The present title suggests the emphasis of this paper, not its total content. Essentially, this is an advance report on the 1952-53 Columbia University archaeological expedition in the river valleys of the lea and Rio Grande de Nazca in south coastal Peru. The scope of this work was both intensive and extensive and the materials to be studied so numerous and varied that final publication will take time. For this reason it seems well to first present a brief, but carefully considered, outline of our major findings. Even this has had to wait until painstaking analyses had been made in the laboratory.