Cahuachi facts for kids
Cahuachi was a very important religious center for the Nazca culture in Peru. It existed from about 1 AD to 500 AD along the coast of the Central Andes. This ancient city was located near some of the famous Nazca lines.
For many years, archaeologists like Giuseppe Orefici from Italy and Helaine Silverman from America have been studying Cahuachi. They found over 40 large mounds, many topped with buildings made of adobe (a type of sun-dried mud brick). The whole area is huge, covering about 0.6 square miles (1.5 km²).
At first, experts thought Cahuachi was the capital city of the Nazca people. But new research shows that only a small number of people lived there all the time. Instead, they believe it was a special place for pilgrimages. This means many people would travel there for big religious events and ceremonies. Evidence like the small permanent population and the way the site is laid out supports this idea. Also, many of the mounds were actually natural hills that the Nazca people shaped to look like man-made structures.
Sadly, looting is a big problem at Cahuachi today. Many ancient burial sites around Cahuachi have only recently been discovered, making them targets for people looking for treasures.
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Where is Cahuachi Located?
The Cahuachi site is found in the Nazca Valley, near the southern coast of Peru. The Nazca culture grew up around the Río Grande de Nazca river system. This area is mostly a "pre-mountain desert." It's a very dry and hot place, especially in summer. The average temperature is about 21.3 °C (70.3 °F), and it gets very little rain.
Cahuachi sits on the southern side of the Nazca River. To the north and south, there are flat plains called "pampas." These are the plains where the famous Nazca lines were drawn. The land around Cahuachi is mostly treeless hills and terraces. Strong winds often blow here, sometimes causing sandstorms. These hills were shaped by the Nazca people to create their ceremonial buildings.
Who Studied Cahuachi?
The first person to officially study and dig at Cahuachi was Dr. Frabee in 1922. Many other researchers followed, including Kroeber, Tello, Doering, Strong, and Robinson.
One of the most important archaeologists was William Strong, who dug at Cahuachi between 1952 and 1953. He looked at the site broadly, trying to understand how it fit into the wider Nazca society. Strong found temples, cemeteries, and house mounds. Based on his findings, some scholars thought Cahuachi was a city where people lived. However, later research suggested this was not the case.
In the early 1980s, archaeologist Helaine Silverman and Italian architect Giuseppe Orefici started new, detailed excavations. Their goal was to understand the true nature of Cahuachi and the Nazca society. Orefici found evidence of pottery making, but also many burial sites, ceremonial drums, and pottery. This suggested Cahuachi was indeed a ceremonial center.
Helaine Silverman's research, which started in 1983, strongly supported the idea that Cahuachi was a ceremonial center, not a city. She found no evidence of permanent homes or daily life. Silverman believed people came to Cahuachi to perform religious activities. She also found broken pottery and food remains, suggesting that pottery was broken and food was eaten during these rituals.
Orefici's later work also showed that Cahuachi was not a place where people lived permanently. Most of the 40 mounds were used for religious ceremonies, not for homes.
Nazca Pottery and Time Periods
Pottery is very important for understanding Cahuachi and dating its history. Nazca pottery is known for its many colors and comes from the south coast of Peru. It's called "Nazca" because it was mainly found in the Nazca valley.
Nazca pottery styles are divided into different types, like "Monumental" (realistic designs) and "Proliferous" (more abstract designs). Archaeologists have also divided Nazca pottery into many phases, like Nasca 1 through Nasca 9.
Because a lot of Nasca 3 pottery was found with the buildings at Cahuachi, experts believe Cahuachi was most active during the Early Intermediate Period. Earlier pottery (Nasca 1 and 2) is also present, but less common. William Strong concluded that the main ceremonial buildings at Cahuachi were built during the "Middle Nazca culture phase" (Nasca 3). Later Nazca pottery was mostly found in graves.
Food and Trade at Cahuachi
Cahuachi was a ceremonial center, not a busy city where many people lived all the time. This means people didn't stay there long enough to farm a lot of food or make many crafts. It was more like a religious destination where people visited.
What Food Did They Eat?
Archaeologists found remains of at least 15 types of shellfish, one type of sea urchin, and four types of fish. They also found plant remains like peanuts and huarango fruit, which were easy to carry and grew locally. Since Cahuachi wasn't a permanent home, any food brought there was likely stored in small amounts and eaten quickly. Other foods found include potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, beans, squash, and achira.
Evidence of a corn popper suggests a special area for preparing corn, which was important in the Andes. Small storage areas and pots for food and drink also show that Cahuachi was for short visits, not long-term living. The types of food found tell us what was popular and available in the area. They also suggest that food was brought from other communities, showing trade networks.
