Silverman, Isbell - Andean Archaeology II - Art, Landscape, and Society-Springer US (2002)

Andean Archaeology II
Art, Landscape, and Society
Andean Archaeology II
Art, Landscape, and Society
Edited by
Helaine Silverman
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
and
William H. Isbell
State University of New York at Binghamton
Binghamton, New York
Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-4613-5150-4 ISBN 978-1-4615-0597-6 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-0597-6
©2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer AcademiclPlenum Publishers in 2002
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2002
AII rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied
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use by the purchaser of the work.
In honor of our colleague, amauta Tom Zuidema, a pachacuti in Andean studies.
Contributors
Tamara L. Bray • Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University,

Detroit, MI 48202
Martha Cabrera Romero • Universidad Nacional de San Crist6bal de
Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru
Antonio Carrillo B. • Direcci6n Regional del Austro, Instituto Nacional de
Patrimonio Cultural, Cuenca, Ecuador
Sergio J. Chavez • Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work,
Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
Anita G. Cook • Department of Anthropology, Catholic University,
Washington, D.C. 20064
James D. Farmer • Department of Anthropology, Virginia Commonwealth
University, Richmond, VA 23284
Terence Grieder • Department of Art History, University of Texas, Austin,
TX 78712
David W Johnson • Adjunct Research Associate, Department of
Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
Bradford M. Jones • Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois,
Urbana, IL 61801
William H. Isbell • Department of Anthropology, State University of New
York, Binghamton, NY 13902
Margaret A. Jackson • Department of Art History, University of Miami, Coral
Gables, FL 33124
Stephen B. Mabee • Department of Geosciences, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
vii
viii Contributors
Stella Nair • Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley,
CA 94720
Jose Ochatoma Paravicino • Universidad Nacional de San Crist6bal de
Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru
Donald A. Proulx • Department of Anthropology, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
Jean-Pierre Protzen • Department of Architecture, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720
Helaine Silverman • Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois,
Urbana, IL 61801
Adriana von Hagen • Institute of Andean Studies, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94709
Preface
Central Andean archaeology is at last reaching maturity and, as part of that

maturity, archaeologists are revealing its range of stylistic variations and the rich-
ness of its art and artifacts. This volume seeks, as its primary goal, to introduce the
reader to this richness and variation. As in Volume I (Andean Archaeology I:
Variations in Sociopolitical Organzation, edited by William H. Isbell and Helaine
Silverman), we have not sought a balanced coverage of Andean areas and cultural
phases. Rather, we present a representative sample of creative new investigations
focused-in this case-on art, architecture, and landscapes as cultural productions.
The development of Andean archaeology was significantly shaped by the
area's ancient art, its preservation, and its potential for collection and exhibition.
Numerous fine objects of art had been placed whole by ancient people into
graves. Impressive collections of ancient Peruvian antiquities were easily recov-
ered by archaeologists and, inevitably, looters. Early expeditions visited the great
monuments of Tiwanaku, Pachacamac, and Moche, sending many spectacular
objects to foreign museums. Collections of ancient Peruvian artifacts were exhib-
ited around the world~xquisite Nasca, Moche, and Huari pottery, fabulous
Paracas and Huari textiles. These lovely materials delighted viewers with their
bold elegance.
Of course, the history of Andean archaeology was shaped by other research
agendas, too-the Olmec/Chavin debate about a single origin for New World
civilization, the scramble to find the earliest sedentism and causes of agriculture,
and the documentation of pristine Andean state government are some of the more
influential. But throughout these campaigns, archaeological cultures associated
with the most pleasing art styles have emerged time after time as the most thor-
oughly investigated. Consequently, many other cultural traditions were simply
assimilated into the well known styles whose developmental trajectories were
used to characterize the entire aggregate of Andean cultures.
