6. Ritual Uses of Trophy Heads in Ancient Nasca Society

Abstract

Centered in the Ica and Nasca valleys of south coastal Peru, the ancient culture known as Nasca dominated a wide area of southern Peru between 100 B.C. and 700 A.D. Here the Nasca people practiced intensive agriculture in one of the driest and most formidable environments in the world. The vast desert that covers the coastal plain of Peru and northern Chile is bisected by over forty river valleys that carry rain from the higher Andes across the landscape, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. It was in these narrow valleys and their tributaries that the ancient populations eked out their precarious existence, exploited the maritime resources of the ocean, and planted their crops in those parts of the valleys where sufficient water and adequate soils could be found. Survival in this harsh environment was of utmost concern, and many activities, both secular and sacred, revolved around providing for adequate food and water as well as appeasing the spiritual powers that controlled the forces of nature.