Beyond the Nasca Lines

Book excerpt: Inhabited for over 5,000 years before European colonization, the site of La Tiza in Peru’s Nasca Desert provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine the dynamics of ancient complex societies. This volume takes a long temporal perspective on La Tiza from the Preceramic through the Inca era, studying the site within the context of broader developments such as the rise of Nasca culture, subsequent conquest by the Wari Empire, collapse, abandonment, and the reformation of a new society. Christina Conlee synthesizes data she obtained while directing a multi-year excavation at the site with data from other investigations to reconstruct the development of social complexity over time. She includes detailed descriptions of the stratigraphy and artifacts, carefully separating materials from each period. Exploring how political integration, religious practices, economics, and the environment shaped societal transformations at La Tiza, Conlee offers patterns that can be found in other areas and can be used to understand the development of other long-lasting civilizations.