Moche culture is an excellent example. From tum-of-the-century excavations
at the Huaca del Sol, to the selection of the VirU Valley as the focus of an integrated
archaeological program in the 1940s, to the Moche archive created by Christopher
Donnan, to the large-scale excavations currently sponsored by private Peruvian
ix
x Preface
businesses, knowledge about Moche is unsurpassed. And now, Moche specialists
are investigating new issues-from ethnic boundaries and interactions with
neighboring peoples to the development of proto-writing (Jackson, this volume).
Clearly, Moche is but one and, certainly, an extraordinary example of an ancient
Andean society, culture, and style.
Many of the cultures associated with less popular art styles have remained
little known or even ignored. The creators of the Lima style (see Makowski, in
Volume I) produced pottery that does not spark the imagination as do Moche and
Nasca. Although associated with impressive pyramid complexes throughout
Peru's modern capital city, where there are numerous museums and universities,
Lima culture is poorly reported and only now being systematically investigated.
Highland cultures are less studied than coastal ones, in part because of difficult
logistics, but also because their graves rarely contain complete examples of fine
pottery and textiles. Least known are the archaeological records of the eastern
Andean ceja de montana and Upper Amazon tributaries.
Today, archaeologists are beginning to study little known areas and archae-
ological cultures. New investigations of highland Huari, not even recognized as
an independent style until the early 1950s, are exposing the important city of
Conchopata. Investigations of Recuay and other north highland styles are in
progress. Pucara, Tiwanaku, and Titicaca Basin archaeology is experiencing great
advances. The outlines of a new Nasca archaeology can be discerned. Little
known styles from the Acari and distant Ocofia, Majes, and Sihuas valleys are no
longer collapsed into one culture. Vast areas of the higWands remain uncharted,
especially in Bolivia. Even the Cochabamba valley is little investigated, in spite
of its importance to the Incas and probable key role in early cultural develop-
ments in the southern sphere of the Central Andes. Many nameless archaeologi-
cal societies are just beginning to appear in the literature, or remain to be
discovered and meaningfully integrated into the sweep of Andean prehistory.
In addition to the attraction of discovery in an area rich with ruins, the
history of Andean art and archaeology has also been influenced by the vast volume
of material remains from the past, as well as their extraordinary preservation, espe-
cially in south coastal Peru and neighboring Chile. Our colleagues who work in
various other parts of the world are often astonished by our photographs of stand-
ing fieldstone and adobe architecture, intact textiles, vivid polychrome sherds,
pyroengraved gourds, and complete skeletons and mummy bundles. Yet this pro-
fusion of remains is a kind of curse since there is so much to analyze.
Overwhelming quantities of materials have hampered timely completion of reports
and publications. Pucara pottery (Chavez, this volume) is finally published fifty
years after its original excavation. Pottery newly excavated at Conchopata (Isbell
and Cook, Ochatoma and Cabrera, this volume) exceeds fifteen tons, so the task
of simply determining what collections of sherds are worth further attention in pre-
liminary efforts to reconstruct forms and designs is daunting, yet progressing.
Preface xi
The demands of field and lab work in Central Andean archaeology occupy
so much time and energy that theorizing may suffer in a perverse inversion of data
and ideas. In balance (as we consider more fully in the two section introductions
for this volume), many Andeanists have devoted careers to one or another ancient
culture and they are now, in maturity, achieving fascinating (and, above all, plau
sible) insights into ancient societies. They have "paid their dues," conducting
years of painstaking empirical research that might qualify as what ethnographers
call "thick description." They have become masters of the archaeological record,
experts in the art and all of its variations, authorities on ancient technologies,
experienced in settlement patterns and community organization, and even able to
predict where tombs are to be found (this kind of knowledge has legendarily been
attributed to looters who have spent a lifetime digging). Such depth of knowledge
promotes empathic insights into an archaeological art and culture, furthering con
ditions for breakthroughs in knowledge. The associated scholarship also creates a
marvelous foundation on which young archaeologists can build.
