![Bottle, Feline Face MET DP275834 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Bottle%2C_Feline_Face_MET_DP275834_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The Paracas culture was an
Andean
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
society existing between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
and
water management
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...
and that made significant contributions in the textile arts. It was located in what today is the
Ica Region
Ica (; qu, Ika) is a department and region of Peru. It borders the Pacific Ocean on the west; the Lima Region on the north; the Huancavelica and Ayacucho regions on the east; and the Arequipa Region on the south. Its capital is the city of Ic ...
of
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
. Most information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas
site
Site most often refers to:
* Archaeological site
* Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area
* Construction site
* Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere
* Website, a set of related web pages, typically ...
on the
Paracas Peninsula
The Paracas Peninsula is a desert peninsula within the boundaries of the Paracas National Reserve, a marine reserve that extends south along the coast of Peru. The only marine reserve in the country, it is a designated UNESCO
The United Nat ...
, first formally investigated in the 1920s by Peruvian archaeologist
Julio Tello.
The ''Paracas Cavernas'' are
shaft tomb
A shaft tomb or shaft grave is a type of deep rectangular burial structure, similar in shape to the much shallower cist grave, containing a floor of pebbles, walls of rubble masonry, and a roof constructed of wooden planks.
Practice
The practi ...
s set into the top of
Cerro Colorado, each containing multiple burials. There is evidence that over the centuries when the culture thrived, these tombs were reused. In some cases, the heads of the deceased were taken out, apparently for rituals, and later reburied. The associated ceramics include incised
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
, "negative" resist decoration, and other wares of the Paracas tradition. The associated textiles include many complex
weave structures, as well as elaborate plaiting and knotting techniques.
The
necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
of ''Wari Kayan'' consisted of two clusters of hundreds of burials set closely together inside and around abandoned buildings on the steep north slope of Cerro Colorado. The associated ceramics are very fine plain wares, some with white and red slips, others with pattern-burnished decoration, and other wares of the Topara tradition. Each burial consisted of a conical textile-wrapped bundle, most containing a seated individual facing north across the bay of Paracas, next to grave offerings such as ceramics, foodstuffs, baskets, and weapons. Each body was bound with cord to hold it in a seated position, before being wrapped in many layers of intricate, ornate, and finely woven textiles. The Paracas Necropolis textiles and embroideries are considered to be some of the finest ever produced by
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
Andean societies. They are the primary works of art by which Paracas culture is known. Burials at the necropolis of ''Wari Kayan'' continued until approximately 250 CE. Many of the mortuary bundles include textiles similar to those of the early
Nazca culture
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and Dona ...
, which arose after the Paracas.
Paracas mummy bundles
The dry environment of southern Peru's Pacific coast allows organic materials to be preserved when buried.
Mummified human remains were found in a tomb in the Paracas peninsula of Peru, buried under layers of cloth textiles.
The dead were wrapped in layers of cloth called "mummy bundles". These bodies were found at the Great Paracas Necropolis along the south Pacific coast of the Andes. At the Necropolis there were two large clusters of crowded pit tombs, totaling about 420 bodies, dating to around 300–200 BCE.
The mummified bodies in each tomb were wrapped in textiles.
The textiles would have required many hours of work as the plain wrappings were very large and the clothing was finely woven and embroidered. The larger mummy bundles had many layers of bright colored garments and headdresses.
Sheet gold and shell bead jewelry was worn by both men and women, and some were tattooed.
The shape of these mummy bundles has been compared to a seed, or a human head.
According to Anne Paul, this shape could have been a conscious choice by the people, with the seed a symbol of rebirth.
Paul also suggests that the detail and high quality of the textiles found in the mummy bundles show that these fabrics were used for important ceremonial purposes.
Both native Andean cotton and the hair of
camelids
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, ...
like the wild vicuña and domestic llama or alpaca come in many natural colors. Yarns were also dyed in a wide range of hues, used together in loom weaving and many other techniques. This combination of materials shows trading relationships with other communities at lower and higher elevations.
The imagery found on these textiles included ceremonial practices.
Some depicted a fallen figure, or possibly flying. Some figures appear to have face paint, and hold a severed head, also called trophy heads.
Victims' heads were severed and collected during battles or raids.
Possibly, the head of a person was considered their life force, the place in the body where the spirit was located.
Not only did these textiles show important symbols of the Paracas cosmology, it is thought that they were worn to establish gender, social standing, authority, and indicate the community in which one resided.
![Turban, Paracas, 300 B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Turban%2C_Paracas%2C_300_B.C.E.-100_C.E%2C34.1594.jpg)
Different color schemes characterize the textiles of Paracas Cavernas, early Paracas Necropolis and later Nazca-related styles.
The dyes used came from many regions of the Andes and are an example of reciprocity, as people from different altitudes traded with one another for different goods.
