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.

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

The Middle Horizon (AD 550-1000) was a time of many cultural changes, from northern Chile to Cajamarca (Figure 91) Burial practices, household organization, residence patterns, and/or ceramic styles were transformed in many places New polities replaced old ones Expansive states or empires emerged for the first time, unifying vast numbers of formerly independent cultural groups (Schaedel 1993) An emblematic new art became conspicuously popular Its principal figure was a mythical person represented front face with ray appendages about the head, who grasped a staff in each outstretched hand (Front Face Staff God in the terminology of Ochatoma and Cabrera, this volume); secondary human figures kneel in profile with a staff held before the body These and other icons appear to represent the ideology of a powerful new religion (Cook 1987, Cook 1994;Isbell 1983;Lanning 1967;Moseley 1992)

A New Perspective on Conchopata and the Andean Middle Horizon

During the Middle Horizon (A.D. 540–900) the Wari of the central highlands Ayacucho region expanded their control into many parts of the Andes. While different motives have been cited for Wari state expansion, we suggest that a severe and prolonged drought during the sixth century may have played a significant role. We posit that the Wari responded to this environmental crisis not only by seeking practical solutions, such as securing productive land outside the heartland, but also by implementing religious practices intended to cosmologically restore fertility to drought-stricken areas and validate acquisition of arable land in foreign territories. Using a model of Inka ideology developed by Peter Gose, we propose that a strong religious complex involving ancestor worship, huacas, and the cosmological control of water led the Wari to seek out and control locations where water could be drawn from supernatural sources. The presence of large bodies of water near major Wari administrative sites as well as other natural phenomena, particularly certain mountains, rock formations, and large stones, and site offerings of Spondylus, copper, and stone figurines support this model. A sacred Wari landscape is thus seen as complementary to the established political landscape and providing a supernatural justification.

Water, Huacas, and Ancestor Worship: Traces of a Sacred Wari Landscape

relative time period: Follows the end of the Upper Formative manifestations; in the northern and central highlands, after the fall of Chavin.

Anita Gwynn Cook

Papers

Art and time in the evolution of Andean state expansionism

Just scratching the surface: Post-fire engravings as ancient Andean writing

Just Scratching the Surface: Post-Fire Engravings as Semasiographic Writing in the Ancient Andes Introduction