Contributions to the understanding of the Paracas-Nasca transition from Samaca. lower Ica Valley

Abstract

Until recently the transition between the Paracas (380 - 260 B.C.) and subsequent Initial Nasca (260 B.C. - A.D. 80) epochs on the south coast of Peru was understood primarily through mortuary remains,and settlement pattern analysis. If we are to understand properly the socio-cultural and political mechanisms that underlay this period of great change, however, we need a better understanding of the quotidian details of the lives of those people who made and experienced them. We seek here to contribute to that understanding by reporting recent investigations of a semi-permanent Ocucaje 9/10 – Nasca 1 occupation site in the Samaca Basin, lower Ica Valley (‘Samaca 1004’). The site lies on the pampa at the edge of the basin, approximately 80m above the current Río Ica floodplain and distant from any source of water. The site is associated with a series of trapezoid geoglyphs marked on the surface of this pampa. Using ceramic, lithic, faunal, botanical and mortuary evidence gathered from field-walking survey, we propose various hypotheses for what kind of site Samaca 1004 was, and why it was situated where it was.