Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T05:08:52.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Chronometric Dates for the Puquios of Nasca, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Persis B. Clarkson  and
Ronald I. Dorn
Persis B. Clarkson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage: Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9, Canada
Ronald I. Dorn
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0104
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Numeric age assessments of organic material encapsulated by rock varnish present on stone lintels of two “puquios” in the Nasca region of the south coast of Peru indicate a Precolumbian age. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon analyses at the Isotrace Laboratory revealed ages of cal A. D. 560(620)650 and cal A. D. 600(640)660 (1 sigma). These calibrated measurements are considered to be appropriate in the context of the archaeological settlement pattern data for the region. As well, the written documents of the colonial period neither confirm nor deny the presence of the puquios. Three assumptions are inherent in the acceptance of these dates: (1) AMS 14C dating and its application to rock varnish yield reliable results, (2) sample contamination can be recognized, and (3) determination of the age of the puquios rests upon testable available information; ex silentio arguments about the presence or absence of the puquios in the Nasca region before the Spanish conquest are inadequate for the resolution of the question.

Se ha determinado la edad cronológica en los dinteles de dos puquios de la región de Nasca, costa sur del Perú, en base a material orgánico encapsulado en barniz de roca; los fechados indican que los puquios son prehispanicos. Los estudios radiocarbonicos de espectrometría por aceleración de masa (14C ACM) realizados en los laboratorios Isotrace han proporcionado dos fechas radiocarbonicas calibradas 560(620)650 D. C. y 600(640)660 D. C. (1 sigma) respectivamente. Estas fechas calibradas se consideran apropriadas dentro del contexto de los patrones de asentamiento prehistórico de la región de Nasca, entendiendo además que los documentos coloniales no confirman ni niegan la existencia de puquios en la zona. Tres premisas son inherentes a la aceptación de estos fechados: (1) el fechamiento de 14C mediante ACM proporciona resultados fiables e aceptables para el estudio del barniz de roca, (2) cualquier contaminación de las muestras puede ser detectada, y (3) la determinación de la edad de los puquios se basa en técnicas reproducibles y datos verificables. El uso de argumentos ex silentio no es adecuado para demostrar si los acueductos existieron o no en tiempos prehispanicos.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 56 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Andrews, E. W., Hammond, V, and  , N. 1990 Redefinition of the Swasey phase at Cuello, Belize. American Antiquity 55(3):570–584.Google Scholar
Auza Arce, C. 1948 El rol de nasca, Jaqui y Acari en el imperio de los incas. Revista del Museo Nacional 17:86–95.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. A. (editor) 1990 The Lines of Nazca. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 183, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Barnes, M. 1992 Dating of Nazca Aqueducts. Nature 359:111.Google Scholar
Barnes, M., and Fleming, D. 1991 Filtration-Gallery Irrigation in the Spanish New World. Latin American Antiquity 2(1):48–68.Google Scholar
Blackwelder, E. 1948 Historical Significance of Desert Lacquer. Geological Society of America Bulletin 59:1367.Google Scholar
Boussingault, M. 1882 Sur l’apparition du manganese à la surface des roches. Annates de Chemie et de Physique 27 (Series 5):289–311.Google Scholar
Bray, W. 1992 Under the Skin of Nazca. Nature 358:19.Google Scholar
Browne, D. M., and Baraybar, J. P. 1988 An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Province of Palpa, Department of lea, Peru. In Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, edited by N. J. Saunders and O. de Montmollin, pp. 299–325. BAR International Series No. 421. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Clarkson, P. B. 1985 The Archaeology and Geoglyphs of Nazca, Peru. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Clarkson, P. B. 1990 The Archaeology of the Nazca Pampa: Environmental and Cultural Parameters. In The Lines of Nazca, edited by A. F. Aveni, pp. 117–172. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 183, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Clarkson, P. B. 1992 Absolute Chronometric Dates of the Nazca Geoglyphs: Applications of Radiocarbon Dating in the Nazca Region, Department of lea, Peru, 1991. Report on file, Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima.Google Scholar
