Nazca culture - WikiHQ

thumb|Nazca Female Effigy Figure, made of [[sperm whale tooth, shell and hair]]

The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley. Strongly influenced by the preceding Paracas culture,

Decline and fall of the civilization

From 500 AD, the civilization started to decline and by 750 AD the civilization had fallen completely. This is thought to have occurred when an El Niño triggered widespread and destructive flooding. Evidence also suggests that the Nazca people may have exacerbated the effects of these floods by gradually cutting down Prosopis pallida trees to make room for maize and cotton agriculture. These trees play an extremely important role as the ecological keystone of this landscape: in particular preventing river and wind erosion. Gradual removal of trees would have exposed the landscape to the effects of climate perturbations such as El Niño, leading to erosion and leaving irrigation systems high and dry.

Society

Early Nazca society was made up of local chiefdoms and regional centers of power that developed around Cahuachi, a non-urban ceremonial site of earthwork mounds and plazas. Scholars have developed theories resulting from various excavations at Cahuachi. They suggest that this site was the center for rituals and feasting relating to agriculture, water, and fertility. If it was an urban center, the proportion of utilitarian ceramics would have probably been higher. Among the foodstuffs found were the Three Sisters: maize, squash, and beans; as well as peanuts, and some fish.

Construction at Cahuachi ceased. It appears that Cahuachi was abandoned at the very end of Nazca 3/early Nazca 4. Although there are many possible reasons for the collapse of Cahuachi, most scholars believe that the cessation of ceremonial use of the site is associated with the pan-Andean drought. Shamans apparently used hallucinogenic drugs, such as extractions from the 'San Pedro cactus' (Echinopsis pachanoi), to induce visions. The Nazca used another hallucinogenic plant called Anadenanthera, this plant's seeds were ground down and snuffed through a pipe. The use of such substances is also depicted in art found on pottery related to the Nazca.Religious events and ceremonies took place in Cahuachi. The people worshiped the nature gods to aid in the growth of agriculture.

thumb|Nazca burials at the [[Chauchilla Cemetery]]

thumb|Nazca burial place

Shamanistic elements with the Nazca are prominent. Scholars point to Nazca ceramics and textiles, interpreted as altered states of consciousness along with masked beings, possibly representing ritual specialists undergoing transformation.

During this time, all members of the society in surrounding villages would migrate to the center and participate in feasting as well. Non-elites could obtain highly valued goods, such as fancy polychrome pottery, through feasting. In exchange, the elites could enhance their political power and status while co-opting the commoners into labor and construction of the site. Visual depictions of decapitations often associate the decapitators with weapons and military-like dress, but such garments could have been worn in purely ceremonial circumstances as well.

The term 'trophy head' was coined by archaeologist Max Uhle, who considered the depiction of severed heads in ancient Peruvian art to correspond to trophies of warfare. Other common modifications were the base of the skull being broken and thorns closing the mouth. Over 100 of the heads that have been discovered were mummified, which is unique to the Nazca and the preceding Paracas Culture.

Many burials of Nazca individuals are what is known as 'partial burials'. Partial burials typically include bundles of limbs, caches of severed heads, or bodies that are missing several parts. The actual appearance of the head jars can vary majorly with some having the appearance of trophy heads and others potentially be a portrait of the person buried there. During the Middle Nazca period, the number of severed heads appeared to have increased, perhaps due to a pan-Andean drought.

The most promising techniques used to date them thus far has been the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) analysis of varnish that has collected on the rocks inside the puquios, as well as the study of settlement patterns in the area. These techniques have placed the original construction of the puquios at the Middle Nazca period, as indicated above.

The irrigation system was made up of underground channels, known as puquios, which tapped into the subsurface water. The channels were dug into the mountainside until they reached the aquifers under the surface. The channels were lined with river rocks. They did not use any mortar so that the water would pass into the channels. The water was transported to irrigation canals (acequias) in order to directly supply water for agricultural purposes, or the water was deposited into small reservoirs (kochas) for later domestic use. The amount of pottery produced by the Nazca people is greater when compared to the preceding Paracas culture. A potential reason for this is due to the relatively lesser amount of time required to produce pottery when compared to textiles, which the Paracas favored.

The Nazca pottery sequence has been divided into nine phases. Visual depictions found on pottery from Phase 1 (also called Proto-Nazca) incorporated realistic subject matter such as fruits, plants, people, and animals. An indicator of the phase is the pottery having motifs cut into the pottery, much like the preceding Paracas-style pottery, but using slip painting instead of resin painting. Pottery art of Nazca phases 6 and 7 also displays influence from the Moche culture of north coastal Peru.

