Vaughn Households Crafts

Society for American Archaeology
Households, Crafts, and Feasting in the Ancient Andes: The Village Context of Early Nasca
Craft Consumption
Author(s): Kevin J. Vaughn
Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 61-88
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
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HOUSEHOLDS, CRAFTS,
AND FEASTING IN THE ANCIENT ANDES:
THE VILLAGE CONTEXT OF EARLY NASCA CRAFT CONSUMPTION
Kevin J.
Vaughn
Craft consumption
in
Early
Nasca
(ca.
A.D.
1-450) society
is
explored by evaluating
the use
of polychrome pottery
within
the context
of
a residential
village.
Data are
presented from
the
Early
Nasca
village, Marcaya,
where excavations
utilizing
a household
archaeology approach
revealed that most
polychromes
were consumed
by
households with
high
and low sta-
tus
alike, while certain vessel
shapes
were
reservedfor high-status
households. These
findings challenge
the common
assump-
tion that
highly
valued
crafts
were
monopolized by
elites in
middle-range
societies, and show instead that there is a
potential
demand
for crafts by
both elites and commoners. It is
argued
that
polychrome pottery
was
broadly
used in Nasca because
it was
integral
to ritual
consumption
that
first
took
place
in
feasting
ceremonies at the
regional
center Cahuachi, while cer-
tain vessel
types
were restricted to
high-status
households that acted as intermediaries between Cahuachi and the
village.
Recientemente, los
arque6logos
han
dirigido
su
atencidn
mds al uso de los
productos
artesanales en las sociedades de caci-
cazgos.
Los estudios han demostrado
que
el uso de estos
productos
en las culturas
prehispdnicasfue
mucho mds
complicado
de lo
que
se habia
previamente sugerido.
No
obstante, los andlisis han tendido a
favorecer
estudios con un
enfoque
al con-
sumo de las dlites. Este articulo
explora
cdmo los
productos
artesenales
fueron
utilizados
por
las dlites
y
los
plebeyos.
El
enfoque
es la sociedad Nasca
Temprano (1-450
d.
C.)
donde se
evallia
el consumo de la cerdmica
policroma
dentro del con-
texto de
Marcaya,
una aldea residencial. Las
investigaciones que
utilizan la
perspectiva
de la
arqueologia
domdstica reve-
laron
que
una cerdmica
policroma fue
utilizada
por
individuos de estatus alto
y bajo.
Por otro
lado,
ciertos
tipos
de
vasijas
fueron
reservados
para
las dlites. Se
sugiere que
debido a su uso ritual, la cerdmica
policroma disfrutd
de una distribucio'n
extensa en la sociedad Nasca
Temprana,
tanto en las
aldeas como en los centros ceremoniales como Cahuachi,
donde
fue
usada en las ceremonias. Los resultados del estudio tienen
implicaciones para
nuestra
comprensidn
del modo de
incorpo-
racidn de los
productos
artesanales en las
economias
de las sociedades de
cacicazgos.
The
nature of
crafts,
and the
ways
in which
finely
made
material
objects
are
integrated
into the economies of
middle-range
soci-
eties,
has been the
subject
of a
growing
number of
archaeological investigations (Ames 1995;
Bay-
man
1999;
Costin
2001;
Costin and
Wright
1998;
Mills
2000;
Shimada
1998;
Spielmann 2002).
Tra-
ditionally,
studies that evaluate crafts have followed
a basic
dichotomy
between
highly
valued
prestige
goods monopolized by
elites and
ordinary
utilitar-
ian
goods
that
enjoyed
unrestricted distribution
(e.g.,
Brumfiel and Earle
1987;
Frankenstein and
Rowlands
1978).
It is often
argued
that crafted
pres-
tige goods
were valuable for the social
reproduc-
tion of
elites,
while non-elites did not have the
means or the reasons to finance the
production
of
these
goods. Recently, however,
there has been a
general
dissatisfaction with these dichotomous
models to
explain
the social and economic uses of
crafts in
middle-range
societies
(Bayman
2002;
Costin
2001;
Costin and
Wright
1998;
Inomata
2001;
Spielmann
2002;
Trubitt
2000).
In
particu-
lar,
it is now
recognized
that there was a
potential
demand for crafts from all sectors of
society,
and
that crafts moved
through
various
segments
of soci-
ety
in
complex
economic
patterns
not
easily
explainable by
traditional models.
For
example,
in a
critique
of the
prestige-goods
model,
which assumes that social valuables were
monopolized by
elites in an effort to
gain political
power (e.g.,
Brumfiel and Earle
1987;
Friedman
and Rowlands
1978), Bayman (2002)
has
argued
that Hohokam marine shell ornaments were not
simply prestige goods produced
for and used exclu-
Kevin
J. Vaughn
n
Department
of
Anthropology,
Pacific Lutheran
University,
Tacoma,
WA 98447-0003
(vaughn@plu.edu)
Latin American
Antiquity, 15(1), 2004, pp.
61-88
Copyright@
2004
by
the
Society
for American
Archaeology
61
62
LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
sively by
elites.
Instead,
these artifacts had differ-
ent roles in Hohokam
society
as
symbols
of
group
identity, insignia
of
office,
as well as instruments
of
power,
and were used
by
a
variety
of social
groups
that included elites and commoners
(Bay-
man
2002:70). Importantly,
this
study implies
that
simple
models such as the
prestige-goods
model
fail to take into account the different roles and
meanings
of crafts in
middle-range
societies
(Bay-
man
2002:74).
Recent evidence
suggests
that
finely painted
polychrome pottery
of the
Early
Intermediate
period
Nasca culture also does not fit
easily
into a
dichotomy
of
prestige
versus utilitarian
good.
This
dichotomy
fails to
adequately
describe and
explain
the
production, circulation,
and
consumption
of
these items.
Though polychromes
were
finely
made
(Carmichael 1990),
are well-known as the
princi-
pal
vehicle of Nasca
ideology (Carmichael 1998),
and were
employed by foreign
elites outside of the
immediate Nasca
region
as
status-enhancing pres-
tige goods (Carmichael 1992a;
Goldstein
2000;
Sil-
verman
1997;
Valdez
1998),
within the Nasca
heartland
polychromes appear
to have been con-
sumed
by
varied
segments
of
society,
not
just
elites
(Carmichael 1988, 1995, 1998). Furthermore,
while
production
of these items was restricted and indica-
tive of
specialization (Vaughn
and Neff
2000),
their
consumption, paradoxically,
was not restricted.
I evaluate the contradiction between the
restricted
production yet widespread
distribution of
Nasca
polychromes.
I situate the discussion
by
con-
sidering
the
consumption
of
highly
valued crafts in
middle-range
societies,
highlighting
recent research
that
suggests
there was a demand for crafts in mid-
dle-range
societies from both elites and non-elites.
I
argue
that one
way
for non-elites to obtain crafts
was
through
the commensal
politics
of ceremonial
feasting.
I
present primary
data from the
Early
Nasca
domestic
site,
Marcaya,
where excavations under-
taken from the
perspective
of household archaeol-
ogy
revealed that a
large quantity
of
polychromes,
particularly
bowls and
vases,
was consumed
by
households of both
high
and low status even
though
these items were
produced
elsewhere.
I
argue
that
polychrome
bowls and vases were consumed
widely
in Nasca
society
because
they
were
integral
to rit-
ual
consumption
first carried out in
feasting
cere-
monies at Cahuachi, the
region's
ceremonial center.
Certain vessel
types,
modeled
headjars
in
particu-
lar, however,
were restricted to
high-status
house-
holds at
Marcaya.
I
suggest
that their restricted con-
sumption
is related to
prestige-building
activities
by
high-status
individuals and households who
may
have been intermediaries between
regional
cere-
monial centers and
villages.
Crafts, Consumption,
and
Feasting
in
Middle-Range
Societies
While a definition of "craft"
potentially
includes
any
material
object
made
by
humans
(Costin 1998),
a more narrow definition is
employed
here. A craft
is defined as
any object
or
group
of
objects
manu-
factured
by
skills that not all members of
society
have. In other
words,
crafts are
objects produced
in the context of
specialization,
no matter the
scale,
intensity,
or context of that
specialization (e.g.,
Costin
1991).
Research in the last two decades has
suggested
that the
specialized production
of crafts was inte-
gral
to
many
nonstratified, middle-range,
and even
small-scale societies.
Furthermore,
crafts were
pro-
duced, circulated,
and consumed in
very complex
economic
systems
within these smaller-scale soci-
eties
(Arnold
and Munns
1994;
Bayman
1999;
Clark
1995;
Clark and
Parry
1990;
Cross
1993;
Sassaman
1998;
Spielmann 2002).
Crafts
and
Consumption
Studies of craft
specialization
have tended to favor
the
analysis
of craft
production
over other
stages
of
what can be referred to as the "craft
economy" (Bay-
man
1999).
Craft
consumption
in
particular
has seen
little
explicit
treatment when
compared
to
produc-
tion,
even
though
much of what
archaeologists study
is
directly
related to
consumption
in one form or
another
(Smith 1998). I
follow Smith's (1998:115)
general
definition of
consumption by defining
craft
consumption
as the
selection, use, maintenance,
repair,
and discard of an item after it has been
pro-
duced and circulated. Craft
consumption
is an
important
avenue of
inquiry
because without under-
standing
what
segments
of
society
consumed them
and in what contexts, it is difficult to
postulate
exactly why
crafts were
produced
in the first
place.
This is
especially
the case because
production
is
generally organized
to meet consumer demands
(Costin 2001:306; Morrison 1994; Smith 1998),
no
matter who those consumers
might
have been.
Vaughn]
EARLY NASCA CRAFT CONSUMPTION 63
Not
surprisingly,
when
consumption
has been
considered in the
analysis
of
archaeological
data,
discussion is dominated
by
the elite
consumption
of
crafts,
as these individuals are often assumed to
be the most
important
consumers of these
goods.
While crafted
goods
were vital to elites in the
polit-
ical
economy
of
preindustrial
societies
primarily
as a form of wealth finance
(e.g.,
Earle
1997),
stud-
ies have
rarely emphasized
the
consumption
of
crafts
by
non-elites even
though
recent research
suggests
that
they
were
important
to this
segment
of
society
as well
(Bayman
2002;
Wattenmaker
1998).
One reason is
that,
whether
implicit
or
explicit,
a distinction is
usually
made between crafts
produced
for
people
in
positions
of social and
polit-
ical
power
or
prominence,
and crafts
manufactured
for the "mundane
spheres
of life"
(Helms 1993:14).