Clarkson, P. B., and Dorn, R. I. 1991 Nuevos datos relativos a la antiguedad de los geoglifos y pukios de Nazca, Perú. Boletin de Lima 13/78:33–45.Google Scholar
Colman, S. M., Pierce, K. L., and Birkeland, P. W. 1987 Suggested Terminology for Quaternary Dating Methods. Quaternary Research 28:314–319.Google Scholar
Conkling, H. 1939 Explotacion de aguas subterráneas en la costa del Perú. Sociedad Nacional Agraria, Lima.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. 1897 Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N.D. Appelton, New York.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I. 1989 Cation-ratio Dating of Rock Varnish: A Geographic Assessment. Progress in Physical Geography 13:559–596.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I., and Oberlander, R. M. 1982 Rock Varnish. Progress in Physical Geography 6:317–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorn, R. I., Clarkson, P. B., Nobbs, M. F., Loendorf, L. L., and Whitley, D. S. 1992a New Approach to the Radiocarbon Dating of Rock Varnish, with Examples from Drylands. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82(1):136–151.Google Scholar
Dom, R. I., Jull, A. J. T., Donahue, D. J., Linnick, T. W., and Toolin, L. J. 1989 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating of Rock Varnish. Geological Society of America Bulletin 101:1363–1372.Google Scholar
Dom, R. I., Jull, A. J. T., Donahue, D. J., Linnick, T. W., and Toolin, L. J. 1990 Latest Pleistocene Lake Shorelines and Glacial Chronology in the Western Basin and Range Province, USA: Insights from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Rock Varnish and Paleoclimatic Implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 78:315–331.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. L, Turrin, B. D., Jull, A. J. T., Linick, T. W., and Donahue, D. J. 1987 Radiocarbon and Cation-ratio Ages for Rock Varnish on Tioga and Tahoe Morainal Boulders of Pine Creek, Eastern Sierra Nevada in California, and Paleoclimatic Implications. Quaternary Research 28:38–49.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I., Phillips, F. M., Zreda, M. G., Wolfe, E. W., Jull, A. J. T., Kubik, P. W., and Sharma, P. 1991 Glacial Chronology of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, as Constrained by Surface-Exposure Dating. National Geographic Research and Exploration 7:456–471.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I., Jull, A. J. T., Donahue, D. J., Linick, T. W., Toolin, L. J., Moore, R. B., Rubin, M., Gill, T. E., and Cahill, T. A. 1992b Rock Varnish on Hualalai and Mauna Kea Volcanoes, Hawaii. Pacific Science 46:11–34.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I., Bamforth, D. B., Cahill, T. A., Dohrenwend, J. C., Turrin, B. D., Jull, A. J. T., Long, A., Macko, M. E., Weil, E. B., Whitley, D. S., and Zabel, T. H. 1986 Cation-ratio and Accelerator-radiocarbon Dating of Rock Varnish on Mojave Artifacts and Landforms. Science 231:830–833.Google Scholar
Francis, W. D. 1921 The Origin of Black Coatings of Iron and Manganese Oxides on Rocks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 32:110–116.Google Scholar
Goh, K. M. 1991 Carbon Dating. In Carbon Isotope Techniques, edited by D.C. Coleman and B. Fry, pp. 125–145. Academic Press, San Diego.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González Garcia, M. F. 1934 Los acueductos incaicos de Nazca. Aguas e irrigación. Boletín de la Directión de Aguas e Irrigatión 2(2):207–222. Ministerio de Fomento, Lima. Reprinted 1978 in Tecnología andina, edited by R. Ravines, pp. 129–156. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.Google Scholar
Hayden, J. 1976 Pre-altithermal Archaeology in the Sierra Pinacate, Sonora, Mexico. American Antiquity 41:274–289.Google Scholar
Hume, W. F. 1925 Geology of Egypt. Volume 1. Government Press, Cairo.Google Scholar
Isbell, W. 1978 The Prehistoric Ground Drawings of Peru. Scientific American 239(4):140–153.Google Scholar
Joyce, T. A. 1912 South American Archaeology. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, London.Google Scholar
Kosok, P. 1940 The Role of Irrigation in Ancient Peru. Proceedings of the 8th American Scientific Congress, vol. 2, pp. 169–178.Google Scholar
