Huarco

Huarco occupied the lower Cañete Valley on Peru's arid central coast, where irrigated fields met a rich Pacific fishing ground. Cerro Azul was one of its principal coastal settlements. Noble households organized the drying and storage of fish for inland exchange, receiving crops and dried camelid meat in return. The economy joined specialist fishing communities with farming villages rather than requiring every household to produce all its own food.

In the fifteenth century Inca expansion threatened this valley society. Defensive works protected several important places: Ungará guarded the intake of Huarco's main irrigation canal, while Cerro Azul built a wall on its landward side. The Incas first secured the neighbouring upper-valley polity of Lunahuaná, establishing a military and storage centre at Inkawasi. From there they attacked the lower valley through repeated campaigns. Once Huarco was subdued, new Inca buildings and the coastal road connected it more closely with imperial administration. The sea, canals and storehouses that had supported local authority now also supplied the demands of a wider state. Earlier residences and production areas nevertheless preserved the material traces of a distinctive coastal society.