Helms
(1993, 1999)
makes the distinction unam-
biguously
as she reserves the term "skilled craft-
ing"
of
goods
for "elite related 'states or forms of
meaning"' (Helms 1993:14). Furthermore,
the
products
of skilled
crafting
are reserved for
public,
political spheres
while
"ordinary" goods
are made
for the
private
domestic
sphere (Helms 1993:14).
There are theoretical reasons to assume that the
products
of skilled
crafting, implying
a certain level
of
competence,
were reserved for those in a
posi-
tion of
power.
The
primary
reason,
of
course,
is that
elites are the
only
members of
society
with the
resources to finance these endeavors
(Brumfiel
and
Earle
1987;
Earle
1991, 1997). Highly
valued
crafted
goods
are well known as
symbols
of
power
and
insignia
of office for elites in non-state soci-
eties
(e.g.,
Helms
1999). However,
have archaeol-
ogists
dismissed the
possibility
that other members
of
society
could access these
goods?
Need we
assume that under all circumstances the
products
of skilled
crafting
were reserved
only
for those in
positions
of
power?
For
example,
Lecount
(1999)
demonstrates that
commoners of the Terminal Classic at Xunantunich
also consumed
highly
valued
goods
that were dis-
tributed to them
by
elites
(LeCount 1999:254).
LeCount describes a shift in the distribution of
polychrome pottery
at two sites in Belize between
the Late Classic
II phase
and the Terminal Classic.
While
previously
limited to elite contexts
during
the Late Classic II, polychrome pottery enjoyed
unrestricted distribution
during
the Terminal Clas-
sic (LeCount 1999:251). LeCount
argues
that
poly-
chrome
pottery
was distributed
equally
across
social
groups during
the Terminal Classic because
elites at the time
emphasized community
solidar-
ity
while
building
vertical alliances and
symboliz-
ing
shared
power by gifting
these crafted items to
commoners
(LeCount 1999:254), resulting
in the
relatively widespread
distribution of
polychrome
pottery.
The
importance
of this case
study
is its demon-
stration of how a crafted item
(polychrome pottery)
moves
through
various social strata
by
means of
the
political strategies employed by
elites.
Thus,
tracing
the distribution and
consumption
of this
particular
artifact class revealed
important insights
into Terminal Classic
political strategies.
Other studies have
suggested
a
potential
demand
for crafts
by
both elites and non-elites. For exam-
ple,
Wattenmaker
(1998)
has
proposed
that crafts
embody culturally meaningful symbolic
commu-
nication and that information is embedded in some
crafts that
appeal
to all members of a social
group,
not
just
elites.
Indeed, crafts,
especially highly
vis-
ible ones such as
serving
vessels, cloth,
and
per-
sonal
adornments,
provide
material evidence of
group membership (Bayman
2002:80;
Costin
1998:3;
Wobst
1977), symbolize
the
identity
of
their
producers
and consumers
(Chilton 1999),
and
continuously
reinforce this
intragroup identity
(Hodder 1982).
These factors contribute to a
demand for crafts
by people
from all
segments
of
society.
Crafts
and the Politics
of Feasting
While there
may
be a demand for crafts
by
all
seg-
ments of
society, obtaining
them is
problematic
for
individuals and
groups
who lack the means and the
resources to do so. The
example
from the Termi-
nal Classic illustrates that elites can use
highly
val-
ued crafts as
political currency by giving
them to
commoners in an effort to build
community
soli-
darity.
One social arena in which non-elites can
obtain
goods
in this fashion is
through
the com-
mensal
politics
of
feasting
ceremonies
(e.g.,
Dietler
1990, 1996; Dietler and
Hayden 2001a), "events
...
constituted
by
the communal
consumption
of food
and/or drink" (Dietler
and
Hayden 2001b:3). Feasts
are
"inherently political" (Dietler 2001:66), and
feasting
as a social and communal act
provides
the
opportunity
for
political action, status
negotiation,
and social
change (Dietler 1990, 2001; Hayden
64 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
1996, 2001;
Junker
2001;
Lau
2002;
LeCount
2001;
Potter
2000).
As instruments of
change,
feasts
provide oppor-
tunities for
sponsors
to enhance their
status,
often
accomplished through
the
display
of
goods
includ-
ing important
artifacts
(DeMarrais
et al.
1996;
Wiessner
2001:116)
and
through gift giving (Clark
and Blake
1994:21;
Dietler
1996:91;
LeCount
1999;
Perodie
2001). By
their
very
nature feasts cre-
ate
reciprocal obligations
between host and
guest
(Lau 2002:280) through
the
gifting
of food and
drink as well as items of material
import.
A well-known
ethnographic example
of the rela-
tionship
between
gifting
and status enhancement is
the Northwest Coast
potlatch
characterized
by
the
distribution of
large quantities
of food and
goods
(Piddocke 1965).
Potlatches were
highly political
venues of status
display
where social
prestige
was
obtained and enhanced
(see
Boas
1966).
Piddocke
(1965) suggests
that
potlatches provided opportu-
nities for
sponsors
to
display
their
generosity by
dis-
tributing
food and
wealth, thereby enhancing
their
social
prestige.
The
potlatch, then,
provides
one
ethnographic example
where the mechanism of
communal
feasting
afforded the
opportunity
for
par-
ticipants, including
non-elites,
to obtain
highly
val-
ued crafts in the form of
gifts given by
feast
sponsors.
Feasting
in the Andes.
Ethnographic,
ethnohis-
toric,
and
archaeological
studies have demonstrated
that
feasting
was
prevalent throughout
the
prehis-
panic
Andes. Andean "work
party
feasts" featur-
ing
the distribution of abundant
quantities
of chicha
maize beer were
given
for workers in
exchange
for
their
participation
in labor
projects (Lau 2002).
Such feasts are well known
among
modem
indige-
nous
groups (Allen 1988),
the Inka
Empire (Bray
2003;
Morris
1979;
Murra
1980),
and
pre-Inka
Andean societies as well
(Gero 1992;
Hastorf and
Johannessen
1993;
Lau
2002;
Moore
1989;
Mose-
ley 1975).
A clear
example
of
feasting
in a
middle-range
Andean
society
is documented
among
the
Early
Intermediate
period Recuay.
Lau (2002) argues
that
by
A.D. 500, evidence for
public
ceremonies
involving
both ancestor
worship
and
public
feast-
ing
was
apparent
at Chinchawas, a
high-altitude
Recuay
site in the Cordillera
Negra
near Huaraz.
During
the earlier
Kaytin
and Chinchawasi
phases
(A.D. 500-800),
the
occupation
was characterized
by public feasting clearly
associated with
high-sta-
tus residences. These feasts were arenas
whereby
local elites made efforts to enhance their status
through
wealth
display
of
sumptuary goods
and the
consumption
of
large quantities
of chicha and
camelid meat
(Lau 2002:298).
In
contrast,
the later
Warmi
phase (afterA.D. 800)
was characterized
by
smaller-scale ceremonies
consisting
of
dedicatory
offerings
and ritual
drinking.
This local shift is
explained
as the result of Wari
expansion
into the
region
(Lau 2002:300).
This
example
illustrates the
importance
of feast-
ing
in the
early development
of Andean middle-
range
societies.
Feasting
was a critical social
setting
in which local elites were able to
garner prestige
and
co-opt
the labor of non-elites
by appearing
to
be
generous
in their distribution of
large
amounts
of food and drink. Lau sees this
pattern
as
part
of
broader
"leadership
innovations ... and ... strate-
gies" during
the
Early
Intermediate
period through-
out the Andes
(Lau 2002:300).
Craft Consumption
and
Feasting
in
Early
Nasca
Based on the
foregoing summary
of recent theo-
retical
developments regarding
crafts,
I
suggest
that
it is
equally
valuable to look at non-elite con-
sumption.
While demand from elites and non-elites
may
exist,
the
potential
for non-elites to obtain
finely
crafted
goods
in
middle-range
societies can
be
problematic.
One
way
non-elites can obtain them
is
through feasting
ceremonies,
a social arena in
which elites
display
and distribute
highly
valued
crafts
(such
as
polychrome pottery)
to simultane-
ously
enhance their own status while
engendering
group solidarity.
In the
Andes, feasting
was an activ-
ity
that elites could use to create
reciprocal oblig-
ations and social debt
very early
in
prehistory.
It is in this theoretical context that I examine the
apparent paradox
that exists between the
produc-
tion and
consumption
of
Early
Nasca
polychrome
pottery,
which
according
to recent research was
produced
in restricted contexts
yet
distributed
widely
to all
segments
of
society.
I focus on
Early
Nasca craft
consumption by determining
the
degree
to which
polychromes
were consumed
by
non-
elites. If consumed as
previously assumed, can we
account for this non-elite
consumption
in the
broader theoretical context of crafts, feasting,
and
middle-range
societies outlined above?
To evaluate non-elite craft
consumption,
atten-
Vaughn]
tion should first turn to residential
villages
where
the
majority
of non-elites lived in
prehispanic
Andean societies. I therefore shift to a discussion
of the
village approach,
and to evaluate
degrees
of
status differentiation within the Andean
village,
I
focus on households.
Elites, Non-Elites,
and Households
in Andean
Villages
Until
recently,
the
study
of
prehispanic
Andean
societies has been characterized
by
an
emphasis
on
urban sites and ceremonial centers-what could be
referred to as the
"temples-and-tombs" approach
(Schreiber 1999:162). Indeed,
as Schreiber indi-
cates,
the
emphasis
on
larger,
more
spectacular
archaeological
sites has come at the
expense
of
understanding
smaller,
humbler
settlements,
which
make
up
the
largest portion
of Andean societies. In
order to evaluate this
segment
of
society,
archae-
ologists,
like all social
scientists,
must
employ
a
variety
of
interpretive
scales to build
satisfactory
models
(Smith 1993).
One
approach,
referred to as
the
"village" approach (Vaughn 2000),
also the
"local
perspective" (Bermann 1994),
the "com-
munity" perspective (Kolb
and Snead
1997),
and
"rural
archaeology" (Schwartz
and Falconer
1994),
focuses on
single
communities. While the
village
approach
does not
ignore patterns
of
change
at a
regional
level,
it assumes that
analyzing
smaller set-
tlements is a
profitable
means of
evaluating pre-
historic societies. Because a
village
or
community
has its own
sociopolitical
order,
economic
patterns,
and historical
trajectories,
often
very
different from
that witnessed at other
scales,
the
village approach
necessarily complements regional analyses
and
provides relatively fine-grained perspectives
on
social and economic
organization
that
regional
approaches
cannot
provide.
