The Paracas culture was an Andean society that lived between about 800 BCE and 100 BCE in what is now the Ica Region of Peru. The Paracas people had a good understanding of irrigation and water management. They also made important achievements in textile arts. Most information about the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas site on the Paracas Peninsula. This site was first studied in the 1920s by Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello.
The Paracas Cavernas are deep tombs carved into the top of Cerro Colorado. Each tomb contains multiple burials. Over time, these tombs were reused. In some cases, the heads of the deceased were removed, likely for rituals, and later placed back in the tombs. The pottery found with these burials includes colored designs carved into the surface, a technique called "negative" resist decoration, and other items from the Paracas tradition. The textiles found with the burials show complex weaving patterns, as well as detailed plaiting and knotting.
The necropolis of Wari Kayan included two groups of hundreds of burials placed closely together inside and around abandoned buildings on the steep north slope of Cerro Colorado. The pottery found here includes simple, smooth ceramics, some with white or red coatings, others with patterns rubbed into the surface, and other items from the Topara tradition. Each burial contained a cone-shaped bundle wrapped in textiles. Most bundles held a seated individual facing north across the bay of Paracas, along with items such as ceramics, food, baskets, and weapons. Each body was tied with cords to keep it in a seated position and then wrapped in many layers of beautifully woven and decorated textiles. The textiles and embroideries from the Paracas Necropolis are considered some of the finest ever made by Pre-Columbian Andean societies. These items are the main examples of art that represent the Paracas culture. Burials at Wari Kayan continued until about 250 CE. Some of the burial bundles include textiles similar to those of the early Nazca culture, which came after the Paracas.
Political and social organization
The Paracas people did not have a single leader or central government. Instead, they were made up of smaller groups led by local leaders. These groups shared religious beliefs and trade connections but kept their own control over money and politics. Early Paracas communities were part of a larger area called the Chavín sphere, where they created their own versions of religious practices. During the middle period (500–380 BCE), the influence of Chavín on Paracas culture decreased, and communities began developing their own unique traditions. Evidence, such as signs of battle wounds, trophy heads, and obsidian knives found at Paracas sites, shows that relationships between these groups were not always peaceful.
Within the larger Paracas area, smaller regions formed through local cooperation, including the Chinca Valley, the Ica Valley, and the Palpa Valley. The Chinca Valley was likely the political center of Paracas culture, with the Paracas Peninsula possibly serving mainly as burial grounds. The Ica Valley was a less central area connected to Chinca. The Chinca Valley had many roads, large geoglyphs, and religious centers that acted as places for rituals and meetings. People from coastal and highland communities would gather there, which helped with social, political, and economic connections. Large mounds were built for ceremonies, but there is little evidence of permanent homes at these sites. Instead, farming and fishing happened around the mounds and religious areas. The valley had irrigation systems to grow more crops, a feature also found in other Paracas settlements and large sites.
The site Cerro del Gentil in the Upper Chincha Valley dates to about 550–200 BCE and was used for feasts that brought people from across the Paracas region. Though a smaller site, it has been studied extensively and helps explain how Paracas political systems developed. The site includes a large platform mound with two sunken courts surrounded by farmland. Tests on items found there show that people came from far away to attend the feasts, suggesting that alliances were formed between distant groups rather than just local ones. A ceremony marking the end of the site’s use happened around 200 BCE, during which many pottery, baskets, and other items were offered, along with a large feast. The variety of items found, such as bird feathers from northern Peru, shows that people from different areas used the site.
Scholars like Helaine Silverman believe that the Nazca culture and its symbols evolved from Paracas traditions. The Nazca people shared religious beliefs with the Paracas and continued practices like making textiles, capturing heads, and fighting in early times. Hendrik Van Gijseghem notes that Paracas remains are rare in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage, which was the central area of Nazca culture. In contrast, Paracas remains are common in the Ica, Pisco, and Chincha valleys, as well as the Bahía de la Independencia. He also points out that the southern Nazca region, which became the most populated area of Nazca culture, was never an important place for Paracas people. He suggests that the start of Nazca society began when Paracas people settled in the region and later grew in number.
