Ancient South American Foodways The domestication of plants and animals has long been pointed to as the primary causal factor in population growth and socio-political complexity. Evidence of plant domestication in South America is said to have initially occurred in 8000 BC, evidence of squash in Ecuador (Pearsall 2008:107) and 500 years earlier lima beans and chili peppers are exploited (Lynch 1983:125-6 ). However, it took several millennia for intensive plant manipulation to become standard practice for subsistence. The archaic transition that occurred around 3000 BC was identifiable by its “large-scale subsistence, experimental agriculture, seasonal nomadism that gave way to sedentism, and technological proliferation” (Lynch 1983:91). By the end of the Paleo-Indian era, the shift to agriculture and cultivation reached its peak during the Pre-Pottery Period (2500 BC). Quinoa, corn, squash, squash, potatoes, beans, and lucuma were now used for agricultural domestication: the formative stage according to ancient Indian civilization. Lynch (1983:91) ca. 2000 BC had “intensive agriculture, total sedentary living, class systems, corporate work projects, and temple-based religions.” Before and continuing through the advent of irrigated agriculture, South Americans' diet and main source of protein was marine-based. “Fishing is almost as old in the New World as human presence: seafood, not just agriculture, contributed to the early formation of Andean civilization” (Isbell, Sandweiss, Silver 2008:147). Small seaside villages eventually provided a reciprocal trading system for larger complex cities: exchanging maritime resources for agricultural products. The advent of irrigated agriculture was fundamental to the formation of complex villages. The trajectory of irrigation in the South…middle of paper…within and without temple precincts, Chavin possessed elements that would become standard in later Andean cities” (Bruhns, 1994:131). Furthermore, Chiripa is located near the southern end of Lake Titicaca (600-100 BC), because a model for later temple structures, especially the Kidder Temple at Pucara. The site consisted of rectangular buildings around a central patio, and each site in the complex housed a sunken rectangular temple. Consistency among Nazca settlement patterns indicates urban planning strategies and monitoring systems. The Inca culture derives from Tiwanaku. The Inca empire expanded from its core, Cuzco into the Cuzco Valley. The Inca's ability to cultivate and harvest resulted in food preservation techniques that could last 3 to 7 years. The Inca took the crops of those conquered nations and cultivated them ensuring abundance of seasonal differentiation.