Nazca Culture

The Nazca culture was developed in the Rio Grande valley in the province of Nazca (current department of Ica). At its peak, it spread from Chincha, to the north, to the Acarí valley to the south, in the province of Caravelí (Arequipa).

This culture was discovered by Max Uhle in 1901. Chronologically, it is located in the Early Intermediate Period, between the year 10 a.c. until the 700s d.c.

LOCATION

Its main seat was Kawachi, first city of Peru, in the province of Nazca, extending then by the valleys of Rio Grande, Ingenio, Ocucaje in the Ica Valley and Topará to the north of Chincha and the valley of Acarí to the south.

Nazca is a valley in the middle of the desert. There, agriculture flourished thanks to the construction of numerous underground canals and aqueducts that allowed the rational use of underground water, springs, puquios or the flow of rivers, in growing periods. Some of the works continue to be used by current farmers.

THE NAZCA LINES

Next to the underground aqueducts, the enigmatic geometric figures existing in the Nazca pampas also draw attention. Located between kilometers 419 and 465 of the current South Pan-American Highway, they extend over an area of ​​350 square kilometers. They are huge figures that can be observed from an airplane or from the nearby hills; even from a lookout built expressly for this purpose.

They were discovered by the archeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe in 1927. They have been studied since 1941 by the American Paul Kosok and especially by the German Maria Reiche. These works that take almost half a century try to unravel the meaning of the Nazca lines.

To trace these lines, the ancient settlers of the Nazca Culture used different instruments; the tupu which was a sheet of metal or wood placed perpendicular to the Earth to project the shadow of the Sun and the Moon, the theodolite that was a wooden or terracotta tube from which a plumb line was hanging to trace the course of the lines; and the string and the water level. Thus they represented figures of animals, human beings, plants and geometric motifs.

THE CERAMIC

His works were characterized by their polychrome, decoration and shape.

The surface of its ceramic was painted with all colors, except green and blue.

The pigments used were minerals extracted from the arid deserts of the region. Even lostintes were exported to other regions, such as Titicaca.

Naturalists at the beginning, then became "baroque". They drew easily identifiable plants and animals in the first phase. In the most advanced phase, possibly due to external causes, people were more abstract and mythical. Here appear the trophy heads, as an indication of the existence of a military society in the process of expansion due to the desertification of the South Coast.

The shape of the most abundant pieces are corded or lenticular. They have two divergent peaks that are joined by a handle-bridge. There are also others in the form of bottles, tubular glasses and pots with handles on the top.