Many Paracas sites were later occupied by the Topará tradition, and the decline of Paracas culture is often linked to the arrival of the Topará people from the north around 150 BCE. This idea is based on Topará-style pottery found at late Paracas and early Nazca sites. However, this theory is now being questioned. Evidence from the Cerro del Gentil site and other Chincha Valley locations shows that a ceremony marking the end of Paracas use happened before the Topará people arrived. These sites also show no signs of fighting or resistance to an invading group. Radiocarbon dating reveals that the earliest known Topará site, Jahuay, was occupied about 165 years after the last use of Cerro del Gentil. This suggests that the decline of Paracas and the shift to Nazca culture were already happening before the Topará tradition began.
Ceramics
Paracas ceramics are different from the Topará culture and the Paracas-Nazca transition because of the type of slip used to make and decorate the pottery. Topará ceramics often have simple, single-color designs, usually decorated with orange or neutral clay slip. Nazca ceramics focus on colorful designs made by applying a slip mixed with clay and pigments from minerals like manganese found in their environment. Paracas ceramics used a clay-based slip before firing the pottery. Although Paracas artists sometimes painted after firing, using resin and pigment to create colorful designs, this method helped distinguish Paracas pottery from Topará and Nazca styles. Paracas ceramics also include geometric shapes, animal figures, human forms, and abstract designs. These abstract forms often show architectural features, reflecting the culture and history of the Paracas people.
Ceremonial burials were very important in the Paracas culture. Specific burial sites helped archaeologists arrange the timeline of artifacts found in these locations. Important burial sites include Paracas Cavernas, Paracas Necropolis, and Ocucaje, located on the southern Peruvian coast and built about 2,000 years ago. The Paracas ceramic style is closely linked to the Cavernas and Ocucaje burials, while the Topará style is associated with the Necropolis burials, with some Topará artifacts also found at Ocucaje. The shift from Paracas to Nazca ceramic styles was clearly marked at Ocucaje. These burial sites helped identify different stages in the development of Paracas pottery.
The first phase (840–500 BCE) represents the early period of Paracas ceramics, found along the coast or in valleys. Ceramics from Ocucaje during this time show influences from the Chavín culture, as seen in features like the feline-eagle motif, similar to the falcon frieze at Chavín de Huántar, a Pre-Incan ceremonial site in the Peruvian highlands. A common feature in Paracas ceramics is the depiction of a full-face feline.
The middle Paracas period (500–380 BCE) marks the development of the Paracas culture, which became distinct from the Chavín culture. During this time, the Paracas people expanded trade and built religious structures that supported large burial sites filled with ceramics. The late Paracas phase (380–260 BCE) saw the unification of Paracas pottery styles and an increase in visitors to religious sites called huacas along the southern Peruvian coast. This period also introduced the "Oculate Being," a creature significant in the Inca Valley.
Studying these phases helps analyze the images and colors used in Paracas ceramics. However, the availability of pigments varied in different areas of the Inca Valley. At Ocucaje, early and middle Paracas ceramics used pigments rich in iron, mostly red and green. In the late phase, the Paracas culture used less vibrant colors and a more neutral palette, signaling a change in their ceramic style.
Mummy bundles
The dry climate in southern Peru's Pacific coast helps preserve organic materials when they are buried. Mummified human remains were found in a tomb on the Paracas peninsula. The bodies were wrapped in layers of cloth called "mummy bundles." These remains were discovered at the Great Paracas Necropolis along the south Pacific coast of the Andes. The Necropolis had two large groups of crowded pit tombs, with about 420 bodies. These tombs date back to around 300–200 BCE. The mummified bodies in each tomb were wrapped in textiles. Creating these textiles took many hours. The plain wrappings were very large, and the clothing was finely woven and embroidered. Larger mummy bundles had many layers of bright colored garments and headdresses. Both men and women wore jewelry made of sheet gold and shell beads. Some had tattoos as well. The shape of these mummy bundles is similar to a seed or a human head.
The textiles and jewelry in the tombs attracted looters. After discovery, the Paracas Necropolis was heavily looted from 1931 to 1933, especially in the Wari Kayan area. The amount of stolen materials is unknown. However, Paracas textiles later appeared on the international market. Most of these textiles outside Peru are believed to have been smuggled out of the country.
