The Nasca-Palpa Project - the International Study Group on Music

The Nasca-Palpa Project: a cooperative approach of
photogrammetry, archaeometry and archaeology
M. Reindel
KAAK, German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Bonn, Germany
A. Gruen
Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
ABSTRACT: The Nasca-Palpa project aims at reconstructing the cultural history of the creators
of the famous Nasca Geoglyphs in Palpa, on the south coast of Peru. Archaeological methods
are combined with new methods and technologies of dating, recording, geophysical prospection
and anthropological analysis in order to analyse the complex interaction between the changes of
environment and cultural development in a desert environment. A large amount of different kind
of data is produced that will be integrated in a GIS database presented in the paper of Lambers
& Sauerbier (2005). The basis for the GIS is a large DTM, produced with photogrammetric
methods, that contains also the vector data and attribute knowledge from archaeological
prospections and excavations about the geoglyphs. The multidisciplinary approach produced
fascinating insights into 3000 years of prehispanic development (1500 BC – 1500 AD) of the
poorly known cultural history of the south coast of Peru, especially the Paracas and Nasca cultures.
1 INTRODUCTION
Palpa is situated on the south coast of Peru which is part of the Atacama desert, one of the driest
regions of the world. Previous archaeological investigations of the south cost of Peru have
traced human developments over several thousand years, but are still at a fairly rudimentary
stage (Silverman 1995). The most famous old cultures of the region are the Paracas culture
(800-200 BC) and the Nasca culture (200 BC - 600 AD). Investigations have focussed on cemeteries, ceramics, textiles and – of course – the famous geoglyphs of the Nasca culture.
Hypotheses regarding the geoglyphs are abound, while reliable data for their explanation in a
cultural historical context is lacking. Therefore in 1997 we started a longterm archaeological
project to reconstruct the complex cultural history of ceramic producing cultures of the Palpa
region in order to place the development of geoglyphs in its proper context with the development of settlements (Reindel 2004a, b, Reindel & Isla 1999, 2001, 2004, Reindel et al. 1999).
The Palpa area was especially suitable for this approach because in the three valleys, which constitute the Palpa region, the Rio Grande, Rio Palpa and Rio Viscas valleys, a great number of
ancient settlements of different time periods border the valley margins and are in close proximity and therefore in direct relation to the geoglyphs, which are situated on the desert plateaus
and slopes between the valleys (Fig. 1, 2).
The project was originally financed by the Swiss Liechtenstein Foundation for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLSA) and the ETH Zurich. In 2002 the Nasca/Palpa project was chosen
by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Investigation (BMBF) to establish a large
project group for the development and application of new scientific methods and technologies to
support the archaeological investigations (Reindel & Wagner 2004). The underlying idea is that
only through interdisciplinary cooperation with natural and engineering sciences can archaeology nowadays develop its full potential. In this paper we present the methods and preliminary
results of our multidisciplinary approach, with special emphasis on photogrammetry.
Figure. 1. Digital terrain model of the study area with Palpa lying at the confluence
of the Rio Grande, Rio Palpa and Rio Viscas Rivers, based on SRTM-data.
(Source: Department of Geography, University of Heidelberg).
Figure 2. View of the fertile Palpa valley with the surrounding desert environment.
In order to obtain a systematic database with information about the human occupation of the
Palpa region in 1997 we started a detailed archaeological survey covering the three valleys of
the Palpa region (Reindel et al. 1999). The survey area of about 300 km2 reached from the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Ingenio rivers up to an altitude of about 1200 m in the upper
course of the valleys in the western slopes of the Andes. We recorded in detail about 700 archaeological sites. Among them were settlements, cemeteries, geoglyphs and petroglyph sites.
Representative sites of each cultural period were selected for detailed topographic mapping and
test excavations. Some of the geoglyphs were recorded with terrestrial measurements. From
1998 on the topography and the geoglyphs of the lower parts of the valleys were mapped completely with photogrammetric methods (see below).
On the basis of the survey data representative settlements of the most important cultural periods were selected for area excavations. In Pernil Alto (Initial Period, 1800-800 BC) we documented a settlement with the earliest ceramic in the region. This culture developed into the
Paracas culture (800-200 BC). In Jauranga, a site situated on the bottom of the Palpa valley, we
excavated settlement remains and 43 graves of the Paracas culture (Reindel & Isla 2004, see
Fig. 3, left). The site Los Molinos, where we excavated large terrasses with adobe architecture,
must have been the administrative center of the Early Nasca period (1-250 AD) in the region
(Reindel & Isla 2001). Later this settlement was abandoned and its function was replaced in
Middle Nasca times by the site of La Muña (250-450 AD), where we concentrated our efforts
on the excavation of the elite tombs of a major necropolis (Fig. 3, right).
