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CHAPTER THREE: Nasca Chronology
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CHAPTER THREE Nasca Chronology Relative Chronology of the Nasca Style Nasca pottery is found in a large area of the south coast of Peru 1 during the period of time called the Early Intermediate Period, c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 600 (fig. 3.1). Shortly after the discovery of the pottery, various researchers realized it was possible to distinguish two principal modalities inthe Nasca ceramic style (Rowe 1960: 29). Uhle (1914: 9) describes the differences between the two modalities in these terms. "It is easy to distinguish certain varieties among specimens of pottery of the same culture . Some will show a greater variety of colors, others are plainer; some show severe outlines in their figure designs, while others are marked by a free and flowing treatment, which often degenerated into a mass of meaningless staff or arrow-like points and scrolls around the original nucleus of the design. It appears that those designs which are distinguishable by the more severe treatment of the figure ornament in unison with the richest harmony of its coloring, must be considered as representing the earlier type." As is obvious in his analysis, Uhle thought that representational iconography preceded conventionalized designs . This decision was based on his belief in the existence of a law of artistic development from realism to conventionalism (see Rowe 1960: 29). Tello (1917; see also Rosse1l6 TrueI1960), on the other hand, argues that conventionalized Nasca pottery ("Pre-Nazca") preceded the referential corpus. Yacovleff (1932b) also offers a stylistic developmental ordering of Nasca art and concludes , like Uhle before him, that Nasca art evolved from representational motifs to abstract ones. Yet a third po30 sition is taken by Junius Bird, who maintains that the two strains were contemporary (see Rowe 1960: 38). From the beginning, then, we see that researchers recognized the existence of two modalities in Nasca art and tried to place them in chronological order. In an attempt to deal in a more systematic and less speculative way with the internal chronology of the Nasca style, Gayton and !(roeber (1927) devised a quantitative method of ordering which they considered suitable for collections of unassociated pottery such as that purchased by Uhle in Nazca. They established three attributes -shape, color, and design-and, "on the basis of the relationship existing between certain shapes and certain design and color preferences" (Gayton and I(roeber 1927: 6), they proposed the existence of four chronological phases or "substyles" in the Nasca style. These were A, the earliest; X, transitional; B, the latest; and Y, a miscellaneous category encompassing what today we would call Nasca 8 as well as sundry pieces they were otherwise unable to phase. I(roeber (1956: 327) later explained their methodology . "We divided the collection into 26 classes of shapes, and selected by inspection forty painted designs-with names largely translated from SeIer (1923 )-and then tabulated the co-occurrence of shapes and designs. The co-occurrences showed a definite trend, in that they lumped or clotted along a diagonal . The direction of this trend we inferred from variant forms of the same design of which one seemed 'naturally ' derivable from the other, but the reverse was not. In brief we established 4 classes [A, B, X, and Y]." Note that the direction of change in the Gayton-I(roeber Mast er Sequence Relat ive lea (Sout h Coast) Chronology lea 10 Colonia I Per iod 1500 Inca Inf Iuence 9 Lat e Hor izon 8_ ~8 7_ _7 6- -6 5 5 Late - lea 4_ _4 Intermediate 3 3 Period 2- 1000 -2 1 1 Der ived Huar i- 4 - Pachacamac 3 Middle Huar i Inf Iuence 2 Hor izon - Nasca 9 1 8 8 - 7 7 6 6 5 5 Early Nasca - ~ Intermediate 4 4 Period - ~ 3 3 - ~ 2 2 - ~ 1 A.D. 1 10 B.C. 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 Oeueaje 6 6 Early (Paracas) 5 5 Hor izon 4 4 3 3 (= Janabarriu) 2 in doubt 2 1 in doubt 1 Consuelo 1500 Initial (Ceramic) Erizo Period 2000 Pre-C eramic Casavilea 2500 VI Period 'llllj~ Pre-Ceramic I - V Periods "Ci scheme was based solely on their belief that the style had developed, as Uhle said, from more realistic to more conventionalized. The Gayton-I(roeber scheme was used until Rowe (1960: 38-40) published in preliminary form the seriation Lawrence Dawson had worked out on the same collection of pottery in 1952. Dawson subdivided the Nasca style into nine sequential...