Paracas

1
Paracas

• in Quechua, "Paracas" means sand blown by the
  wind
• 18 km south of Pisco
• Excavations by JulioTello in 1925
• culture overlaps with Chavín (early) and Nazca
  (late)
• ceramic comparisons used for chronology
• site of Cahuachi in the center of region

2
Paracas Cultures

• Paracas Cavernas
• earliest burials in bottle-shaped tombs
• Paracas Necropolis
• later interments in rectangular trenches
• Chincha
• seafaring culture up to Inca times

3
Paracas Ceramics

• globular vessels with incised and painted
  decoration
• characterized by incision and post-fire painting
• designs show earlier Chavín influence

4
Paracas Cavernas

• burial pits under the sand dug next to one
  another
• nothing on the surface to suggest their presence
• construction
• cylindrical wall of stone 1 - 1.5 m in diameter
  and 2 m high
• 3 m deep shaft leading to funerary chamber
• chamber is about 1 - 1.2 m high and 3 - 4 m in
  diameter
• footholds on the side of the chamber for access
• roof of chamber covered with whale ribs and mats

5
Paracas Cavernas - Mummies

• each tomb had 30 - 40 bodies
• one had as many as 55
• predominance of female bodies, but few infants
• many have been trephined
• appear to correspond to different social classes
• some are poor and almost naked, or in a cotton
  mantle
• others are covered with two or three mantles
• also have turbans and gold jewelry on the head
• dead wrapped in simple gauze-like fabrics
• rarely decorated with more than two-colored
  stripes
• rich in grave goods (ceramics)
• food remains also found

6
Paracas Necropolis

• located only a few hundred meters from the
  Cavernas
• burials of high-ranking individuals
• 429 mummy bundles ("fardos")

7
Paracas Necropolis - Mummies

• referred to as fardos
• measured about 1.2 m high and 1.7 m in diameter
• many seated in baskets
• bodies were flexed and naked
• many wear a few ornaments such such as shell bead
  necklaces
• heads were artificially deformed

8
Paracas Necropolis - Social Differentiation

• some bundles indicated great wealth
• as many as 150 textile grave goods
• llama and alpaca wool used as well as cotton
• quantity indicates great devotion to textile
  production
• burial No. 49 was especially rich
• 26 lengths of plain cloth
• largest measured 28 X 4 m in one piece

9
Paracas Necropolis- Textiles

• burial cloths
• usually about 1 m wide and 2 m long and made of
  three strips
• estimated that one must have taken two years to
  make
• designs are the same as those on Nazca 1 vessels

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Paracas Textiles
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Paracas Textiles
12
Paracas Textiles - Colors Design

• colors
• evidence for as many as 190 colors and shades
• number of colors ranges from two to six
• dyes
• Paracas culture used a marine bivalve
• Nazca fabrics used cochineal beetle
• design
• always a naturalistic element in Paracas motifs
• subtle representation and stylization in Nazca
  motifs

13
Paracas Textiles - Techniques

• embroidery
• completed by more than one person
• as many as 17 worked on a singlemantle
• techniques
• covering stem-stitch embroidery
• experiments in tapestry
• cotton used for the warp and alpaca for the weft
• cross-knit loop and stitch
• figures look as if they were crocheted
• imparts three-dimensional feeling

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Paracas Textiles
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Paracas Textiles
16
Paracas - Religion

• mythical beings animate the fabrics as if they
  were floating
• fusion of animal and human characteristics
• "cat demon" and human with whisker mask
• mouth mask appears more frequently on Paracas
  fabrics
• felines shown frontally, as if staring one down
• cat motifs are quite common
• motif of figures holding trophy head and weapon
  in other

17
Paracas - Economics

• consider that 429 bundles were found at the
  Necropolis site
• enormous amount of energy went into the
  manufacture of each

18
Paracas - Chronology

• Early Horizon
• Early Intermediate