ANCIENT POTTERY FROM NASCA, PERU 



By Charles W. Mead 



Thf Nasca Collection of pottery, featherwork, textiles and other objects has been purchased and 

 presented to the Museum by Mr. A. D. Juilliard 



THE Museum has recently had 

 the rare good fortune to secure 

 in a collection from prehistoric 

 graves in Nasca, Peru, some four hundred 

 and twelve examples of pottery. Nazca 

 pottery is undoubtedly the most beauti- 

 ful ware so far discovered in South 

 America, which is saying much in ^■iew 

 of the thousands of remarkable pieces 

 that have been brought to light in vari- 

 ous localities, especially along the Peru- 

 vian coast and in the high plateau region 

 about Lake Titicaca. The pottery from 

 Nasca is a thin ware showing a high de- 

 gree of skill in the firing, but its claim 

 to preeminence lies in the l>eauty of its 

 painted decorations. The designs are 

 mostly derived from the same motives 

 as those found on Pachacamac pottery 

 of the so-called " Tiahuanaco " style, but 

 are much more highly elaborated. Many 

 different colors and tints are employed, 

 and the color schemes are worked out in 

 a truly artistic manner. 



The credit of bringing this unique 

 pottery to light is due to Dr. jMax Uhle. 

 In a short account of his discovery of the 

 Necropolis of Nasca in 1901 {Proceedings 

 Davenport [Iowa] Academy of Sciejices, 

 vol. xiii, 1-46) he tells us that he had 

 previously seen in the Berlin Museum fur 

 VolkerJiunde a group of four polychrome 

 vessels of an unknown type. They had 

 come into the possession of the Museum 

 in the seventies, labeled as coming from 

 lea and Chala. Nothing resembling 

 them had been seen and as the region 

 around these localities was unknown to 

 archaeologists, but little importance was 



attached to the original labels. Dr. 

 Ilile says, " I still recollect the enthusi- 

 asm with which the late Adolf Bastian, 

 the founder of the Museum fiir Volker- 

 Icunde, extolled these few strange and 

 wonderful objects, the like of which 

 never had been seen before as coming 

 from Peru." 



Dr. Uhle states that it was largely 

 owing to the inspiration of Professor 

 Bastian that he "determined to study 

 the question as to the provenience and 

 cultural significance of this type of 

 polychrome ware," of which he had seen 

 these few specimens in Berlin. 



The second Hearst expedition to Peru, 

 under the auspices of the University of 

 California, furnished Dr. Uhle the de- 

 sired opportunity of searching for the 

 mysterious hiding place. He arrived in 

 the department of lea in November, 

 1900, and having purchased riding mules, 

 immediately set out on his quest. 



It was in the month of January, 1901, 

 while visiting at the hacienda Ocucaje, 

 twenty-five miles south of lea, that he 

 realized the object of his search; but 

 let him give an account of his discovery 

 in his own words. He says, "After 

 having made a number of minor excava- 

 tions with the same negative results as 

 all the former attempts, I was riding one 

 day around a sandy edge of the valley 

 when my eye was arrested by a simple 

 potsherd lying upon the ground. It 

 proved to be a fragment of a large bowl, 

 quite undecorated but for a band of red 

 coloring along the upper rim. My atten- 

 tion w^as thereby roused at once. Only 



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