Furthermore,
the
means
by
which the
village
articulates with other
segments
of
society (such
as the civic-ceremonial
center,
regional
center, etc.)
is
key
to understand-
ing
that
society.
More
importantly,
if we are to
understand the movement of
goods
from
produc-
tion to
consumption
in
prehispanic societies, we
must focus on where those
goods
were
actually
consumed.
Regardless
of the name of the
approach,
an
archaeological
research
program
that focuses on a
smaller level of
analysis
than the
region-one
that
evaluates a
single village-must
have a
primary
unit of
analysis. Although
some of the above
approaches employ
the entire
community
as the
unit of
analysis (e.g.,
Kolb and Snead
1997),
house-
holds are more
frequently targeted.
Ethnographic
and ethnohistoric evidence
sug-
gests
that the nuclear
family
household was an
important
economic unit in
prehispanic
Andean
societies
(Aldenderfer
and Stanish
1993;
Stanish
1989:8, 1992:18).
Households are the
primary pro-
ductive, consumptive,
and
exchange
units in ethno-
graphic examples
of Andean societies. As the
principal
economic
unit,
the household is the most
useful
analytical
tool for
evaluating sociopolitical
and economic
relationships
within
archaeological
settlements
(Stanish 1989:7).
One
primary advantage
of "household archae-
ology"
is that status differences within a
village
can
be evaluated
(Bermann 1997;
Blanton
1995;
Hirth
1993; Santley
and Hirth
1993;
Stanish
1989, 1992;
van
Gij seghem 2001). Following
this
approach,
we
would
expect
status differences within a commu-
nity
to be manifested in one or more of the fol-
lowing ways: (1)
There
may
be households that are
larger
than others.
Ethnographically
and ethnohis-
torically,
individuals of
higher
rank tend to have
larger
households than those of lower rank
(Cou-
pland
and
Banning
1996;
Hirth
1993:123; Netting
1982), resulting
in much
larger physical
structures.
(2)
There
may
be structures that contain a
variety
of
specialized
architectural
features,
are subdivided
into
public
and
private space,
or involve a
greater
labor investment in construction
(Abrams
1989;
Hirth
1993:124). (3)
There
may
be structures whose
artifact
assemblage
contains
goods
of
higher
value,
and more items overall because
higher-status
households can
potentially
consume
relatively
more while
producing
less
(Hirth 1993;
Smith
1987;
Wilk and Ashmore
1988:124).
Valuable
goods
can be in the form of
"exotics,"
products
requiring higher
labor
investments,
or items with
significant
ritual or cultural value that
may
not nec-
essarily
be related to distant sources or
high
labor
investment. These three
expectations
serve as indi-
cators of either individuals, families, or households
of
higher
status (Hirth 1993:123).
Household
Craft Consumption
in Nasca
To evaluate the dimensions of elite and non-elite
craft
consumption,
I focus on
Early
Intermediate
66 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
Ica
Palpa
Rfo Grande
Ingenio
Nasca
Cahuachi N
0 50 km
Figure
1.
Map
of the Nasca
region
with the Southern Nasca
Region (SNR) highlighted (after
Schreiber and Lancho
1995:Figure 1).
period
Nasca
society.
The Nasca culture
developed
a craft
economy
of
finely
made
polychrome
ceram-
ics
early
in its
history,
and
preliminary
observations
indicate that these
ceramics,
although
made in
restricted
contexts,
were distributed
widely
and
consumed
by many
social
groups. Therefore,
Nasca
provides
the
opportunity
to evaluate
archaeologi-
cal
assumptions
about the role crafts
played
in mid-
dle-range
societies. While Nasca
appears
to have
lacked institutionalized
inequalities
in the form of
stratification,
forms of rank were
clearly present
(Carmichael 1988, 1995).
These
inequalities
were
manifested in differential
burials,
suggesting
that
certain members of Nasca
society
were ranked
above
others; however,
the
degree
of differentia-
tion,
which Carmichael refers to as a "status con-
tinuum"
(1995:175),
has not been evaluated in local
communities.
Archaeological
Context
The
prehispanic
Nasca culture
(ca.
A.D.
1-750)
developed
in an area of the south coast of Peru
defined
by
the Ica and Grande
drainages
and their
tributaries
(Figure 1).
The Nasca
region,
as it is
commonly
referred to
(Carmichael 1998),
is
extremely dry
and is delineated
by
the Andean
foothills to the
east,
the Pacific Ocean to the
west,
the Ica River
valley
in the
north,
and the Las Tran-
cas River
valley
in the south. Discussion focuses
on the Southern Nasca
Region (hereafter SNR)
defined
by
the
Aja,
Tierras Blancas
(which together
converge
in the modem town of Nasca to form the
Nasca
River), Taruga,
and Las Trancas river val-
leys (Schreiber
and Lancho
1995;
Vaughn 2000).
Ecologically,
the
region
is defined as
pre-montane
desert formation
(ONERN 1971).
The rivers that
run
through
the
valleys, only intermittently
filled
with
water,
are classified as "influent streams"
(ONERN 1971;
1995).
Despite
the somewhat
marginal
nature of the
influent streams and the desert
environment,
in the
early part
of Nasca's
development,
the flooded
rivers
appear
to have
provided enough
water to
nourish
crops
on an annual basis
(Rowe 1963).
Indeed,
an alliance of chiefdoms based on a mixed
agro-pastoral economy
flourished in the
region
dur-
ing
most of the
Early
Intermediate
period (ca.
A.D.
Vaughn]
Table 1. Peruvian and Nasca
Chronology. (After
Carmichael
1998;
Conlee 2000, 2003;
Schreiber 1998:Table A-1).
Horizons and Intermediate Periods Culture Nasca Phases
Approximate
Dates
Late Horizon Inka A.D. 1476
-
1532
Late Intermediate Period Tiza A.D. 1000
- 1476
Middle Horizon
Loro, Wari A.D. 750 - 1000
Early
Intermediate Period Late Nasca
6,7
A.D. 550 - 750
Middle Nasca 5 A.D. 450 - 550
Early
Nasca
2, 3,
4 A.D. 1-450
Early
Horizon Proto Nasca 1 100 B.C.
-
A.D. 1
Paracas 800 - 100 B.C.
Initial Period 1800
-
800 B.C.
Archaic 9000 -1800 B.C.
1-750;
Table
1).
The Nasca
chronological sequence
is divided into
Early
Nasca
(phases 2-4),'
Middle
Nasca
(phase 5),
and Late Nasca
(phases
6 and
7)
cultures
(Carmichael 1998;
1995;
also see Silverman and Proulx
2002).
Recent research has demonstrated that Nasca
was a
loosely
allied
"confederacy" (Silverman
1993;
Silverman and Proulx
2002)
of chiefdoms
with a mixed
agropastoral
economic base
(Vaughn
2000). Sociopolitical leadership
did not
appear
to
be
highly
centralized in
Early
Nasca
society
(though
see Reindel and Isla
1998, 20012). Instead,
status was
probably negotiated, highly
flexible,
and
involved
political
acts and status
display
at
regional
ceremonial centers such as
Cahuachi,
certainly
the
most
important
of these centers
(see below;
Sil-
verman and Proulx
2002:244).
Pottery, Fertility,
and
Early
Nasca
Feasting
Polychrome Pottery.
One of the most
impressive
artifact classes of
Nasca,
indeed one that has
given
the
prehispanic
culture worldwide
fame,
is its
poly-
chrome
pottery.
Since their
"discovery" early
in the
twentieth
century,
Nasca
polychromes
were rec-
ognized
for their
quality (Uhle 1914). They
have
very
thin vessel walls
(Carmichael 1990:34;
Proulx
1968), up
to 15 distinct mineral-based
slip
colors
(Proulx 1968:25),
a wide
range
of vessel
shapes,
and
compelling iconography featuring
natural and
supernatural
motifs. The manufacture and
painting
of
polychromes
took a
great
deal of technical skill
(Carmichael 1990, 1998:224),
and it is reasonable
to assume that
they represent specialized
craft
pro-
duction. The
intensity, context, concentration,
and
scale of that
specialization (e.g.,
Costin
1991;
Costin and
Hagstrum 1995)
have
yet
to be
fully
defined.
However,
the
degree
of skill
required
in
their manufacture
suggests they
were not made
by
everyone
in
society (Vaughn
and Neff
2000).
Indeed,
an instrumental neutron activation
analy-
sis of a
sample
of
polychromes
from
Marcaya,
an
Early
Nasca
village (see below),
has indicated
pro-
ductive
specialization, given
the
pottery's compo-
sitional
uniformity
when
compared
to
plain
utilitarian wares
(Vaughn
and Neff
2000).
Agricultural Fertility.
Nasca
iconography
is well
known
(Carmichael 1992b, 1994;
Kroeber
1956;
Kroeber and Collier
1998;
Proulx
1968, 1983,
1994, 2000;
Roark
1965;
Sawyer
1961, 1966;
Townsend
1985;
Uhle
1914),
and is
generally
con-
sidered to be Nasca's
"principal purveyor
of ide-
ology" (Carmichael 1998:224). Agricultural
fertility
is the
prevailing
theme
conveyed
on Nasca
pottery (Carmichael 1992b, 1994;
see also Proulx
2000;
2002),
and for
Carmichael
(1998:224),
"the entire
corpus
of Nasca
iconography
is a
sacred,
interrelated visual
system
with its referents tied to the
dominating
themes of
water and
propagation."
Given the
marginal
envi-
ronment of the Nasca
region,
this
preoccupation
with water and
agricultural fertility
is not
surpris-
ing.
In
fact,
the
body
of
iconography depicted
on
polychromes
was
only
one of several cultural fea-
tures left
by
the
people
of Nasca that
speak
to their
concern with
growth, fertility,
and water.
For
example,
the famous Nasca
geoglyphs
(Nasca Lines)
have been
argued
to be an
integral
part
of the
worship
of mountain
gods
who con-
trolled
meteorological phenomena
such as
clouds,
lightning,
and most
importantly,
rain in traditional
Andean belief
systems (Reinhard 1988:365).
The
geoglyphs
themselves were
mostly
related to reli-
gious practices designed
to ensure that water would
be
provided
for
people
and their
crops (Reinhard
1988). Furthermore, disembodied,
or
trophy,
heads
are seen
contextually
as
having
a
symbolic
link to
No.
