CAHUACHI

FROM THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT IN THE LAST DECADE BY

THE AUTHOR AND SILVERMAN, IT HAS BEEN DEDUCED AND
PROVEN THAT CAHUACHI WAS NOT AN URBAN CENTER BUT
FUNCTIONED AS A CENTER OF WORSHIP AND CEREMONIES.

FROM 1997 TO 2002-2003, EXCAVATIONS WERE CARRIED

OUT SIMULTANEOUSLY AT CAHUACHI AND TO THE WEST
AT ESTAQUERÍA, WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOST
IMPORTANT NASCA CEREMONIAL CENTER AFTER THE
ABANDONMENT OF THE FORMER THEOCRATIC
CAPITAL.HOWEVER, ITS OCCUPATION TURNED OUT TO
BE COEVAL WITH CAHUACHI, ALTHOUGH IT NEVER
STOPPED WORKING AND DEVELOPING UNTIL IT WAS
ASSIMILATED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE WARI CULTURE.
IN 1998, DURING THE EXCAVATION OF THE
Y16 COMPLEX OF CAHUACHI, THE
DISCOVERY OF ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT DEPOSITS OF TEXTILES FROM
THE EARLY INTERMEDIATE PERIOD WAS
RECORDED, INCLUDING NUMEROUS
COMPLETE CEREMONIAL DRESSES, THE
STUDY OF WHICH IS STILL ONGOING BY THE
AUTHOR AND SPECIALISTS. MARY FRAME
AND MARÍA BASTIAND, WHO TOOK CARE OF
THE CLEANING, CONSERVATION AND
REGISTRATION OF EACH TEXTILE PIECE IN
THE LABORATORIES OF THE STUDY CENTER
IN THE CITY OF NASCA.
THE EXCAVATIONS IN CAHUACHI, APART
FROM THE POSSIBILITY OF OBTAINING
CONTINUOUS INFORMATION ABOUT THE
ARCHITECTURE, THE USE OF THE SPACE AND
THE NATURE OF THE CEREMONIES THAT WERE
CELEBRATED THERE, OFFER THE
OPPORTUNITY, WHICH IS DIFFICULT TO FIND
IN OTHER PLACES, TO GATHER IN THEIR
STRUCTURES THE TESTIMONIES OF THE
CONTINUOUS CONTRIBUTION OF
HETEROGENEOUS MATERIALS BROUGHT BY
THE PEOPLE WHO CAME ON PILGRIMAGE.
THIS ALLOWS HAVING, IN ONE PLACE, THE
GLOBAL VISION OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS
PART OF THE PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM OF THE
TERRITORY.
ARCHITECTURAL EVOLUTION
OF CAHUACHI
 THE FIRST PHASE:
CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS AND
MONUMENTALITY
It was characterized by buildings made up of large
walls with a frame of guarango (Prosopis pallida)
sticks, branches and marsh reeds held by ropes and a
thick clayey plaster, which contained fluvial sand,
devoid of organic elements in its interior.
In the first phase, conical adobe was used to build
walls and platforms without the use of foundations.
The constructions of this phase were covered by the
constructions of the following phases.
 Cahuachi was radically transformed, giving it a
monumental, imposing appearance. The use of
PHASE 2 / MONUMENTAL conical adobe is abandoned and "paniform"
adobe is used instead for all kinds of
PHASE constructions. The walls are usually on average
one meter wide and three to four meters high.
As already mentioned, the buildings of the
previous phase were filled in to serve as a base
for the new constructions.

THE TEMPLE OF THE STEPPED

in phase II, the most important was the Temple of the
Stepped, so named because on its main façade there is a
frieze with a stepped design (three-step staircase) framed
in a box opposite another similar one, forming a double
step, which is repeat side by side. During the next phase,
a wall was built one and a half meters away from the
frieze, creating a passageway, blocking it from public view,
which was later filled in and the frieze finally covered.
 PHASE 3
MONUMENTAL
PHASE II
THE GREAT PYRAMID
The Great Pyramid is the emblematic temple of
Cahuachi. It reaches 30 meters high, through
seven staggered levels, each one of them had
huarango columns that supported ceilings made
with colored painted friezes.
It is considered the heyday of Cahuachi. The
Great Temple and the Great Pyramid are built,
the pyramids are related to each other forming
architectural units, which were isolated from the
environment with a thick wall. Archaeologists
have identified 2 fenced areas which they name
Zone A and Zone B. The elite build theivr homes
on the top of the Great Pyramid using the
construction technique called "quincha"
THE GREAT TEMPLE.
The Great Temple of Cahuachi was one of the
sacred places through which the energy taken
from the sacrifice, symbolized by the human
trophy heads, arrived as an offering and tribute
to the gods, on whom the life of society
depended.
 PHASE 4 /
MONUMENTAL PHASE
III
The city expands remarkably, coming to incorporate
the buildings that were previously on the periphery
(east sector). The pyramids adopt a marked silhouette
in the form of a ladder with giant steps (stepped
silhouette). The large spaces are subdivided, some of
them are filled in to serve as embankments,
passageways, stairs and accesses are remodeled. The
old walls are partly dismantled, then the interior of
the enclosure is neatly cleaned and before being filled
in, offerings are decorated with ceramics, large pots,
mates, wooden sticks, packets of fine fabrics, animals
(dogs, llamas, guinea pigs, hawks, etc.). , parrots) and
even human sacrifices are made or "trophy heads"
are deposited.
 PHASE 5:
It corresponds to the end of Cahuachi. The city is
abandoned, but its occupants do not flee in a hurry or
leave it to its fate, they took great care to cover it to
protect it and offer it up to say goodbye to it, like
someone burying a loved one. Most of the great walls
are demolished, the buildings buried and sealed on
purpose, which must have meant a considerable
effort in expenditure of energy (manpower) and
resources. The pyramids abandon their artificial,
human-made form to resemble hills, as if returning to
nature. Cahuachi ceased to be the capital city of the
Nasca and became a huaca (sacred place) and
pacarina (place of origin), since, during the following
centuries, it was used as a cemetery.
Capi tal t e o c r á t i c a Nasca
Giuseppe Orefici
 GIUSEPPE OREFICI, ARCHITECT AND ARCHAEOLOGIST President of the Center
for Pre-Columbian Archaeological Studies (CEAP) in Nasca, Peru.

