{{Infobox archaeological culture , name = Salinar , dates = {{circa 200 BCE - 300 CE , period =

Early Intermediate This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different dat ...

, map = Mapa_cultura_salinar.png , mapcaption = Map of the Salinar culture , region =

Ancash Ancash ( qu, Anqash; es, Áncash ) is a department and region in northern Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital i ...

, precededby = Casma–Sechin, Chavín , followedby = Moche,

Virú Virú is a town in Northern Peru, capital of the province Virú in the region La Libertad. This town is located 48 km south Trujillo city and is primarily an agricultural center in the Viru Valley. See also *Virú Valley The Viru Valley is l ...

, typesite = Cerro Arena } Salinar_-_Figurative_Bottle_-_Walters_482852_-_Three_Quarter

Salinar is an archaeological culture of Ancient Peru that developed in the coastal area of

and La Libertad. When the Chavín culture declined, on the north coast, small lordships that were in contact united and formed the Salinar culture, which began between 500 and 200 BCE and ended around 300 CE. This culture is the one that marked the transition between the

Chavin culture Chavin may refer to: Places * Chavín de Huantar, an archaeological site in Peru built by the Chavín culture * Chavín District, Chincha, Peru * Chavín de Huantar District, Huari, Peru * Chavín de Pariarca District, Huamalies, Peru * Chavin, I ...

and the advent of the

Mochica culture The Moche civilization (; alternatively, the Mochica culture or the Early, Pre- or Proto-Chimú) flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche, Trujillo, Peru from about 100 to 700 AD during the Regional Development Epoch. ...

. During this time, irrigation systems were expanded, significantly increasing the agricultural area. The settlements were generally small and isolated, but there are sites of urban proportions, such as Cerro Arena in the

Moche Valley The Valley of Moche, or ''Valley of Santa Catalina,'' is a large area of the La Libertad Region in northern Peru surrounding the Moche River. It has been farmed since the pre-Columbian era and currently contains rural and urban settlements. Truji ...

, an extensive site with about 2000 stone structures distributed over a surface of 2 km2, where there are habitation areas, ceremonial and administrative centers. The culture built fortifications to protect the towns on the highest part of the hills, which indicates extensive wars during the existence of this culture, ones where all the people intervened. They used hand-shaped odontiform adobes in their construction, houses were generally square in plan with low walls and wooden columns. Graves took an elongated ellipsoid shape; corpses were spread out with their legs crossed and their bodies reclined to the right, wrapped in cloth and covered with jewels and ceramic offerings, and almost always with a gold foil in their mouths. Salinarian ceramic presented a change from black ceramic to red ceramic with white paint. Bottles with stirrup handles were found alongside the innovative figurine bottles with bridge handles. The first erotic representations appear among the modeled vessels. Salinarians mined copper and alloyed it with gold.

Sources

* Larco Hoyle R. 1966. Pérou. Genéve. * Towle M. A. 1961. The Ethnobotany of Pre-Columbian Peru. — VFPA, № 30.
The Salinar Culture
History of Peru Andean civilizations Pre-Columbian cultures