Nazca Pottery

The is one of the local potters in Nazca. He is making pottery designs that are exactly the same as his Nazca ancestors. He does not change the patterns or add anything new. He keeps the tradition alive. The clay is a mixture of clay and sand – about 60% clay and 40% sand. The sand makes the pottery more porous so that it will retain the color better. In these photos he is making a small pot with two little funnels at the top joined by a handle. They used these pots to hold water and tied them around their waste when they had to carry the water a long distance. His potter was really beautiful. After he finishes hand making the piece (no potter’s wheels), he will dry is slowing in the shade for a day or so. Then he will paint it will paints made from the ores in the area – iron, copper, etc. Then it is dried some more before it goes in to the “kiln”. They don’t used a closed oven kiln. There is an open topped oven. The pieces are stacked in the bottom and old pieces of clay are put on top of the new pots to made a top for the oven. There is room for wood underneath and wood is also piled on top of the clay. The wood above and below the clay objects his set on fire. They have to maintain a certain temperature (without a thermometer) for 8 hours (I think is what he said) then they let the wood burn down and the pieces are carefully pulled from the fire to cool. Here are some photos of the finished products including some very interesting fertility mugs (you will see what I mean).