The Late Intermediate period (1000-1400 AD) of the south coast of Peru is poorly known. In
order to obtain basic information about the ceramic chronology of this period we carried out
stratigraphic excavations at a refuse deposit at Chillo, as well as detailed architectural documentations of the site Pinchango Alto (see also Eisenbeiss et al. 2005). Excavations on geoglyph
sites resulted in the discovery of platform structures where the Nasca people deposited offerings
related to water and fertility rites (Reindel 2004b, Reindel et al. 2003, Lambers 2004). Another
discovery on the geoglyphs were wooden posts within and around the platforms, some of which
were part of the structures. Others may have functioned as sight markings. These new findings
change considerably our perception of the geoglyphs, which seem to have formed a sacred landscape for rites of water and fertility (see also the contribution Lambers & Sauerbier (2005) in
this volume).
Archaeology has produced a lot of new insights into cultural developments in the Palpa region, but has also posed many new questions that cannot be answered by archaeological methods alone. In La Muña, for example, we found clear evidence of precipitations in prehistoric
times. Closer investigation of this phenomenon could only be accomplished by specialists in
geomorphology. Archaeological sites have been identified so far only by surface evidences. For
the testing of areas without visible surface remains we need to use methods of geophysical
prospection. Many of the dating problems cannot be solved by the archaeological method of
relative chronology alone, but must be supported by numerical datings produced with physical
methods. Also, the findings of food remains in the settlement excavations, like shells, fish
bones, llama bones and crop fruits which are no longer in use today, resulted in the formulation
of a hypothesis about nutrition habits and long distance trade in ancient times. It was therefore
necessary to cooperate with several specialized disciplines in order to fill in the gaps in the historical record about the ancient cultures in the Palpa region.
Figure 3. Left: Excavation of settlement remains and burial at the Paracas site Jauranga (600-200 BC).
Right: Excavation of an elite tomb at the Middle Nasca site La Muña (250-450 AD).
2 GEOARCHAEOLOGY
The geoarchaeological project of the Department of Geography of the Heidelberg University reconstructs the climatic and environmental history of the Palpa region based on the analysis of
different geoarchives. It works in close cooperation with the chronometrical project (see below).
By means of geomorphological surveys, the investigation of ancient loess deposits, sediment
analysis and the dating of the deposits with radiocarbon and Optically Stimulated Luminescence
(OSL)-dating it was possible to identify a general process of desertification that began around
1500 BC when the first permanent settlements were established in the Palpa region (Eitel et al.
2005). During the Initial and the Paracas periods conditions were more humid and therefore
more favorable for agriculture than in later times. With the beginning of the Nasca culture
around 200 BC the climate became drier. Nonetheless this period resulted in a cultural flourishing, probably because of the development of irrigation systems especially in the lower parts of
the valleys. At the end of the Nasca period the desertification became a real problem. Settlement
centers first moved toward the upper parts of the valleys following the shift oft the desert margin. But around 600 AD the Nasca culture came to an end, most probably due to the extreme
aridity. Between 600 and 1000 AD the Palpa region was nearly abandoned. This situation
changed again around 1000 AD when climatic conditions became more humid and population
density increased considerably. People concentrated in large habitation sites and population
numbers must have equaled those of Early Nasca times. At the end of the prehispanic period,
beginning in 1400, climatic conditions again became dryer during the occupation of the Inka
who installed only few administration centers in the region. These dry conditions continued until today.
3 GEOPHYSICS
Traditional archaeological survey is based on surface remains. With the aid of geophysical
methods we can detect subsurface features. In cooperation with the Bavarian State Department
of Historical Monuments we are using magnetometry to survey large areas (Fassbinder & Hecht
2004, Fassbinder & Reindel 2004). Magnetometry has been applied so far only in few cases in
South America. Magnetometric methods have to be adapted to south american conditions in the
course of the project in order to improve the results. But already the first tests resulted in the detection of structural remains in geoglyph areas and at the valley bottoms, which so far were supposed to be void of settlement remains.
Magnetometry is combined and complemented by geoelectric surveys realized by the Geographical Institute of the Heidelberg University (Hecht & Fassbinder 2004). By geoelectric survey we obtain information about the depths of the features, represented graphically by profiles.
