Nazca culture

The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was an ancient group of people who lived from around 100 BC to 800 AD along the dry southern coast of Peru. They lived in the valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca and the Ica Valley. The Nazca people were very skilled makers of many useful and beautiful things, including pottery, cloth, and large drawings called geoglyphs.

One of the most amazing things the Nazca people made were the Nazca lines. These are huge designs drawn in the desert, and we still do not know why they were created. The Nazca also built special underground channels called puquios to bring water to their fields and homes. Many of these water channels still work today! The area where they lived is now called Nazca Province in the Ica Region, named after these fascinating people.

History

The Nazca society grew during a time called the Early Intermediate Period. It is split into four main parts: the Proto Nazca from 100 BC to 1 AD, the Early Nazca from 1 to 450 AD, the Middle Nazca from 450 to 550 AD, and the Late Nazca from 550 to 750 AD.

Starting around 500 AD, the Nazca civilization began to weaken. By 750 AD, it had completely ended. This happened when an El Niño caused big floods. The Nazca people may have made the floods worse by cutting down Prosopis pallida trees for farming maize and cotton. These trees helped protect the land from damage by rivers and wind erosion. Without them, the land suffered more from climate changes, and their irrigation systems dried up.

Society

Early Nazca society was made up of local groups and larger centers of power that grew around Cahuachi, a special place for ceremonies with big earthwork mounds and open spaces. Scholars think Cahuachi was important for rituals and celebrations about farming, water, and growing things.

Cahuachi is in the lower part of the Nazca Valley and was first used during the later days of the Paracas people. It is special because it is the most important site for learning about the ancient Nazca culture. The people changed natural hills into pyramid-shaped mounds for ceremonies and religious events.

Excavations at Cahuachi have helped archaeologists learn a lot about the culture. They found lots of colorful pottery, fancy textiles, small amounts of gold and special shells, and many ritual items. The pottery found there shows that Cahuachi was not a regular town but a place for ceremonies. The foods found there included maize, squash, beans, peanuts, and some fish.

Nazca religious beliefs were focused on farming and growing things, likely because of the dry and tough environment they lived in. Their art often showed powerful nature gods, like a killer whale, harvesters, a mythical spotted cat, a snake-like creature, and a main mythical being. Many of their traditions came from the Paracas culture, who lived in the same area long before. Religious events and ceremonies happened at Cahuachi, where people asked the gods to help their crops grow.

The Nazca sometimes used special plants to help them see visions during ceremonies. These plants were used in art shown on their pottery, but exactly how they were used is still being studied by experts.

During certain times, people from nearby villages would come together to celebrate and share special goods like fancy pottery. This helped leaders gain more power and brought everyone together to work on big projects.

The Nazca sometimes used severed heads in their religious rituals, and these heads appeared in their art. These heads had a hole in the forehead so they could be tied with a rope and shown or carried around. The heads were often treated in special ways, like having thorns put in the mouth. Over 100 of these heads have been found, and they were often kept in a special way in burials. Some burials included containers shaped like heads, called head jars, which had paintings of heads with plants growing from them. These heads may have been connected to farming and the growth of plants.

Economy

The Nazca people grew crops like maize, squash, sweet potato, manioc, and achira to feed themselves. They also grew cotton for making clothes and used plants like coca and the San Pedro cactus for special purposes. Animals such as llamas and guinea pigs were important for meat, wool, and carrying goods.

To survive in the dry desert, the Nazca built an amazing system of underground water channels called puquios. These channels brought water from deep underground to fields and homes. Even today, some of these ancient channels still work, showing how clever the Nazca were at managing water.

Arts and technology

Pottery

The Nazca culture is known for its colorful pottery, painted with at least 12 different colors. They changed from painting after firing the pottery to painting before firing, which marked a new style of pottery making. The Nazca made more pottery than the people before them, perhaps because it took less time to make pottery than other crafts like textiles.

Pottery shapes included bottles with double spouts, bowls, cups, vases, and figures of people and animals. People of all levels of society could find and use these pottery items, often at special gatherings or trips to important places. The pottery styles changed over time, showing different scenes and designs, from realistic pictures of plants and animals to more complex and abstract patterns.

Textiles

The Nazca people also made complicated textiles, likely woven by women using cotton and wool on a special loom. These textiles have been well preserved in the dry desert and include shawls, dresses, tunics, belts, and bags. Many of these textiles were found in burials, showing they were important in rituals and perhaps indicated different roles in society.

One famous textile, known as the Paracas Textile, shows detailed designs and may have been used for special purposes like tracking time for rituals.

Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines are large drawings and shapes made on the desert floor in the Nazca region. These include simple lines and huge pictures of animals. Many ideas exist about why they were made, such as for ceremonies, as calendars, or as paths for special processions. Experts from different fields have studied them but have not yet found a clear answer to their purpose.

Trephination and cranial manipulation

The Nazca people sometimes performed a surgery called trephination, where they removed a piece of bone from someone’s skull to relieve pressure, perhaps from injuries or for rituals. Some skulls show signs of healing, meaning the person survived the procedure.

They also shaped some infants’ skulls by binding boards to their heads, resulting in elongated skulls. The reason for this practice is not fully known, but it may have been related to identity, social roles, or status. Other Native American cultures, such as the Snake, Cowlitz, and Chinook peoples, also practiced similar skull shaping.