Hostname: page-component-65f69f4695-bd75b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-28T05:42:19.933Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Cache of 48 Nasca Trophy Heads from Cerro Carapo, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David M. Browne ,
Helaine Silverman  and
Rubén García
David M. Browne
Affiliation:
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Crown Building, Plas Crug, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 1NJ, United Kingdom
Helaine Silverman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
Rubén García
Affiliation:
Museo de Sitio “Julio C Tello,” Municipalidad de Paracas, Peru
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The recent discovery of a cache of 48 Nasca severed heads provides archaeologists with the largest-known associated and provenienced corpus of this material. Although recovery of the skulls was conducted as a salvage operation and the wider spatial context of the find is still unknown, preliminary physical anthropological analysis of the skeletal material, along with archaeological comparison of the cache, provide valuable information on the nature and role of head-hunting in ancient Nasca society of the south coast of Peru.

Una ofrenda de 48 cabezas decapitadas Nasca recientemente descubierta viene a ser el corpus más grande de este material con asociación y procedencia conocida. Aunque se recuperaron los cráneos mediante una excavación de rescate y, por consiguiente, el contexto espacial mayor del hallazgo todavía se desconoce, el análisis antropológico físico preliminar del material óseo y la comparación arqueológica proveen una información valiosa sobre la naturaleza y el papel de la caza de cabezas en la antigua sociedad Nasca de la costa sur del Perú.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 274 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Allen, C. 1988 The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
de Crédito, Banco 1986 Colección arte y tesoros del Perú. Culturas precolombinas. Nazca. Banco de Crédito, Lima.Google Scholar
Baraybar, J. P. 1987 Cabezas trofeo nasca: Nuevas evidencias. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 15:6–11.Google Scholar
Benson, E., and Conklin, W. 1981 Museums of the Andes. Newsweek, New York.Google Scholar
Blagg, M. M. 1975 The Bizarre Innovation in Nasca. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Art History, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Boone, E. H. (editor) 1984 Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Browne, D. M. 1992 Further Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Province of Palpa, Department of Ica, Peru. In Ancient America: Contributions to New World Archaeology, edited by N. J. Saunders, pp. 77–116. Oxbow Monographs No. 24. Oxford.Google Scholar
Browne, D. M., and Baraybar, J. P. 1988 An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Province of Palpa, Department of Ica, Peru. In Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, edited by N. J. Saunders and O. de Montmollin, pp. 299–325. BAR International Series 421. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P. 1988 Nasca Mortuary Customs: Death and Ancient Society on the South Coast of Peru. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary.Google Scholar
Chávez, S. J. 1992 The Conventionalized Rules in Pucara Pottery Technology and Iconography: Implications for Sociopolitical Developments in the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing.Google Scholar
Coehlo, V. P. 1972 Enterramentos de cabecas de cultura nasca. Unpublished, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Communication and Arts, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.Google Scholar
Cook, A. G. 1986 Art and Time in the Evolution of Andean State Expansionism. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Binghamton.Google Scholar
Davies, N. 1977 The Aztecs. Abacus, London.Google Scholar
Demarest, A. 1984 Overview: Mesoamerican Human Sacrifice in Evolutionary Perspective. In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, edited by E. H. Boone, pp. 227–247. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Doering, H. U. 1958 Bericht uber archaeologische Feldarbeiten in Perú. Ethnos 23(2–4):67–99.Google Scholar
Doering, H. U. 1966 On the Royal Highway of the Inca. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Donnan, C. B. 1976 Moche Art and Iconography. UCLA Latin American Center Publications, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Dwyer, J. P. 1979 The Chronology and Iconography of Paracas Style Textiles. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by A. P. Rowe, E. P. Benson, and A-L. Schaffer, pp. 105–128. The Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks Research Libary and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Engel, F. 1963 A Preceramic Settlement on the Central Coast of Peru: Asia, Unit I. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (n.s.) 53(3). Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Gillespie, S. D. 1991 Ballgames and Boundaries. In The Mesoamerican Ballgame, edited by V. L. Scarborough and D. R. Wilcox, pp. 317–345. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorbak, C, Lischetti, M., and Muñoz, C. P. 1962 Batallas rituales del Chiaraje y del Tocto de la provincia de Kanas (Cuzco-Perú). Revista del Museo Nacional 31:245–304.Google Scholar
Harner, M. 1972 The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfall. Doubleday/Natural History Press, Garden City.Google Scholar
Harris, O. 1982 The Dead and the Devils Among the Bolivian Laymi. In Death and the Regeneration of Life, edited by M. Bloch and J. Parry, pp. 45–73. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hassig, R. 1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Izumi, S., and Terada, K. 1972 Andes 4: Excavations at Kotosh, 1963 and 1966. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Izumi, S., Cuculiza, P. J., and Kano, C. 1972 Excavations at Shillacoto, Huánuco, Perú. University Museum, University of Tokyo, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Kauffmann Doig, F. 1973 Manual de arqueología peruana. Ediciones PEISA, Lima.Google Scholar