The early 21st century will see, we believe, a mature Andean scholarship
that will offer to colleagues outside our culture area important contributions for
comparative theorizing on processes of social inequality, prestige generation and
maintenance, ethnogenesis, materiality and the differential production of culture,
household organization, craft production, burial customs, landscape evolution,
urbanism, and rituals of power, among many other aspects of sociopolitical life in
the past. In a variety of ways the papers in this volume address these issues. Their
strength, we believe, is in their foregrounding of area, data, and empirical analy
ses rather than theoretical approaches.
The field of Central Andean archaeology is creative and healthy. In addition
to a very strong presence of established scholars active in the field, each year sees
a larger group of recent Ph.D.s and advanced graduate students conducting
research and presenting results at national and international meetings. Many are
working on major archaeological cultures and the coast is still preferred over the
highlands, but enthusiasm for venturing into unknown cultures is increasing,
especially as civil unrest in Peru has been normalized. New archaeological
research in unknown territories is necessarily designed to simply determine what
is there, and when. The importance of this basic research cannot be emphasized
enough.
We enthusiastically offer this volume, the second in what we hope will
become a series, as an example of the exciting work being done in Andean
archaeology today and as a preview of what will be addressed in the future.
Contents
PART I. INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. From Art to Material Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell
PART II. ANDEAN ART AND SOCIETY

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 2. Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline
Man Themes, Motifs, and Designs in Pucara Style Pottery •........ 35
Sergio 1. Chavez
Chapter 3. Differentiating Paracas Necropolis and Early
Nasca Textiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Helaine Silverman
Chapter 4. Proto-Writing in Moche Pottery at Cerro Mayal, Peru... 107
Margaret A. Jackson
Chapter 5. Chachapoya Iconography and Society at Laguna de los
C6ndores, Peru. . . . . . . . • . . . • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Adriana von Hagen
Chapter 6. Art and Prestige among Noble Houses of the
Equatorial Andes ..... . . • . . . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . • . . . . • • . . . . • . . 157
Terence Grieder, James D. Farmer, Antonio Carrillo B., and
Bradford M. Jones
PART III. LANDSCAPES OF POWER

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
xiii
xiv Contents
Chapter 7. The Gateways of Tiwanaku: Symbols or Passages? 189
Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair
Chapter 8. Religious Ideology and Military Organization in the
Iconography of a D-Shaped Ceremonial Precinct at Conchopata .... 225
Jose Ochatoma Paravicino and Martha Cabrera Romero
Chapter 9. A New Perspective on Conchopata and the
Andean Middle Horizon 249
William H. Isbell and Anita G. Cook
Chapter 10. The Correlation Between Geoglyphs and Subterranean
Water Resources in the Rio Grande de Nazca Drainage 307
David W Johnson, Donald A. Proulx, and Stephen B. Mabee
Chapter 11. Rock Art, Historical Memory, and Ethnic Boundaries:
A Study from the Northern Andean Highlands 333
Tamara L. Bray
PART IV. CONCLUSION
Chapter 12. Issues of Cultural Production and Reproduction . . . . . . . 357
Index.................................................... 365
Part I
Introduction
Chapter 1
From Art to Material Culture
HELAINE SILVERMAN AND WILLIAM H. ISBELL
At the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, archaeologists' thinking about the mean-
ing of ancient Andean art was revolutionized as a result of spectacular discoveries
at Sipan, a Moche culture pyramid complex in the Lambayeque Valley on Peru's far
north coast. Initially ravished by looters, excavations at the pyramid were soon
taken over by archaeologist Walter Alva (1988, 1990; Alva and Donnan 1993) who
revealed a series of royal graves containing bodies of the ancient polity's kings and
counselors, resplendent in their ceremonial attire and ritual paraphernalia.
Before Sipan, archaeologists had no idea that Moche graves could be so
elaborate and contain so much wealth. Moreover, the archaeological world was
astonished that the principal men in two of Sipan's tombs were buried with the
costumes-including even such details as the spotted dog beside his feet--of the
iconographically known Warrior Priest. A royal tomb in the back of the same
pyramid complex held the remains of another principal individual spectacularly
dressed as the iconographically known Bird Priest. A few years later, at San Jose
de Moro, a Moche center in the Jequetepeque Valley some fifty kilometers south
of Sipan, archaeologists discovered a magnificent tomb containing the costumed
body of the iconographically known Priestess (Donnan and Castillo 1992, 1994).