Director of the "Antonini" Archaeological Museum of Nasca. He has led

archaeological campaigns in several Latin American countries, and in 1977, he
began his research in the mountains and jungle of Cusco.

1982
Since 1982 he has directed the
Nasca Project, intervening in the
San José necropolis and studying
the petroglyphs and geoglyphs of
the territory.
1985
Since 1985 he has been dedicated to
the investigation of Cahuachi and
Pueblo Viejo (Nasca), and Huayuri
(Palpa), revealing unknown aspects of
the ceremonial center and its
relationship with nearby settlements.
 “It rises in the central part of the ceremonial center with a height of around 30
meters and on a base of 150 meters. In addition, it is made up of seven
staggered levels, which were accessed by stairs and ramps. The evidence is
showing that the last three upper levels were reserved for the exclusive service
of the great priests or cahuas"
 CAHUACHI'S ARCHITECTURE
CAHUACHI THEOCRATIC CAPITAL OF NAZCA
THE CEREMONIAL SPACES

Cahuachi had a development prior

to what can be considered as its
proper Nasca phase, but the
achievement of a true conformation
as a ceremonial center dates back
to the use of the area at the time of
flourishing of this culture.

Previously it was only a sacred place,

without a polyfunctional connotation
linked to the main religious and
liturgical activities inside.
 THE TEMPLES
Fig. 1 Cahuachi. The height of
the constructions was reached
by means of a system of
embankments in succession
that were adapted to the reliefs
present in the area.

Photo (Giuseppe Orefici)

The form of construction is reaffirmed in the different evolutionary phases of the ceremonial
center, without evident changes until the period that includes the last two phases, during
which the volumes of Cahuachi vary with the elimination of the roofs and the covered parts
inside the temples.
In several cases, the temples were related to each other by means of plazas, patios or
intermediate precincts that had the function of separating the ceremonial spaces.
 THE SQUARES
Analyzing other open places of great dimension, demonstrating that its hypothetical
functional attribution of "plaza" was based only on an apparent flat morphology of the
surface of the templar mounds.
 ENTRANCES AND STAIRS
In almost all cases, the accesses had an "L" shape: a passageway led to the main staircase that
accessed a different level. In the upper structures of the mounds or temples, the accesses were
very small and each room had only one of them.
 ENTRANCES AND STAIRS
This system of protection of the ceremonial center and the internal routes of the sacred area
demonstrates the impossibility for a person outside the priestly group to move inside the
sacred complex.
)

The stairs, under most circumstances, were very steep with clay steps. Each step was
reinforced by a small stick of guarango placed in an outer corner, which had the
function of strengthening and protecting it.
 RAMPS
There is different evidence that, in various
circumstances, the ramps were made only
by crushing the fallen adobe bricks on the
unevenness, where a ladder was previously
located.

The ramp would be the ideal route to

consider a three-dimensional vision, while the
ladder could represent a route that implies a
segmented concentration, directed to a
sequence of predetermined actions.
 STUFFED WITH VEGETABLES
Most of the large fillings were made with layers of earth, which included a number of ceramic fragments,
vegetables, remains of animal and vegetable offerings, pieces of adobes and clods. The layers of earth
alternated with layers of selected vegetables, placed with great care and ordered parallel to each other.

FUNCTIONS
Saturate the structures with their use only in the upper part as a platform. The second, contribute to
confer greater elasticity to the structure and place a light, compact padding inside it, with the
function of containing the pressure towards the outside, solving the static problems of the highest
parts of the mounds.

A KIND OF STRATEGY
The inclination of the vegetable layers was always projected inwards, to control the action of the
dynamic and static forces that could have endangered the construction. The pressure on the
perimeter sides of the structure became lighter, thus achieving greater stability.
 CIRCULAR STRUCTURES

The floors of the temples and other

architectural structures were made
entirely of clay.

Circular frusto-conical structures were found built

inside the artificial fills, using adobe fragments and
clay lumps, connected to each other by small
constructions made with the same materials and
without mortar.

)
 In the filling itself, the clods without mortar were
placed and the surface of the deposited material
was reached, leaving the circumference formed by
the adobe fragments visible. In some cases the
circular structures were made with complete
adobes.

In certain cases the circular structures were found in

correspondence with column bases or other
architectural elements, almost underlining the
previous presence of these construction components.