Food for Rituals
Some food remains were used for rituals. For example, llama bones, bird feathers, fine pottery, and panpipes were found at the "Great Temple." These were likely used for feasts and sacrifices. Many guinea pig remains were also found, often split open, suggesting they were used as offerings in rituals.
Other ritual items included hidden stashes of maize (corn), huarango pods, and shells. In a special room called the "Room of the Posts," archaeologists found valuable Spondylus shells (sacred in the Andes), huarango pods, and many pots. They also found blue-painted chili peppers, gourd rattles, and looms. All these items were offerings, which makes sense for a ceremonial center. The huarango fruit was important for both food and rituals because it grew nearby.
All this evidence suggests that food and other resources were brought to Cahuachi for ceremonies, not grown there in large amounts. This points to trade with surrounding communities.
How Did They Trade?
Since Cahuachi wasn't a permanent city, people didn't live there long enough to create big farming systems or large-scale craft production. However, because it was a religious destination, people traveled to and from the site regularly. This created a "pilgrimage trade" system. People brought items like pottery, food, and animals to Cahuachi.
For example, fine pottery and panpipes were found. It's likely that the fancy pottery was made in other nearby towns where skilled craftspeople lived, and then brought to Cahuachi for use in ceremonies. This shows that trade was happening, rather than large-scale production at Cahuachi itself.
Textiles and Pottery Making
Cahuachi was a place where the Nazca people showed their beliefs through materials like textiles (cloth) and ceramics (pottery). Archaeologists found many loose threads, unfinished embroideries, and tools for spinning thread. This suggests that textiles were made at Cahuachi. William Strong also found fancy textile remains, possibly used for burial cloths or special clothing for priests.
The "Great Cloth," the largest known ancient textile in the world, was found at Cahuachi in 1952. It was over 5.5 meters (18 feet) wide and was estimated to be 50-60 meters (164-197 feet) long! Making such a huge cloth would have required many people working together. Its careful burial shows how important this textile was for rituals.
When it comes to pottery, Cahuachi mainly has "fine ware" (decorated pottery) rather than "plain ware" (everyday pottery). About 70% of the pottery found was fine ware. If Cahuachi were a regular city, this would be the opposite. Most plain ware found was for small storage or burials, not for daily cooking.
Fine ware, often decorated, was used for burials and rituals. It included complex musical instruments like panpipes. Most of the fine pottery was probably made in other specialized centers and then brought to Cahuachi, again showing trade rather than local mass production.
Buildings and Objects at Cahuachi
The way Cahuachi was built shows it was a ceremonial center, not a city. It had mounds with rooms, a "Great Temple," walls forming corridors, and open spaces called "kanchas." Kanchas were walled areas between mounds, but their exact use isn't always clear.
There are about 40 mounds at Cahuachi. Some had rooms, some were "temples," and others were used for burials. Most of these mounds were not for living in. William Strong first thought they were "habitation mounds" (places where people lived), but Silverman's research showed they were not homes.
For example, Unit 5 was a natural hill that was made taller with layers of plant fibers, earth, rocks, and even garbage. This fill also contained offerings like corn and pottery, suggesting a ceremonial purpose. The walls were made of adobe bricks with a sand base.
The layout of Cahuachi used the natural landscape. It had a "mound-kancha" pattern, meaning there was a lot of open space, with mounds appearing like "islands." This open layout made it easy to access from any direction, without walls or moats blocking entry.
Shaping hills into terraces was common because it was easier and cheaper, but still created the look of large, important buildings. The "Great Temple" was one such mound, clearly used for ceremonies due to the large amounts of pottery, panpipe pieces, llama remains, and bird feathers found there.
The rooms that did exist on the mounds had adobe walls, sometimes made of different colored clays (beige, yellow, or gray). The walls were usually not very high (less than one meter) but were very thick. Many rooms also used huarango posts in their construction.
The "Room of the Posts" is thought to be connected to ancestor worship. In this region, the huarango tree can symbolize ancestry, like a "tree of life." This idea is supported by the room being used for burials and a special carved huarango post showing a human face playing a flute. Inside the room, there were also niches and round holes filled with offerings like Spondylus shells, corn, and huarango pods.
Besides pottery, many other objects were found, including vases, bowls, bottles, baskets, and musical instruments. These items were likely brought by visitors for their stay at Cahuachi.
Nazca Society and Cahuachi
Even though Cahuachi was very important, it didn't have a large permanent population or a strict hierarchy like a big city. However, the different sizes of the mounds suggest that larger groups built and maintained the biggest temples, while smaller groups built smaller mounds.