1,
2004
fertility (Carmichael 1992b;
DeLeonardis
2000).
For
example,
the
"Sprouting
Head" motif found on
Nasca
polychromes,
in which
plants grow directly
out of
trophy
heads,
is seen to
represent
a direct
link between disembodied heads and
agricultural
fertility (Carmichael 1992b). Additionally,
disem-
bodied heads are seen as
part
of the "life to death
continuum"
(Carmichael 1992b)
in which the blood
from
decapitated
heads was
necessary
for human
and
plant fecundity (Allen 1981).
Early
Nasca
Feasting. Iconographic
evidence
also
suggests
that
large, group-oriented
ceremonies
involving feasting
were
integral
to Nasca life. For
example,
Carmichael
(1998:224, Figure 13)
observes that a scene
depicted
on a
double-spout
bottle
provides iconographic
evidence for
pottery
used in ceremonial and
feasting
contexts. The scene
depicts
a "central
deity" holding
a
panpipe,
sur-
rounded
by
ceramic
vessels,
and
people playing
panpipes
and
trumpets.
Carmichael
suggests
that
this bottle
may depict
a "festival in its
early stages"
(Carmichael 1998:224). Likewise,
Townsend
(1985:125, Figure 7)
has
reported
a
flaring
bowl
depicting
what he
interprets
to be an
agricultural
ceremony.
In Townsend's
interpretation,
the artist
"intended to
represent
a costumed
figure
such as
those who
appeared
in the
public plazas,
and
per-
haps
also in
agricultural
fields,
to celebrate the
great
annual feasts of the Nazca
region" (Townsend
1985:125).
It is
very likely
that
many
of these
"great
annual feasts" were carried out at
Cahuachi,
the
principal
ceremonial center of
Early
Nasca culture.
During Early
Nasca
times,
Cahuachi was the
focus of
pilgrimages
and
ceremony (Silverman
1993, 2002;
2002).
Excava-
tions conducted at the site
(Silverman 1993)
have
demonstrated that Cahuachi was not an urban cen-
ter in the traditional
archaeological
sense of the
word
(based
on Old World models of urbaniza-
tion),
but rather an Andean ceremonial center
(e.g.,
Rowe
1963).
The evidence for the ceremonial
nature of Cahuachi includes its numerous
temple
mounds and other structures
(Silverman 1993:310),
the ceremonial contexts found in excavations and
surface
analysis (Silverman 1993; Valdez 1994),
and the sacred burial
grounds
located at the site (Sil-
verman 1993; see also Silverman and Proulx 2002).
By
virtue of its ceremonial nature, Cahuachi is
believed to be a
place
where
pilgrims
from
through-
out the south coast
occasionally congregated
to
participate
in rites of intensification.
Many
of the
group
ceremonies conducted at the site involved
feasting (see
Silverman
1993;
Silverman and
Proulx
2002:132; Strong
1957:31;
Valdez
1994).
These ceremonial feasts at Cahuachi were "not
just
religious
acts.
They
were
political
acts clothed in
ritual and
embodying
Nasca
ideology" (Silverman
and Proulx
2002:244). Integral
to the
feasting
con-
text were the vessels in which food and drink was
served.
Clearly,
the most
commonly
used vessels
were the well-known
polychromes,
as few other
vessels
appropriate
for
serving
have been found in
excavations at Cahuachi
(Silverman 1993).
Cahuachi was not
just
an
important pilgrimage
center and a site of ritual
feasting,
but was also the
location of
polychrome production. Previously,
it
was
proposed
that an excess of
polychrome pot-
tery
was
produced
at Cahuachi and distributed to
groups making pilgrimages
to the site
(Vaughn
and
Neff
2000).
Given the current evidence of artifacts
related to
pottery production
(see Vaughn
and Neff
2000:88 for a
summary),
and a
compositional study
suggesting
a restricted locus of
polychrome pro-
duction,
it is clear that some
pottery
was
produced
at the ceremonial center
(see
Silverman
1993:277,
Figure 19.9), though
it is still unclear how much.
The Domestic Context
of
Nasca
Polychrome
Consumption
Paradoxically, although
Nasca
polychromes
are
very finely
made and have restricted
production
contexts,
they
were
apparently
used
by
all mem-
bers of Nasca
society.
For
example,
Carmichael has
suggested
that
"(t)he (Nasca)
ceramic
complex
was
an
open
shared
system
to which all members of
society
had access"
(Carmichael 1995:171).
Carmichael's conclusion was based on observa-
tions that fine
specimens analyzed
from burials
show evidence of use-wear
prior
to
being
interred
in
tombs,
and that most vessel
types
were available
to
people regardless
of their status.
Additionally,
researchers
working
on the south coast of Peru have
noted that Nasca habitation sites are covered with
the
fragmented
remains of
polychrome pottery
(Carmichael 1998:222; Silverman and Proulx
2002), implying
that the ceramics were used in
domestic as well as ceremonial contexts, and
per-
haps
even moved between these contexts.
The
apparent
extensive distribution of
poly-
chromes
throughout
the south coast of Peru led
Vaughn]
some
early
researchers to
suggest
that Nasca was
an
expansive
state
extending
from the Pisco to the
Acari
valleys
and centered at Cahuachi
(Rowe
1963:304; Strong 1957).
Recent research indicates
instead that outside of the Ica and Grande
drainages,
polychromes
are
present
to a limited extent in elite
contexts,
and
suggests status-building
efforts
by
local elites who associated themselves with distant
powers (Carmichael 1992a;
Goldstein
2000;
Sil-
verman
1997;
Valdez
1998),
and
specifically
with
those
powers
associated with Cahuachi
(see
Valdez
1998).
These statements have remained untested
because
securely
excavated domestic contexts have
been
lacking
within the Nasca heartland.
Many
studies have
analyzed
ceramics recovered from
graves (Kroeber 1956;
Kroeber and Collier
1998;
Proulx
1968;
Tello
1917;
Uhle
1914); however,
there are few
examples
of excavated
polychrome
pottery
outside of
cemetery
contexts. These come
from excavations at
Cahuachi,
Pueblo
Viejo (Isla
et al.
1984),
and
recently,
Los Molinos and La
Mufia,
two
large
ceremonial sites
investigated by
Reindel and Isla
(1998, 2001). Therefore,
patterns
of Nasca
pottery
use in the domestic context are
unknown. In an
early study
of Nasca
iconography,
Catherine Allen
suggested
that,
"We
may guess-
from their
fineness,
apparently impractical
vessel
shapes,
and
good preservation-that
Nasca ceram-
ics were reserved for ritual
uses,
but
beyond
this
speculation
the
living
context of their use is forever
lost to us"
(1981:45-46).
How, then,
are we to understand the
apparent
wide distribution and
consumption
of Nasca
poly-
chromes? How were
they incorporated
into the "liv-
ing
context?" That
is,
how were
they
used and in
what contexts? What relation did the
consumption
of
polychromes
at habitations have to the con-
sumption
of
polychromes
in ceremonial contexts
such as those at Cahuachi? One method for address-
ing
these
questions
was to turn attention to a
pre-
hispanic
Nasca
village.
Given statements
by
previous
researchers,
we would
expect
a
high
con-
sumption
of
polychromes among
all social
groups
in the domestic context. Given the nature of status
differences at residential sites, however (Goldstein
2000:336), we
might
also
expect
a difference in the
quantities
of
polychromes
consumed and the kinds
of
polychromes
consumed between
high-status
and
low status
groups.
To address these
questions,
as
part
of a
larger
research
program investigating
the
domestic context of
Early
Nasca
society,
excava-
tions were conducted at the small
village
site,
Mar-
caya.
Marcaya
Marcaya
is
approximately
1
ha in size and is located
in the
Yunga ecological
zone of the Andean
foothills.
Lying
16 km
upstream
from the
modern
town of
Nasca,
at an elevation of
1,000
m above
sea
level,
the site is situated on the northern hill-
side of the Tierras Blancas River
valley
on a
gen-
tly sloping
colluvial fan
just
southeast of Cerro
Pongo
Chico
(Figure 2).
Surface Analysis
Because of a lack of
deposition,
structure founda-
tions remain visible on the surface of the site
today
and bear a
strong
resemblance to
previously
recorded
early
Nasca architecture
(Schreiber 1988;
Schreiber and Isla
1996).
The site consists of over
70 structures concentrated in three
separate
loci
(Figure 3).
Two basic
types
of structures were
recorded: houses and
patios.
Houses are small and
round,
generally
between 3 and 5 m in
diameter,
with walls
composed
of unworked and dressed
fieldstone set in mud mortar. The walls were
orig-
inally
between I and 1.5
m
in
height.
Doors in the
house walls led to attached
patios, larger
ovoid
structures
up
to 14 m in
length.
Houses and
patios
formed
contiguous
structure clusters referred to as
patio groups.
A number of undefined structures
were also recorded. These structures were isolated
and had little evidence for domestic
occupation.
They may
be ancient
corrals, though
this remains
to be determined
through
further
testing.
Twenty-three patio groups
were recorded
through
surface
analysis
and
mapping.
On the sur-
face,
the recorded
patio groups appeared
to be
archaeological
households
using
the three criteria
outlined
by
Stanish for
recognizing
households in
the
archaeological
record
(Stanish 1989, 1992).
That is,
they
were (1) distinct structure
groups
that
were (2) repeated throughout
the site, and (3) con-
tained the material remains of domestic activities.
The
goal
of the excavations was to obtain infor-
mation on socioeconomic activities that took
place
in the
patio groups, including
the nature of
poly-
chrome
consumption,
and status differences at the
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
V
V
0
//o
0 Volischo
Of~ " Tururugi
cat
ya rande
-,00
Marca a
Ata' nco
00
alO
01800
Cerro
Marcaya
0
MinaSol de Oro
Cerro Pt
la1,0
400~ n
i1
kilorneter
Figure
2.
Map
of the immediate surroundings
of
Marcaya.
site,
including
differences in
polychrome
con-
sumption
between identified
patio groups.
A surface
analysis
was undertaken to determine
the
variability
in household size and labor invest-
ment
present
at
Marcaya.
In the surface
inspection,
the size of
patio groups,
the
presence
of internal
architectural
features,
and the
quality
of architec-
ture were recorded. Based on overall
dimensions,
patio groups
were defined as either small or
large,
with
patio groups
over
90
m2 defined as
large.