Kowta, M. 1987 An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Acarí Valley in the South Coast Region of Peru. California Institute for Peruvian Studies, Sacramento.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1944 Peruvian Archaeology in 1942. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology No. 4. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1956 Toward Definition of the Nazca Style. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 43 (4):327–432.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L., and Collierca, D.. 1960 Untitled manuscript on file. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lapiner, A. 1976 Precolumbian Art of South America. Abrams, New York.Google Scholar
Lothrop, S. K., and Mahler, J. 1957 Late Nazca Burials in Chaviña, Peru. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 50(2):3–61.Google Scholar
Lumbreras, L. G. 1974 The Peoples and Cultures of Ancient Peru. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Massey, S. A. 1986 Sociopolitical Change in the Upper Ica Valley, B.C. 400 to 400 A.D.: Regional States on the South Coast of Peru. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Needham, R. 1976 Skulls and Causality. Man 11:71–88.Google Scholar
Neira Avedaño, M., and Coelho, V. P. 1972–1973 Enterramientos de cabezas de la cultura nasca. Revista do Museu Paulista (n.s.) 20:109–142.Google Scholar
Patterson, T. C. 1986 Class and State Formation: The Case of Pre-Incaic Peru. Dialectical Anthropology 10(3–4):275–282.Google Scholar
Pezzia, A. 1969 Guía del mapa arqueológico pictográfico del departamento de Ica. Editorial Italperu, Lima.Google Scholar
Platt, T. 1986 Mirrors and Maize: The Concept of Yanantin Among the Macha of Bolivia. In Anthropological History of Andean Polities, edited by J. V. Murra, N. Wachtel, and J. Revel, pp. 228–259. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. 1968 Local Differences and Time Differences in Nasca Pottery. University of California Publications in Anthropology No. 5. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. 1971 Headhunting in Ancient Peru. Archaeology 24(1): 16–21.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. 1983 The Nasca Style. In Art of the Andes: Precolumbian Sculptures and Painted Ceramics from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, edited by L. Katz, pp. 87–105. AMS Foundation, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. 1989 Nasca Trophy Heads: Victims of Warfare or Ritual Sacrifice? In Cultures in Conflict: Current Archaeological Perspectives, edited by D. C. Tkaczuk and B. C. Vivian, pp. 73–85. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Chacmool Conference, University of Calgary. Archaeological Association, Calgary.Google Scholar
Rasnake, R. 1988 Domination and Cultural Resistance. Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Roark, R. P. 1965 From Monumental to Proliferous in Nasca Art. Ñawpa Pacha 3:1–92.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1963 Urban Settlements in Ancient Peru. Ñawpa Pacha 1:1–27.Google Scholar
Sawyer, A. R. 1961 Paracas and Nazca Iconography. In Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, edited by S. K. Lothrop and others, pp. 269–298. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sawyer, A. R. 1966 Ancient Peruvian Ceramics: The Nathan Cummings Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Scheie, L., and Miller, M. E. 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.Google Scholar
Schlesier, K. H. 1959 Stilgeschichtliche Einordnung der Nazca-Vasenmalerein: Beitrag zur Geschichte der Hochkulturen des Vorkolumbischen Peru. Annali Lateranensi 23:9–136. Topografia Poliglotta Vaticana, Vatican City.Google Scholar
Seler, E. 1923 Die buntbemalten Gefasse von Nazca. Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen Sprach-und Altertunskunde 4:160–438. Verlag Behrend u., Berlin.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1988 Cahuachi: Non-Urban Cultural Complexity on the South Coast of Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 15:403–430.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1993 Cahuachi in the Ancient Nasca World. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1952 Fieldnotes. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1957 Paracas, Nazca, and Tiahuanacoid Cultural Relationships in South Coastal Peru. Memoir No. 13. Society for American Archaeology, Menasha.Google Scholar
Tello, J. C. 1918 El uso de las cabezas humanas artificialmente momificadas y su representación en el antiguo arte peruano. Casa Editora de Ernesto R. Villaran, Lima.Google Scholar
Tello, J. C. 1956 Arqueología del valle de Casma. Editorial San Marcos, Lima.Google Scholar
Tello, J. C. 1959 Paracas, primera parte. Empresa Gráfica T. Scheuch, Lima.Google Scholar
Townsend, R. 1985 Deciphering the Nazca World: Ceramic Images from Ancient Peru. The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 2(2):117–139.Google Scholar
Uhle, M. 1901 Die deformirten Kopfe von peruanischen Mumien und die Uta-Krankheit. Verhandlungen der Berliner Bessellschaft fur Anthropologic, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Jahrgang 1901 33:404–408. Berlin.Google Scholar
Verano, J. 1990 A Cache of 48 Trophy Heads from Cerro Carapo, Peru. Paper presented at the 18th Annual Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, Chicago.Google Scholar
Weiss, P. 1962 Tipología de las deformaciones cefalicas de los antiguos peruanos, según la osteología cultural. Revista del Museo National 31:15–42.Google Scholar
Wolfe, E. F. 1981 The Spotted Cat and the Horrible Bird; Stylistic Change in Nasca 1–5 Ceramic Decoration. Ñawpa Pacha 19:1–62.Google Scholar