The excavations in Jauranga revealed a sequence of archaeological contexts distributed over a stratigraphy with a depth of morethan three meters. Within this stratigraphy we found the remains of numerous adobe walls pertaining to structures of a settlement dating to the Middle and Late Paracas periods. Forty nine funerary contexts from different phases of the Paracas culture were embedded in the stratified layers and structural remains. Furthermore, we recorded 31 intrusive burials of the Nasca culture.The stratigraphic analysis of the structural remains in their relation to the associated artifacts and non-artifactual finds, the ty- pological analysis of the ceramic artifacts from the stratified layers and from the burial contexts, as well as numerous radiocarbon dates allowed us for the first time to establish a chronological ordering of the developmental phases of the Paracas culture based on stratigraphic contexts. The results of these analyses helped to confirm the validity of the results of the stylistic seriation of the Paracas ceramics from the Ica valley published by Menzel, Rowe and Dawson in 1964. Based on the stratigraphic evidence recorded in Jauranga, we discuss aspects of chronology, type and function of the site, as well as their implications for the local and regional archaeological contexts. / Las excavaciones en Jauranga pusieron al descubierto un conjunto de contextos arqueológicos distribuidos en una estratigrafíade más de tres metros de profundidad, en donde destacan los restos de muros de barro, correspondientes a numerosas estructuras arquitectónicas superpuestas. Estas últimas forman parte de un asentamiento de los períodos Paracas Medio y Paracas Tardío. Asimismo, entre las capas y los restos arquitectónicos, se descubrieron 49 contextos funerarios pertenecientes a diferentes fases Paracas y 31 entierros intrusivos de filiación nasca.El análisis estratigráfico de los restos arquitectónicos en relación con los materiales y artefactos asociados, la clasificación de los materiales cerámicos tanto de las capas como de las tumbas, así como el fechado de los mismos a través de numerosas muestras de C14, nos han permitido por primera vez tener un ordenamiento cronológico de las fases de desarrollo de la cultura Paracas sobre la base de los contextos estratificados. Esto, de algún modo, nos ha ayudado a comprobar la validez de la seriación estilística propuesta para la cerámica paracas del valle de Ica por Menzel, Rowe y Dawson (1964). En este manuscrito, se presentan las evidencias registradas y documentadas en Jauranga, a partir de las cuales se discutirán aspectos relacionados con la cronología, el tipo y función del sitio, así como sus implicancias en el contexto de arqueología local y regional.

Cette thèse se propose d’étudier de manière approfondie les matières colorantes et les techniques de coloration appliquées aux textiles de la culture Nasca. Cette civilisation préhispanique, sans écriture, s’est développée sur la côte sud du Pérou pendant environ neuf siècles (200 ans av. J.-C. ; 700 ans apr. J.-C.). Parmi sa culture matérielle, les textiles sont abondants et nombre d’entre eux sont de grande finesse avec des décors polychromes. La polychromie avait probablement une signification dans la cosmogonie Nasca et le textile est particulièrement chargé de sens dans la culture andine. Pourtant, les matériaux de la couleur demeurent un sujet encore méconnu dans le domaine textile. Il semblait donc intéressant d’identifier au moyen de méthodes physico-chimiques les matières colorantes utilisées par les artistes textiles Nasca. Pour ce faire, une enquête de terrain a été menée en amont pour récolter et identifier les sources colorantes susceptibles d’avoir été employées. Puis un corpus textile a été constitué avec des textiles inédits, issus de fouilles récentes menées sur les sites de Los Molinos, Estaqueria et Cahuachi, l’ancien centre politico-cérémoniel des Nasca. Quelques tissus d’autres cultures (Topará, Mochica et Nasca drivé) ont aussi été analysés pour établir des comparaisons.Les résultats fournissent de précieuses informations qui caractérisent la production tinctoriale et picturale des textiles Nasca. Au-delà de cet aspect technique, ces données sont utiles pour aborder sous un autre angle des problématiques archéologiques plus complexes notamment lorsque l’attribution culturelle des textiles est inconnue ou discutée, comme ceux de la péninsule de Paracas. / This thesis’ aim is to propose an in-depth study of the dye-sources and dyeing and colouring techniques used for textiles in the Nasca civilization. This Pre-Columbian, pre-literate civilization flourished on the southern coast of Peru during some nine centuries (200 BC to 700 AD). In its material culture, textiles are very numerous and many of them are of outstanding quality, with a rich polychromatic ornamentation. Polychromy probably was of great significance among the Nasca and textiles seem to always have been of particular importance in Andean culture. Nevertheless, the material sources of the colours on these dyed and painted textiles have remained a comparatively poorly explored research field. It therefore appeared as a promising, innovative quest to try and identify the colouring matters used by Nasca textile artists, using state-of-the art physico-chemical analytical methods. To this effect, botanical and anthropological field missions were first conducted in order to identify and collect colouring sources that might have been employed by the Nasca dyers and textile painters. A corpus of archaeological textiles was assembled, selecting textiles discovered in the course of recent archaeological excavations on the sites of Los Molinos, Estaqueria and Cahuachi, the latter being the antique political and ceremonial centre of the Nasca civilization. A number of textiles from other cultures (Topará, Mochica and Nasca-derived) were also analyzed to allow comparisons.Our results bring precious new information on the production of dyes and paints on Nasca textiles. Allowing even further prospects than these important technical discoveries, they bring new light into complex archaeological issues, such as the cultural attribution of archaeological textiles whose provenance is unknown or disputed, which is the case for some textiles from the Paracas peninsula.

