Between the valley and the ocean is a low range of mountains and the Peruvian coastal desert.

East of Nanchoc the Andes rise sharply and the greater precipitation in the Andes feeds the Nanchoc River and its tributaries, permitting irrigated agriculture to flourish in the valley.

[5] At the time the district included the population centers of Carahuasi, Bolívar, El Espino, Trigal, La Aventuraza, El Diamante, La Tambora and Tingues.

[6] On the western side of the Nanchoc river, about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the town of Nanchoc, archaeologist Tom Dillehay found evidence of the oldest known irrigation canals in the Americas, radiocarbon dated to at least 3400 BCE and possibly as old as 4700 BCE.

The canals built by the people of Nanchoc at that time were utilized to irrigate crops such as peanuts, squash, manioc, and chenopods, a relative of Quinoa.