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Archaeo-geophysical methods in the Templo


del Escalonado, Cahuachi, Nasca (Peru)

Article in Near Surface Geophysics · October 2010


DOI: 10.3997/1873-0604.2010030

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Near Surface Geophysics, 2010, 8, 433-439  doi:10.3997/1873-0604.2010030

Archaeo-geophysical methods in the Templo del Escalonado,


Cahuachi, Nasca (Peru)
Enzo Rizzo1*, Nicola Masini2, Rosa Lasaponara1 and Giuseppe Orefici3
1
CNR-IMAA, Institute of Methodologies for the Environmental Analysis, C.da S.Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy
2
CNR-IBAM, Institute of Archaeological and Architectural Heritage, C.da S.Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy
3
Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos Precolombinos (CEAP), Nasca, Peru

Received December 2009, revision accepted July 2010

Abstract
The application of geophysical prospection methods to detect earthen remains is one of the major
challenging issues to be addressed in archaeological investigations. The subtle geophysical contrast
between earthen buried remains and the surroundings makes the detection of archaeological features
very difficult. In this paper, we address this challenge using a multi-technique approach. The inte-
gration of different geophysical methods has been used to identify archaeological remains in
Cahuach, Peru, which is the largest adobe ceremonial centre in the world. The investigations herein
presented are focused on two different geophysical campaigns carried out in 2008 in an area of the
Templo del Escalonado, which is highly representative of the whole archaeological site. It is a desert
environment where the archaeological features are covered by sand and alluvial material.
The geophysical prospection, required by the archaeologists to guide excavation planning, was
performed using both ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and geomagnetics with a gradiometer sys-
tem. The first allowed the detection of significant anomalies, the latter confirmed the presence of
these anomalies and also provided additional features not visible from GPR.
Trial excavations were carried out in correspondence of some anomalies. The archaeologists
unearthed a ceremonial offering in correspondence of an anomaly detected using both GPR and
geomagnetic methods. Moreover, an altar and precious archaeological materials were discovered in
the area characterized by a magnetic anomaly. From an archaeological perspective, these findings
were very significant, because they enabled us to cast new light on the Templo del Escalonado.
From a geophysical perspective, our results pointed out the high potentiality of magnetic and
GPR techniques to detect, investigate and document adobe archaeological remains in a desert envi-
ronmental setting.

Introduction which was made by the Nasca, one of the most important and
The detection of buried adobe (earthen) structures by using non- evolved pre-Colombian civilizations (Silverman 1993).
invasive techniques, such as geophysical prospection, is a com- The archaeological structures to be unearthed are walls, plat-
plex and crucial challenge. It is complex because of the subtle forms and terraces in adobe. The excavations carried out during
physical contrast between earthen remains and the surrounding the last 25 years have shown a complex stratigraphy composed
subsoil. It is crucial because of the long and widespread use of of overlaid structures, refilled with earth, vegetable material and
earthen materials by several civilizations mainly in arid and offerings. All these materials are covered by alluvial deposits. In
semi-arid lands. In the coastal regions of Peru, the adobe archi- this context, the detection of buried remains is very critical due
tecture is well preserved due to the hyper-arid climate, as in the to i) the complex archaeological stratigraphy and ii) the low
case of the Mochica remains on the northern coast, or the Nasca geophysical contrast between adobe structures and alluvial sub-
buildings and monuments on the southern coast (Moseley soil. To cope with these issues a multi-method geophysical
2001). approach was adopted during two different field trips (April
Our efforts to address this challenge are presented in this 2008 and November 2008) carried out in an area located near the
paper and discussed for an area selected from within the ceremo- Templo del Escalonado (see Figs 1 and 2).
nial centre of Cahuachi (Orefici and Drusini 2003; Orefici 2010), In order to detect buried structures, two different techniques
were used: i) geomagnetic with a gradiometric system and ii)
*
rizzo@imaa.cnr.it ground-penetrating radar (GPR).

© 2010 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers 433


434 E. Rizzo et al.

FIGURE 1
The sectors of Cahuachi (A and
B) investigated by the archaeolo-
gists. Letters a1, a2, a3 and a4
indicate respectively Gran
Piramide, Grande Templo,
Piramide Naranjada and Templo
del Escalonado.

