Thursday, June 6, 2013

A Day in the Park of Legends

              On the 6th on June, I went to the Parque de las Leyendas, or The Park of Legends  (www.leyendas.gob.pe/‎). The Park was a very diverse and amazing experience, containing numerous animals, Peruvian Ruins, and information about ancient Peruvian cultures, ranging from the Vicus and Moche to the Incan Empire.

            The first attraction that we stopped by was the Museo De Sito, a museum that contained different information about different Peruvian cultures, including building structures, architectures, and vases. The vases (used to primarily carry water and drink from) in particular were very interesting to analyze; Joey Hopkins and I noticed multiple differences between each culture's vase structure, geometry, and aesthetics.

           The earliest Peruvian culture, Estitas Locales (200 B.C. - 0), constructed vases varied heavily in design, from muffin shaped to a simple elliptical shape, were the exact same color, and most of them had only one handle, with a few not having a handle at all.



           The next culture, Estito Lima (0 - 600 A.D.), constructed vases that were taller than the Estitas Locales vases; they varied in shape, though they had a similar elliptical geometry. One of the vases had a longer opening, one handle, and was a tannish color, while the other had two very small handles, was large, had a short opening, and was brown.



           The Estito Ichma (600 - 1400) progressed on the Estito Lima's idea of multiple handles and taller rims; each one of the vases displayed had two handles and tall, curved rims. Each vase (minus one vase) had a short curved opening, each with a large diameter, and were similar in color, though it seems that art was once present on each vase.


           Lastly, the Estito Ichma-Inca (1400 - 1532) built off the ideas and progression of the previous cultures to create their vases, which ranged from medium sized to very large, displayed not only paintings but three dimensional carvings, such as tentacles or bumps, had taller rims, and had two very large handles, which were placed in numerous places and positions, that could easily have hands fitted through them. It was very intriguing to view how, over the different time periods and cultures, the structure, geometry, and technology of the vases change, from simple jars to easier-to-carry objects that could also be works of art.

          Other objects we viewed at the Museo De Sito included models of the possible building structures of the different Peruvian cultures. It was interesting to see how the single building, sloped design from cultures living during 0 - 600 A.D. evolved into the multiple building, stair integrating designs of the Incas, even though these Incan designs were constructed even before the single building cultures. The reason for these multiple buildings could have, like the earliest cultures, been to lead towards a single point (in this case, pool for some religious reason), or, in the Inca's case, the buildings were separated into different temples- one were the sun would shine behind for the Sun god, one for different constellations, and others for different rituals or housing. Understanding the evolution of these buildings, as well as different constructions, like the vases, is what makes analyzing the evolution of cultures so interesting; seeing how these cultures adapt to not only new beliefs and rituals, but to advances that further progress their society in order to achieve a more successful community.

 
 
 


        After the Museo De Sito, I got to go around the rest of the Park. It was awesome to learn that a good majority of this park is not only inhabited by ruins of ancient civilizations, but also exotic animals from all over the globe. During this time we got to analyze the structures of the ruins, as well as how they were constructed, from using mortar to connecting slabs of stone to stick together, to precisely cutting giant boulders to fit together. We also got to see a plethora of awesome animals, such as Giraffes, wolves, and even a very large tortoise. This was an amazing place to go to, not only for the diversity of the park, but the amazing history within the museum, Peruvian ruins, and Peruvian artifacts.

-AMcTier





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