A pilot compositional analysis of Nasca ceramics from the Kroeber collection

In this paper we report on Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of a sample of ceramics from Nasca, Peru collected by Alfred Kroeber in the 1920’s and curated at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The analysis was conducted for two principal reasons: (1) to test the efficacy of LA-ICP-MS when compared to INAA; and (2) to evaluate samples that post-date Early Nasca (where focus has primarily been placed). We show here that LA-ICP-MS is a viable alternative to INAA, present some of the compositional variability in the Kroeber samples, and propose some explanations for this variability.

► We compare LA-ICP-MS to INAA on a sample of ceramics from Nasca, Peru.
► We demonstrate that LA-ICP-MS is a viable alternative to INAA.
► Our results show less compositional variability in the region than previous studies.
► We offer testable hypotheses explaining these results.