Nasca Civilization Research Paper

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- The Nasca Civilization and Its Effects on the Andean Web - In 1927, when archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe explored the hills of the Peruvian desert, he discovered what the world would come to know as the Nasca Lines; ancient ground etchings, some extending for several kilometres in length. Ever since, the uncertainty around the origin and the significance of the Nasca Lines have occupied the minds of young and old. The most diverse theories on their function, from astronomical calendar to alien communication device to primitive racetracks, have been formulated. Nevertheless, most scientists agree the lines were created by the Nasca society, an otherwise little known Pre-Columbian culture in Peru. By using The Human Web and several additional sources, this essay will explain more about the Nasca civilization and, by exploring their religious and cultural practices, shed light on the impact it had on the Andean web. Situating the Nasca Civilization - The Nasca culture emerged around 100 B.C.E. in the Ica and Nasca Valley of South Coastal Peru. It was then that most other influential Andean civilizations formed as well, of which the Moche in the North Coast region and Lima in the Central Coast …show more content…

Their pottery does not depict domestic (washing, cooking) or societal (marriage, social classes) practices, while all of these are common elements in Moche and Lima imagery. (Proulx "Nasca Iconography" 42) Consequently, scholars assume that Nasca was in fact a culture shared by several otherwise unrelated chiefdoms. These groups participated in a common veneration of deities and used the same symbolism associated with these practises, but were not connected in a political system. (Proulx, "Sourcebook of Nasca" 196-98) In the same fashion as their ceramics, Nasca religious practises have been a major influence on the civilizations in the Andean Web during and after their own

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