nasca trophy heads and agricultural fertility small
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Nasca Trophy Heads and Agricultural Fertility
Donald Proulx
University of Massachusetts
2006
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Nasca Trophy Heads and Agricultural Fertility
Donald Proulx
University of Massachusetts
In previous papers I have focused primarily on the nature of decapitation in Nasca
society (warfare vs ritual battles) and on the preparation of trophy heads. The ritual use of
trophy heads has also been discussed (Proulx 1971, 1989, 1999, 2001 and 2002). In this
report I want to examine in more detail the role of trophy heads in Nasca religious
beliefs, especially in respect to agricultural fertility. Decapitation and/or blood sacrifice
was present in a number of ancient civilizations. It is useful to compare Nasca beliefs to
those of similar societies in the New World such as the Aztecs, Maya and Moche.
The Aztecs (or Mexica) of Central Mexico were established as an independent
society circa 1325 A.D. (Fagan 1984:60). Shortly thereafter they settled on a small island
in Lake Texcoco later to be known as Tenochtitlan, the present day Mexico City. Over
the next two centuries their empire expanded to include the contiguous areas to their east
and west. Along with the Incas, they formed one of the largest native empires in the
Western Hemisphere.
Their creation myths help us to understand the origins
and rational for their practice of human sacrifice. The
Aztecs believed that their world had passed through four
successive ages called Suns, divided into 52-year cycles
(Fagan 1984:224). Each of these four periods ended in
catastrophes such as hurricanes, fires or floods, which
the Aztecs believed would occur again in the future. The
fifth Sun began in year 978 and ended with the conquest
by Cortes and his army in 1519 following a series of
foreboding portents visualized by the last Aztec emperor
MoctezumaHistorically the Aztecs were known for their
bloody human sacrifices, especially the removal of the
heart from a living victim (Fig. 1). The Spanish were
horrified at the sight of blood-covered priests and skull
racks containing thousands of human skulls (Bernal Diez
Fig. 1 del Castillo [1570] 1963:229). Many other forms of
sacrifice were practiced including death by arrows, burning, beheading and auto-sacrifice
(a form of blood offering involving the piercing a various body parts). In recent years
there has been much controversy over whether the Aztecs practiced cannibalism (Harner
1977; Arens 1969). Spanish chroniclers describe scenes in which the bodies of sacrificed
individuals were thrown down the steep steps of the temples in the center of Tenochtitlan
(Fig. 2) and were dismembered by the waiting crowds (Sahagun [1369] 1950). Today
most scholars agree that the Aztecs sometimes ate human flesh, but that the practice was
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ritual in nature, much like some Christian sects take communion as symbolic of eating
the flesh of Christ.
The motivation for sacrifice
was to appease the gods
and thus prevent the end of
their world, the fifth Sun.
They believed that the
rising of the sun each day
was dependant on human
sacrifice and the offering of
blood, which was seen as
food for the deities. The
bones on the skull racks
were not part of a
decapitation ritual, but
appear to be viewed as
trophies.
Fig. 2
The Maya were an earlier civilization in the Mesoamerican area whose
origins may stretch back to between 1000 and 2000 B.C. (Hammond 1982). The pinnacle
of their power was during the Classic Period (250-900 A.D.) during which time the
majority of their settlements were located in the lowlands of Guatemala, Mexico and
Honduras. After the “collapse” of the Classic Maya around 900 A.D., the population
centers shifted to the Yucatan Peninsula during the Post Classic period (900-1530 A.D.)
where the surviving culture was invaded by militaristic peoples from central Mexico,
including the Toltec. Maya culture was greatly affected by this contact, and as a result
they themselves became more militaristic. This included the importation of the “heart
sacrifice” that we have seen was associated with the Aztec.
Politically the Classic Maya lived in
separate city-states, each with its own
king, but sharing a common
culture including religious beliefs. Some
of these city-states, like Tikal, had over
50,000 inhabitants (Fig. 3). Like the other
cultures mentioned above, the Maya also
practiced human sacrifice, but by different
methods and for different reasons than the
Aztecs, Moche and Nasca. To the Maya,
Fig. 3 blood was the ultimate ritual offering to
the gods, the shedding of which allowed them to have visions of their deities (Schele
1984; Schele and Miller 1986). The city-states, led by their kings, were in constant
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warfare with their neighbors, the purpose of which was to capture their leader and other
elite members of that group, in order to sacrifice them. The victims were taken to the
victorious city where they were tortured and then decapitated. Warfare is seldom depicted
in their iconography, but a vivid murals from the site of Bonampak in the present state of
Chiapas in Mexico, portray torture and decapitation (Schele 1984; Miller 1986) (Fig. 4).
The object of the torture and decapitation was not to obtain trophy heads but rather to
shed blood which, in the words of Michael Coe, was “the mortar of ancient Maya life”
(Coe in Schele and Miller, 1986:1).