FIGURE 2
Gran Piramide in the Cahuachi
archaeological site. a) The black
circle is the investigated area near
the Templo del Escalonado.
b)  The GPR instruments used in
the field trip of April 2008 and
c)  geomagnetic survey by G858
magnetic instruments during the
field trip of November 2008.
(a)

(b) (c)

© 2010 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Near Surface Geophysics, 2010, 8, 433-439
Archaeo-geophysical methods 435

The choice to acquire magnetic and electromagnetic data was In this paper, we focus on an area near to the Templo del
due to the widespread use of these methods in archaeology Escalonado (Fig. 2a). This temple is characterized by precious
(Sambuelli et al. 1999; Chavez et al. 2001; Piro et al. 2003; incised friezes on the walls, belonging to a transitional period
Chianese et al. 2004; Rizzo et al. 2005; Bavusi et al. 2009; between the architectural phases II and III of Cahuachi. It was
Hartsch et al. 2009 and reference therein). Nevertheless, their discovered during archaeological investigations carried out
use to highlight buried adobe archaeological features is quite between 1984–1988 (Orefici 2010). Since 2001 the investiga-
new and still an open issue. tions were enlarged to a flat rectangular area, close to the north-
ern side of the Templo del Escalonado. Trial excavations
Cahuachi Archaeological context unearthed some walls. Unfortunately, the archaeological records
The investigated site was selected from within the Nasca cere- available until now do not allow us to understand the spatial and
monial centre of Cahuachi, situated at an elevation of 365 m asl functional relationships between this area and the Templo del
in the drainage basin of the Rio Grande in Southern Peru. Escalonado. This made it necessary to conduct additional inves-
This territory has been populated since the Formative Period tigations by using geophysical methods.
(Initial Period, 1800–800 BC; Paracas culture, 800–200 BC). In
the Early Intermediate Period (200 BC–600 AD) the region Archeo-geophysical Methods: GPR and
flourished under the Nasca culture and the ceremonial centre of Geomagnetic prospecting
Cahuachi was founded and developed. Geophysical prospections were carried out in two different field
The archaeological evidence, characterized by around forty trips using: i) a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in a three dimen-
tells (earthen mounds), spreads out on a large desolate area sited sional survey (April 2008) and ii) a geomagnetic survey with a
on the south bank of the Nasca river. Since 1984 archaeological gradiometer configuration (November 2008). Figure 2(a) shows
investigations have been in progress by an Italian-Peruvian mis- the location of the investigated areas known as Templo del
sion directed by G. Orefici, who focused on two sectors, named Escalonado square. Figure 3 shows: i) the area investigated by
A (0,16 km2) and B (0,10 km2) (Fig. 1). The results of archaeo- the geomagnetic system (contoured by the black line) and ii) the
logical investigations allowed the identification of five historical GPR survey (dot line).
building phases (400–100 BC; 100 BC–100 AD; 100–350 AD.; The GPR is an electromagnetic (EM) method used for several
350–400 AD; 400–450 AD), which reflect the functional and kinds of applications and with different investigation depths. The
cultural evolution of the site (Orefici 2010). At the beginning archaeological targets are generally investigated by using medi-
(400–100 BC), it was a sanctuary. From the 2nd century BC it um frequency antennas. The EM-wave frequency along with the
became a ceremonial centre and finally (100–400 AD) a theo-
cratic capital up to its abandonment as a consequence of an
earthquake and a sequence of mudslides that submerged the
monumental structures (400–450 AD). This was probably due to
a mega-Niño event with disastrous proportions that struck the
west coast of South America every 500 years (Orefici 2010).
Each historical phase was characterized by enlargement and
remodelling of pre-existent temples and platforms by filling the
walls with earth, vegetable material and offerings (ceramics,
textiles) according to specific rituals.
The excavations have only been concentrated on sector A,
considered to be the core of the entire ceremonial settlement
(Orefici and Drusini 2003). So far, about half of sector A has
been brought to light and most of the monuments excavated have
been restored, among them the Gran Piramide (see a1, in Fig. 1),
Pirámide Naranjada (see a3, in Fig. 1) and part of the Templo del
Escalonado (see a4, in Fig. 1). Finally, trial excavations have
been performed on the so-called Grande Templo (see a2, in
Fig. 1).
Although important findings have been recorded, we still
know very little about the history of Cahuachi and new informa-
tion can be captured from remote sensing methods. The results
obtained from satellite data (Masini et al. 2009) in some areas of FIGURE 3
the ceremonial centre encouraged us to pursue our investigations Templo del Escalonado square. The black line was investigated by geo-
by also using archaeo-geophysical techniques. magnetic survey and the dot one by GPR.

