South Coast Of Peru Research Articles

Reconsidering chronologies and cultural change on the south coast of Peru: A compilation and analysis of radiocarbon dates from Nasca, Ica, and Paracas

The South Coast of Peru, the location where Peru's widely used period/horizon relative ceramic chronology was established and where archaeological samples were obtained for the earliest radiocarbon studies, has figured prominently in the development of chronologies in the Central Andes. We examine the current state of chronology in the region with a compilation of 770 published and unpublished radiocarbon dates from >60 sites in the Nasca and Ica drainages and on the Paracas Peninsula, spanning a period of approximately 8000 years, to evaluate the relative ceramic chronologies and explore the timing and duration of major cultural changes. Kernel Density Estimate (KDE) summaries of Bayesian phase models demonstrate the following aspects of regional cultural dynamics: the earliest settlements began in the Preceramic ca. 6000 BCE and are found on the coast; the Paracas culture was established ca. 900 BCE and cultural development was first focused in the north and then spread south; a reverse direction of cultural influence is found during the Nasca culture when innovation began in the south and spread north; an early mixture of Late Nasca/local Loro culture is found in Nasca (510–720 CE) followed by the spread of Loro elsewhere and the establishment of intrusive highland Wari colonies that peaked in the mid-9th century CE; and the Late Intermediate Period was variable throughout the region in terms of timing and duration, reflecting a turbulent period. The results of the study reveal strong temporal overlap in the ceramic styles indicating they are not purely sequential and consequently are inadequate as chronological markers on a regional level. The research highlights the potential of radiocarbon evidence to reveal sub-regional temporal heterogeneity and to help us better understand the dynamics of cultural change.

The use and context of fiber plants during the middle preceramic: evidence from La Yerba II and III, south coast of Peru

Bast fiber artifacts from the Pacific coast of South America are among the earliest evidence of fabric manipulation and the foundation of the millennial Andean textile tradition. Recent examinations of plant macro remains and plant fiber artifacts from La Yerba II (7570–6674 cal BP) and La Yerba III (6485–5893 cal BP) sites provide insight into how plant fabric technologies and pre-loom textile traditions unfolded over the Middle Preceramic (or Middle Archaic; 8000–5000 BP) on the south coast of Peru. Using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we conduct comparative analyses of modern and archaeological plants to assess the taxonomy and morphological distinctions between them to discriminate species. We identify materials from wild-gathered plants in the Cyperaceae, Typhaceae, and Apocynaceae families and show how they were used to make fishing nets, looped bags, mats, and other artifacts. Evidence from tools and cut marks also enabled us to reconstruct parts of the chaîne opératoire of the fiber production. We discuss the significance of plants from wetland and estuarine habitats in the interrelated dimensions of fabric manufacture and food consumption among these coastal hunter-gatherers.

Long-Term Camelid Husbandry and Agricultural Intensification in the Southern Nasca Region, Peru: Insight from Faunal Isotopes

Abstract We examined stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) of camelid, cavid, and cervid remains from Upanca, an archaeological site located in the Southern Nasca Region on the south coast of Peru. Occupation at the site began in the Middle Archaic (around 3200–3000 BC) and continued through the Nasca period (AD 100–650). Remains predating 2500 BC show low δ13C and δ15N values, whereas remains after this time show increasing and especially more variable isotopic values. We interpret this pattern as marking both a process of agricultural intensification and camelid husbandry diversification. Agricultural intensification began first with C3 plants in fertilized fields, beginning around 2200 cal BC, followed by an increasing use of C4 plants (maize, kiwicha, or both), particularly after 800 cal BC. By the beginning of the first millennium, people were using a diverse range of strategies to raise llamas and alpacas, including feeding them wild or cultivated C3 plants, feeding them cultivated C4 plant foods, mixing C3 and C4 plant foods, foddering some in natural coastal environments, and acquiring still other camelids by hunting wild stocks (guanaco, vicuña). Data also suggest that cavids were consuming at least some C4 products after 1000 cal BC and that the use of C4 plants increased over time.

