Everyday Life and Society

– The Nazca lived along Peru’s southern coast between 100 BCE and 800 CE, forming agricultural communities supported by sophisticated irrigation.
– Their society included farmers, fishermen, artisans, and priests, each contributing to the civilization’s stability.
– They cultivated cotton, maize, beans, and potatoes using underground aqueducts called puquios.

Religion and Ritual Practices

– Nazca religion revolved around fertility, water deities, and supernatural beings depicted with masks, wings, and animal attributes.
– Rituals included offerings of pottery, textiles, crops, and sometimes trophy heads believed to contain spiritual power.
– Priests performed ceremonies on platform mounds long before the creation of the famous geoglyphs.

Artistic Achievements

– Nazca ceramics are among the most colorful in the ancient world, featuring vibrant red, orange, white, black, and yellow pigments.
– Their textiles show advanced weaving techniques and symbolic patterns representing gods, plants, and mythical beings.
– Artists created featherwork decorations using brilliantly colored bird feathers.

Technological and Engineering Skills

– The puquio system demonstrates remarkable hydraulic engineering, transporting water through spiral-shaped entrances and subterranean channels.
– Their architecture included ceremonial centers, pottery workshops, and residential compounds.
– The achievements of the Nazca people laid the cultural foundation from which the later geoglyphs emerged.