Vessel with representation of warriors bearing weapons

Around the fifth century AD, Nasca society underwent a series of social and political transformations yet to be fully studied, but were nevertheless reflected in a new way of decorating ceremonial ceramics. In an almost baroque style, in which very little is left in blank, a new repertoire of images was introduced: hybrid figures of animals and supernatural beings and recurring geometric motifs in decorative panels. Other patterns that appear for the first time in Nasca iconography are ritual scenes of harvest, fishing and fighting, where human beings predominate. In the body of this ceremonial vessel, for example, human warriors are carrying weapons, possibly darts, heading into a ritual combat that would give them the most prized war for the Nasca: a trophy head. (CP)