Inter-
nal features and architectural
spaces
visible on the
surface were also recorded.
Internally
defined
spaces
within houses and
patios
were
very
rare and
found in
only
three
patio groups. Finally,
the vari-
ability
in architectural
quality
was recorded. While
in most
houses,
walls were constructed
using
sim-
ple
fieldstone and mud
mortar,
in some
houses,
an
effort was made to delineate well-defined interior
spaces by using partially
dressed field stone with
smooth,
flat sides. Architectural differences were
also manifested in the construction of house doors.
Doors were made
by
either
leaving
a
gap
in the wall
construction or were framed
by
two dressed stones
placed vertically
on either side of the
gap.
In
short,
with
regards
to surface evidence of sta-
tus differences there were four criteria that differ-
entiated households:
(1)
size of the
patio group, (2)
presence
of internal architectural
features, (3) pres-
ence of worked stone in wall
architecture,
and
(4)
presence
of worked stone in the doors of houses.
Only
three
patio groups
at
Marcaya
met all four of
these criteria:
X, XII,
and XV
and,
based on these
surface
differences, they
were defined as
high-sta-
tus households
(Table 2;
see
Figure 4).
Household Excavations at
Marcaya
A
judgmental sampling strategy
was chosen to
attain excavation data that would
permit
evaluation
of the differences between
high-
and low-status
households. Excavations were conducted within
eight
different
patio groups (as
well as ten isolated
structures),
of which two were
high
status and six
were low status
(Figure 4).
The most common features encountered in exca-
vations were those related to food
processing,
preparation,
and
storage (Figures
5 and
6).
Each of
the
patio groups
excavated contained artifacts and
features related to these
activities,
though
the iden-
tified features and
quantity
of material recovered
varied from one
patio group
to another. Hearths
were found in numerous structures
including
both
houses and
patios,
and
large
batanes
(grinding
stones)
and
chungas (rockers)
were recovered as
well. Excavation and surface
analysis (as many
were
exposed
on the
surface)
revealed stone-lined
pits
in
virtually every
structure
(Figure 7).
Local
Vaughn]
/
: Marcaya
-Tocus
2/
.
-
architecture
-.
modern road
_ _ 2m contour
Locus10 meters
0
f,
!1:'.'
f '--'
'-'
'-'

2:-
?
..
-'
....
Figure
3.
Topographic map
of
Marcaya.
Based on surface
analysis,
the site was divided into three
principal
loci. Two
high
status
patio groups (X
and
XII)
are indicated.
informants indicated that modem features similar
to these were referred to in recent times as collo-
mas,
and this term was
adopted
for the
prehispanic
features.3
Aside from the
processing
and
storage
of sub-
sistence-related
goods,
material correlates of other
domestic activities were found. Most
patio groups
produced
some evidence for lithic
production using
local raw materials and obsidian from the
Quispi-
sisa source
(Vaughn
and Glascock
2004).
One
patio
group (V) appears
to be a small lithic
workshop.
Additionally,
residents of each household were
involved in
weaving.
Whole and
fragmented spin-
dle whorls were recovered in most
patio groups.
Analysis
of the size and
weight
of the
spindle
whorls
suggests they
were used to
spin
camelid
wool
(Vaughn 2000).
Economic activities at
Marcaya appear
to have
been
predominantly organized by
the household.
Archaeological
correlates for economic activities
found in each
patio group suggest
that households
were the
primary
economic unit at
Marcaya
and
each was
economically independent,
as each
patio
group
was
functionally
redundant and had the com-
ponents
to sustain a domestic unit. All households
contained evidence for food
storage
and
process-
[Vol. 15,
No. 1, 2004
Table 2. Various Measures of Status from Surface
Analysis
and Excavations
Suggest
That Two Patio
Groups,
X and
XII,
at
Marcaya
are
Noticeably
Different.
Worked Worked Status Based
Patio Area Stone Stone Internal on Surface
Polychrome Panpipe
Groups (m2)
Size Walls Door Architecture
Analysis
Index Index
I
? ? y y
n low 36.67 0.00
II
34.5 small n
y
n low n/aa n/a
III 16.4 small n n n low n/a n/a
IV 54.6 small
y y
n low n/a n/a
V 128.0
large y y
n low 32.16 0.00
VI 30.9 small n n n low n/a n/a
VII ? ? n
y
n low n/a n/a
VIII 145.5
large y y
n low 33.33 0.00
IX
57.6 small n
y
n low n/a n/a
X 126.9
large y y y high
143.88 0.75
XI 91.8
large
n n n low 97.57 0.19
XII
95.9
large y y y high
130.7 0.68
XIII 63.7 small
y y
n low n/a n/a
XIV ? ?
y y
n low 128.00 1.00
XV 112.0
large y y y high
n/a n/a
XVI 54.0 small
y y
n low n/a n/a
XVII 44.2 small
y y
n low n/a n/a
XVIII 66.6 small
y y
n low n/a n/a
XIX 32.2 small n
y
n low n/a n/a
XX 26.8 small n n n low n/a n/a
XXI 57.0 small n
y
n low n/a n/a
XXII 71.5 small n
y
n low 32.22 0.00
XXIII 25.8 small n n n low n/a n/a
Indices were calculated
by dividing
the
weight
of the artifact
type by
the total cubic meters
excavated, resulting
in a stan-
dardized measure for each
patio group.
Note that Patio
Group
XV was not excavated.
ing, cooking,
and
consumption. Collomas,
the
only
known
storage
facilities at
Marcaya,
were found
without
exception,
either within the confines of
patios
and houses or in
closely
associated
patio
groups.
No evidence for communal
storage,
food
processing,
or other activities were revealed.
An
exception
to the
self-sufficiency
of house-
holds was that none
appeared
to
produce pottery.
Indeed,
firing
loci,
caches of
clay, wasters,
and
other
manufacturing
evidence were not found in
fieldwork.
Additionally, spindle
whorls were made
by
the rather laborious
process
of
modifying
bro-
ken wall sherds from
large storage vessels,
pro-
viding evidence,
albeit
indirect,
that ceramics were
not made at the site.
Ceramics recovered within all
patio groups
fell
into the Nasca 3 and Nasca 4
phases (e.g.,
Proulx
1968),
and radiocarbon dates from charcoal sam-
ples span
a
relatively
short
period
of time
(Table
3). Although
when two standard deviations are
taken into
consideration,
the
occupation
of the site
could
encompass
several
centuries,
all three radio-
carbon dates
overlap
within the end of the fourth
and the
beginning
of the fifth centuries
A.D.,
specif-
ically
A.D.
370-420,
suggesting
that this interval
may
have been the
primary occupation
of the site.
Overall,
the shallow
deposits,
the
relatively
restricted
phases
of the
pottery,
as well as the radio-
carbon dates
suggest
a short
occupation
at
Marcaya.
Though
fieldwork did not reveal evidence for
its
manufacture,
pottery
was the most
ubiquitous
artifact. The
pottery
included what was defined as
utilitarian ware
(wall
thickness 6 mm or
more)
and
fine ware
(wall
thickness less than 6
mm).
This arbi-
trary
classification
separated
the vessel
assemblage
into two basic
categories: painted polychrome pot-
tery
and
plain
utilitarian
pottery.
This classification
encompassed
all vessel
types
except
for one. The
exception
was a
type
of
glob-
ularjar simply
decorated with
wide,
wavy,
maroon
lines on a white or buff
background
with black out-
line.
Strong (1957:Figure 12) originally
referred to
this
design
as Cahuachi Broad Line
Red, White,
and
Black,
and others have followed
(Silverman
Vaughn]
Sxx
,xxi
XX0
XIX
Site Datum
Test Unit 1
XVIIXV
XXIIIll
X
,
XV
XVI
IV
X
XII
XIII
o C
CVL
,VIII
VII
-
VI
IV
..)
-
III
Excavated structure
N
Structure excavated
with test trench
10t m1eters
Figure
4. Excavated structures at
Marcaya.
Dashed lines indicate
patio groups
as
designated
in the field.
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,2004
Patio
Group
XII
SHigh
artifact concentration
t
Deflated
N 2m
Colloma
Deflated
Sub-Datum B
+ a
Colloma
Hearth
Batan
Deflated
SAsh
ump
ola
Storage pit
Headja
Structure 29
x1
Roof supports
Figure
5. Excavations in Patio
Group XII.
1993).
In
published
literature,
this
design
is
only
present
on a
particular
vessel
form,
referred to as
Three-Handled
Jars
(shape TIT) (Kroeber
and Col-
lier
1998:Figures 90, 128, 155,
and
187;
Proulx
1970:64 and Plate
12E).
I refer to these
jars
sim-
ply
as
"painted jars" (Vaughn
and Neff
2000),
and
the term refers
specifically
to these three-handled
jars
with the Cahuachi Broad Line
Red, White,
and
Black
design.
Painted
jars
are an
exception
to the
dichotomy
between utilitarian ware and fine ware
because
they
are
painted (although
sometimes
crudely)
but have
very
thick walls. In this
paper,
these
painted jars
are referred to as utilitarian wares
because of their wall thickness.
Both utilitarian and fine wares were found in all
excavated contexts
(Figures
8 and
9).
When the
MNI
indicator is used4 the
proportion
of fine ware
vessels at
Marcaya
amounts to 55
percent
of the
total vessel
assemblage (Table 4). Compositional
analysis
of the
pottery through
neutron activation
demonstrated that the
composition
of the
utilitat-
ian wares varied while the fine wares were com-
positionally homogeneous, strongly suggesting
that
although they
were not
produced
at the
site,
poly-
chrome
pottery
was
produced
in a concentrated
context
(Vaughn
and Neff
2000),
one of the indi-
cators of
specialization (Costin 1991).
Nasca
Polychrome Consumption
at
Marcaya
Table 5 lists all vessels
by type,
count,
and
per-
centage
of the total
assemblage
recovered at Mar-
caya
in excavations. Almost half
(45 percent)
of the
vessel
assemblage
is
composed
of
polychrome
bowls
(30 percent)
and bulbous vases
(15 percent).
The next 32
percent
of the
assemblage
consists of
plain
ollas
(23 percent)
and
plain
collared
jars (9
percent),
while the
remaining
23
percent
is com-
posed
of the other vessel
types.
