[Aztlan] New Discoveries at Cahuachi

[michael ruggeri]

Contact: Pedro Castro
Pedro.Castro at uab.es
34-935-814-336
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
New archaeological findings on political power in Peru



A team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University  
of Almería has completed its second part of the "Proyecto La  
Puntilla", an archaeological expedition to the Peruvian province of  
Nazca, where last year it discovered a new type of construction. The  
latest findings show that a new political power based on the exercise  
of violence emerged on the south coast of Peru two thousand years  
ago. There was a State in which an aristocracy, based in Cahuachi,  
exercised its dominion on other, poorer communities in the Nazca  
Valley. The team has also observed practices such as cranial  
deformation.

The excavations at the necropolis of El Trigal have uncovered new  
information on the repercussions of the emergence of the State in  
southern Peru. The archaeologists have found that El Trigal graves  
are very simple, in contrast with the extravagant tombs of the  
aristocracy around Nazca.

The situation shows the poverty that existed among the community in  
El Tribal. The dominant group in the State of Cahuachi imposed the  
transfer of wealth through taxes and other means. This explains the  
poverty of those living in the area of La Puntilla.

A settlement was established in El Trigal about 3000 years ago.  
Several centuries later, this had become an economically strong  
community with a vast network of relations with other territories.  
This hypothesis is backed up by the presence of valuable Spondylus  
shells (probably from the distant coasts of what today we know as  
Ecuador), obsidian (from the mountains), and craft tools, such as the  
boat decorated with the style known as Ocucaje 8 (possibly manual  
workers in the north).

However, the necropolis excavated in El Trigal, dated as being from  
the first century AD, represents a later period of decline and  
pauperisation in the community, coinciding with the emergence of  
Cahuachi.

This data confirms that 1900 years ago a State existed in the Nazca  
Valley based in the monumental settlements of Cahuachi, where  
pyramids were built. Those governing Cahuachi belonged to one of the  
groups who shared control over the south coast of Peru, such as the  
aristocratic group described in the Paracas necropolis (near Pisco),  
in the same area.

The dominant class in Cahuachi controlled the communities in the  
Nazca Valley using violence, forcing the communities to economically  
sustain the group in power. Between those communities were those that  
occupied the area known as La Puntilla, to the east of Nazca, where  
the research team has been excavating for the past two years.

Cranial deformation

One of the key findings at the necropolis was that some of the bodies  
found in the tombs have undergone certain manipulations. One such  
manipulation was cranial deformation in order to obtain an "elongated  
skull", and this has been observed in one of the corpses.

This practice took place during childhood by using wooden objects to  
put pressure on the skull. "Elongated skulls" are characteristic of  
the aristocracy buried in the tombs in Paracas, and a number of  
studies suggest that this treatment was a way of distinguishing  
dominant groups. This is why it is so significant that this  
characteristic has been found in an individual buried at the  
necropolis of a poor community in the Nazca Valley.

This discovery opens up a series of other questions: Is this the  
member of a family belonging to the dominant group? Or is the  
practice unrelated to a person's affiliation with a group? Was it a  
way of identifying individuals who took part in specific activities  
(for example, shamanism)?

In another tomb, another interesting case has been found. Alongside  
the corpse of a woman, they have found the legs and feet of another  
individual. We know that decapitation and dismemberment were frequent  
among the first states of the region, so we cannot discard the  
possibility that this was an intentional act.

The fieldwork in this second part of the "Proyecto La Puntilla" ended  
in December, and the material and human remains uncovered are now  
being studied. The research will be amplified through a programme to  
analyse the DNA in order to find evidence on the affiliation of those  
individuals buried at the necropolis.



###
The "Proyecto La Puntilla" is funded by the General Directorate for  
Fine Arts and Cultural Assets of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and  
by the Catalan Department of Education and Universities. The project  
is also recognised by the National Institute for Culture of Peru. The  
research team consists of archaeologists and students from Spain,  
Peru, Chile, Argentina, France and Italy.



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