From Slavery to Servitude: Transformations and Continuities in Hacienda Labor, Well-Being, and Foodways in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Nasca

Abstract The nineteenth century was a dynamic period for hacienda workers on the south coast of Peru. Former Jesuit vineyards with two of the largest enslaved African-descended populations in rural coastal Peru—the haciendas of San Joseph (San José) and San Francisco Xavier (San Javier)—and their annexes in Nasca's Ingenio Valley underwent dramatic transformations with the replacement of their grapevines with cotton and the introduction of new types of workers. Cantonese indentured workers were contracted beginning in the 1830s, and the majority-enslaved workforce was legally emancipated in 1854. Seasonally, highland Andean workers joined the demographically shifting permanent hacienda population. We use evidence from excavated midden contexts at San Joseph, San Xavier, and San Joseph's annex of Hacienda La Ventilla to explore these changing agroindustrial dynamics and worker well-being in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Despite the transformations at the estates, we find that culinary practices developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants during the Jesuit administration, such as the preparation of one-pot meals and stews, continued into the republican era among Cantonese indentured laborers and wage workers of Indigenous, mestizo, and Cantonese origins. We argue that such strategies centered on foodways were a crucial aspect of worker self-care regimes and broader well-being.

Examining the Nasca religious network on the south coast of Peru: LA-ICP-MS of Early Nasca ceramics from the Upper Ica Valley (AD 250–450)

This study investigates the geographic extent of a hypothesized pilgrimage network on the south coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period (AD 100-650), centered around the important ceremonial site of Cahuachi. It has been argued that Early Nasca style ceramics were manufactured here and distributed to pilgrims from surrounding Southern Nasca Region (SNR) villages as symbols of their pilgrimage, and daily reminders of the Cahuachi ideology. However, the participation of people from other, more distant parts of the Nasca homeland, including the Upper Ica Valley, has not been tested. We do so here by conducting a compositional study using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) on ceramics from two Upper Ica Valley sites, Cerro Soldado and Cerro Tortolita. The results indicate that ceramics recovered from the SNR and the Upper Ica Valley are chemically distinct, supporting different raw material sources and production zones. Furthermore, our results indicate that pottery produced with SNR raw materials is not present at either site. These findings lead us to reassess the direct reach of Cahuachi’s pilgrimage network, and the importance of production centers outside of Cahuachi for contributing to the Nasca iconography and culture.

The colors of the empire: Assessing techno-decorative innovations in local, hybrid and intrusive ceramic pigments within the Wari interaction spheres, Peru

Ancient empires developed diverse strategies of political and cultural domination in their conquered territories. One such strategy involved introducing imperially branded goods that reinforced a legitimizing ideology. The appearance of intrusive styles may be an indicator of political dominance; however, the introduction of new technologies is a stronger indicator of interpersonal engagement between people in the empire’s core and dominated regions. In this paper, we specifically focus on innovations in colors, pigments, and decoration of intrusive, local, and hybrid ceramic styles resulting from the interaction between the Wari Empire (600–1050 CE) of the Central Andes and local societies from the north and south coast of Peru. These innovations can be documented long after the Wari influence faded in each region. By integrating archaeological and archaeometric perspectives, we examine techno-decorative innovations among locally produced pottery within the imperial interaction spheres. This paper presents and compares the results of chemical and mineral analyses conducted on samples of pigments on decorated ceramics from the Valleys of Jequetepeque, Nasca, and Moquegua. Results indicate that Wari could have directly promoted the circulation of specific ceramic pigments that guaranteed a particular “Wari experience of color.” We argue that an inter-site approach to the study of colors, pigments, and decoration can better contribute to the understanding of politics and ceramic production relationships, religious syncretism, and cultural change in the Andean past.

Use of psychoactive and stimulant plants on the south coast of Peru from the Early Intermediate to Late Intermediate Period

The preservation of naturally mummified bodies in the Nazca drainage and Yauca Valley provided an opportunity to analyse for the first time which of the psychoactive plants were used on the southern Peruvian coast. Toxicological analysis allows us to better understand the ancient medicine, trade network and religiosity of the region of interest. Hair samples of 22 individuals (including four trophy heads) were examined using LC-MS/MS for the presence of coca alkaloids and metabolites (cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene), mescaline, tryptamine, harmaline, and harmine. LC–MS/MS was performed using electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive mode, multiple reaction monitoring, and a deuterated internal standard (Diazepam-D5). The limits of quantification achieved for analytes were from 1 to 5 ng/g. Recoveries ranged from 91,6 to 113,7%. The method demonstrated an intraday and interday precision CV of <15%.The results of the study show that coca leaves were present on the southern Peruvian coast since the Early Nazca Period (100 BCE - 450 CE). The Nazca inhabitants were also positive tested for the presence of harmine and harmaline coming probably form Banisteriopsis caapi (the main compound of the hallucinogenic ayahuasca beverage), and the San Pedro cactus, a source of mescaline. This is the oldest archaeological evidence of the consumption of these two plants. In modern medicine, the properties of harmine have led to its use in anti-depression and anti-addiction treatment. Banisteriopsis caapi is native to the Amazonian rainforest and had to be the object of long-distance trade, which showed its important role in ancient medicine and rituals. San Pedro cactus is taken for its strong hallucinogenic properties and was detected in hair belonging to a child victim whose head was transformed into a trophy head. This is the first proof that some of the victims transformed into trophy heads were given stimulants prior to their death.