The recent discovery of a massacre at Huaca de la Luna, in the Moche Valley,
similarly confirms the reality of the Sacrifice Ceremony. For the first time, with
these discoveries, it was clear that Moche art's formalized, representational, com-
plex imagery depicted real people participating in the iconographically depicted
scenes: living rulers and counselors had presided over real events, appropriately
costumed as the Warrior Priest, the Bird Priest, the Priestess, and other adjudica-
tors of the temple/court. It is also apparent that several royal Moche courts existed
(see Bawden 1996; Castillo and Donnan 1994). They followed the same set of
rules and recognized a more-or-less standard hierarchy of priestly and more sec-
ular offices, but all clearly of profound ritual significance.
3
4 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell
It must be remembered that South American civilization developed without
writing, (Margaret Jackson's important analysis of Moche proto-writing, in this
volume, notwithstanding). As a consequence, scholars of the prehispanic past are
forever disadvantaged in their attempts to understand ancient Andean peoples and
cultures. Yet it is now clear that Andean people produced messages about them-
selves and their world, at least some of which have survived into modem times
and can be "read" more or less as they were intended to be understood if archae-
ological associations and contexts are sufficient for us to properly identify the
complex signs.
The stunning breakthroughs in understanding Moche visual art that have
come with the new discoveries at Sipan, San Jose de Moro, Huaca de la Luna, and
Huaca El Brujo can only be fully appreciated because of a century of antecedent
scholarship which, with recent field and/or museum research, has greatly advanced
Moche scholarship (chronologically and among others: Middendorf 1892; Uhle
1913, 1915 who reported the first scientific excavations; Larco Hoyle 1938, 1939,
1945c, 1946b, 1948 who created the Moche relative chronology; Benson 1972;
Donnan 1973, 1976, 1978, 1982a,b, 1988, 1996, 2001; Donnan and McClelland
1999; Hocquenghem 1987; Alva 1988, 1990, 1994; Alva and Donnan 1993;
Castillo 1989; Bawden 1996; Uceda 1997; Uceda and Chapdelaine 1998; Uceda
et al. 1997, 1998; Chapdelaine 2000; Chapdelaine, Kennedy, and Uceda 2001;
Chapdelaine, Millaire, and Kennedy 2001; Chapdelaine, Pimentel and Bernier
2001). Similarly, understanding other Andean "messages from the past" has not
been immediate or simple, and breakthroughs, when they occasionally take place,
are virtually transcendental in importance. The emerging new understanding of
Huari is almost as exemplary as the Moche case. For years archaeologists have
argued about the nature of contact between the Tiwanaku capital on the south
shore of Lake Titicaca and the south-central highland city of Huari. During the
Middle Horizon they shared a religious iconography so similar that a single origin
is indisputable. Several modem scholars proposed that devout pilgrims may have
traveled from Huari to witness ceremonies conducted at Tiwanaku. This, in tum,
would explain the appearance of symbols from the Lake Titicaca religion in high-
land Ayacucho. But in the last few years archaeologists have discovered messages
painted by Conchopata's ancient artists (Isbell and Cook, Ochatoma and Cabrera,
this volume) that represent Huari-style men, brandishing weapons and shields, and
kneeling in reed boats of the kind used to cross Lake Titicaca. Conchopata potters
may have been telling of real trips made to the far-off lake. If so, Huari travelers
were not modest pilgrims, but apparently aggressive raiders declaring their mili-
tary power far beyond the boundaries of Huari political influence.
The experience of Andean civilizations was not written but, rather, inscribed
with painted and modeled iconography, symbols, graffiti, and the places created
by ancient built environments. Andean art, iconography, and architecture are
extremely rich, providing many "messages from the past" that remain to be
From Art to Material Culture 5

explored. But before archaeologists can confidently interpret, we must first
complete descriptive studies of the corpus of representations, detennining their
contexts, associations, sequence, and functions. An important goal of this book,
therefore, is the descriptive presentation of visual information, along with new
evaluations of context, association, dating, and style that are prerequisites for
reaching understandings of the past at new orders of magnitude.