Textiles
According to Anne Paul, the shape of the object may have been a deliberate choice by the people, with the seed representing new life. Paul also notes that the detailed and high-quality textiles found in the mummy bundles suggest these fabrics were used for important religious ceremonies. Both native Andean cotton and the hair of camelids, such as wild vicuñas and domestic llamas or alpacas, naturally occur in many colors. Yarns were also dyed in a wide range of colors and used in weaving and other techniques. This mix of materials shows that people traded with communities at different elevations.
The images on these textiles included scenes from religious practices. Some showed a fallen figure or a flying one. Some figures had face paint and held severed heads, known as trophy heads. These heads were taken during battles or raids. It was believed that the head contained a person’s life force, where the spirit lived. These textiles displayed symbols important to the Paracas people’s beliefs and may have been worn to show a person’s gender, social rank, authority, and the community they belonged to.
Different color patterns are found in the textiles of Paracas Cavernas, early Paracas Necropolis, and later Nazca-related styles. The dyes came from many parts of the Andes and show that people traded with others at different altitudes for goods. Red dye was made from the cochineal bug, which lives on prickly pear cacti. The bug was crushed with a mortar and pestle to create red pigment. Yellow dye came from the qolle tree and quico flowers, while orange dye was made from beard lichen (Usnea). Green dye was often made by mixing the cg'illca plant with a mineral called collpa. Blue dye was made from tara, and darker blue shades used more collpa. Making dyes could take several hours. Afterward, women boiled and dyed the fibers for about two more hours. This was followed by spinning and weaving the fibers.
The textiles of Paracas were woven on backstrap looms and often made in solid colors. These textiles were decorated with embroidery in two styles. The earlier style used running stitches that followed the weaving’s pattern closely. Colors like red, green, gold, and blue were used to outline nested animal figures, which appeared to rise from the background with upturned mouths, while the stitching created empty spaces. These designs were abstract and hard to interpret. The later style used block-color embroidery, with stem stitches outlining and filling curvilinear figures in many bright colors. Figures that looked like animals and humans were shown in great detail with carefully varied colors.
Cranial modification
The Paracas culture, like many ancient Andean societies, practiced artificial cranial deformation. Among the skulls found at the Paracas Cavernas, most showed signs of modification. These skulls were mainly of two shapes: Tabular Erect or Bilobate. Tabular Erect was the most common shape for both males and females, but Bilobate skulls were more frequently found in female remains. This pattern is also seen in Paracas pottery, where male figures are shown with Tabular Erect heads and female figures with Bilobate heads.
Some archaeologists believe that Andean views of gender and beliefs about the world may have influenced how people chose the type of cranial modification. The shape of the skull does not seem to be connected to social status (based on burial items) or family relationships (based on how remains are grouped).
The Paracas culture also performed trepanation, a type of skull surgery, which is the earliest known in the Americas. They used stone tools to scrape or drill parts of the skull. Trepanation may have been used to treat skull fractures, which are often found in Paracas remains. These injuries may have been caused by weapons like slings, clubs, or atlatls found in burial bundles. However, many trepanations removed large parts of the skull, making it hard to find direct evidence of injuries. Both trepanations and skull fractures were most common on the front of the skull, suggesting a possible link between the two.
Archaeologists estimate survival rates for trepanation based on bone healing. About 39% of patients likely died during or shortly after the procedure (no bone healing was seen), and nearly 40% may have survived long-term (extensive bone healing was observed). While some sources suggest trepanation occurred in about 40% of Paracas people, this number is likely too high. Factors like limited skull samples, unexamined burial bundles, and the high mortality rate from trepanation make this estimate uncertain.
Geoglyphs
In 2018, archaeologists used RPAS drones to survey the Palpa province and discovered many geoglyphs, which are large ground drawings. These geoglyphs are believed to belong to the Paracas culture and are estimated to be 1,000 years older than the Nazca lines. The idea that the Paracas culture later evolved into the Nazca culture supports this connection. The Paracas geoglyphs differ from the Nazca lines in both subject matter and location, as many are created on hillsides instead of desert valley floors. Archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo explains that this difference had important purposes: the Nazca lines were likely meant to be seen by gods, while the Paracas geoglyphs were visible to people and may have been used to mark territory.