Helaine Silverman believes Cahuachi was important because of its sacred location, making it the center of the Nazca religion. The large buildings symbolized unity and shared ancestry among the Nazca people. As a religious pilgrimage site, Cahuachi encouraged people from different communities to come together and cooperate. This suggests that power and social differences in Nazca society might not have been based only on wealth.
The Nazca people lived in separate smaller communities, but they were connected by their shared culture and the religious importance of Cahuachi. Priests or shamans likely held important positions because they understood the local water systems, which were vital for farming.
Religion and Beliefs
Cahuachi was mainly a ceremonial center, but we are still learning about the details of Nazca religion. The site has many temples of different sizes where religious practices and rituals took place. It was also a place to bury the dead, surrounded by cemeteries. The Nazca people clearly considered Cahuachi a sacred place.
The "Room of the Posts" is a good example of Nazca religious practices. Its adobe walls were sometimes painted with images of panpipes and rayed faces, which were important in ceremonies. The room also contained niches and round holes filled with offerings like corn, Spondylus shells, and huarango pods. The huarango posts themselves are significant because the huarango plant symbolizes ancestry and "roots" in this region, even today. This suggests the room had meaning related to ancestors and family history.
Highly decorated pottery was found throughout Cahuachi, especially in burials and offerings. These pots often showed religious beliefs and how the Nazca people saw the world. Animal remains, like llamas, birds, and guinea pigs, were also found, suggesting sacrificial rituals.
Nazca pottery often shows masked ritual performers, priests, mythical beings, and ceremonies for good harvests. It also shows everyday people like farmers and fishermen. An interesting fact is that children are never shown in Nazca art. Also, there's no "hierarchy of scale" in Nazca art; no figures are drawn larger than others to show higher status.
Priests were likely important figures at Cahuachi. They probably spent a lot of time there, wore special clothing, and had privileged access to temples and rituals. Their influence was likely based on their religious role rather than just wealth.
Burials and Trophy Heads
Many burials have been found at Cahuachi. They vary in how much effort was put into them and what objects were included. Some human remains were simply buried in shallow graves, while others were in more complex underground tombs. Most tombs had wooden cane roofs covered with huarango logs, again showing the importance of the huarango plant and its ancestral meaning. These tombs often had upright canes as grave markers.
The most common items found in graves were Nazca pottery. However, none of the graves at Cahuachi were extremely elaborate or "rich" compared to those of other cultures from that time. This is surprising for such a large ceremonial center. There wasn't a huge amount of pottery in any single grave. Some food remains, Spondylus shells, and even red pigment were found, but nothing as grand as other ancient burials.
Most bodies were buried in a flexed (bent) position, often on their sides or sitting up, with their heads facing south. Almost all were wrapped in or placed on beautifully woven and embroidered textiles. Textile making was one of the few crafts that flourished at Cahuachi. The colors and designs of these textiles varied, and they are considered the best indicator of a person's status in a grave, though information is still limited.
For example, two adult males were found in tombs, but one had no grave goods, while the other had three pots. This suggests a difference in status. Some burials also showed deformed head shapes, a practice common in some ancient cultures. Causes of death included sacrifice, warfare, and natural causes. Interestingly, children often had the most elaborate burials.
Trophy Heads
Many "trophy heads" were found in the cemeteries around Cahuachi. This shows that the Nazca people practiced taking heads. This was done during warfare, ritual battles, and sacrifices. These heads were often placed in large pots in cemeteries. It's believed that taking heads was a way to capture the "life force" or "soul" of enemies during war.
The End of Cahuachi
Cahuachi changed from being a major ceremonial center to mainly a burial site, marking its decline. This change happened around the Nasca 4 period (about 450-500 AD). The buildings at the site were mostly abandoned, though some offerings, like trophy heads, were still made. Over time, Cahuachi was used less and less for ceremonies and became almost exclusively a place to bury the dead.
Evidence for this decline comes from the types of Nazca pottery found (or not found) at the site, and the many burials with later Nazca pottery. Some Nasca 4 pottery found in the "Room of the Posts" shows that some Nazca people were still there, but not as many as before. Pottery from Nasca 6 and 7 periods found in burials also confirms Cahuachi's later use as a burial ground.
The exact reason for Cahuachi's decline is unknown. However, archaeological findings suggest it was abandoned around 450-500 AD due to a severe drought, as well as mudslides and earthquakes. The fall of this important ceremonial center likely signaled the decline of the entire Nazca culture in the region.
See also
In Spanish: Cahuachi para niños
