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| Ñawpa Pacha | |
|---|---|
| Title | Ñawpa Pacha |
| Discipline | Archaeology |
| Abbreviation | Ñawpa Pacha |
| Country | Peru |
| History | 1963–present |
| Frequency | Annual |
Ñawpa Pacha Ñawpa Pacha is a scholarly journal and concept associated with Andean archaeology, published to disseminate research on pre-Columbian cultures, field archaeology, iconography, and ethnohistory. The journal has served as a venue for studies related to the Inca Empire, Tiwanaku, Moche culture, Nazca, Wari culture, and other Andean societies, while the term also appears in discussions of Andean cosmology and colonial-era chronicles. Its corpus bridges work by archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnohistorians, and historians connected to institutions such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Anthropology (Peru), and universities across Lima, Cusco, La Paz, and Quito.
The title derives from the Quechua expression referring to the "world before" or "time of the ancients" as found in chronicles by Bernabé Cobo, Fernando de Montesinos, Garcilaso de la Vega, and other chroniclers who recorded Andean terminologies during the colonial period. Scholars working in the tradition of Julio C. Tello, Max Uhle, Willey, Gordon R., and John H. Rowe have used the term to signal research on antiquity in the Andes, linking it to terms used by indigenous informants cited by Benedicto XVI-era missionaries and by ethnographers such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Alfred Métraux in broader comparative contexts.
Ñawpa Pacha as a journal was established amid mid-20th-century growth in Andean studies influenced by figures like Julio C. Tello, Max Uhle, Hiram Bingham III, Erland Nordenskiöld, and institutions such as the Peabody Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the British Museum. Its foundation responded to increasing archaeological campaigns at sites including Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Pikillaqta, Tiwanaku, and Caral, and was shaped by theoretical shifts from culture-historical frameworks to processual and post-processual approaches championed by scholars like Gordon Willey, Lewis Binford, and Ian Hodder.
Articles published in Ñawpa Pacha have reported excavations, survey results, radiocarbon dates, and material analyses from contexts such as Nazca Lines, Sipán, Pukara (Peru), Kuelap, and coastal sites investigated by teams from Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Cambridge, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Contributions have addressed ceramic typologies comparable to those studied by Adrian Cousins and John W. Janusek, bioarchaeological work following methods used at Wari and Tiwanaku cemeteries, isotopic studies akin to those by Michael E. Smith and Charlotte Roberts, and ancient DNA projects paralleling efforts at Nazca and Chavín de Huántar.
Scholarly pieces in the journal examine ritual architecture, iconography, and sacred landscapes connected to loci such as Coricancha, Huaca Pucllana, Sacsayhuamán, and Chavín de Huántar, drawing on comparative analyses with beliefs recorded by Pedro Cieza de León, Domingo de Santo Tomás, and liturgical accounts preserved in archives like the Archivo General de Indias and the Archivo General de la Nación (Peru). Research often cites ethnographic parallels from studies by María Rostworowski, Richard L. Burger, Gary Urton, and John Murra to interpret offerings, mummification practices documented at Chinchorro, and pilgrimage routes to highland huacas.
The term and journal have been central to debates on verticality, complementarity, and reciprocity in Andean cosmology articulated by José María Arguedas, Marisol de la Cadena, Inga Clendinnen, and Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, and engage with models like the three-tiered cosmos (upper, middle, lower realms) discussed by Gary Urton and Terence S. Turner. Analyses published in the journal have intersected with iconographic studies by John Rowe, calendrical interpretations influenced by Julio R. Tello-era research, and recent landscapic approaches championed by R. Alan Covey and Margaret D. Stoddard.
Current contributions reflect debates over chronology, state formation, and identity involving scholars such as Clifford Evans, Michael Moseley, Christopher Heaney, Kevin J. Vaughn, Anne Paul, and institutions including National Geographic Society and funding agencies like the National Science Foundation. Topics include revised radiocarbon chronologies, reinterpretations of interregional interaction between Moche and Wari, the role of climate evidenced in lacustrine cores studied by teams led by Gustavo Torres and David G. Anderson, and ethical considerations in repatriation connected to museums such as the American Museum of Natural History and legislative frameworks like UNESCO conventions.