Modeling the Sacred

Architecture and its attendant meanings are the subject of an exceptional group of ceramics produced by the Paracas (c. 800–200 BCE) of south coastal Peru. Masterfully executed in patterned detail, these designs encapsulate a moment in pictorial history that parallels innovation in building design and public acts of display. This essay considers how these architectonic features were pictured and demonstrates the significance of the forms. I examine specific features, such as the step and stepped pyramid, in the context of their architectural history. Modeling in portable objects is shown to be guided by design conventions that emphasize simultaneous, multidimensional perspectives. The objects’ value in ritual activity is also considered. Ideas about the built environment are discussed in relation to sacred geography. I propose a narrative for the interrelated ideas, motifs, and monuments that inform Paracas ceremonialism and sacred places.

Tres Palos Revisited: Understanding the Middle Horizon in the Rio Grande de Nasca Drainage

A recent survey in the Ingenio Valley provides new insight into the nature of the Middle Horizon on the south coast of Peru. A reconsideration of the Tres Palos I and II sites could provide a new perspective on Wari expansion into the region.

Examining the Nasca Religious Network on the South Coast of Peru: La-Icp-Ms of Early Nasca Ceramics from the Upper Ica Valley (Ad 250-450)

Examining the Nasca Religious Network on the South Coast of Peru: La-Icp-Ms of Early Nasca Ceramics from the Upper Ica Valley (Ad 250-450)

Impact of marine debris recorded in a sympatric colony of otariids in the south coast of Peru

Marine debris, in particular plastic debris and debris related to fishing activities, have an impact on marine mammals and seabirds. In marine-coastal species such as otariids, we can detect the incidence of these interactions through land-based observations. In this study, we recorded and described interactions between marine debris and the otariids Arctocephalus australis and Otaria byronia in a natural protected area in Peru, according to age class categories. Between 2016 and 2020, we recorded 151 animals that were directly impacted and/or were observed interacting with marine debris. Residual collars from fishing gear, ropes, plastic bags and unidentified material were recorded. Direct interactions with debris at colonies (e.g., plastic bags) were also recorded, as well as animals evidenced interacting with hooks. The age class category and species with the highest number of individuals impacted by residual collars were adult female A. australis and subadult male O. byronia. Single-use plastics were the most commonly bitten/moved waste by animals in the reserve. In the case of hooks, these were mostly lodged in the mouths of otariids. Our results highlight the importance of continuing to promote segregation at source, as well as the correct disposal of waste, locally and globally, to mitigate impacts on marine fauna.

“The Grace of God and Virtue of Obedience”: The Archaeology of Slavery and the Jesuit Hacienda Systems of Nasca, Peru, 1619–1767

Abstract Multi-scalar archaeological exploration offers new insights for understanding Jesuit estate systems and the slavery they depended on for agroindustrial production. Since 2009, ethnohistorical and archaeological research on two haciendas, San Joseph and San Francisco Xavier de la Nasca, in south coastal Peru’s Ingenio Valley, has illuminated the Jesuit institutions of slavery and the hacienda in colonial Peru. Belonging to two distinct Jesuit institutions, the estates supported schools in Cuzco and Lima, respectively. Since acquiring their first properties in Nasca in 1619, both colleges grew their haciendas by absorbing neighboring fields and noncontiguous lands throughout the region, becoming the largest, most profitable vineyards in the viceroyalty by the time of the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the Spanish empire in 1767. Both hacienda administrations took similar approaches to property management and the large enslaved population that worked them, negotiating the cosmopolitanism of the communities and balancing obligations for evangelization and Christian discipline with the demands for agroindustrial production.

Pichqa and Pisqoyñu: Inca Gaming Paraphernalia from Tambo Viejo, Peru

A prevailing image of the Inca State is of an entity largely concerned with production, with little or no time for entertainment activities, such as playing games. While anthropological research demonstrates that an important aspect of being human is playing games, Inca society appears to be anomalous. Sixteenth and seventeenth century chroniclers mentioned Inca games only on occasion, while archaeological research has not been successful enough to recover artifacts that would be associated with Inca games. Recent archaeological excavation carried out at the Inca administrative center of Tambo Viejo, on the south coast of Peru, resulted in the finding of some artifacts that resemble those mentioned by the chroniclers. Here we report the findings with the goal of generating a discussion about this long-ignored topic.

