One of the most important goals of archaeology involves the reconstruction of the political and social organization of precontact societies. In recent years, there has been much discussion about the social structure and the type of political organization that existed in Nasca culture (see, e.g., Carmichael 1995; Massey 1986; Reindel and Isla 2001; Schreiber 1999; Silverman 1993, 2002a, b; Silverman and Proulx 2002). In this paper we review the existing information that serves as the basis for discussion about Nasca sociopolitical organization and we present new mortuary data from our own investigations conducted in the Palpa Valley (Figure 14.1) that relate to this issue, particularly insofar as the Nasca 5 period is concerned. © 2006 Springer.