• DOI:10.1086/204330
• Corpus ID: 144704773

Cahuachi: New Evidence for an Early Nasca Ceremonial Role

@article{Valdez1994CahuachiNE,
  title={Cahuachi: New Evidence for an Early Nasca Ceremonial Role},
  author={Lidio M. Valdez},
  journal={Current Anthropology},
  year={1994},
  volume={35},
  pages={675 - 679}
}

• L. Valdez
• Published 1 December 1994
• Geology
• Current Anthropology

process described above, pointing to the grooves delineating the head and arms as hominid modifications. However, in light of the geological evidence for the creation of various grooves during scoria production, it should be seriously considered that the grooves distinguishing the head and arms are the result of natural processes as well. The provenance of the object and the other artifacts excavated at Berekhat Ram is described by Goren-Inbar (i986) as under, among, and on top of basalt and scoria gravels and pebbles, and therefore (contra Schepartz I993: II7) it is not the only piece of scoria found at the site. No other scoria objects were examined, however, to confirm that the grooves found on the figurine were human modifications. Without an examination of the grooves found on the unworked scoria, Goren-Inbar's differentiation between worked and unworked seems to be based solely upon natural form. Other natural phenomena have fooled archaeologists into producing complicated explanations. For example, the suggestion of the cave bear cult was based upon the discovery of cave bear skulls in Drachenloch Cave (Chase i987). Further examination of other caves and study of the natural behavioral pattems of modem bears indicated that the cave bear skulls were in fact natural cave accumulations, not evidence of prehistoric ritual (Jequier I975). As in the case of the cave bear cult, further analysis in the context of naturally occurring processes leads to reevaluation of initial interpretations of the scoria pebble. When one considers that the figurine was excavated from a scoria bed, that there is a tendency for lapilli to form a skin with natural grooves, and that lapilli can take strange natural forms, it is not only conceivable but probable that the figurine is entirely of geologic origin. Microscopic examination of the grooves, particularly those that delineate the head and arms, compared with grooves on unworked pieces of scoria excavated from the bed would demonstrate whether there had been hominid modification of the scoria pebble in question. Until such a comparison is made, the symbolic nature of the scoria pebble from Berekhat Ram should not be cited as indisputable evidence either for or against the existence of symbolic art prior to the Upper Paleolithic.