Finally, during Nazca 8 disjointed figures and a geometric iconography was introduced that has been difficult to decipher. Phases 8 and 9 are now believed to date to the Middle Horizon. This period was one of a shift in power from the coast to the highlands with the advent of the Wari culture about 650 CE.

Scenes of warfare, decapitation, and the ritual use of human trophy heads by shamans were common motifs in Nazca pottery. Besides the figures there is an abundance of vegetation represented, which is characteristic in Nasca textile works. The three-dimensional edging attached to the light weight midsection suggests that this mantel was never hang and most likely used laid out on the ground serving as a field for divination. Lois Martin who studied the mantel extensively suggests that perhaps it was used as a calendar to track the timing of rituals. This gave an indication of their status. A large portion of dresses were found portraying birds with speckled bodies, double-headed serpentine figures, and anthropomorphic figures.

Nazca Lines

thumb|left|"The Dog" from the air

The geoglyphs of Nazca or "Nazca Lines" are a series of geometric shapes, miles of lines, and large drawings of animal figures (some as large as a football field) constructed on the desert floor in the Nazca region. Many theories have arisen about the great geoglyphs. They are believed to have been constructed by large, coordinated work groups of numerous people over an extended period of time, indicating a complex culture that could organize such projects. Researchers have demonstrated techniques to explore how this was done.

By extending a rope between two posts and removing the red pebbles on the desert surface along the rope, the lines could be constructed. The contrast of the red desert pebbles and the lighter earth beneath would make the lines visible from a high altitude. Due to the simplistic construction of the geoglyphs, regular amounts of rainfall would have easily eroded the drawings, but the dry desert environment has preserved the lines for hundreds of years.

The purpose of the lines continues to be debated. Some researchers theorize they were created for the gods to look upon them from above, while others suggest they were some sort of calendar with astronomical alignments that would aid in planting and harvesting of crops. Others have thought the lines were the pathways for important ceremonial processions.

Tropähenkopf Nazca Slg Ebnöther.jpg|Head trophy of the Nazca culture.

Krieger mit Trophäenkopf Peru Nazca Slg Ebnöther.jpg|Representation of a warrior holding a trophy head.

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References

Bibliography

Local Differences and Time Differences in Nasca Pottery by Donald A. Proulx (1968) University of California Press
The Incas and their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru by Michael E. Moseley. 1992.
Cahuachi in the Ancient Nasca World Silverman, Helaine. University of Iowa Press. Iowa City. 1993.
"The Archaeological Identification of an Ancient Peruvian Pilgrimage Center" by Helaine Silverman, World Archaeology 26, no. 1 (June 1994): 1–18
"Paracas in Nazca: New data on the Early Horizon Occupation of the Rio Grande de drainage, Peru" Silverman, Helaine. (1994) Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 359–382.
Early Nasca Needlework by Alan R. (1996) Sawyer Laurence King.
Der Nasca-Ikonenkomplex: Seine mythischen Gestalten und ihre Entwicklung, erschlossen aus den Darstellungen gegenständlicher Bildwerke/Nasca Iconography. Its mythical Figures and their Evolution, established on the Basis of Pictorial Works, by Christiane Clados, Dissertation, Free University Berlin
The Nasca by Helaine Silverman and Donald A. Proulx. Blackwell Publishers. Malden. 2002.
Ancient Nazca Settlement and Society by Helaine Silverman (2002) University of Iowa Press
Irrigation and Society in the Peruvian Desert: The Puquios of Nasca by Katherine H. Schreiber, Josue Lancho Rojas, Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland, 2003,
"What the Women Were Wearing" by Mary Frame, Textile Museum Journal (2003/04), Volume 42-43:13–53
"Households, Crafts and Feasting in the Ancient Andes: The Village Context of Early Nasca Craft Consumption" by Kevin J. Vaughn, Latin American Antiquity (2004), Volume 15, No. 1:61–88
"Burial Patterns and Sociopolitical Organization in Nasca 5 Society" by William Harris and Helaine Silverman, Andean Archaeology III (2006), Volume 3:374–400
"A Compositional Perspective on the Origins of the Nasca Cult at Cahuachi" by Kevin J. Vaughn, Journal of Archaeological Science (2007), Volume 34, Issue 5:814–822
The Ancient Nasca World New Insights from Science and Archaeology by Rosa Lasaponara, Nicola Masini, Giuseppe Orefici, Springer International Publishing, 2016,

External links

"Nasca Ceramic Iconography: An Overview" by Donald A. Proulx, University of Massachusetts, 2007. Color photos included.
Ancient Peruvian ceramics: the Nathan Cummings collection by Alan R. Sawyer, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Nazca culture (see index)
Nasca drawings collection, introduction, professional drawings of Nazca artifacts, by Christiane Clados
FAMSI Nasca drawings collection 402 images