Stages, periods, epochs, and phases in Paracas and Nasca chronology: another look at John Rowe’s Ica valley master sequence

Chronology on the south coast of Peru is adrift. Researchers have a choice of using developmental stages or historical periods. Increasingly, fuzzy thinking has led to the publication of chronologies employing both stages and periods in the same chart. Authors seem unaware that stages and periods are fundamentally different ways of organizing the past, underpinned by different sets of assumptions which ask different questions. The current work is specifically concerned with the relative chronologies for the south coast Paracas and Nasca cultures, but it also reviews the fundamental principles of stages and periods, examines the workings of John Rowe’s Master Sequence, and provides clear definitions for terminology. In conclusion, an updated chronology for the south coast Early Horizon and Early Intermediate Period is introduced.

A material and technical study of Paracas painted ceramics

Abstract

Feasting and the evolution of cooperative social organizations circa 2300 B.P. in Paracas culture, southern Peru

Recent theoretical innovations in cultural evolutionary theory emphasize the role of cooperative social organizations that unite diverse groups as a key step in the evolution of social complexity. A principal mechanism identified by this theory is feasting, a strategy that reinforces norms of cooperation. Feasts occur throughout the premodern world, and the intensification of feasting is empirically correlated to increased social complexity. A critical factor in assessing the evolutionary significance of this practice is the scale and range of the feast from that focused on a single community to ones that draw from a large region or catchment zone. This work addresses the degree to which hosts draw on a local area vs. a regional one in initial prehistoric feasting. We report on excavations at a locus of intensive feasting-a ceremonial sunken court-in a fifth- to third-century BCE Paracas site on the south coast of Peru. We selected 39 organic objects from the court placed as offerings during major feasting episodes. We analyzed the radiogenic strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) values to determine the geographical origin of each object. The 87Sr/86Sr data plus additional archaeological data support a hypothesis that the catchment of the court was quite extensive. The initial strategy of political and economic alliance building was macroregional in scope. These data indicate that the most effective initial strategy in early state formation in this case study was to build wide alliances at the outset, as opposed to first consolidating local ones that subsequently expand.

Doubts about How the Middle Horizon Collapsed (ca. A.D. 1000) and Other Insights from the Looted Cemeteries of the Lower Ica Valley, South Coast of Peru

ABSTRACTThis paper presents new information from funerary contexts in the lower Ica Valley, on the south coast of Peru, spanning two millennia from the end of the Early Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period. Although severely looted, these sites can still yield valuable information. We discuss their architecture and material culture in the context of radiocarbon dates. Among other findings, these cast new light on the poorly understood transition from the Middle Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period, for which a paucity of archaeological data from ca. a.d. 1000–1250 has long been taken as evidence of an environmentally- or socially-induced demographic collapse. Yet the data we present here suggest that the basins of the lower Ica Valley were likely occupied continuously over this period, and that the echoes of Wari influence here may have lasted longer than previously thought.

Refining the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization: How Plant Fiber Technology Drove Social Complexity During the Preceramic Period

Moseley’s (1975) Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization hypothesis challenges, in one of humanity’s few pristine hearths of civilization, the axiom that agriculture is necessary for the rise of complex societies. We revisit that hypothesis by setting new findings from La Yerba II (7571–6674 Cal bp) and III (6485–5893 Cal bp), Río Ica estuary, alongside the wider archaeological record for the end of the Middle Preceramic Period on the Peruvian coast. The La Yerba record evinces increasing population, sedentism, and “Broad Spectrum Revolution” features, including early horticulture of Phaseolus and Canavalia beans. Yet unlike further north, these changes failed to presage the florescence of monumental civilization during the subsequent Late Preceramic Period. Instead, the south coast saw a profound “archaeological silence.” These contrasting trajectories had little to do with any relative differences in marine resources, but rather to restrictions on the terrestrial resources that determined a society’s capacity to intensify exploitation of those marine resources. We explain this apparent miscarriage of the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (MFAC) hypothesis on the south coast of Peru by proposing more explicit links than hitherto, between the detailed technological aspects of marine exploitation using plant fibers to make fishing nets and the emergence of social complexity on the coast of Peru. Rather than because of any significant advantages in quality, it was the potential for increased quantities of production, inherent in the shift from gathered wild Asclepias bast fibers to cultivated cotton, that inadvertently precipitated revolutionary social change. Thereby refined, the MFAC hypothesis duly emerges more persuasive than ever.

