of 10.
[98] Sanpedro is the popular name for the plant Trichocereus peruvianus: a strong hallucinogenic cactus used among the coast AW cultures since the most remote times (see picture 12).
[99] Hocqquenghem op. cit. : 127.
[100] See Leveratto S., R. Los Huanchaqueros Tablistas. Anthropology. Ethnographic Field School. Huanchaco, Peru. Student Ethnographies. http://www.usu.edu./anthro/peru/2003/richard.html Google search, 10/23/2007; Alva M., J.V. Huanchaco y el mar en la memoria de un pueblo de pescadores. http://derroteros.perucultural.org.pe/textos/derroteros11/huanchaco.doc Google search 02/10/2008.
[101] For the Peruvian cuisine, which recently has been more and more appreciated internationally, fresh fish is a major ingredient. A large part of it is provided by fishermen who still use the CT to catch fish.
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