EARLY INTEREST IN ANCIENT ANDEAN ART

Meaning in Andean art has never been ignored, but it has not been empha-
sized in recent years. In contrast, there were many important studies of ancient
Andean art when it was first being discovered. By the end of the 19th century,
avocational scholars were quite familiar with ancient monuments and art through-
out the Andes. Several books had been published about antiquities (e.g., Reiss and
Sttibel 1880-1887; Sttibel and Uhle 1892) and fine, large collections of pre-
columbian objects existed in many of the world's leading museums. The fast pace
of archaeological research in Peru at the beginning of the 20th century led to the
discovery and/or definition of a plethora of precolumbian styles. Among these
were Chavin (Tello 1923, 1943), Cupisnique (Larco Hoyle 1941), Gallinazo
(Larco Hoyle I945b, 1946a; Bennett 1950), Huari (as distinct from Tiwanaku:
see Rowe, Collier and Willey 1950), Ica-Chincha (Uhle 1924; Kroeber and
Strong 1924a,b), Killke (Rowe 1944), Lambayeque or Sican (Larco 1963a;
Zevallos Quinones 1971, 1989, 1992; Shimada 1981, 1985, 1990), Lima and
Chancay (Uhle in 1904; see Kroeber 1926b, 1954; Jij6n y Caamano 1949),
Moche (Kroeber 1925a, 1926a; Larco 1945c; Uhle 1913), Nasca (Uh1e 1914),
Paracas (Tello 1959), Recuay (Tello 1923: 205; Larco Hoyle n.d.), Salinar (Larco
Hoyle 1944, 1945a), Tembladera (Lapiner 1976), Tiwanaku (Uhle 1903a,b; see
also Sttibel and Uhle 1892), and Vicus (Matos Mendieta 1965-66; Larco Hoyle
1965a,b; Lumbreras 1978; Makowski et al. 1994). In Bolivia other styles were
identified, including Chiripa (Bennett 1936), Wancarani (Ibarra Grasso 1965;
Ponce 1970), Mollo (Ponce 1957), and Chullpa Pampa (Ryden 1952), as well as
Yampara, Huruquilla and the lovely polychrome traditions of the eastern Andean
valleys, especially Tupuraya, Mojocoya, and Omereque (or Nascoide) described
by Argentine archaeologist Dick Edgar Ibarra Grasso (1965).
Interest in ancient Andean art has ranged from a desire for personal (see,
e.g., Bonavia 1994; Nagin 1990) and institutional (see, e.g., Tello and Mejia
Xesspe 1967: 144-145) acquisition to a primary interest in art styles as the basis
for constructing a time-space framework (e.g., Uhle 1903, 1910, 1913; Kroeber
1925a, 1944; Kidder 1948; Bennett 1948; Strong 1948; Willey 1948; Rowe 1960,
1962) to the more recent synthetic view of art in terms of its visual systems, tech-
nology, and communications about the societies that produced the works.

Max Uhle became fascinated by Andean archaeology through Alphons
Sttibel and the collections he curated at the Museum fUr Volkerkunde in Berlin
(Rowe 1954). Even though Uhle defined several of the ancient Andean pottery
styles as a result of his fieldwork, he was little interested in the aesthetics of the
art. Rather, his primary goal was to use pottery to establish a relative chronology.
North American scholarship in the early 20th century continued Uhle's focus,
largely through A. L. Kroeber and his students' analyses of the Uhle collections
curated at the University of California in Berkeley (see Gayton 1927; Gayton
and Kroeber 1927; Kroeber 1925a,b, 1926b; Kroeber and Strong 1924a,b;
Strong 1925).