Wari in Palpa and Nasca: Perspectives from Funerary Point of ViewThis paper presents new evidences of Wari presence in the Palpa-Nasca region, on Peru's south coast. On the basis of the study of more than 200 intact mortuary contexts from both Nasca and Wari cultures, patterns in the mortuary customs of the people living in the Palpa and Nasca valleys during the Middle Horizon are described. In order to identify diagnostic changes the principal characteristics of the Nasca and Wari funerary contexts were recorded and compared (based primarily on associations with Loro or Chakipampa ceramic styles, respectively). These changes were also analyzed in light of evidence available from similar contexts in the Ayacucho region. Details of the tomb construction, associated materials, and particularly the mortuary treatment of the individuals, indicate that the funerary customs during the Middle Horizon changed substantially when compared with those of the Nasca culture. I argue that these changes document the formation of a new political and social order imposed by the Wari culture. / Este artículo expone nuevas evidencias relacionadas con la presencia wari en la cuenca del río Grande, en la costa sur del Perú. En base al estudio de más de 200 contextos funerarios intactos de las culturas Nasca y Wari, se describen los cambios ocurridos en las costumbres funerarias de las poblaciones establecidas en los valles de Palpa y Nasca durante el Horizonte Medio. Para identificar tales cambios, se han documentado las principales características de los contextos funerarios nasca y wari (principalmente de los estilos Loro y Chakipampa) y se han establecido comparaciones entre ambas. Estos cambios se discuten a la luz de evidencias disponibles de contextos similares encontrados en la región de Ayacucho. Los detalles de la construcción de las estructuras funerarias, los materiales asociados y, especialmente, el tratamiento de los individuos, indican que las costumbres funerarias durante el Horizonte Medio cambiaron de manera sustancial con respecto a aquellas de la cultura Nasca. En tal sentido, se plantea que estos cambios ocurrieron debido al establecimiento de un nuevo orden político y social promovido por la cultura Wari.

Dietary practice during the transition from Early Intermediate Period (200 BC-AD 600) to the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000) is crucial to understanding Pre-Hispanic life on the southern coast of Peru. The Cerro Del Oro material was excavated in 1925 by Alfred Kroeber and since been biochemically unstudied for almost ninety years; left dormant at The Field Museum in Chicago. Through bioarchaeological reconstruction of diet and health at the site of Cerro Del Oro from a cemetery sample (N=35) in the Cañete Valley, the effects of demographic and subsistence changes can be examined through a combined analysis of osteological and light isotopic data. Stable carbon (13C/12C, or δ13C) and oxygen (18O/16O, or δ18O) isotopic values from tooth enamel carbonate are utilized to reconstruct diet during early childhood of each individual. Results indicate that the majority of the population were consuming a moderately variable terrestrial protein or C3 diet. This is significant due to the close proximity to marine resources.