© 2010 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Near Surface Geophysics, 2010, 8, 433-439
436 E. Rizzo et al.

electrical characteristics of the subsoil (permittivity and electri- but after the processing the range of useful signals was restricted
cal conductivity) determine the depth of investigation. The GPR to 20 ns, which corresponds to around 1.5 m depth. In order to
radiates short EM pulses into the ground and detects the signals better interpret potential buried features, a 3D analysis was
reflected from subsurface structures. The reflected signal is gen- planned using a developed GPR time slice, which required very
erated in the presence of a dielectric contrast between potential closely spaced profiles (Goodman et al. 1995; Conyers and
targets and surrounding soil. This is a crucial topic in the inves- Goodman 1997). Once the signal processes were applied to the
tigated area because the adobe (made from sand, clay, fibrous radargram, a time slice analysis was defined. In this analysis, the
material and water) structures have characteristics similar to the recorded amplitudes of the reflections across the entire site are
alluvial soil. compared at different times to generate amplitude time slice
In order to investigate the Templo el Escalonado square, the maps. Figure 4(a,b) shows two GPR time slices where it is pos-
GPR measurements were performed by using the Subsurface sible to detect two different kinds of potential archaeological
Interface Radar (SIR) 3000 manufactured by GSSI: SIR 3000. It features with circular (Fig. 4a) and linear (Fig. 4b) shapes.
consists of a digital control unit with a keypad, VGA video The time slice at around 0.15 m (Fig. 4a) shows two reflected
screen, connector panel and is powered by a 12-V DC battery. zones, A and B1, with circular shape at high amplitude (located
The system is connected by fibre-optic cables at a monostatic respectively at X = 16 m, Y = 10 m and at X = 7 m, Y = 8 m).
type antenna (400 MHz) manufactured by Geophysical Survey Looking at the section across the main reflections, it is possible
Systems. to observe several reflection hyperbolas due to some buried
The survey was acquired without a ‘wheel accessory’ (see objects. In the time slice at around 0.3 m (Fig. 4b) several linear
Fig. 2b). To reduce uncertainties on the antenna position, a refer- reflections are visible (see black arrows)
ence metre rule was located along each profile and marked at In the same area (Fig. 5a) geomagnetic mapping has been
each metre. An interval band-pass filter of 100–800 MHz was carried out with a gradiometric configuration. The investigated
used to reduce electronic, antenna-to-ground coupling noise as area was enlarged compared to that of the GPR survey.
well as other low- and high-frequency noise. The geomagnetic technique is considered the most suitable
The ReflexW software was used to process the data. The high geophysical tool for archaeological research because of its reli-
quality of the traces only required standard analysis techniques ability and for its aptitude to provide a fast magnetic image with
for data processing and for reducing background noise, linked to high resolution data.
trace editing, normalization, acquisition gain removal, zero time The measurements were performed using an optical pumping
correction and a background removal filter. High-frequency magnetometer G-858 (by Geometrics) in gradiometric configu-
noise was attenuated by means of a 2D average filter. An interac- ration, with two magnetic probes set in a vertical direction at a
tive velocity adoption, based on EM reflection waves, was used distance of around 1 m from each other. Such a configuration
to estimate the average EM-wave velocity of the geological allowed the automatic removal of the diurnal variations of the
material that covers the archaeological deposits. The diffraction natural magnetic field. Before defining the acquisition modali-
hyperbolas in the data provided an estimated value of about ties, it was necessary to set up the orientation of the two mag-
0.15 m/ns. The GPR survey area of around 235 m2 (Fig. 3) was netic sensors of the Cesium Magnetometer. Such an orientation
investigated by 26 profiles 18 m long and with a line separation depends on the survey direction and site location in the world.
distance of 0.5 m. The two-way time acquisition range was 40 ns CSAZ software (by Geometrics) provides information about the

FIGURE 4
(a) (b)
a) A time slice (0.15 m) obtained
by several 2D parallel radargrams.
The black circles indicate the
reflection with high amplitude
associated to buried features with
circular shape. b) Time slice at
0.30 m. The black arrows indicate
the probable top of buried adobe
clay structures. The colours are
sensitive to the amplitude of the
signal.

© 2010 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Near Surface Geophysics, 2010, 8, 433-439
Archaeo-geophysical methods 437

FIGURE 5
a) Geomagnetic map with a shad-
ed relief image. The white circles
and squares indicate previous
looting pits. The black circles
indicate the magnetic anomalies,
two of them (indicated with A
and B) visible also by GPR time
slices. The dotted black line is the
area investigated by GPR. The
coordinates are in metres. b)
Image of the CSAZ software (by
Geometrics) that indicates the
survey direction to have the best
measured geomagnetic signal
(green area).

