The Paracas-Nasca transition in the Palpa Valleys

Abstract

Archaeological evidence documented in the Palpa valleys indicates that at the end of the Formative period, between the decline of the Paracas and the beginning of the Nasca, there was transition period in which important changes took place in the sociocultural process that affected the apparent links of continuity between both sociopolitical entities. This time period, known as Proto-Nasca or Initial Nasca in the Rio Grande basin, is closely related to the sudden appearance of elements related with the Topará, a social group which seems to have exercised political and religious control of the southern coast at the end of the Formative period, configuring a new scenario in which typical traits of the Paracas and Nasca were combined. In this sense, the discussion focuses on the implications of the Topará had in this transition process, in which only the so-called «Paracas» textiles of the Necrópolis phase represent the ties of continuity between both sociopolitical entities. This continuity evidently had strong religious and ideological connotations. In this paper the archaeological evidences (settlement patterns, geoglyphs, petroglyphs, pottery, etc.) that set this new stage in the valleys of Palpa will be presented, on the basis of which we discuss the characteristics that the Paracas-Nasca transition had in the Río Grande basin and its implications in the regional context.