- Paracas culture
The Paracas culture was an important
Andean society between approximately 750 BCE and 100 CE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management. It developed in theParacas Peninsula , located in what today is theParacas District of thePisco Province in theIca Region . Most of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracasnecropolis , first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologistJulio Tello in the 1920s. The necropolis of Wari Kayan consisted of multitudes of large subterranean burial chambers, with an average capacity of about forty mummies. It is suggested that each large chamber might have been owned by a specific family or clan, using it for many generations. Eachmummy was bound with cord to hold it in place, and then wrapped in many layers of intricate, ornate, and finely woven textiles. These textiles are now known as some of the finest ever produced byPre-Columbian Andean societies, and are the primary works of art by which Paracas is known.External links
* [http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/living_legacies/paracas.php Paracas Textiles at the Brooklyn Museum]
* [http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/1peru/sect1.htm Gallery of Paracas objects]
* [http://conservacionyecoturismo.blogspot.com Impacts on Tourism at Paracas (in spanish)]
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