Archaeological exploration and anthropologically informed art historical
analysis proceeded concurrently in the three decades following Uhle's departure
from Peru in 1912. These were tremendously productive years animated by a
group of brilliant, original scholars whom Silverman (1996) has referred to as the
Peruvian School. Its key members were concerned with topics that are central in
Andean iconography: sacrifice, propitiation of nature, initiation, ritual, shaman-
ism, and power. The study of these themes interrelated the work of the individual
scholars and joined them as members of an intellectual movement.
The leader of the Peruvian School was Julio C. Tello. Tello (1923) saw
Peruvian civilization moving through a series of ages in which a principal
medium dominated: wood, stone, pottery and textiles, and finally metallurgy. In
this formulation he was clearly influenced by the three-age scheme then current
in Europe. But Tello eschewed chronology in his iconographic analyses because
of the spatio-cultural unity he perceived in ancient Andean art (Zuidema [1972,
1992 inter alia] clearly follows Tello in this regard). Tello argued forcefully that
the great art styles of Peru were the representation of Central Andean religious
ideas, a unified and coherent complex (Tello 1923: 101,311,590). His work built
upon the foundations laid by Uhle (1903; Sttibel and Uhle 1892), Joyce (1912),
Urteaga Lopez (1914, 1919), Means (1917), and Czaplewski (1917) among oth-
ers. But Tello went far beyond them in his use of ethnographic and ethnohistoric
texts, including oral legends from the coast, highlands, and jungle which Tello
(1923: 151-152) showed were basically the same except for superficial changes
reflecting the local environment.
Tello argued that the interpretation of mythological representations in
Peruvian art should be informed by the study of indigenous myths and legends
(Tello 1923: 203). He identified Wira Kocha as the central mythological figure
who created the gods and humanity in the Titicaca Basin (Tello 1923: chap. 4)
and he argued that the myth of Wira Kocha was a variation of the basic jungle
myth (Tello 1923: 175). He identified the jaguar with the Pleiades, the most
important constellation recognized in native astronomy (Tello 1923: 183), and
as Wari, the god of the forces of nature (Tello 1923: 187). Tello (1923: 188)
argued that this same jaguar, the most powerful animal of the tropical forest, was

mythologically the progenitor of all other felines, the human tribes inhabiting the
jungle, and humanity and living things in general.
Tello observed that the ancient Andean gods could amalgamate and fuse
attributes. He identified representations of the gods in ancient Peruvian art and
argued that Wira Kocha, the feline god, was transformed but recognizable in the
various great art styles of the Central Andes: Chavin, Moche, Nasca, Recuay,
Tiwanaku (Huari), and Inca (Tello 1923: 204-311). Others have subsequently
referred to a "cult of the feline" (see Benson ed. 1972).
Although there are gigantic leaps of faith or logic in his analysis, Tello pre-
cisely described Andean iconography and he recognized the artistic conventions,
such as conventionalization and idealization and the process by which these were
achieved (see Tello 1923: 216-219; see also Rowe 1967; Lathrap 1971). Perhaps
most important was Tello's understanding of the meta-language by which ancient
Peruvian artists indicated and encoded divine character (non-humaness) in their
images (see, e.g., Tello 1923: 218, 258). The meticulous care with which Tello
broke down and explained complex visual images, such as the one portrayed on
the stone obelisk from Chavin de Hwintar that today bears his name, is precocious
and praiseworthy (see Tello 1923: 274-294, 312-317; see subsequent analyses by
Lathrap 1973 and Urton 1996).
In the early 1930s Tello's primacy and interpretations were challenged by
Eugenio Yacovleff who had a strong interest in agriculture, geography, and his-
tory (Yacovleff 1931,1932a,b, 1933a,b; Yacovleff and Herrera 1934, 1935). Jorge
Muelle also took an approach to ancient Peruvian art that differed from Tello's.
Trained in fine arts, letters, archaeology, and anthropology, Muelle's interests
ranged between archaeology, art criticism, ethnology, and folklore (Ravines,
Bonavia, and Avalos de Matos 1974). More than any other of his Peruvian con-
temporaries, Muelle brought a solid and systematic art historical and art critical
approach to the study of Peru's ancient art (see, especially, Muelle 1936, 1937,
1943,1955,1958,1958-1959,1960).