The combination of several profiles results in a 3D view of the archaeological and geomorphological features.
4 CHRONOMETRY
Dating is the basis for historical comparison and archaeological interpretation. With archaeological methods we are able to establish relative chronologies by means of stratigraphic evidence and similarity relations. Numerical dates can be obtained only by other methods. The radiocarbon laboratory of the Institute of Environmental Physics of the Heidelberg University is
analyzing about 200 samples with the well known radiocarbon method in order to provide numerical data for the cultural chronology of Palpa (Greilich et al. 2004). At the same time new
methods of standardized and decentralized sample preparation are developed that help to make
AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry)-datings much more inexpensive than today.
Because of the lack of organic material the direct dating of geoglyphs is more complicated. In
the course of the project the Department of Archaeometry of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences at the Max-Planck Institute is developing a new method of dating stone surfaces, based on
previous experiences with the method of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). In 2004 we
obtained the first numerical datings. This new method has a great importance not only in archaeology, but also for other applications in geosciences, for example for the dating of ancient
mudflows.
5 ANTHROPOLOGY
Paleogenetics is a very young discipline and few case studies exist for South America. The Institute for Historical Anthropology and Human Ecology of the Göttingen University is analyzing genetic relationships between the more than 150 individuals excavated in the course of the
project (Fehren-Schmitz et al. 2004). Differences in the genetic codes can yield also important
data about population history and population movement. By these methods it will be possible,
for example, to determine if kinship relations existed between the individuals who were buried
in the elite tombs of La Muña. This would mean that dynastic principles were the basis of political power in the Nasca society. Another important question is whether the Wari influence in the
Nasca region, that can be found during the time after the decline of the Nasca culture, was due
to population movements from the highland.
Another project, conducted by a team of the Department for Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Göttingen University is analyzing stable isotope relations in human bones and teeth for
the reconstruction of nutrition habits. With the information about food consumption of the people in Palpa we can reconstruct commercial relations and movement of people between different
ecological regions. In Nasca times people in Palpa consumed fish and seashells from the coast
which is about 70 km away. They also ate llama meat. Llamas cannot live for a long time on the
coast and must have been brought from the highlands.
6 PHOTOGRAMMETRY
6.1 The use of aerial photography in Nasca archaeology
There are several reasons which account for the lack of an adequate map of the Nasca geoglyphs: the sheer number of ground drawings, the vastness and inaccessibility of the plateaus
and ridges where they are found, and the enormous amount of labour investment required to
map them using traditional surveying means like theodolite and measuring tape. Since the
1940s, the Servicio Aerofotográfico Nacional (SAN, Lima) has produced several sets of aerial
photographs (at different scales) of the valleys of the Nasca drainage for agricultural purposes.
These photographs usually cover the valley floors, so that just the geoglyphs near the irrigated
fields are visible on them. Only some areas of archaeological interest, like the northern edge of
the Pampa de Nasca, were flown especially to take photos of the ground drawings. The SAN
photos were used by Maria Reiche (Reiche 1993) and other investigators as reference to locate
the geoglyphs in the field and to compile sketch maps. Still, the actual mapping work was usually done on the ground. As this is very time consuming, in many cases only the most important
geoglyphs were mapped.
Hawkins (1974) was the first to try to overcome these difficulties by employing photogrammetry, as it allows to accurately record the ground drawings on the base of aerial photos
without the need to map them in the field. He documented the famous concentration of geoglyphs on the Pampa de San José, on the south bank of the Ingenio river. In cooperation with
SAN, a special series of 30 aerial images designed for stereoprocessing was produced and analysed. However, Hawkins’ effort suffered from several shortcomings: the scale of the aerial
photographs used was not very detailed (< 1:10,000), the mapping was done largely without archaeological expertise, and the published maps were of poor quality1.
Another attempt to make use of the advantages of aerial photography was the production of
a photo set of the southern portion of the Pampa de Nasca in 1984 (Johnson et al. 1990). The
photographs were taken at a scale of approx. 1:24,000 and combined into a photo mosaic which
covers the northern bank of the Nasca river well into the pampa. However, due to their limited
overlap, most of the photos taken were not suitable for stereoprocessing, and no systematic
mapping of the visible geoglyphs was undertaken.