With the
exception
of a few vessel
shapes
that seem related to status
differences
(see below),
the
proportions
of vessel
Vaughn]
loose silt
compact d silt
-
Xi
x/
:
; : :~ 3~ ~ ~ a ~ :777.7s.
silt '
>:
oci
~ ::" : ?: ~ ~
5~ 3*
Q
~ 3cis
C
~ cie?' c cno 'n: n'n?'O: '~ :
0 Ashy, pebbly, silt ,cci-
%~ icc
00
'~ ci~ g cmpaced sit
wth charcoal
CO ctd l0i -,0-gc c 4~ c ~ ~ ),ga'o~ a
00 Q, soag-faur0ci
stoagefeaure
rocysandy
silt (sterile):..'.
compactec
V
:::
ci ~ ~ ci e-2:c
?
- c ?o~ Oci
0cC3~ ijci~
lenses
ci 0.~ .~
..0., ..0:c
jjjj 2c?;c2 a s
cii
.... ... .
ks to
eawr
extent oexati
20Cma E
& A3.
a
CO 01. CO~ '
0...
c3.:
?,\ 0 ;.ol:: r I?- :n?~ ~ u?::u ??.~ .:?Ib!:~ ~ CO
:0?~ 0:Lu:9~ j~ d~ :extent
of excavation??o
20cm E- .~ h
Figure
6. Profile of excavations in Structure 29.
types
are
relatively
consistent across households.
Additionally,
the
pottery
at
Marcaya
was clas-
sified into functional
categories (e.g., Sinopoli
1991:84).
Vessel
types
were divided into the three
basic
categories
of
cooking, serving,
and
storage,
and an additional
category
of "other" when func-
tion could not be determined. This functional clas-
sification reveals that all
serving
vessels are
polychrome
fine
wares,
including
bowls, dishes,
and
vases,
while all vessels
relating
to
storage
and
preparation
of food are utilitarian
wares,
including
undecorated
jars, painted jars,
and
unpainted
ollas
(Table 5).
With the
exception
of several
very
small
plainware
bottles
(n
=
3), plainware
vessel
shapes
that would have functioned as
serving
vessels were
not found at
Marcaya.
This fact is consistent with
Silverman's
(1993) previous
excavations at
Cahuachi,
as she found that the
only
utilitarian ves-
sels used for
serving
were
plainware
bowls,
restricted to the earlier Nasca
1
occupation
of the
site
(Silverman 1993:Figure 16.34).
Thus,
quite literally,
crafts at
Marcaya
were used
for consumption. Polychromes
were used for serv-
ing
and
consuming
food and drink. Vessel
shapes
include bowls of
varying types (flaring
bowls,
straight bowls,
convex
bowls, very deep
bottom
bowls,
cup
bowls,
and
dishes5),
bulbous
vases,
and
jars (collared jars,
head
jars; Figure 10). Despite
the
variety
of vessel
shapes,
the
majority
of
poly-
chromes at
Marcaya
consisted of
flaring
bowls and
bulbous
vases,
found with
regularity
in all house-
holds.
If
patio groups
were residential units
(as
deter-
mined in
excavations),
we would
expect
functional
categories
of
pottery
to be distributed
relatively
equally across
them. That
is,
each
patio group
should have
yielded
the
necessary pottery
to sus-
tain a small household.
Indeed,
each
patio group
excavated had vessels for
preparing
food
(ollas),
storing
food and drink
(undecorated jars, painted
jars),
and for
serving
food and drink
(bowls, dishes,
vases,
jars).
The most
significant
find, however,
was that all households had access to
fine
ware
polychromes. Thus,
the data from
Marcaya
confirm
assessments made
previously
that
polychromes
were
ubiquitous
in Nasca domestic contexts and
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
Figure
7. Collomas in Structure 27 of Patio
Group
XI.
were in fact used for
everyday consumption
in
Nasca
society.
Status
Differences
in
Polychrome Consumption
at
Marcaya
Polychrome
fine
wares, however,
should not be con-
sidered a
single
undifferentiated class of artifacts.
According
to
previous analyses
of Nasca
pottery,
several vessel
shapes
have been classified as
"pres-
tigious"
forms associated with
high
status. Proulx
(1968:13) suggests
that the Nasca double
spout
and
bridge
bottle,
the hallmark of the Nasca
style,
was
the most
prestigious
vessel
type. Additionally, analy-
sis
by
Carmichael revealed
only
two
polychrome
vessel
shapes
reserved for mid- to
high-status
graves: paired
and miniature vessels
(Carmichael
1995:171).
He also noted that
particular
vessel
shapes
such as the double
spout
and
bridge
bottle,
the
cup
bowl,
and collared
jar (Carmichael
1988:313, 396) wereprimarily
associated with mid-
to
high-status graves, though they
were occasion-
ally
found in low-status
graves
as well.
Double
spout
and
bridge
bottles,
miniature ves-
sels,
and
paired
vessels were not found at
Marcaya.
Apparently,
none of these were
part
of the domes-
tic vessel
assemblage,
and their absence
suggests
that
they may
have been reserved for burials. There
were, however,
notable differences in
polychrome
pottery consumption among
households defined as
high
and low status
(see
Table
2).
While
poly-
chrome
pottery
at
Marcaya
was consumed in
high
quantities
at all
patio groups,
a
greater quantity
was
consumed in the two excavated
high-status
house-
holds: X and XII. There were also several vessel
shapes
found
solely
within these two
high-status
households. In
particular,
modeled
headjars
were
found
only
in excavations here. At least four head-
jars,
and
possible fragments
of
more,
were found
Table 3. 14C Dates from
Marcaya.
Sample
# Uncalibrated Date 813C Date
cal,
20a Context Material
Beta-118726 1720?40 B.P. -25.0%o A.D. 240-420 29d4 Charcoal
Beta-118727 1630?40 B.P.
-25.0%0o
A.D. 370-540 Structure
27,
Feature 20C Charcoal
Beta-120762 1760?60 B.P. -25.0%o A.D. 130-420
llfl
Charcoal
a(Stuiver et al
1993).
Vaughn]
Figure
8.
Example
of a
headjar
found in Structure 29
(see Figure 5).
in Structure 29
(Patio Group XII),
while one exam-
ple
was found in structure 35
(Patio Group
X;
Fig-
ures
11
and
12).
Headjars. Headjars
are modified versions of the
bulbous-vase (Proulx 1968:14)
and were made
begin-
ning
in Nasca 3. These vessels
depict
distinct males
with elaborate
headdresses,
facial
markings,
and
usually
facial
hair,
and are either
depicted
alive with
open eyes
or as "disembodied heads"
(trophy heads)
with
upward-facing eyes
and
spines through
the
lips
(DeLeonardis 2000:380).
Anatomical
accuracy
was
accomplished by placing
modeled features on the
heads
including
ears and a nose.
Though
Silverman
(1993:226,
Note
4)
has
reported
a
headjar
found in
the fill in
Passageway
1 of Unit 19 at
Cahuachi,
most
headjars
have been recovered in
mortuary
contexts.
[5 cm
Figure
9.
Cup
bowl in Structure 29.
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
Table 4. Vessel Count at
Marcaya by Shape.
Polychrome
Vessel
Shape
Total Vessel
Assemblage
%
Bowl 128 30.1
Dish 20 4.7
Vase 62 14.6
Head Jar 7 1.6
Decorated Collared Jar 6 1.4
Other
(fine)
9 2.1
Total
Polychrome
232 0.55
Utilitarian Vessel
Shape
Total Vessel
Assemblage
%
Painted Jar 27 6.4
Collared Jar
(plain)
38 8.9
Olla 96 22.6
Handles 29 6.8
Bottles 3 0.7
Total Plainware 193 0.45
Total Vessels 425 100
Headjars
have been found
deliberately replacing
the
head of
decapitated
individuals in at least one
tomb,
Grave 7 of Kroeber and Collier's
(1998:118, Figure
154) sample,
and some have
argued
that
headjars
depicting
live individuals were used to
replace
the
heads of headless bodies in tombs
(Blasco
and
Ramos
1980).
Carmichael
(1988:314), however,
has
found that this
practice
did not occur with
regular-
ity.
Even
so,
few
headjars
have been found outside
of
mortuary
contexts
(DeLeonardis 2001).
Of the
headjars
found at
Marcaya,
three are
complete enough
to evaluate the
person depicted.
All three are
"alive"
in that their
eyes
are
open,
and
they
do not have
spines through
their
lips (Figure
12). They
were found in the
occupational
stratum
of the
patio groups, though
one
(Figures
11 and
12d)
was found scattered
throughout
Patio
Group
XII and was reconstructed from these
fragments,
and
another,
found within a
colloma,
consisted of
a
variety
of broken
pottery
within Structure 35 of
Patio
Group
X
(Figure 12e).
Other
High-Status
Vessel
Types.
In addition to
headjars,
other vessel
types
were restricted to Patio
Groups
X and XII. Patio
Group
XII
yielded
one of
the
only examples
of a fine ware collared
jar
and two
of the three
cup
bowls,
both mid- to
high-status
ves-
sels in
Carmichael's (1988) study. Furthermore,
Patio
Group
X contained the
only example
of a
very-deep
bottomed
bowl,
and the
only
modeled
effigy
vessel
in the
shape
of an unidentified animal.
All of these vessel
shapes
were
probably
used
for
serving,
with
headjars, cup
bowls,
and collared
jars
used
specifically
for
drinking (see
Silverman
and Proulx 2002:132 for discussion of the
cup
bowl
as a ritual
drinking vessel),
and because of its
size,
the
very-deep
bottomed bowl was
probably
used
for
serving.
Therefore,
although
their distribution
was
limited,
these
high-status
vessels served essen-
tially
the same function as bowls and vases that
were found in all households at
Marcaya.
Table 5. Vessel
Assemblage
at
Marcaya by
Function.
Function Vessel
Shape
Total % Total %
Category
Serving
Bowl 128 30.12 56.64
Dish 20 4.71 8.85
Vase 62 14.59 27.43
Head Jars 7 1.65 3.10
Decorated Jars 6 1.41 2.65
Plainware bottle 3 0.71 1.33
Total 226 53.18 100.00
Storage
Painted Jar 27 6.35 41.54
Collared Jars 38 8.94 58.46
Total 65 15.29 100.00
Cooking
Olla 96 22.59 100.00
Total 96 22.59 100.00
Other/ Unknown Handles 29 6.82 76.32
Other fineware 9 2.12 23.68
Total 38 8.94 100.00
Total 425 100.00
Vaughn]
Figure
10.
