Ancient History Blog

Lines in the Desert – Part 1/4: Who Were the Nazca? (300 BC – 800 AD)

By: The Scribe on Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Nazca culture of ancient Peru is perhaps best known for its legacy of mysterious, giant drawings left behind in the Peruvian deserts. However, before delving into the history and lore of these incredible creations, it’s worthwhile taking a look into who the Nazca people were in the first place, and what may have prompted them to create such fantastic artwork in the middle of the desert.

The Nazca people lived in the Nazca region, as shown in yellow on the map above, between 300 BC and 800 AD, and based their culture around a capital city known as Cahuachi. The population of the city was relatively small, however it was quite popular as a religious pilgrimage destination, visited primarily for ceremonial events and celebrations. It was occupied between 1-500 AD, and its situation in the landscape overlooked many of the Nazca desert lines.

Interestingly enough, Cahuachi also contains around 40 mounds with mudbrick or ‘adobe’ structures on top, which have been under excavation for the past few decades – with many more decades of work still to come. Some of the most interesting things learned about the Nazca culture through excavation was their skill at making clothing, as well as their impressive pottery vessels.

Consider this: one thousand years before any other Peruvian cultures on the north coast, the Nazca learned how to make clothes out of llama and alpaca wool. In fact, most of the designs found on Nazca pottery seem to have originated from textile patterns, suggesting that the Nazca were a highly creative people with vivid imaginations.

There were several distinct artistic phases to Nazca pottery, and the first began with simple designs of fruit, plants, animals and people, as well as some mythical scenes. As time passed, the drawings became more realistic, and the next phase saw an increase in background designs, humans, and bodyless demons. This was followed by phases of militaristic pottery, vessels with elite portraiture, and eventually images of disjointed figures, with the more familiar style of South American iconography that is still very difficult to interpret.

The disembodied heads sometimes shown on Nazca pottery were initially suspected to be renditions of ‘trophy’ heads, and this has since been archaeologically confirmed by several real caches of severed and ritually prepared heads in Cahuachi! Less gruesome animals commonly shown on Nazca pottery were whales, sharks, fish, snakes, hummingbirds, and plants like cacti and Peruvian flowers.

So, if they had such an established ritual culture already – as suggested through the severed heads from their capital city – why did the Nazca create giant drawings in the desert?

…to be continued…

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Tomorrow: More about the Nazca