Paracas

In this monograph, Richard E. Daggett elucidates the life and work of pioneering Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello. He emphases the influence that national and professional politics had upon Tello, often setting up obstacles that had to be overcome. Daggett bases himself largely on contemporary newspaper accounts.

El artículo presenta por primera vez el contexto arqueológico del manto pintado N°de inv. MSP-0043-02, uno de los textiles más emblemáticos de la colección del Museo de Sitio Julio C. Tello de Paracas. Se estudia desde una perspectiva comparada las características técnicas e iconográficas de dicho material excavado por Frédéric Engel y su equipo en 1959 en Cabezas Largas, sitio ubicado en la bahía de Paracas, con el objetivo de entender mejor las tradiciones estilísticas del final del Horizonte Temprano en la región.

This article describes and analyzes a highly significant archaeological context discovered in a late Paracas (400–200 BCE) sunken patio in the monumental platform mound of Cerro Gentil, located in the Chincha Valley, Peru. This patio area was used for several centuries for ritual activities, including large-scale feasting and other public gatherings. At one point late in this historical sequence people deposited a great deal of objects in what is demon-strably a single historical event. This was quickly followed by a series of minor events strati-graphically immediately above this larger event. This entire ritual process included the consumption of liquids and food, and involved the offering of whole pottery, pottery fragments , botanical remains, bone, lithics, baskets, pyro-engraved gourds, mummies, and other objects. We interpret these events as an " abandonment ceremony " or " termination ritual " during the late Paracas period, one that may have lasted for weeks or even months. The subsequent Topará occupation at the site (ca. 200 BCE-AD 100) involved the architectural enhancement of the mound area, but the pattern of use of the patio itself ended. Such a termination ritual signals a reorganization in the regional political structure of Paracas society.

Alternative models have been proposed to explain the formation and decline of the south Peruvian Nasca culture, ranging from migration or invasion to autochthonous development and ecological crisis. To reveal to what extent population dynamic processes accounted for cultural development in the Nasca mainland, or were influenced by them, we analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA of 218 individuals, originating from chronologically successive archaeological sites in the Palpa region, the Paracas Peninsula, and the Andean highlands in southern Peru. The sampling strategy allowed a diachronic analysis in a time frame from approximately 800 BC to 800 AD. Mitochondrial coding region polymorphisms were successfully analyzed and replicated for 130 individuals and control region sequences (np 16021–16408) for 104 individuals to determine Native American mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and haplotypes. The results were compared with ancient and contemporary Peruvian populations to reveal genetic relations of the archaeological samples. Frequency data and statistics show clear proximity of the Nasca populations to the populations of the preceding Paracas culture from Palpa and the Peninsula, and suggest, along with archaeological data, that the Nasca culture developed autochthonously in the Rio Grande drainage. Furthermore, the influence of changes in socioeconomic complexity in the Palpa area on the genetic diversity of the local population could be observed. In all, a strong genetic affinity between pre-Columbian coastal populations from southern Peru could be determined, together with a significant differentiation from ancient highland and all present-day Peruvian reference populations, best shown in the differential distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups.

Apart from the materials and archaeological contexts excavated at Hacha in the Acarí Valley, until now evidence for the Initial Period along the southern coast of Perú were limited to some isolated findings that lacked well-defined contexts, e.g. from sites like Erizo in the Ica Valley, Mastdonte in the pampa of Villacurí (Ica) and Disco Verde on the Paracas Peninsula. There were no reported findings from the Río Grande of Nasca region. Only very recently, with the development of the Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project, were sites and evidence for the Initial Period in the Palpa Valleys encountered. These provide new insights into and new perspectives on the process of cultural development for this part of the south coast. In this paper we present and discuss the numerous finds and findings of the Initial Period that have been recovered in the excavations at Pernil Alto, which include architectural structures, ceramics and other associated materials. The analysis of these findings indicates that already in this moment in time the conditions for the stable and permanent development of the populations settling in the Río Grande drainage were given. Twenty radiocarbon dates confirm the chronological position of the contexts excavated in Pernil Alto.

This article addresses a complex pyro-engraved gourd of Nasca culture, with unusual dimensions and decorative treatment. The gourd was discovered as an offering associated with ceramics from the last phases of the Early Horizon (Ocucaje 8-10) and the beginning of the Early Intermediate Period (Nasca 1-4) during the 1994 Nasca Project's excavations (CISRAP) in Cahuachi, a ceremonial center located in the basin of the Río Grande de Nazca. We study this particular artifact from a comparative perspective, based on its archaeological context, technical characteristics , and imagery, in order to explore Early Nasca production practices, iconographic repertoire, and worldview. El artículo presenta un complejo mate pirograbado de la cultura Nasca, inusual por sus dimensiones y tratamiento decorativo. El mate fue descubierto como ofrenda asociada a cerámica de las últimas fases del Horizonte Temprano (Ocucaje 8-10) y del comienzo del Periodo Intermedio Temprano (Nasca 1-4) en las excavaciones de 1994 del Proyecto Nasca (CISRAP) en Cahuachi, centro ceremonial ubicado en la cuenca media del Río Grande de Nazca. Se estudia esta pieza particular desde una perspectiva comparada tomando en cuenta su contexto arqueológico, sus características técnicas y decorativas, para elaborar una reflexión sobre las prácticas de producción, el repertorio iconográfico, y la cosmovisión en el periodo Nasca Temprano.