The ultimate blood sacrifice was made by the king himself, who pierced his
tongue and genitals with a stingray spine, dripping his blood onto a piece of paper that
was then burned (Fig. 5). Queens also practiced auto-sacrifice by threading a rope
covered with thorns through their tongues (Fig. 6). The smoke allowed the participants
visualize the gods, aided by hallucinogenic drugs (Fig. 7).
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Fig. 5 Fig. 6
Although human heart sacrifice was not
unknown among the Classic Maya
(Robicsek and Hales 1984:50), the “Toltec
invasion [of Yucatan during the Post
Classic period] brought about an infusion
of foreign customs including the worship
of blood- thirsty alien gods. This changed
the timing, and the location of the ritual as
well as the socio-political content, the
techniques, and the paraphernalia” (ibid.
50). At late sites such as Chichen Itza,
Priests extracted human hearts, flayed the
skins of the victims, and even ritually ate
their flesh—identical to the rites
performed in Central Mexico by the
Aztecs and Toltecs but using the
Chacmool as the sacrificial altar (Fig. 8).
Fig. 7
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Fig. 8
Turning next to the Andean region, the Moche of the North Coast of Peru are also
noted for human sacrifice. The Moche (100 to 800 A.D.) expanded their authority over a
wide area of coastal Peru, from the Huarmay Valley in the south to the Piura Valley in
the north. Politically their realm was divided into two entities, a northern and a southern
kingdom separated by the pampa paiján (Alva 1990:20). The core area was less than 250
miles long, from the Lambayeque Valley in the north to the Nepeña Valley in the south
(Donnan 1990:18-20).
The Moche worshiped a
multitude of gods, many in
anthropomorphic forms
combining human traits
with those of felines, sea
creatures and birds. One of
the most notable of these is
a fanged creature known as
the “decapitator” since he
holds a metal tumi (or
knife) in his hand (Fig. 9).
Representations of this
Fig. 9 deity can be seen in the
murals at the Huaca de la Luna in the Moche Valley and at Dos Cabezas in the
Jequetepeque Valley (Fig. 10).
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Fig. 10
Like the Maya, the supreme offering to the Moche gods was human blood. Moche
ceramic iconography depicts what Christopher Donnan calls the “Presentation Scene” or
the “Sacrifice Ceremony” (Donnan 1978: chapter 7). On these vessels are depicted naked
prisoners being paraded before an elaborately dressed figure. The jugular veins of the
prisoners are then slashed and the blood collected in a cup, which is then offered to the
principal figure by several lower ranking people, including a priestess (Fig. 11). This
priest-king, with features resembling the decapitator, then drinks the blood of the victims.
The prisoners were then decapitated, their bodies dismembered, and thrown into a
common grave.
Fig. 11
Recent discoveries at Sipán have revealed that the priest-king was an actual
person, not just a mythological creature. Several Lords, representing different generations
of leaders in the Lambayeque Valley, were buried in the platform mound, accompanied
by golden treasures with iconography identical to that on the pottery and murals (Alva
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1990; Alva and Donnan
1993) (Fig. 12). A few
years after the Sipán
discoveries, Donnan
discovered the tomb of a
Moche priestess at San José
de Moro in the Lower
Jequetepeque Valley
(Donnan and Castillo
1992). This female was
found with a goblet
identical to the one held by
the priestess depicted in the
Sacrifice Ceremony. Mass
graves of dismembered
Moche prisoners have been
found at Pacatnamú in the
Jequetepeque Valley (Fig.
13) and at the foot of the
Huaca de la Luna in the
Moche Valley (Verano
1986).All this proves that
religious rituals of the
Moche were real and that
the blood of captives was
the ultimate offering to
their gods.
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
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The Nasca culture, the main focus of this paper, was centered on the south coast of Peru
in the Río Grande de Nasca drainage and in the Ica Valley, although its influence was
much wider (Fig. 14). Contemporary with the Moche, Nasca dates between 100 B.C. and
600 A.D. The Nasca heartland is geographically a “sub-tropical desiccated desert”
sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andean mountains to the east.
Agricultural land was quite limited, much like a series of oases, fed by rivers with their
sources high in the Andes.
Rainfall in this desert
environment was non-
existent, and the rivers
lacked water most of the
year except during the
summer months (December
to March). Even then there
were years of drought when
little if any water flowed
from the highlands. During
these periods of extreme
deprivation, the people
were forced to rely on
springs or other sources of
underground water.
The main form of
subsistence for the Nasca
was irrigation agriculture,
supplemented by limited
amounts of fishing and
hunting. Thus it is not
surprising that water and
the fertility of the crops
Fig. 14 became the main focus of
their religious beliefs. The vast majority of their ceramic iconography had some
connection with these essential needs. Many of the supernatural creatures painted or
modeled on their pottery are clutching plants in their hands or paws, have plants
incorporated into their bodies, or have water flowing from their mouths (Figs. 15, 16 and
17). Another group of these Mythical Beings are associated with trophy heads and blood.