The color red comes from the cochineal bug found on the prickly pear cactus.
The cochineal was ground up with mortar and pestle to create a red pigment.
Yellow dyes could be made from the qolle tree and quico flowers, while orange dyes can be extracted from a type of moss called beard lichen.
For the color green the most common plant used is the cg'illca, mixed with a mineral called collpa.
While blues are created from a
tara, the deeper a hue of blue, the more the mineral collpa was added.
The process of creating dyes could take up to several hours. Then it could take another two hours for women to boil and dye the fibers.
This work was followed by spinning and weaving the fibers.
The woven textiles of Paracas were made on backstrap looms generally in solid color. These webs were richly ornamented with embroidery in two different styles. The earlier linear style embroidery was done in running stitches closely following the furrows of the weaving itself. Red, green, gold and blue color was used to delineate nested animal figures, which emerge from the background with upturned mouths, while the stitching creates the negative space. These embroideries are highly abstracted and difficult to interpret. The later used Block-color style embroidery was made with stem stitches outlining and solidly filling curvilinear figures in a large variety of vivid colors. The therianthropomorphic figures are illustrated with great detail with systematically varied coloring.
The textiles and jewelry in the tombs and mummy bundles attracted looters.
Once discovered, the Paracas Necropolis was looted heavily between the years 1931 and 1933, during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, particularly in the Wari Kayan section.
The amount of stolen materials is not known; however, Paracas textiles began to appear on the international market in the following years.
It is believed the majority of Paracas textiles outside of the Andes were smuggled out of Peru.
![Border Fragment MET h1 1994](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Border_Fragment_MET_h1_1994.35.120.jpg)
]
Due to a lack of laws to preserve artifacts and against smuggling, thefts continued to increase, particularly of South American artifacts.
In 1970
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
created the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
Topara
While the Paracas culture developed in this region between approximately 1200 BCE and 100 BCE, the Topará culture is thought to have "invaded" from the north at approximately 150 BCE. The two cultures coexisted for one or more generations, both on the Paracas Peninsula and in the nearby Ica Valley. Their interaction played a key role in the development of the
Nazca culture
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and Dona ...
and its ceramic and textile traditions. Although the elaborate textiles have been preserved only in the coastal desert sites, there is growing evidence that the associated peoples of these cultures lived and traveled as well among the Pacific lowlands, the Andean highland valleys, and mountain pastures to the east.
Nazca culture
Nazca Culture
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and Dona ...
and
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
are believed by scholars such as Helaine Silverman to have evolved from Paracas culture.
Hendrik Van Gijseghem notes that Paracas remains in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage, the heartland of Nazca culture, are limited. He said that, in contrast, there are abundant Paracas remains in the Ica, Pisco, and Chincha valleys, as well as the Bahía de la Independencia. He noted that the southern Nasca region, which became the most populous region of its culture, was never an important area of Paracas occupation. He believes that initial settlement of the region by Paracas populations and subsequent population growth mark the beginning of Nazca society.
Paracas geoglyphs
In 2018
RPAS
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
drones used by archaeologists to survey cultural evidence revealed many
geoglyph
A geoglyph is a large design or motif (generally longer than 4 metres) produced on the ground by durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. A positive geoglyph is formed by the arrangement and alignmen ...
s in Palpa province. These are being assigned to the Paracas culture. Many have been shown to predate the associated
Nasca lines
The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and le ...
by a thousand years. In addition, some show a significant difference in subjects and locations, for instance, being constructed on a hillside rather than the desert valley floor.
[Greshko, Michael,]
Exclusive: Massive Ancient Drawings Found in Peruvian Desert"
''National Geographic,'' 05 April 2018 Additional research is being conducted on these geoglyphs.
See also
*
Artificial cranial deformation
Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying ...
*
Paracas Candelabra
The Paracas Candelabra, also called the Candelabra of the Andes, is a well-known prehistoric geoglyph found on the northern face of the Paracas Peninsula at Pisco Bay in Peru. Pottery found nearby has been radio carbon dated to 200 BCE, the ...
References
Further reading
* Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru by Anne Paul, Publisher: University of Iowa Press, 1991
* Ancient Peruvian Textiles by Ferdinand Anton, Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 1987,
* Textile art of Peru by Jose Antoni Lavalle, Publisher: Textil Piura in the Textile (1989),
External links
CIOA Field Report of a Paracas-period SiteParacas Textiles at the Brooklyn Museum(archived link, text in Spanish)
Impacts on Tourism at Paracas (in Spanish)Precolumbian textiles at MNAAHP (in Spanish)Paracas textile at the British MuseumAncient Peruvian ceramics: the Nathan Cummings collection by Alan R. Sawyer an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Paracas culture (see index)
{{coord missing, Peru
Archaeology of Peru
Archaeological cultures of South America