Traces the processes of political, social and economic change in Andean civilisation from around 10,000 BC to the arrival of the Spanish in 1534.

List of illustrations; List of contributors; Preface; Part I. Early Inhabitants and Settlement: 1. The character and context of highland preceramic society John W. Rick; 2. Early hunter-gatherers on the Peruvian coast Claude Chauchat; 3. The Late Preceramic and Initial Period Rosa Fung Pineda Translated by Margaret Brown; Part II. The Florescence of Complex Society: 4. Unity and heterogeneity within the Chavin horizon Richard L. Burger; 5. The patterns of art and power in the Early Intermediate Period William J. Conklin and Michael Edward Moseley; 6. City and state in Middle Horizon Huari William H. Isbell; 7. The Late Intermediate Period Jeffrey R. Parsons and Charles M. Hastings; Part III. Pan-Andean Empire and the uses of Documentary Evidence: 8. Progress and prospect in the archaeology of the Inca Craig Morris; 9. From event to process: the recovery of Late Andean organizational structure by means of Spanish colonial written records Patricia J. Netherly; Part IV. Contributions from the Selva: 10. A view from the tropical forest J. Scott Raymond; Part V. Synthesis: 11. A summary view of Peruvian prehistory Richard W. Keatinge; Acknowledgements; Bibliography; Index.