Polychrome
vessel
shapes
found in excavations. Vessel
shapes
are based on Proulx's
(1968) designations: (a)
Very Deep
Bottom
Bowl, (b) Flaring
Bowl
Type 1, (c) Dish, (d) Flaring
Bowl
Type 2, (e)
Bulbous
Vase, (f)
Convex
Bowl,
(g) Cup Bowl, (h)
Collared
Jar, (i) Straight-Sided
Bowl.
Panpipes. Panpipes
were rare and restricted to
four
patio groups (X, XI, XII, XIV).
The
highest
quantity
of these artifacts was found in Patio
Groups
X and
XII. Although present
in Patio
Group
XI,
panpipes
were rare
there,
and limited excava-
tions in Patio
Group
XIV
yielded only
one small
fragment.
The
frequency
of
panpipes
in Patio
Groups
X and XII correlates with the
high quanti-
ties and
diversity
of
polychromes
associated with
those
patio groups.
Because of their use in cere-
monial contexts
(see
Silverman
1993), presumed
specialized
manufacture
(Dawson 1964),
and
restricted
distribution,
panpipes
also seem to cor-
relate with
higher
status at
Marcaya,
with
high-sta-
tus households
having
access to more of these
goods.
Status
Differences
at
Marcaya.
In
sum,
the evi-
dence from surface
analysis
and excavations
sug-
gests
that the households
represented by
Patio
Groups
X and XII were of
higher
status than other
households. While other
patio groups
had
high-
quality
architecture,
some
fineware,
and
panpipe
remains,
these two
patio groups
had all of the cri-
teria used to evaluate status at
Marcaya. They
were
two of the
larger patio groups, they
had internal
architecture,
and their houses were constructed of
worked stone.
Additionally,
excavation revealed
high quantities
of
polychromes,
restricted vessel
types
such as
headjars,
and a
higher quantity
of
pan-
pipes
than other excavated households.
Discussion
Excavations at
Marcaya
demonstrate that an entire
class of
finely
crafted
objects-polychrome pot-
tery-was
available to a wide
range
of
people
in
Nasca
society
and consumed
by
individuals and
households of both
high
and low status.
Poly-
[Vol. 15,
No.
1,
2004
15 cm
Figure 11. Headjar
found in Patio
Group
XI (see
also
Figure 12d).
chromes,
especially
bowls and
vases,
were used for
daily consumption
in the household context.
Although by
virtue of their
appearance
and rela-
tive
fineness,
they
seem to be a
prestige good-the
kind
archaeologists
often assume were reserved for
elites-Nasca
polychromes
were used
ubiqui-
tously.
Even
so,
the data from
Marcaya
also
sug-
gest
that Nasca
polychromes
should not be
analyzed
as a
single homogeneous
class of
finely
made
objects. Indeed,
certain vessel
types
were
restricted to households of
higher
status,
in
partic-
ular
headjars, cup bowls,
modeled
vessels,
and col-
lared
jars.
What does the extent and differences in
this
consumption
at
Marcaya
mean in terms of the
role of crafts in Nasca
society
and in
middle-range
societies in
general?
Feasting,
Household
Ritual,
and the
Consump-
tion
of Polychromes
In an
attempt
to understand the
apparent
distribu-
tion of
polychromes throughout
the Nasca heart-
land,
(2002:246) suggest
that
"(the) pottery
was
widely
circulated ... for the
pur-
pose
of
widespread participation
in Nasca ritual."
Additionally, they suggest
that
panpipes
at habita-
tions
suggest
"home rituals and
portage
to other rit-
ual sites"
(Silverman
and Proulx
2002:201).
The
principal
rituals of Nasca most
likely
were enacted
at
Cahuachi,
where
important
individuals
spon-
sored
large
feasts and
group
ceremonies
(Silverman
1993;
2002:132; Strong
1957:3;
Valdez
1994)
that welcomed the annual
harvest,
or
perhaps
the renewed
flooding
of rivers
each
year
to nourish the fields
(see,
for
example,
Carmichael
1998:224;
DeLeonardis
2000:364).
Along
the
dry
desert coast where water was such
a critical
resource,
individuals who
sponsored
feasts
and ceremonies tied to
agricultural cycles
would
have
gained significant
status as mediators between
the natural and
supernatural
worlds. In
fact,
these
feasts were
opportunities
for their
sponsors
to dis-
play
and
negotiate
their status
(Silverman
and
Proulx
2002:244), making
them
charged political
events.
People
from the
region
made
periodic pil-
grimages
to the site to take
part
in ceremonies that
enabled
frequent
and
repetitive
status
negotiation
between those who
sponsored
the feasts and those
who
participated
in them.
Based on the data
presented
here,
I
suggest
that
the activities at Cahuachi were
replicated locally
within
communities,
albeit at a smaller scale. This
is consistent with Silverman and Proulx's
hypoth-
esis that fine
pottery
"in Nasca domestic conte4ts
could have acted ... to maintain the
relationship
between distant ritual and
supracommunal
sacred
settings
and the
dynamic,
localized social order"
(Silverman
and Proulx
2002:264).
These rituals
were
performed
in local
villages, perhaps
to con-
tinue to ensure
agricultural
success,
which must
have been a constant concern in this
dry
environ-
ment. Communal
feasting
areas and
spaces
were
not
present
at
Marcaya, suggesting
that rituals were
limited to the household rather than for the com-
munity
as a whole.
Differences between household and communal
ritual have been noted
among
traditional Andean
groups.
For
example, among
the
Sonqo,
Allen
(1988:201)
notes differences between communal
festivals and household ritual: "In communal fes-
tivals, it is not the household but the
ayllu (com-
munity)
as a whole that commands ritual attention."
These communal festivals for the entire
ayllu
often
Vaughn]
Figure
12.
Headjars
found in
Patio Groups
X and XII:
(a)
Structure
29, (b)
Structure
29, (c)
Structure
29, (d)
Structure
29
(also depicted
in
Figure 11), (e)
Structure 35.
took the form of
processions
and
pilgrimages.
In
contrast,
certain small-scale rituals such as the
"despacho,"
in which the earth and sacred
places
are nourished with
offerings
of
coca, food,
and
alcohol,
occurred within the house and were led
by
the head of the household
(Allen 1988:153).
Per-
haps
similar distinctions were made in
Nasca,
where
large processions
and
pilgrimages
to
Cahuachi were followed
by public
feasts and com-
munal
celebrations,
while smaller rituals were con-
ducted within the household.
Allen also illustrates that
"power objects"
in
Sonqo
called
enqa
and istrilla are
extremely impor-
tant in
understanding
the ritual lives of
modem
indigenous
Andean
groups (Allen 1988:201).
These
power objects
were
brought
out on
special
ceremonial occasions from their
holding places.
They
are said to be
kawsaqkuna
or
"living
ones"
and
"they
are the source of the health and
fertility
of the
livestock,
the
crops,
and the
family
members
themselves"
(Allen 1988:59). Furthermore,
they
"store
vitality
and
well-being by forging
a con-
nection between the household and the Sacred
Places" in
Sonqo (Allen 1988:201). Perhaps poly-
chromes were
"power objects"
in the same sense
that Allen uses the
term,
as
they
connected the activ-
ities
taking place
at sacred
places
such as Cahuachi
directly
back to the households of Nasca.
Sacred Concerns in Mundane
Settings?
If
poly-
chrome
iconography
was the
principal
means of
disseminating
Nasca
ideology,
the
ubiquitous pres-
ence of
polychromes
at a residential
village strongly
indicates that ceremonial concerns in
Early
Nasca
society
were not limited to
regional
centers. In eval-
uating
Nasca
iconography,
Patrick Carmichael
(1992b: 187) suggests
that Nasca researchers have
implicitly
assumed a sacred vs. secular
dichotomy
in Nasca art
whereby mythical beings represented
the sacred
realm,
while
agricultural products
and
naturally depicted
human
beings represented
the
mundane,
or
secular,
realm. Carmichael asserts that
this is
essentially
a Eurocentric view of Nasca
iconography,
and that no such
dichotomy
existed
in the ancient Andean world.
Instead,
Nasca
iconography
should be
analyzed contextually,
and
if a sacred/secular
dichotomy
is not
assumed,
the
entire
body
of
images
can be seen as interrelated
visually
with no clear division between the sacred
and secular realms of life.
Similarly,
I submit that there was no clear
sep-
[Vol. 15,
No.
1, 2004
aration between these two
spheres
in
prehispanic
Nasca. Even in one of the most mundane of human
acts-eating
and
drinking-no
such division
existed between the sacred and secular.
Eating
and
drinking
took
place
within the household
using
polychrome pottery,
and the
very
act of
consump-
tion must have been a
ritually charged event,
whether it took
place
in a house at
Marcaya
or in
a
plaza
at Cahuachi. The
regular appearance
of
finely
decorated
serving
vessels within households
speaks
to their use in
everyday consumption.
As
polychromes
were
integrated
into
daily life,
the
ideologies initially played
out at Cahuachi were
reinforced in the household.
Status
Building
in Nasca Communities
While the
religious symbols displayed
on
poly-
chromes must have
appealed
to all members of
society
and created a demand for these
crafts,
the
differential
consumption
of certain vessel
types
among
households at
Marcaya suggests
that cer-
tain individuals
engaged
in activities aimed at
enhancing
their own
prestige.
This is not
surpris-
ing
as all consumers at residential sites
engage
in
power
relations
(Goldstein 2000:336),
with self-
interested individuals and
groups
often
attempting
to
gain
control of
relatively high
value
goods (Blan-
ton
1995;
Goldstein
2000;
Helms
1993;
LeCount
1999;
Stein
1998).
In
fact,
the
very emergence
of
inequality
is initiated and
propelled by
individuals
(or groups)
with
disparate agendas
and
strategies
to
compete
for eminence
(see
for
example,
Blan-
ton et al.
1996; Brumfiel and Fox
1994).
The arti-
factual evidence from
Marcaya
indicates that the
households of Patio
Groups
X and XII
may
have
been
making
such efforts.
Again,
a traditional Andean
group may
illumi-
nate the
patterns apparent
at
Marcaya.
In
modem
Sonqo,
alcaldes
(mayors)
serve as the ritual leader
of the
ayllu (Allen 1988:117).
The alcalde is
responsible
for
heading
communal work
parties
and initiates dances at
important
feasts
(Allen
1988:117).
