Virú Culture

The Virú culture (alternatively known as the Gallinazo) was a pre-Colombian, pre-Inca culture that flourished at the Virú Valley on the north west coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly around 200 BC. This North Coast culture was based in the Virú Valley and extended into the Moche and Santa Valleys as well. The Virú Valley is on a coastal landscape which consists of a narrow land strip boarded by the Andes Mountains to its east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The capital of the Virú valley during this time period was an urban area called Gallinazo Group site.

The Gallinazo group site was the primary center of the valley during this time and most likely the seat of regional leadership. The Early Intermediate period in Virú Culture was marked by import social (increase in population size), economic (increase in population size), and political (creations of a unified valley command) transformations. These include an increase in the overall number of settlements in the valley, the extension of the total area under cultivation, the construction of new irrigation canals, and the establishment of four-tiered administrative system.