6.2 Photogrammetric 3D mapping
As for the Palpa area, at the start of our project there where two series of SAN aerial photographs available (taken in 1944 and 1970, resp.). Although they showed a good part of the ridge
north of Palpa, the plateaus to the south of Palpa were not covered completely, and the small
scale as well as the limited overlap of the images did not meet the requirements of modern digi1
There are two more published maps of the area investigated by Hawkins (Instituto Geográfico Nacional 1993, Nikitzki 1993) which are possibly based on the same set of aerial photographs used by him,
although no clear reference is given on either of them.
tal 3D photogrammetry. Therefore, we decided to produce a new set of high resolution aerial
photographs especially designed for stereoprocessing (Fig. 4). The photogrammetric mapping
was done in close coordination with the archaeological work and was complemented by a thorough recording of most geoglyphs in the field. Our photogrammetric activities have been described in a number of publications (Gruen 1999, Gruen et al. 2000, Gruen & Lambers 2003).
Here we can only present a brief summary report.
For image acquisition, special photoflights were performed by Horizons, Inc., Rapid City,
SD, USA which covered the above mentioned ridges and the adjacent valleys, a total of approx.
100 km2. A Zeiss RMK A15 camera was used during the flights. There were two missions:
30.04. and 01.05.1997 for the block Sacramento (in colour) and 23.05. and 27.05.1998 for the
blocks Sacramento and San Ignacio (in B/W)2. Table 1 gives an overview of the project characteristics. In total we produced about 600 aerial images, both in colour and B/W at nominal
scales 1:5000. The image scale was chosen such that the smallest possible lines, which in our
area of investigation have a width of about 10 cm, could still be distinguished. The image overlap is 60 % in both directions.
During the photoflight in April/May 1997 over Sacramento, kinematic GPS observations
were carried out. Also, signalized control points were used. The additional flights of May 1998
did not have signalized control points, neither did they carry GPS observations. Thus, in summer 1999 we organized a terrestrial GPS field campaign in order to put 9 natural control points
into the block of San Ignacio. The 1998 images of Sacramento however must be connected via
triangulation to the control supported blocks of 1997. All GPS coordinates have been transformed into the Peruvian system UTM Zone 18, which is also the basis of the national topographic maps 1:50,000. Our photographs constitute the first complete set of aerial images over
these areas at the right image scales that can be used for stereo processing.
Figure 4. Part of an aerial image (with fiducial marks) showing the central part of Cresta de Sacramento.
Since it was anticipated (and this was later confirmed by practical tests) that the automated
measurement of tie points would cause serious problems because of lack of good texture in
many regions, we decided from the very beginning to measure manually on the Analytical Plotters AC3 and S9. The triangulation of the Sacramento colour block was performed with 88 im2
At the same time a complete set of aerial photographs of the Pampa de Nasca (between the Ingenio
and the Nasca valley) was produced at a nominal scale of 1:10 000. This area is not included in the present project but will be at a later date.
ages and 8 control points. Since the quality of the colour images of the 1997 flight was not very
good, we ordered a B/W photoflight to be done one year later. At that time, without us being in
the area, the signalized ground control points were not available any more. Also, kinematic GPS
was not used. Therefore we had to measure the B/W block without any control points and connect it via joint tie points to some images of the colour block. We did a joint bundle adjustment
of both the colour and B/W images, including kinematic GPS data for the colour block. Table 2
gives the results of triangulation for both blocks.
Table 1. Project parameters for Sacramento and San Ignacio image acquisition.
Area
Photoflight
Flying height
above ground
(m)
Sacramento
April/May ‘97
1000
May ‘98
1000
San Ignacio
May ‘98
1000
a
Signalized points, b Natural points.
No of images
/strips
Nominal
image scale
212 / 8
169 / 8
215 / 11
1:5000
1:5000
1:5000
Colour
or B/W
GCPs
Colour neg.
B/W pos.
B/W pos.
Table 2. Triangulation characteristics for Sacramento and San Ignacio.
Area
Images used
No of images
GCPs
Kinematic GPS
Sacramento
B/W and colour
134+77
8
Yes (colour flight)
San Ignacio
B/W
158
9
No
8a
0
9b
σ0 (µm)
13.3
9.5
Although the photoflight was meant to produce a nominated image scale of 1:5000, the actual
scale turned out to be approx. 1:7000. The overall block accuracy, as given in Table 2, was good
enough for the purpose at hand. It was clear that at this fairly high noise level self-calibration
would not help improving the results and was therefore not used.
