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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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