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A Cache of 48 Nasca Trophy Heads from Cerro Carapo, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David M. Browne ,
Helaine Silverman  and
Rubén García
David M. Browne
Affiliation:
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Crown Building, Plas Crug, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 1NJ, United Kingdom
Helaine Silverman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
Rubén García
Affiliation:
Museo de Sitio “Julio C Tello,” Municipalidad de Paracas, Peru
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Abstract

The recent discovery of a cache of 48 Nasca severed heads provides archaeologists with the largest-known associated and provenienced corpus of this material. Although recovery of the skulls was conducted as a salvage operation and the wider spatial context of the find is still unknown, preliminary physical anthropological analysis of the skeletal material, along with archaeological comparison of the cache, provide valuable information on the nature and role of head-hunting in ancient Nasca society of the south coast of Peru.

Una ofrenda de 48 cabezas decapitadas Nasca recientemente descubierta viene a ser el corpus más grande de este material con asociación y procedencia conocida. Aunque se recuperaron los cráneos mediante una excavación de rescate y, por consiguiente, el contexto espacial mayor del hallazgo todavía se desconoce, el análisis antropológico físico preliminar del material óseo y la comparación arqueológica proveen una información valiosa sobre la naturaleza y el papel de la caza de cabezas en la antigua sociedad Nasca de la costa sur del Perú.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 274 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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