INAA of Loro Ceramics from Zorropata, a Middle Horizon Las Trancas Habitation Site in Nasca, Peru

Summary

Early in the Middle Horizon (c. AD 650-1000), the Wari Empire expanded from its Ayacucho homeland and established at least three colonies (Pacheco, Pataraya, and Inkawasi) in the Southern Nasca Region (SNR) on the South Coast of Peru. Concomitant with the Wari presence local settlement patterns underwent dramatic reorganization. Large portions of the population shifted from the Nasca and Taruga Valleys south to the Las Trancas Valley – away from and perhaps in contention with the Wari. A new polychrome fineware ceramic style, Loro, was developed and constituted a significant stylistic departure from Early Intermediate Period (EIP) (c. AD 0-650) Nasca ceramics. Unlike the polychrome finewares from previous periods, Loro pottery was thicker, heavier, rougher, less colorful, and less polished. This paper discusses archaeological data including Loro and EIP ceramics, lithics, architecture and mapping data, and surface artifacts recovered during the 2014 excavations at the site of Zoropata in the Las Trancas Valley, Nasca, Peru. Zorropata was identified as a relatively large (c. 30,000 m2) domestic site with possible ceremonial function occupied during the EIP and early Middle Horizon. These data enable further investigation into the changes Nasca culture underwent from the later EIP to the early Middle Horizon.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A.D. 600 Cultural and Environmental Transformation in Ancient Peru   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15964