– New Methods and Technologies of Natural Sciences for Archaeological Investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru -- – New Methods and Technologies of Natural Sciences for Archaeological Investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru -- Geoarchaeology -- Man and Environment in the Eastern Atacama Desert (Southern Peru): Holocene Climate Changes and Their Impact on Pre-Columbian Cultures -- Built on Sand: Climatic Oscillation and Water Harvesting During the Late Intermediate Period -- Geophysics -- Beneath the Desert Soil – Archaeological Prospecting with a Caesium Magnetometer -- Quantum Detection Meets Archaeology – Magnetic Prospection with SQUIDs, Highly Sensitive and Fast -- Viewing the Subsurface in 3D: Sediment Tomography for (Geo-)Archaeological Prospection in Palpa, Southern Peru -- The Field of Sherds: Reconstructing Geomagnetic Field Variations from Peruvian Potsherds -- Bioarchaeology -- From Hunters to Regional Lords: Funerary Practices in Palpa, Peru -- Talking Bones: Bioarchaeological Analysis of Individuals from Palpa -- Who Were the Nasca? Population Dynamics in Pre-Columbian Southern Peru Revealed by Ancient DNA Analyses -- Humans and Camelids in River Oases of the Ica–Palpa–Nazca Region in Pre-Hispanic Times – Insights from H-C-N-O-S-Sr Isotope Signatures -- The Nasca and Their Dear Creatures – Molecular Genetic Analysis of Pre-Columbian Camelid Bones and Textiles -- Archaeochronometry -- Of Layers and Sherds: A Context-Based Relative Chronology of the Nasca Style Pottery from Palpa -- The Clock in the Corn Cob: On the Development of a Chronology of the Paracas and Nasca Period Based on Radiocarbon Dating -- Cold Light from the Sediments of a Hot Desert: How Luminescence Dating Sheds Light on the Landscape Development of the Northeastern Atacama -- Light Thrown on History – The Dating of Stone Surfaces at the Geoglyphs of Palpa Using Optically Stimulated Luminescence -- Geomatics -- Virtual Archaeology – New Methods of Image-Based 3D Modeling -- Virtual Flight Over the Nasca Lines – Automated Generation of a Photorealistically Textured 3D Model of the Pampa de Nasca -- Context Matters: GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of the Nasca Geoglyphs of Palpa -- A Model Helicopter Over Pinchango Alto – Comparison of Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Aerial Photogrammetry -- Perspectives and Contrasts: Documentation and Interpretation of the Petroglyphs of Chichictara, Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Image-Based 3D Modeling -- Pottery Plotted by Laser – 3D Acquisition for Documentation and Analysis of Symmetry of Ancient Ceramics -- Archaeometallurgy -- Gold in Southern Peru? Perspectives of Research into Mining Archaeology -- Fingerprints in Gold -- Summary -- Life at the Edge of the Desert – Archaeological Reconstruction of the Settlement History in the Valleys of Palpa, Peru.

This book gives a representative overview of recent developments in archaeometry. It reveals the enormous potential of well executed multidisciplinary research. Furthermore, it is an example of how complex cultural history can be reconstructed in a combined effort of different disciplines. And last but not least it presents a detailed history of human development as well as its interaction with natural environment in the Nasca region, based on South America’s most detailed numeric archaeochronology.