Indeed trophy heads are also a common theme in the preceding Paracas Culture from
which the Nasca developed. In this culture the representations are woven on textiles
rather than ceramics. Preserved trophy heads have been found in a number of Nasca and
Paracas sites (Fig. 18).
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Fig. 15 Fig. 16
Fig. 17 Fig. 18
From the earliest Nasca phases, several varieties of the Anthropomorphic
Mythical Being are depicted holding bloody clubs and clutching trophy heads (Figs. 19
and 20). Anthropomorphic killer whales with decapitating knives in their hands bare
bloody teeth, sometime clutching a human victim (Fig. 21). A later version of this
creature consists of a head with a gaping mouth filled with blood (Fig. 22). A falcon-like
bird with human characteristics is portrayed eating a human trophy head Fig. 23). Late
Nasca effigy vessels show individuals wearing clothing decorated with symbols of the
foramen magnum (base of the skull) surrounded by a circle of blood (Fig. 24). All of
these supernatural creatures share a common thread: trophy heads and blood.
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Fig. 19 Fig. 20
Fig. 21 Fig. 22
Fig. 23 Fig. 24
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The ritual use of trophy heads and the
importance of blood in Nasca religious
beliefs are more difficult to interpret than in
the other pre-Columbian cultures described
earlier. At first glance it would appear that
the purpose of decapitation was for the
display of war trophies (thus the name
applied to them by earlier scholars). In fact,
there are a few rare scenes on the pottery
portraying trophy heads hanging from poles
by the ropes threaded through their
foreheads Fig. 25). The use of carrying
ropes indicates that the prepared heads were
displayed in some manner including by
shamans in ceremonies such as in burial
rituals.
Fig. 25
On the other hand, there is both iconographic as well as physical evidence that
trophy heads were buried in caches accompanied by elaborate ceremonies. Two unique
vessels depict trophy heads entombed under mounds while shamans conduct rituals that
include masks, cups (presumably filled with an hallucinogenic drink), batons, and
animals (Figs. 26 and 27 ).
Fig. 26
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Fig. 27
Archaeological discoveries supporting the
ceramic iconography include a large cache
of trophy heads buried at Cerro Carapo in
the Palpa Valley (Fig. 28). A total of 48
heads were found, ritually buried together
as a group (Brown, Silverman and Garcia
1993). An analysis of the skulls by
physical anthropologist John Verano,
revealed that all of the skulls were males
between the ages of 20 and 45 years
(Verano 1995:213). A second cache of
Fig. 28 trophy heads was excavated by Alfred
Kroeber at Cahuachi (Carmichael 1988:482-483). A third cache of eleven trophy heads
was discovered by Máximo Neira and Vera Coelho at Chaviña in the Acarí Valley (Neira
and Coelho 1972; Coelho 1972). Others undoubtedly exist, but their contexts have been
destroyed by huaqueros looting the sites.
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Returning to the
iconography, there are a
number of vessels depicting
trophy heads with
agricultural plants
sprouting from their mouths
suggesting that the burial of
trophy heads was intimately
connected fertility (Figs.
29, 30 and 31).
Fig. 29
Fig. 30 Fig. 31
Others emanate from a single trophy head, usually
positioned near the bottom of the vessel (Fig. 32).
Fig .32
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There are also examples of decapitated
corpses assuming the form of a plant, in
the case illustrated here, a stalk of corn
(Fig. 33).
Fig. 33
In other cases some plants are cleverly morphed into the form of trophy heads. The tip of
a corn cob may be drawn with dots representing the eyes and mouth of a trophy head
(Figs. 34 and 35).
Fig. 34 Fig. 35
Beans may also be painted to resemble trophy heads (Fig. 36) as is the lucuma fruit (Fig.
37). These are just another example of the connection of trophy heads with agriculture.
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Fig. 36 Fig. 37
In conclusion, the evidence suggests human sacrifice by decapitation in the Nasca
culture had a quite different purpose than that described for the Aztec, Maya and Moche
societies. Blood had much less significance to the Nasca than was the case with the Maya
and Moche, or the excision of hearts or the flaying of skin as practiced by the Aztecs. The
dismemberment of the bodies of captives as practiced by the Moche was unknown to the
Nasca. Decapitation and the careful preparation of trophy heads were most important to
the members of this culture. The heads were first used in shamanistic ceremonies, like
this burial scene, and then buried in caches located under small pyramids or mounds (Fig.
38).
The evidence suggests that the Nasca
believed that the trophy heads were
transformed into plants, and that
agricultural fertility depended on the burial
of these heads, symbolically representing
the planting of seeds. This is somewhat
analogous to the Aztec practice of offering
hearts to the gods to insure the
continuation of their universe. Nasca
iconography is replete with images of
trophy heads associated with a wide
variety of supernatural creatures. While
the debate continues as to whether the
Fig. 38 trophy heads were obtained through
warfare motivated by the need for new agricultural land or resources, or whether
decapitation was the result of ritual battles, the end result was the same. Decapitation and
the burial of trophy heads were necessary for the propagation and future fertility of their
plants.
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