Krinsley, D., Dorn, R. I., and Anderson, S. 1990 Factors that May Interfere with the Dating of Rock Vamish. Physical Geography 11:97–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loendorf, L. L. 1991 Cation-ratio Varnish Dating and Petroglyph Chronology in Southeastern Colorado. Antiquity 65:246–255.Google Scholar
Mejia Xesspe, T. 1959 Figuras geometricas prehistüricas de la Hoya de Río Grande de Nasca. Adas y Trabajos del II Congreso Nacional de História del Perú, 1958, vol. 1, pp. 351–359.Google Scholar
Menzel, D. 1964 Style and Time in the Middle Horizon. Ñawpa Pacha 2:1–106.Google Scholar
Menzel, D., and Riddell, F. A. 1986 Archaeological Investigations at Tambo Viejo, Acari Valley, Peru, 1954. California Institute for Peruvian Studies, Sacramento.Google Scholar
Nials, F. L., Deeds, E. E., Moseley, M. E., Posorski, S., and Posorski, T. 1979a El Niño: The Catastrophic Flooding of Coastal Flooding of Coastal Peru. Part 1. Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 50(7):4–14.Google Scholar
Nials, F. L., Deeds, E. E., Moseley, M. E., Posorski, S., and Posorski, T. 1979b El Niño: The Catastrophic Flooding of Coastal Flooding of Coastal Peru. Part 2. Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 50(8):4–10.Google Scholar
ONERN (Oficina de Nacional de Evalucion de Recursos Naturales) 1971 Inventario, evaluación y uso racional de los Recursos Naturales de la Costa: Cuenca del Río Grande (Nazca), vol. 1. Anexos y Mapas, Lima.Google Scholar
Ohnuki-Tierney, E. 1987 The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Paulsen, A. 1983 Huaca del Loro Revisited: The Nasca-Huarpa Connection. In Investigations of the Andean Past, edited by D. Sandweiss, pp. 98–121. Papers from the First Annual Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory. Cornell University, Ithaca.Google Scholar
Petersen, G. G. 1980 Evolución y desaparición de las aha cultural Paracas-Cahuachi (Nasca). Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Directión Universitaria de Investigatión, Lima.Google Scholar
Rossel Castro, A. 1942 Sistema de irrigatión antigua de Rio Grande de Nasca. Revista del Museo Nacional 11(2):196–202.Google Scholar
Rossel Castro, A. 1959 Figuras geométricas prehistóricas de la hoy a de Río Grande de Nasca. Adas y Trabajos del II Congreso Nacional de Historia del Peru 1:351–359.Google Scholar
Rossel Castro, A. 1977 Arqueología del sur del Perú. Editorial Universo, Lima.Google Scholar
Scharpenseel, H. W., and Pietig, F. 1974 University of Bonn Natural Radiocarbon Measurements VII. Radiocarbon 16(2):143–165.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K., and Lancho Rojas, J. 1988 Los puquios de Nasca: Un sistema de galerías filtrantes. Boletín de Lima 10/59:51–62.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K., and Lancho Rojas, J. 1995 The Puquios of Nasca. Latin American Antiquity, in press.Google Scholar
Shimada, I., Schaaf, C. B., Thompson, L. G., and Mosley-Thompson, E. 1991 Cultural Impacts of Severe Droughts in the Prehistoric Andes: Application of a 1,500-Year Ice Core Precipitation Record. World Archaeology 22(3):247–270.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1986 Cahuachi: An Andean Ceremonial Center. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1990 Beyond the Pampa: The Geoglyphs in the Valleys of Nazca. National Geographic Research and Exploration 6(4):435–456.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1957 Paracas, Nazca, and Tiahuanacoid Cultural Relationships in South Coastal Peru. SAA Memoirs No. 13. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Extended 14C database and revised Calib 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. E. 1987 Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida.Google Scholar
Thompson, L. G., Moseley-Thompson, E., Bolzan, J. F., and Koci, B. R. 1985 A 1500-Year Record of Tropical Precipitation in Ice Cores from Quelccaya Ice Cap. Science 229:971–973.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trimborn, H. 1967 Probleme der andinen Bewasserungswirtschaft. Jahrbuch der Geschichte von Staate, Wirtshcaft un Gesellschafi Lateinamerikas 4:1–16.Google Scholar
Urton, G. 1981 Nazca Report. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Colgate University.Google Scholar
Urton, G. 1982 Report of Fieldwork in Nazca, Peru—January, 1982. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Colgate University.Google Scholar
Urton, G. 1990 The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
von Humboldt, A. 1907 [1812] Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, vol II. Translated and edited by T. Ross. George Bell & Sons, London.Google Scholar