Ceramics from Necrópolis, Paracas Peninsula (South Coast, Perú): essay of analysis of their production, distribution and deposit in funeral context

Abstract

Approximately 550 vessels were recovered by Julio César Tello and his team from the Paracas Necrópolis cemetery on the Paracas peninsula, Perú, between 1927 and 1930. Each vessel had been placed adjacent to 250 of the 429 funerary bundles, generally to the north, either alone or in a group of two or three, sometimes wrapped in a cloth. Based on comparisons with ceramics from the valleys of Chincha, Pisco, Ica and Nazca, these vessels have been attributed, without differentiating them, to the Topará (Jahuay and Chongos), late Paracas (Ocucaje 10) and initial Nasca (Nasca 1) ceramic traditions. However, this ceramic assemblage is largely undocumented and has not previously been studied, in its entirety or in part, using systematic methods that include information on the archaeological context, the analytic process and a technological and morphological classification. This essay presents initial results of this type of study, offering a unique opportunity to determine the role of ceramic receptacles in the funerary rites and social relationships among Paracas, Nasca y Topará populations between 200 BCE and 200 CE, based on determining ceramic production processes, sources and exchange networks.