In order to generate a DTM of the area of investigation, 57 B/W stereo pairs for the Sacramento block and 94 B/W stereo pairs of the San Ignacio block had to be measured. We decided
to go with manual measurements because we needed a very precise DTM, especially for the integration of the image texture map and vector data of the geoglyphs. Any deviation between
vector data and texture would have been noticeable very easily. Our previous experiences with
automated commercial image matchers convinced us that these could not give us the required
performance. This was actually confirmed by tests, which gave unacceptable DTM results due
to poor texture and contrast in large areas of the images. Actually, in a separate investigation we
tested the performance of automated matching on three different commercial systems with one
model of the Sacramento block and we obtained RMS errors of 0.69, 0.66 and 0.55 m respectively. This does not compare well with the theoretical expectation for manual measurements of
0.15 m (based on 0.015 % of the flying height above ground), and, even worse, produced many
unacceptable blunders. For manual measurements we used profiles with a distance of 20 m and
additional breaklines. Later on we also integrated all extracted geoglyphs as breaklines into the
DTM. The wireframe model serves as the basis for orthoimage production and visualization.
We produced wireframe models at various resolutions according to the different purposes.
Rasterwidths range from 25 m for overview representations down to 1 m for high resolution applications (Fig. 6).
All aerial images (B/W and colour) were scanned at a resolution of 21 µm pixelsize on the
Agfa Horizon image scanner (block Sacramento) and on the Zeiss SKAI of the Federal Office
ob Topography, Wabern, Switzerland (block San Ignacio), respectively. In the case of the Sacramento block this corresponds to a footprint of 15 cm. This is about the size of the most narrow
geoglyph lines. For orthoimage generation and mosaicking we used Socet Set on the
Leica/Helava DPW 770. The largest mosaic consists of 34 images and requires 1.4 GB storage
space. For texture mapping different resolution levels are available (25 cm up to 2 m footprint).
The 3D mapping of geoglyphs was done manually on the Analytical Plotter S9. Wherever
possible, the heaped perimeter lines of the cleared areas, lines, and figures were marked by polygones. Thanks to the high resolution of the images used, it was possible to record even narrow
lines very accurately. To further enhance the quality of the recording, during the 2000 and 2001
field campaigns the resulting maps were revised in the field. All mapped features were stored as
3D objects in the special xmp format of the mapping software XMAP which was used on the
Analytical Plotter. This format was afterwards converted into dxf format for further processing.
In spite of its high quality, the photogrammetric mapping had still to be revised in the field.
On the base of the aerial images alone, many narrow lines are hardly distinguishable from modern footpaths, and ground drawings affected by erosion are sometimes difficult to discern. Besides, there is certain information needed for archaeological analysis which can only be recorded in the field. Thus, maps at scales suitable for fieldwork (1:100 to 1:1000) were generated
using ArcView Release 3.2. All the geoglyphs were located in the fields and revised on the
maps. Using a standardized feature sheet, they were also described in detail with respect to
form, construction technique, stratigraphic relations to other features, associated buildings and
findings, and other attributes. This way we recorded 922 geoglyphs out of the more than 1500
geoglyphs photogrammetrically mapped in Sacramento and San Ignacio. The corrections on the
maps were later on integrated into the digital vector data again on the Analytical Plotter S9. On
the base of the revised 3D vector data we produced final 2D maps of the geoglyphs and their
surroundings (Fig. 5). While the work on the Cresta de Sacramento has already been completed
(Reindel et al. 2003), the revision of the San Ignacio data set is still in progress.
6.3 Visualization of results
The computer visualization of the produced 3D models is very often an important element for
data analysis and representation (Fig. 6 and 7). Visualization tools are available in manifold
forms, with several hundred commercial software packages on the market and even more in
R&D establishments. For the uninitiated user it is very difficult to select a program of choice,
and it needs a lot of testing and practical work with different kind of datasets before a critical
assessment and acquisition decision can be made. Although the conceptional aspects of computer graphics algorithms are quite straightforward, it is always the implementation and the
quality of the key components of the computer platform which define the performance. When
analysing visualization software a major consideration is whether real-time performance is required or not. For many analysis applications real-time performance is a must for the sake of
economy and efficiency of operation.
Currently, our datasets Sacramento and San Ignacio encompass 13 MB of vector data and 3
GB of image raster data at the highest resolution level. Our hybrid datasets include not only
DTM and texture map, but also the 3D vectors of the geoglyphs, which are integrated as a third
layer. This requires high-end visualization software to be used for the successful real-time visualization of the complete dataset. So far we have used a variety of software, of which not all are
real-time capable for large datasets: SGI Scene Viewer, Inventor, ERDAS IMAGINE VirtualGIS and Skyline (a package with LoD capability).
