An outline, era by era

Nazca and Moche (Peru)

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

Nazca and Moche were two major cultures of the Peruvian coast during the first centuries CE. The Nazca flourished from about 100 BCE to 800 CE in the dry river valleys of the south coast, around the Nazca and Ica drainages. The Moche flourished from about 100 to 800 CE along the north coast, in river valleys such as Moche, Chicama and Lambayeque. Neither culture had writing, so what we know comes from archaeology, art and later records.

The Nazca are known for fine polychrome pottery, underground aqueducts and the huge geoglyphs, or lines and figures, drawn on the desert plain. The Moche built large adobe temples, such as the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna, irrigated the desert and made remarkable metalwork and portrait pottery. Rich royal tombs, such as those at Sipán, show powerful rulers. Both cultures arose without empires and are important as some of the most creative societies of the ancient Andes before the Wari and Inca.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Paracas heritage and the rise of Nazca

    Event

    What happened

    From about 800 to 100 BCE the Paracas culture of the south coast of Peru produces elaborate embroidered textiles and buries its dead as mummy bundles. Around 100 BCE, pottery and settlement patterns shift and the Nazca culture emerges in the same region. Its people build a ceremonial centre at Cahuachi in the Nazca valley.

    The rest is history

    Archaeologists see Nazca as growing out of the earlier Paracas tradition rather than as an outside invasion, since styles of textiles and pottery change gradually. Cahuachi, with its many mounds, seems to have been a pilgrimage and ritual site rather than a city. Excavations there by Helaine Silverman and Giuseppe Orefici showed repeated offerings and feasting. The site was largely abandoned after about 400 CE, possibly after floods.

    Sources

    1. BookSilverman, Helaine. Cahuachi in the Ancient Nasca World. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993.
    2. BookSilverman, Helaine, and Donald A. Proulx. The Nasca. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

  2. The Nazca lines are drawn on the desert

    Event

    What happened

    Between about 500 BCE and 500 CE, people on the Nazca plateau clear dark surface stones to expose the pale ground beneath. They create straight lines, geometric shapes and animal figures such as a monkey, hummingbird and spider. The largest figures stretch over a hundred metres.

    The rest is history

    Dating of wooden stakes and pottery found at the lines places most of the animal figures in the Nazca period, with earlier ones linked to Paracas. The dry, windless climate has preserved them. Their purpose is debated. Researchers suggest ritual walking paths linked to water and fertility, rather than a single explanation. The lines were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

    Sources

    1. BookAveni, Anthony F., ed. The Lines of Nazca. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990.
    2. BookSilverman, Helaine, and Donald A. Proulx. The Nasca. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

  3. Moche valley temples and irrigated fields

    Event

    What happened

    From about 100 CE, people of the Moche valley on the north coast of Peru build large adobe platform mounds. At the site of Huacas de Moche, the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna rise beside a city of workshops and houses. Canals bring river water to fields of maize, beans and squash.

    The rest is history

    Moche society was organised around powerful rulers and priests who controlled irrigation and ritual. Excavations at Huaca de la Luna by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales uncovered painted reliefs and the remains of sacrificed men. Other valleys had their own centres, and scholars debate whether the Moche were one state or several related polities. Huaca del Sol was built of an estimated 100 million adobe bricks.

    Sources

    1. BookUceda, Santiago, and Ricardo Morales, eds. Moche: Hacia el final del milenio. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2010.
    2. BookBawden, Garth. The Moche. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.

  4. The Lord of Sipán tomb

    Event

    What happened

    In 1987 archaeologist Walter Alva excavates an undisturbed Moche tomb at Sipán in the Lambayeque valley, after looters had been caught digging nearby. The tomb, dated to about 250 to 300 CE, holds a man buried in gold, silver and turquoise ornaments, with attendants and animals.

    The rest is history

    The burial, called the Lord of Sipán, showed that Moche rulers held great wealth and ritual power. Its regalia matches figures in Moche art who take part in a sacrifice ceremony, suggesting that those scenes depict real rituals. Further royal tombs were found at Sipán and at San José de Moro and Dos Cabezas. The finds are displayed at the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, opened in 2002.

    Sources

    1. BookAlva, Walter, and Christopher B. Donnan. Royal Tombs of Sipán. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1993.

  5. Drought and the decline of Nazca and Moche

    Event

    What happened

    Ice cores from the Quelccaya glacier record a severe drought in the Andes from about 562 to 594 CE. Cahuachi in the Nazca region had already lost its role as a ritual centre by about 400 CE. On the north coast, the Huacas de Moche remain in use for roughly two more centuries, and are gradually abandoned around 800 to 850 CE.

    The rest is history

    Many scholars link droughts and El Niño floods to stress on Moche society, but the causes of change are debated and include internal conflict and the influence of the highland Wari state. The decline of Nazca and Moche were separate processes, not one collapse. Moche culture transformed over time, with new centres in the northern valleys, and the later Sicán culture grew on the north coast. In the south, Nazca pottery gave way to Wari-influenced styles.

    Sources

    1. ArticleShimada, Izumi, et al. "Cultural Impacts of Severe Droughts in the Prehistoric Andes." World Archaeology 22, no. 3 (1991): 247-270.

  6. Nazca lines as a landing field for visitors

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A popular belief holds that the Nazca lines were runways or signals made for alien spacecraft, because the figures are best seen from the air. The idea was spread by Erich von Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods?, first published in German in 1968.

    The rest is history

    There is no evidence for this. The lines were made by removing stones, using simple tools, stakes and cords, and test reconstructions have shown a small team can make a figure quickly. Pottery from the lines is Nazca and Paracas. The figures can also be seen from nearby hills. Maria Reiche studied them from the 1940s and championed their protection, and later work favours ritual and water-related meanings.

    Sources

    1. BookAveni, Anthony F. Between the Lines: The Mystery of the Giant Ground Drawings of Ancient Nasca, Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
    2. Bookvon Däniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods? London: Souvenir Press, 1971.

  7. Maria Reiche and the Nazca calendar

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Nazca lines form a giant astronomical calendar. The idea is tied to Paul Kosok, who in 1941 saw the sun set over the end of a line at the winter solstice, and to the German mathematician Maria Reiche, who spent decades mapping them.

    The rest is history

    Kosok did note the sunset alignment and Reiche later developed the calendar theory. Later statistical tests by Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni found that only a small share of the lines align with the sun or stars more than chance would give. Most scholars now see the lines as mainly paths for ritual walking, with some astronomical links. Reiche's work did much to protect the site, and she died in 1998.

    Sources

    1. BookAveni, Anthony F., ed. The Lines of Nazca. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990.
    2. BookReiche, Maria. Mystery on the Desert. Stuttgart: Privately printed, 1949.

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