The function of a ceramic vessel is often evaluated in relation to its form. Vessels with complex forms can be challenging to analyze from this perspective and require a different approach. One such example is an overlooked yet long-lived specialized vessel type in the form of conjoined lúcuma fruits found throughout the ancient Andes. The main object of this study is a Nasca version of this vessel type in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. This study explores the relationship between form and iconography, rather than function. It examines how Nasca potters adopted the conjoined lúcuma form vessel and adapted it to into their fertility iconography.

This dissertation explores a cross-cultural analysis of the dietary signatures of four coastal cultures of prehistoric Peru. A combination of elemental analysis based on portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF), testing trace elements presented in 209 individuals’ skulls representing the Nazca (38), Cañete (33), Lima (40), and Moche (98) valleys and/or cultures of the first millennium AD, is weighed in conjunction with isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) to analyze human bone collagen and bone apatite derived from a portion of the individuals represented in the Nazca, Cañete, and Lima cranial samples. Evidence from the results of both tests are weighed using descriptive statistics supported with bivariate correlations and linear regression to determine that the pXRF data on the trace elements strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and iron (Fe) from the Moche collection do present potential for accurately portraying diet of those individuals represented in this sample. Additional hypotheses tested include potential for preferential diets based on sex, age, and status as well as attempting to place the valley of Cañete in the cultural sphere of either Lima or Nasca during the Early Intermediate Period. While there was no significant statistical difference in diet based on age in any of the individual valley datasets, there was one valley, Nazca, which showed a considerable variation in diet based on sex. From data derived from this particular sample set, there are mixed results in attempting to apply status to a diet of preferential high nitrogen sources such as marine mammals and large fish. In attempting to place Cañete in the cultural sphere of either Lima or Nasca, it was determined that cultural remains appear to be linked predominately to artifacts and practices of the Lima Culture, but the dietary difference in both stable isotope and trace elements signatures combined with the samples which instead aligned more closely with the Nasca Culture suggests that perhaps Cañete was a marginal space which allowed for the settlement and interaction of peoples from both neighboring cultures without prejudice. Overall, results indicate it would be premature to suggest pXRF replace destructive analysis in determination of diet. Due to the small sample size of stable isotopes deemed viable in testing, it is suggested that a larger sample of stable isotopes should be considered in similar testing and that the major elements from pXRF should also be used before a suggestion that destructive analysis was no longer warranted in many cases for deducing diet in ancient populations.

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The 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. / En los Andes, el tema del tráfico caravanero prehispánico ha sido ampliamente estudiado especialmente en el norte de Chile y en el noroeste argentino. En el Perú, en cambio, las investigaciones arqueológicas tradicionalmente llegaron sólo a esbozar aspectos muy generales de los modos de explotación de los rebaños de camélidos. Recientemente, varios investigadores han aportado nuevas propuestas sobre el modo de tenencia de camélidos durante la época prehispánica en la Costa Norte, los que se basan en buena cuenta en estudios isotópicos de colecciones óseas. Este artículo pretende aportar al tema añadiendo detalles sobre otro caso prehispánico diferente de tenencia de camélidos, esta vez de la Costa Sur peruana. El punto de partida de esta reconstrucción son las primeras evidencias arqueológicas de campanas cerámicas de la cuenca norte del río Grande de Nasca, la que se complementa con información de ejemplares adicionales provenientes de otros sitios de la región. Este grupo inicial de campanas proviene del sitio arqueológico Ciudad Perdida de Huayuri, en la quebrada de Santa Cruz, y se asocia particularmente al Horizonte Tardío (1470-1532 AD). Luego de un análisis del contexto en las que se encontró, sostengo que las campanas cerámicas se usaron como campanas de llamas (Lama glama) o cencerros, y a la luz de información etnográfica, su presencia en Huayuri sugiere la participación de las unidades domésticas en la organización del tráfico caravanero. A un nivel interpretativo más general, y a la luz de documentos coloniales tempranos y de la distribución espacial de los ejemplares adicionales, se sugiere la existencia de un eje de circulación norte-sur a lo largo de la costa atravesando el desierto de Nasca e Ica, quizá extendiéndose desde Ica al norte hasta Arequipa al sur.