Campanas cerámicas prehispánicas y la presencia de tráfico caravanero tardío en la cuenca de Nasca, sur del Perú

espanolEn los Andes, el tema del trafico caravanero prehispanico ha sido ampliamente estudiado especialmente en el norte de Chile y en el noroeste argentino. En el Peru, en cambio, las investigaciones arqueologicas tradicionalmente llegaron solo a esbozar aspectos muy generales de los modos de explotacion de los rebanos de camelidos. Recientemente, varios investigadores han aportado nuevas propuestas sobre el modo de tenencia de camelidos durante la epoca prehispanica en la Costa Norte, los que se basan en buena cuenta en estudios isotopicos de colecciones oseas. Este articulo pretende aportar al tema anadiendo detalles sobre otro caso prehispanico diferente de tenencia de camelidos, esta vez de la Costa Sur peruana. El punto de partida de esta reconstruccion son las primeras evidencias arqueologicas de campanas ceramicas de la cuenca norte del rio Grande de Nasca, la que se complementa con informacion de ejemplares adicionales provenientes de otros sitios de la region. Este grupo inicial de campanas proviene del sitio arqueologico Ciudad Perdida de Huayuri, en la quebrada de Santa Cruz, y se asocia particularmente al Horizonte Tardio (1470-1532 AD). Luego de un analisis del contexto en las que se encontro, sostengo que las campanas ceramicas se usaron como campanas de llamas (Lama glama) o cencerros, y a la luz de informacion etnografica, su presencia en Huayuri sugiere la participacion de las unidades domesticas en la organizacion del trafico caravanero. A un nivel interpretativo mas general, y a la luz de documentos coloniales tempranos y de la distribucion espacial de los ejemplares adicionales, se sugiere la existencia de un eje de circulacion norte-sur a lo largo de la costa atravesando el desierto de Nasca e Ica, quiza extendiendose desde Ica al norte hasta Arequipa al sur. EnglishThe topic of Prehispanic llama caravan trade has been widely examined in the archaeology of Northern Chile and Norwestern Argentina. Comparatively speaking, in Peru the topic has been previously explored only minimally. Recently, research based on bone isotope analyses from sites in the North Coast of Peru is adding to our knowledge of Prehispanic camelid herd management systems. The present article aims at advancing yet a different case of camelidherd exploitation, this time from the South Coast of Peru. This interpretation stems from the first evidence of ceramic bells from Huayuri, a Late Prehispanic Nasca settlement (1100-1532 AD) with a clear Late Horizon occupation (1470 – 1532 AD), and is complemented with information of other examples from the region not formally reported before. After presenting the context of the findings, I propose these ceramic bells were llama bells. As suggested by ethnographiesof llama (Lama glama) herders, the presence of these bells in the domestic area of the site strongly suggests a direct involvement of some of Huayuri’s domestic units in the organization of the caravans. At a more general level, descriptions from colonial documentation and the regional distributions of additional bells, support the idea a northsouth axis of circulation crossing the deserts of Ica and Nasca, from Tacaraca in Ica to Arequipa to the south of Nasca.

Análisis de la composición mineral de las vasijas de cerámica de Puerto Nuevo: algunas consideraciones preliminares sobre su producción y procedencia

The analysis of ceramic fragments from the site of Puerto Nuevo (1000-500 AC), on the south coast of Peru, reveals a diversified ceramic production and possible long distance interaction networks for ceramics along the coast during the first half of the first millennium before our era. Macroscopic analysis with a hand-held digital low power microscope of fresh cross-sections conducted by Alejandro Rey de Castro allowed classifying the ceramics in different paste groups as well as identifying atypical ceramics. Petrographic analysis conducted by Isabelle Druc on 120 ceramic thin sections of these fragments helped refine this classification into six compositional groups, providing more details on the production and provenance of the wares. Comparison with 30 thin sections of clay-tiles collected in the lower and middle valley of the Ica and Pisco Rivers and on the littoral between the two rivers, showed that a majority of ceramics was manufactured with local sediments without much sorting. Different resource areas were exploited around Puerto Nuevo, on the littoral and in the Lower and Middle Ica and Pisco valleys. Based on these results, we propose the existence of several communities of potters working in the Puerto Nuevo region. One (or more) of these communities must have used coastal sandy clays with no need to ad temper, another mined inland clay deposits with natural inclusions of charophyte algae, and other(s) used materials rich in granodioritic rock fragments. Thirteen atypical ceramics were singled out based on different composition, texture, or firing, suggesting other production modes. Their composition, however, still suggests a coastal provenance, indicating that the interaction network extended along the coast, rather than with the highlands.