Nazca culture

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Late Intermediate Period Cultures

The Nazca culture flourished in the Nazca region between 300 BCE and 800 CE. They created the famous Nazca lines and built an impressive system of underground aqueducts that still function today. Near the aqueducts open to tourists, there is an overlook point which includes an Inca building added after the Inca conquest of the area. On the pampa, on which the Nazca lines were made, the ceremonial city of Cahuachi (1-500 AD) sits overlooking the lines. Modern knowledge about the culture of the Nazca is built upon studying the city of Cahuachi.

1 Pottery
2 Textiles
3 Other information
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Pottery

The Nazca region is a desert that the Nazca turned into a viable agricultural area using their aqueduct technology. Nazca pottery has been divided into eight phases. Around 200 BC, at the end of the Early Horizon drought, Nazca I began. Pottery from this era contains the mythical content of Paracas art, but added realistic subject matter such as fruits, plants, people, and other animals. Realism increased in importance in the following three phases (II, III, IV) referred to as the Monumental phases. The pottery from these phases includes renditions of their main subject matter against a bold red or white background. In the next phase, Nazca V, the backgrounds are filled in and the subject matter now included bodyless renditions of both deamons and humans. Nazca VI, and VII include the earlier motifs but also add militaristic ones, and portraits of elite members of the society. Nazca VI and VII also begin to show the influence of the Moche. Finally, Nazca VIII saw the introduction of completely disjointed figures and a rich iconography which we have yet to decipher. The phases were created before the advent of carbon dating and today have some problems. While the general order did not change there is a great deal of overlap of the phases, and while the Nazca IX phase ends c. 600 AD, some of the pottery in that category was created at least as late as 755 AD.

Since the Nazca were a coastal people, who depended on the sea for their livelihood, archaeologists are fortunate that they portrayed aspects of their everyday lives in and on their pottery. The motifs generally seen on Nazca pots are those of animals and plants used and seen by the ancient people. These include sea birds, hummingbirds, whales, sharks, fish, snakes, seeds, flowers, and cacti. Also, more gruesomely, the Nazca also portrayed disembodied heads, presumed to be trophy heads, on their pottery.

[edit] Textiles

Polychrome, fish-shaped, nazca vessel. (See: huaco)

The Nazca are also known for their textiles. They began using llama and massive quantities of alpaca a thousand years before the north coast cultures began to esteem the camelid wool. The source of the wool is believed to be from the Ayacucho region. The motifs that appeared on the pottery appeared earlier in the textiles. Textiles may have been as important to other cultures in the region as to the Nazca, but the desert has preserved the textiles of both the Nazca and Paracas cultures and comprise most of what we know about early textiles in the region.

[edit] Other information

The Nazca culture co-existed with the Moche culture of what is now northern Peru.

[edit] References

The Incas and the Ancestors: The Archaeology of Perú. Revised Edition. By Michael E. Moseley
Cahuachi in the Ancient Nasca World. By Helaine Silverman