Stages, periods, epochs, and phases in Paracas and Nasca chronology: another look at John Rowe’s Ica valley master sequence

Chronology on the south coast of Peru is adrift. Researchers have a choice of using developmental stages or historical periods. Increasingly, fuzzy thinking has led to the publication of chronologies employing both stages and periods in the same chart. Authors seem unaware that stages and periods are fundamentally different ways of organizing the past, underpinned by different sets of assumptions which ask different questions. The current work is specifically concerned with the relative chronologies for the south coast Paracas and Nasca cultures, but it also reviews the fundamental principles of stages and periods, examines the workings of John Rowe’s Master Sequence, and provides clear definitions for terminology. In conclusion, an updated chronology for the south coast Early Horizon and Early Intermediate Period is introduced.