Allen indicates that his
very presence
"validates
public
functions
in
which the Runakuna
(people)
act as a collective
body
and are actualized
as an
ayllu" (Allen 1988:117). The alcalde has no
real coercive
political power
and instead his author-
ity
lies in his
"capacity
to serve as a focus around
which the
ayllu
coheres"
(Allen 1988:117). Perhaps
the
high-status
households at
Marcaya
served sim-
ilar
capacities
in Nasca rituals and
processions
where
they represented
the
community
as a whole
and acted as intermediaries between the commu-
nity
and activities at Cahuachi.
Headjars, Fertility,
and Status. At
Marcaya,
sev-
eral vessel
types
with restricted
consumption
cor-
relate with defined status differences. The most
important
of these are the modeled
headjars, though
other restricted vessel
shapes
included
cup
bowls,
collared
jars,
modeled
vessels,
and
very-deep
bot-
tomed bowls. While all were used for
drinking
and
serving, why
were these
particular shapes highly
valued?
Analysis
of the
headjars
in
particular may
provide
clues to the
importance
of these vessel
shapes.
Recently,
Lisa DeLeonardis
(2000)
has
argued
that whether in actual
(i.e., disembodied,
or "tro-
phy" heads)
or
representational (i.e., iconography,
or
headjars)
form,
the head was the most
important
symbol
of
fertility
and the "life-force essence" of
Nasca
(DeLeonardis 2000:381). Indeed,
the corre-
lation of heads to
agricultural
motifs is well known
in
analyses
of Nasca
iconography (see
Blasco and
Ramos
1980;
Carmichael
1992b, 1994;
Proulx
1989;
Sawyer
1966;
2002),
and as
previously
stated,
the correlation is often
direct with the
"Sprouting
Head" motif as a clear
example (Carmichael 1992b).
While
headjars
at
Marcaya appear
to be
repre-
sentations of live
individuals,
their
potency
was
probably
no less than those "disembodied" heads
representing
dead
individuals, especially
because
the distinction between life and death was blurred
in the Andean world
(see
for
example
Allen
1988:63,
as well as Carmichael 1994 for a Nasca
example).
If we consider
headjars
to be
represen-
tations of
specific people (DeLeonardis 2000:381),
and
perhaps given
the elaborate headdresses and
facial
markings, high-status
individuals,
the
repre-
sentation of their heads in ceramic form would have
captured
the most
important
element of that
per-
sona. It is therefore not
surprising
to see that their
physical representation, skillfully
manifested in
modeled
headjars,
became the most
prestigious
vessel at domestic sites.
The use of
headjars
would have
provided
a direct
link to an
important
individual.
Although obviously
we are in no
position
to determine who these indi-
viduals were, we can
speculate
that
they
were
important
ancestors or
perhaps important living
Vaughn]
EARLY NASCA CRAFT CONSUMPTION
83
individuals. Since
headjars
were most
likely
ves-
sels from which to
drink,
I
suggest
that
they pro-
vided a
very
direct link between Nasca
religion
incorporating fertility concepts, specific important
individuals,
and the
very
act of
consumption
itself.
In her discussion of
polychrome consumption
in Terminal Classic Lowland
Maya
sites,
Lisa
LeCount
(1999) suggests
that individuals of
high
status who
may
have
greater
access to elite ideol-
ogy
can use materials that manifest this
ideology
as
political currency
to further individual and
group
political
ambitions. In a similar
vein,
I
suggest
that
the status differences at
Marcaya
were a result of
the affiliations that
high-status
households had with
activities at Cahuachi. In the case of
Nasca,
serv-
ing
as intermediaries between local communities
and the ceremonial center would have been of
great
value for the self-interest of those who
sought
to
enhance their own
prestige. By being
intermedi-
aries,
these individuals
may
have had direct access
to the ceremonial and
feasting
activities at
Cahuachi,
and
perhaps
even the esoteric
knowledge
retained
by
the elites of
Early
Nasca.
Concluding
Remarks
While it has been demonstrated that
polychromes
were vital to Nasca domestic
life,
it is difficult to
fully
understand their
importance
without exam-
ining
the initial
production
and
subsequent
distri-
bution of ceramic crafts in Nasca
society.
To
understand the broader
implications
of this
study,
we should seek to understand the entire craft econ-
omy
of Nasca.
Because
polychromes
were not
produced
at
Marcaya they
must have been obtained elsewhere
either
through exchange
or redistribution. The
homogeneity
of the
polychrome pastes along
with
the variable
composition
of other wares indicates
that
polychromes
were
produced
in a restricted
locus. This
proposition
has been further
supported
by
additional
compositional
studies of
polychrome
paints
from
Early
Nasca sites located in the SNR
that
suggested
a
very
uniform black
paint recipe
(Vaughn
et al. 2004).
Given the
weight
of current evidence, I
suggest
that the most
likely
locus of Nasca
polychrome
production
was Cahuachi and that a
surplus
of
poly-
chromes not
only
was
produced there, but also was
distributed to
groups making pilgrimages
to the
site (see also
Vaughn 2000; Vaughn
and Neff 2000).
The actual mechanism
by
which
polychromes
were
distributed is not
known,
but one
possibility
is that
they
were distributed
during
the ceremonial feasts.
This is consistent with
ethnographic
and archaeo-
logical examples
of
feasting
and the manner in
which
highly
valued crafts can be distributed in
middle-range
societies. Feasts were
politically
charged
events that enabled individuals and
groups
to enhance their own
status,
often
through
the
gift-
ing
of
important
material items and the
serving
of
large quantities
of food and drink.
In
Nasca,
a clear link existed between
agricul-
tural
fertility
and
polychrome pottery,
as this class
of
objects provided
the
principal
vehicle for Nasca
ideology.
Ceremonial feasts that involved
large
amounts of
polychrome pottery-and perhaps
the
distribution of this
pottery-would
have
provided
the
sponsors
of these feasts an
opportunity
to link
themselves
directly
to
agricultural fertility,
the most
important
concern in Nasca ritual
life,
thus
greatly
enhancing
their status.
Wherever the locus of ceramic
production
and
distribution in
Nasca,
whether it was limited to
Cahuachi or included other
production
centers,
the
act of
producing
the sacred
pottery
must have been
imbued with
special significance. Certainly,
the
process
of
creating
the
pottery
and the
subsequent
control of that
production
would have bestowed
sig-
nificant status to the individual or
group
of indi-
viduals
responsible.
I have considered the
consumption
of
highly
valued crafts in
middle-range
societies
by
evaluat-
ing
the
consumption
of
polychrome pottery
in
Early
Nasca
society.
While much work is needed to
fully
understand the Nasca craft
economy,
and the con-
clusions reached here must be tested
against
future
studies at
comparable
sites within the
region,
I have
attempted
to
explain
the
apparent
contradiction
between the restricted
production yet widespread
distribution and
consumption
of Nasca
polychrome
pottery. Clearly, polychrome production,
circula-
tion,
and
consumption
in ancient Nasca was far
more
complicated
than
previously suspected,
and
the research
presented
here is but one of a
growing
number of
examples indicating
that the
incorpora-
tion of crafts into the economies of
middle-range
societies was multifaceted and
complex.
Acknowledgments.
Fieldwork at Marcaya
was undertaken
with the
permission
of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura,
Lima, Peru (permit #2063-97). I thank my
Peruvian col-
No.
1,
2004
leagues
and friends Susana
Arce,
Ruben
Garcia,
Carmen
Garcia,
Fernando
Herrera, Johny Isla,
Josue Lancho
Rojas,
Moises Linares
Grados,
Julio
Nifiapaita, Miguel
Pazos,
and
Olivia
Segura.
Without their
help,
advice,
and
support,
this
research would have never been
possible.
Research was
funded
by
a Wenner Gren Foundation for
Anthropological
Research Small Grant
#6227,
and a
Fulbright-Hays
Doctoral
Dissertation Research Abroad
Fellowship
#P022A70041. I
particularly
thank the
Comisi6n Fulbright
in
Lima,
its direc-
tor,
Marcia Koth de
Paredes,
and her
friendly
and
helpful
support
staff.
Special
thanks
goes
to
Katharina
Schreiber
who
provided
the
early inspiration
and
encouragement
to
study
Nasca
villages.
The
original manuscript
of this
paper
was read
by
Patrick
Carmichael,
Christina
Conlee,
Anita
Cook,
Lisa
DeLeonardis,
Justin
Jennings,
Elizabeth
Klarich,
Barbara
Mills,
Katharina
Schreiber,
Helaine
Silverman,
Hendrik Van
Gijseghem,
Dawn
Vaughn,
and three
anony-
mous reviewers. Their
insights
and
very
valuable
critique
of
the
original
work
helped
me refine the ideas
presented
herein. I would also like to thank Claudia Rumold who
assisted me with the
Spanish
abstract. Suzanne
Fish,
Maria
Dulce
Gaspar,
Brian
McKee,
and the editorial staff at Latin
American
Antiquity
were
helpful
at all
stages
of the editorial
process,
and I thank them for their efforts. All mistakes and
omissions of course remain
my
own.
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Notes
1. Phase
1
of the Nasca
sequence
is
culturally part
of the
earlier
Ocucaje sequence (see
Cook
1999;
Silverman and
Proulx
2002:25, 38).
2. Reindel and Isla
(1998, 2001) suggest
that Los
Molinos,
a Nasca 3 civic-ceremonial center,
is a
regional
cen-
ter characteristic of state-level societies.
3. Collomas have been recorded
previously
at other sites
located in the south coast. Kroeber
(1944:137),
for
example,
reported
what he
thought
were tombs: subsurface,
rock-lined
pits
at Huaca Santa Rosa. Others
(Massey
1986:315;
Wallace
1971)
have
suggested
that, although
these features
may
have
been reutilized as tombs
by
later
populations,
their contents
and
placement
indicate instead that
they
were
storage pits.
While some collomas found at
Marcaya
were
empty
or filled
with sterile sand, many
contained domestic
garbage
and the
remains of comestibles. It was therefore concluded that these
were used for domestic
storage.
4. The MNI records the minimum number of vessels
pre-
sent in an
assemblage by using non-conjoining
rim sherds as
a
proxy
measure for entire vessels
(see
Clark and Blake
1994:28;
Silverman
1993; Vaughn 2000).
5. The Nasca vessel
repertoire
outlined
by
Proulx
(1968:13)
defines dishes as "interior decorated vessels of
varying depth."
The dishes of Nasca 3 and 4 tend to be as
deep
as bowls.
Submitted December 10, 2002; Accepted September
30,
2003;
November 26,
2003

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