Nasca Pottery Production: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Nasca polychrome pottery is renowned for the variety of vessel shapes painted in vivid colors with fantastic creatures from Nasca cosmology. But for all its fame and riveting aesthetic qualities, the actual production of Nasca pottery is little explored. In recent years the principal contributions have come from characterization studies of paste and mineral paints, along with fresh perspectives on the social context. This article reviews the work to date and points out areas where new research is needed. The archaeological context is presented first, followed by consideration of ecological factors, potting tools, vessel construction methods, firing features, and the place of polychrome pottery in Nasca society.

La cerámica policromada de Nasca es famosa por la variedad de formas de vasijas pintadas en colores vivos con criaturas fantásticas de la cosmología de Nasca. Pero a pesar de su fama y sus cualidades estéticas fascinantes, la producción real de cerámica de Nasca es poco explorada. En los últimos años, las principales contribuciones provienen de los estudios de caracterización de pinturas en pasta y minerales, junto con nuevas perspectivas sobre el contexto social. Este artículo revisa el trabajo hasta la fecha y señala las áreas donde se necesita una nueva investigación. El contexto arqueológico se presenta primero, seguido de factores ecológicos, herramientas de alfareros, métodos de construcción de recipientes, hornos de cerámica, y el lugar de la cerámica policromada en la sociedad de Nasca.

Keywords:

• Nasca pottery
• Nasca pottery production
• polychrome pottery
• Nasca society
• Nasca style
• Cahuachi
• Nasca potting tools
• Nasca pottery social context

Palabras Claves:

• cerámica Nasca
• la fabricación Nasca de cerámica
• cerámica policroma
• la sociedad Nasca
• el estilo Nasca
• Cahuachi
• las herramientas Nasca de fabricar cerámica
• el contexto social Nasca

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Kevin Vaughn for generously sharing his field notes. Translation of the Spanish language abstract was kindly provided by Professor Enrique Avila Lopez, Department of Languages and Culture, Mount Royal University. As always, I am grateful to Elizabeth A. Carmichael who prepared the figures.

Notes

1 In this article, I use the term “slip paint” to refer to paint applied before the vessel is fired.

2 Outside of the south coast these trees are called algarrobo in the vernacular, and frequently identified as Propopis chilensis following Towle (1961:56). However, Beresford-Jones provides a thorough review of the botanical literature and concludes the most precise classification is Prosopis limensi (2011:130–132). In this chapter I follow his lead.

3 Smoother (Sp. Alisador): In the building process, this tool is used to smooth and shape a vessel while the clay is moist, particularly on the interior walls where the object is also used to press and stretch the clay (Anders et al. 1998:240 refer to them as wall shapers). It is often made from a sherd by grinding the edges smooth (Figure 9), but there are reports of smoothers made from fragments of gourds (Anders et al. 1998:241) and shells (Grávalos and Vaughn 2015). A moist surface can also be smoothed using a cloth, maize cob, or section of split cane or wood (Anders et al. 1998:241; Rice 1989:138).

Burnisher (Sp. Bruñidor): When the pot is leather-hard or dry, a burnisher (usually a smooth river stone) is vigorously rubbed on the exterior to compact the surface clay or paint making it more permanent and giving the exterior an attractive high gloss (Rice 1987:138). Burnishing also reduces permeability and increases the tensile strength of the surface (Schiffer et al. 1994) in addition to providing greater resistance to abrasion. Less careful burnishing can leave a series of shallow, parallel facets on the surface (Rice 1987:138). These can be eliminated by using a polisher to remove the streaky appearance and smooth the surface luster. Examples are shown in Anders et al. (1998:239) and in Bachir Bacha and Llanos Jacinto (2013:195).

Polisher (Sp. Pulidor): This is the last tool used before the vessel is fired. Its purpose is to provide the final, even surface and high sheen to the vessel after burnishing. Burnishing is a much heavier application of pressure to thoroughly compact the surface particles. The purpose of polishing is to remove any slight ridges or facets left by that process and draw out a uniform luster. Polishers can be smooth river pebbles, usually smaller than burnishers, or consist of any hard-surface object such as a shell. They do not have standard shapes but simply provide a smooth surface to rub back and forth over the vessel exterior.

4 Here I use the term tinku in the Andean sense of combining ingredients for cooking or preparing medicines (Allen 2002:177).

5 Proto-Nasca, N1 Masked Being Motif (see Carmichael 2015:Fig. 19); Monumental N2 Masked Being (after Sawyer 1960:Fig. 2, see Carmichael 2015:Fig. 12); Transitional N5 Masked Being (after Roark 1965, Pl. 8, Fig. 40); Proliferous N6 Masked Being (after Roark 1965, Pl. 14, Fig. 62); Paracas Oculate Being, Ocucaje Phase 10 (see Carmichael 2016:Fig. 19); Bizarre Innovation N5 Masked Being (after Roark 1965:Pl. 10, Fig. 48); Kopara N7 Masked Being (redrafted from cover design on Tello Archive 2002, vessel 1/2015, Tomb 152, Las Trancas Valley).

6 The researcher’s choice of collection(s) to study will depend on the research question and methods of analysis. Surface-collected potsherds are suitable for destructive analyses involving thin-sectioning or chemical characterization, while gravelots with whole pots are better for identifying individual artists and other style questions. Collection accessibility is a major concern. A museum employee is usually assigned to assist (and watch) visiting researchers in storage areas, and this ties up museum space, resources, and personnel. Also, the researcher must fit in with regular work day schedules and closing times, including weekends and holidays. Most of the site survey and excavation collections going back to the middle of the last century are stored at the Museo Regional de Ica. Guiseppe Orefici’s collections from three decades of work at Cahuachi are in the Museo Antonini in Nazca. For the material from Julio Tello’s 1927 excavations see Isla Cuadrado (2001) and Tello Archive (2002). In the United States some major excavated collections from early in the last century are: William Farabee 1923, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania; Duncan Strong 1954, Columbia University, New York (Strong 1957), Alfred Kroeber 1927, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Kroeber and Collier 1998); and Max Uhle 1905 (purchased vessels with valley provenience), Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. The first step in locating collections for study is to contact the principal field investigator(s), and approach the museum director. Museum based research offers many advantages. The field data do not change; it is our methods of analysis and interpretive paradigms that shift. Graduate work must be based on first-hand study of archaeological collections (not pictures). Whether the investigator has a great deal of practical field experience, or is new to the profession, I would regard a thorough tour of the Ica-Nazca region as a minimal requirement for any serious scholarly effort toward an advanced degree. Ceramic analysis is not an end in itself, but one means toward an end. Archaeologists study people. People live in places, and imprint on them. One cannot comprehend a people without experiencing their land.