(a) (b)
Earth’s magnetic field parameters including total field, inclina- depth) detected the same anomalies (A and B1 in Fig. 4a, A and
tion and declination anywhere in the world, using the IGRF B2 in Fig. 5a). The geomagnetic map shows a further anomaly
(International Geo-Magnetic Reference Field). (E in Fig. 5) not detected by GPR.
After entering latitude and longitude of the archaeological The enlargement of geomagnetic prospection allows us to iden-
site and indicating the survey direction, the software provides the tify another two anomalies, indicated as C and D in Fig. 5(a).
orientated caesium sensor to have the maximum signal and best Moreover, the linear reflections observed from GPR at 0.30 m
performance (Fig. 5b). Therefore, the instrument was set with a depth (Fig. 4b) do not correspond with any anomaly in the geo-
tilt angle of 45° and the survey was defined along a parallel pro- magnetic map (Fig. 5a), due to the small magnetic contrast
file in N-S direction. The magnetic map was obtained by using a between soil deposit and wall remains.
regular grid 20 m × 20 m and 21 parallel profiles were carried out
with a line spacing of 0.5 m and a sampling rate of 10 Hz. Archaeological findings
The rough magnetic data were filtered to obtain the best sig- On August 2009, a trial excavation was carried out in corre-
nal-to-noise (S/N) ratio using a MagMap software (by Geometrics) spondence of anomaly A detected using both GPR and geomag-
that provides pass-band filter, spikes elimination and de-stripe. netic maps. A ceremonial offering was unearthed. It was charac-
The data were further processed using a kriging interpolation terized by the presence of coal and remains of a ritual fire
and visualized as a shaded relief image (Fig. 5a). This visualization (Fig. 6) made by fluvial stones with a lens shape. Inside, several
highlights the main geomagnetic anomalies. Figure 5(a) shows the coals are well defined and covered by leaves of Pacae.
final geomagnetic map, where several anomalies are visible. Black From an archaeological perspective, this ceremonial offering
circles indicate the main magnetic anomalies and white circles and was very significant, because the hearth was located below a
squares put in evidence pits excavated by looters. floor dated back to the end of phase IV (known as phase IVc)
The gradiometric map shows two anomalies (A and B2), and, therefore, archaeologically associated to a platform built
which could be correlated with ones localized on the GPR time after the earthquake and the mudslides described in the section
slice (A and B1 in Fig. 4a). In particular, anomaly A corresponds ‘Cahuachi archaeological context’.
to the one in the GPR time slice at 0.15 m; whereas anomaly B1 Phase IV (350–400 AD) of Cahuachi was characterized by
and B2 are distant from each other, around one metre. This sug- several offerings and sacrifices, as consequence of a crisis deter-
gests that there is a correspondence between these anomalies, mined by the above said devastating natural disasters that deter-
therefore they could be referred to as the same archaeological mined profound and quick changes. The discovery of this ritual
features. fire and its archaeological implications oriented the archaeolo-
Moreover, two other circular geomagnetic anomalies, C and gists to conduct further analysis also in correspondence of the
D, are detected at X = 1.5 m and Y = 18.5 m and at X = 7 m and other anomalies indicated in Figs 4(a) and 5(a).
Y = 2.5 m, respectively. Finally, a large anomaly with a regular After a month, archaeologists started excavating again in this
shape, indicated as E in Fig. 5(a), is between X = 4 m and 10 m area. They focused on the zone characterized by geomagnetic
and Y = 4 m and 10 m. anomaly E. The excavation unearthed a ceremonial altar (Fig. 7)
As a whole, in the area investigated by using both of the two dated back to phase IV and composed of two large platforms
techniques (Figs 4a and 5a), geomagnetic and GPR (at 0.15 m symmetric with respect to a rectilinear groove. The latter was

© 2010 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Near Surface Geophysics, 2010, 8, 433-439
438 E. Rizzo et al.

FIGURE 6
Detail of the trial excavation car-
ried out in correspondence of
anomaly A, detected by GPR and
geomagnetic surveys (see also
Figs 4–5). The excavation
unearthed a deposit composed of
rubble and coal, which are
remains of a fire related to a cer-
emonial offering.

adobe ceremonial centre of Cahuach, Nasca, southern Peru.


Geophysical investigations using both GPR and magnetic meas-
ures were carried out and analysed in order to assess their capa-
bility in detecting buried archaeological adobe structures. Such
analyses provided the detection of significant anomalies and a
correspondence was clearly visible between GPR and geomag-
netic results.
In detail, the GPR put in evidence two high amplitude zones
(A and B1 in Fig. 4a) in agreement with two geomagnetic
anomalies (indicated with letters A and B2 in Fig. 5a). The
geomagnetic survey allowed the identification of an additional
significant anomaly (D in Fig. 5a) that was not detected by
using GPR.
The geophysical results were the guidelines of the 2009
archaeological investigation plan near the Templo del Escalonado.
In detail, trial excavations were carried out in correspondence of
anomalies A and D (shown in Fig. 5a) where archaeologists
unearthed a ceremonial offering and a ceremonial altar, respec-
tively. From an archaeological perspective, these findings were
very significant, because they enabled us to better understand the
building phase of the investigated site; thus casting new light on
the history and function of the Templo del Escalonado.
From a geophysical perspective, our results pointed out the
high potentiality of magnetic and GPR techniques to detect,
investigate and document adobe archaeological remains in a
FIGURE 7 desert environmental setting.
Detail of the excavation performed in correspondence of geomagnetic
anomaly E. References
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