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Nazca

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Nazca or Nasca , ancient culture of the Nazca, Pisco, and Ica river valleys on the desert coast of S Peru. Flourishing during the first millennium AD, the Nazca culture seems to have developed out of the Paracas culture, and after 900 it was apparently under Tiahuanaco influence until the Inca conquered the region in the 15th cent. The Nazca excelled in the production of beautiful ceramics and textiles. Highly polished, expertly designed, and with polychrome painting, Nazca pottery is unlike that of other Peruvian cultures. Textiles show a multitude of weaving techniques and extraordinary skill in dyeing with several shades of the same color; both coastal cotton and highland alpaca wool were used. Aerial exploration of the arid tableland surrounding the Palpa valley has revealed a remarkable network of lines and trapezoids interspersed with giant animal figures of unmistakable Nazca origin; the animals were probably built to be seen by sky gods, and the lines are believed to be related to observations in astronomy.

Bibliography: See J. A. Mason, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru (1957, rev. ed. 1964); G. H. S. Bushnell, Peru (1956, rev. ed. 1963); E. P. Lanning, Peru before the Incas (1967); E. Hadingham, Lines to the Mountain Gods: Nazca and the Mysteries of Peru (1988).



Author not available, NAZCA., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008


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Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

The Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines O n the western side of the Andes mountain range are a modern town and a river named Nazca, as well as the mysterious remains of an ancient civilization also identified as the Nazca (sometimes spelled Nasca). Remnants of the... Read more
Nazca Lines
Nazca Lines a group of huge abstract designs, including representations of birds and animals, and straight lines on the coastal plain north of Nazca in southern Peru, clearly visible from the air but almost indecipherable from ground level. Made by exposing the underlying... Read more
Nazca Plate
Nazca Plate The lithospheric plate which is subducting under the South American Plate along the line of the Peru—Chile...plate margins are the ridges and transform faults which separate it from the Pacific , Cocos , and Antarctic Plates . The Nazca Plate is thought to have decreased in size: the former, ... Read more
Nazca
Nazca (or Nasca) A culture developed on the southern Peruvian coast c. 200 BC–600 AD, eventually eclipsed by the expansion...human figures. It also produced large drawings of animals, abstract designs, and straight lines on the coastal plain (the Nazca Lines), by clearing and aligning the surface stones to ... Read more
Nasca
Nasca see Nazca . Author not available, NASCA. , The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008 Read more

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