6.4 GIS as a tool for geoglyph analysis
The 3D vector data of the Palpa geoglyphs, together with their detailed descriptions, constitute a
comprehensive data set designed not to test just one specific, but various hypotheses about the
function and the meaning of the geoglyphs. The photogrammetric data processing for Sacramento and San Ignacio is completed. In the subsequent analysis, emphasis will be placed on the
manifold relations of the geoglyphs to their natural as well as cultural environment. These relations are to be analysed largely within a geographic information system (GIS). A conceptual as
well as a physical data model has been set up and most data has been integrated on a GIS platform already. For more details on the Nasca GIS see Lambers & Sauerbier (2005).
Figure 5. Whale figure, lines, trapezoids, and line center at site PAP 52.
Figure 6. Digital terrain model (shaded relief) of Cresta de Sacramento and San Ignacio.
Figure 7. View onto the hybrid 3D model of Cresta de Sacramento.
The geoglyph attributes recorded in the field are stored in a database linked to the vector data.
Data on other archaeological features like settlements or cemeteries are also included, as well as
additional information on the geology, geomorphology, hydrology, and land use of the Palpa region. Spatial analysis will primarily address:
-
the dependence of the distribution of certain geoglyph types on local topography,
the orientation of geoglyphs subject to landscape features (towards mountain tops, alongside
rivers and plateaus, etc.),
possible correlations between settlement patterns and geoglyph distribution,
visibility and accessibility of geoglyphs from contemporary settlements and cemeteries,
correlation of geoglyph distribution to water sources (rivers, ground water).
These questions will be addressed in consideration of the results of the Palpa settlement survey and the excavations at Los Molinos and La Muña, which allow not only new insights in
Nasca socio-political organization, but also for the first time the proper placement of the ground
drawings in their cultural-historic context.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The photogrammetric 3D recording, the visualisation and the GIS-based analysis of the
geoglyphs of Palpa present novel approaches in Nasca archaeology. For the first time, two of
the most important concentrations of these still enigmatic ground drawings are systematically
documented and analyzed. The complete mapping of all surviving geoglyphs of a given region
has considerably altered our conception of the ground drawings. Not just the quantity, but also
the diversity of the geoglyphs is much greater than expected. The accurate recording of each
geoglyph in its individual shape and context allows detailed insights into the construction process and the use of the ground drawings. The analytical capabilities of the GIS are likely to provide further insights into the role and function of the geoglyphs, while the excavations at important Nasca settlements as well as of small stone buildings on the geoglyphs and the regional
study of settlement patterns provide the cultural background for a new attempt to interpret the
geoglyphs within their cultural context. All in all, the current Nasca/Palpa project, while not yet
completed, can already serve as a reference example to demonstrate the synergy which results
from a useful cooperation between archaeology, natural and engineering sciences.
The combined effort considerable increased the number and improved the quality of scientific
data. The archaeological investigations have produced a valuable database that allowed the reconstruction of the basic patterns of cultural development of the Palpa region. At the same time
archaeologists could exactly define further research problems that could not be solved with archaeological methods alone.
On this basis the cooperation with specialized disciplines has been established. Geoarchaeologists reconstructed the environmental background for the cultural development of the Palpa
valleys. By means of photogrammetry and geophysical prospection methods surface and subsurface features could be recorded. A numerical chronology was produced with different dating
methods. Anthropological disciplines collected information about nutrition, genetic relations
and population movements.
Many of the results could not have been achieved without the cooperation of different disciplines. For example, after 60 years of archaeological investigation of the Nasca culture, the geoglyphs of a major region have been documented for the first time in detail. It would have been
impossible to fulfill this task with traditional methods of terrestrial measurements. Methods of
photogrammetry enabled us to do the complete documentation and archaeological analysis in
relatively short time. Another example is the explication of settlement shifts in the course of the
cultural development of the Palpa valleys. Only by means of actual methods of geoarchaeological analysis, combined with new methods of physical dating it was possible to trace changes of
climate and landscape, recognizing these as important factors for the explication of archaeological phenomena.
However, the great number of data produced by several working groups is by itself another
research problem to be handled properly for the effective use in scientific analysis. Therefore, in
the Nasca/Palpa project the data of the different research groups are currently integrated in a
GIS, whose topographic basis is provided by the photogrammetric project. The details of this
GIS are described in the contribution of K. Lambers and M. Sauerbier in this volume.
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