Abstract
This paper presents the results of the study carried out on plant remains uncovered from various Nasca sites , especially during the archaeological research at the ceremonial center of Cahuachi . The analysis resulted in the identification of a total of 75 botanical species . On the basis of this information, and for the first time, we have evidence to compare similar data coming from several sites. From this study, the presence of several plant species is certain in all the sites, while others are rarely present or absent at all. Overall, this study indicates, that during the time of Cahuachi’s apogee, agriculture was very prosperous in the region and was the basis for the development of Nasca civilization.
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Notes
- 1.
Boliche or choloque (Sapindus saponaria) is included due to its importance in everyday life. Its peel contains saponine: a natural detergent which probably was used in personal cleaning as well as to wash cloths and clothes, for it is the sole ancient plant found in the excavations having these properties.
- 2.
Tooth wear is noticeable, especially in molars, as it has been observed in numerous Nasca mummies . Tooth wear is the result, among other causes, of mastication of roasted seeds and the ingestion of molluscs because they normally contained sand traces. (Andrea Drusini, personal communication, August 2006).
- 3.
Daniel Zohary asserts about this cosmopolitan vegetable that the small tubers of cyperus have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs (Zohary and Hopf 2000: 198). Also, Bresciani (1997: 37,45) contributes an Egyptian recipe for candies that were destined to the gods table and were processed with cyperus flour. In Europe, there is evidence of its cultivation for the preparation of food. Even today, in Valencia (southern Spain), the refreshing and nutritive beverage called horchata de trufa is prepared with the tubers of Cyperus sp.
- 4.
“Virus et usus: Fructus, quos peruvianae Feminae in forum mixtura odoris suavitate frequenter apponunt, lutei et edules sunt” (Ruiz and Pavón 1798: 128; 1957: 197). It is obvious that the name palillo is a Hispanicism . It seems that over time this species lost both its native name and its effective cultural presence. Soukop (1987) reports, in the vocabulary he researched, the vocable suana and related to palillo. Cobo (1890, V: 455) explains that suana is a root used to dye food yellow. Nowadays, the name palillo identifies a non-native plant, the curcuma (Zingiberaceae) . Weberbauer (1911: 230) located in the upper Amazon rainforest the ecological stratum where Campomanesia lineatifolia grows. Raimondi (1942: 4) lists Campomanesia sp. among the vegetation that he could only find on the Tarma-Chanchamayo route he traveled in 1855. It seems that nowadays the arid Peruvian coast does not favor the natural growth of said plant.
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Piacenza, L. (2016). The Role of Plants in the Nasca Culture. In: Lasaponara, R., Masini, N., Orefici, G. (eds) The Ancient Nasca World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_6
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