Immediately following Tello's death in 1947, Rebeca Carrion Cachot, a long-
time disciple of Tello's, came to the fore of the Peruvian archaeological scene as
the new director of the National Museum in Lima. She was an adherent to the indi-
genist perspective that characterized the Peruvian School and her principal publi-
cations (Carrion Cachot 1948, 1949, 1955, 1959) strongly followed Tello.
Tello's Arqueologia del Valle de Casma (1956), Paracas. Primera Parte
(1959) and Chavin. Cultura Matriz de la Civilizaci6n Andina (1960) were pub-
lished posthumously and dealt with three major artistic phenomena (the stone
frieze temple of Cerro Sechin, Paracas pottery and textiles, and the Chavin lithic
and ceramic style). But by the time that Chavin was published Carrion Cachot
also had died and the Peruvian School was defunct, though Tello's broad inter-
pretive sections continued to exert some influence on Peruvian archaeology
(notably in the work of Donald Lathrap).
8 Helaine Silverman and William H. IsbeD

Peruvian archaeology changed greatly after Tello, largely driven by a con-
certed North American field program (e.g., Bennett 1948; Ford 1949; Rowe 1944,
1956; Strong 1957; Strong and Evans 1952; Strong, Willey and Corbett 1943;
Willey 1953; Willey and Corbett 1954 inter alia). Interest in ancient art-as art and
symbolism-receded as Peruvian archaeology came to have an explicit primary
interest in valley, regional, and macro-regional relative chronologies through set-
tlement pattern survey, deep stratigraphic excavations, and pottery seriation
intended to elucidate culture history and study culture process. Throughout the
1960s and 1970s chronology continued to dominate Peruvian archaeology in the
United States under the influence of John H. Rowe and his collaborators, students,
and followers, most of whom were with Rowe at the University of California at
Berkeley (see, e.g., Burger 1984; Chavez 1980-81; Donnan 1973; Dwyer 1971;
Grossman 1972; Julien 1983; Lanning 1960; Menzel 1971, 1976; Menzel, Rowe
and Dawson 1964; Proulx 1968; Robinson 1957; Roark 1965; Rowe 1956;
Wallace 1962, 1963, 1985 inter alia). We may speak of a Berkeley School. In their
works iconography-if considered at all-was generally tied to chronology rather
than being treated as a worthy pursuit in its own right.
RECENT APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ANDEAN ART

Primary interest in ancient art can still be found among some contemporary
Peruvian archaeologists. Kauffmann Doig (1966a,b, 1968, 1969, 1979a,b, 1985,
1987, 1988, 1989, 1993a,b inter alia) has written prolifically on this topic. But his
contributions have not received the attention they deserve, probably because of
Kauffmann's solitary enterprise, divorced from an academic institution and, con-
sequently, without students. In addition, hidden among the magnificently illus-
trated pages of the Banco de CrMito del Peru's Arte y Tesoros del Peru series,
dedicated to the treatment of the artistic achievements of individual ancient
Peruvian cultures and particular media and techniques, there are some fine essays
on iconography and technology (e.g., de Lavalle 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989; de
Lavalle and Lang 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983; see also de Lavalle and
Gonzalez Garcia 1988 which was published by Industria Textil Piura). The Vicus
volume (Makowski et al. 1994) stands out for its high academic quality.
The Archaeology Program at the Pontificia Universidad Cat6lica del Peru in
Lima is a nucleus of systematic art focus that is led by the outstanding Polish-
born and European-trained archaeologist, Krzysztof Makowski, and involves sev-
eral young scholars trained by him (e.g., Castillo 1989) as well as foreign scholars
with related interests and approaches (e.g., Hocquenghem 1987). The influence
of Panofsky (1955) is apparent in Makowski's hierarchical approach to levels
of analysis (preiconographic, iconographic, iconological; recognition of
autonomous figures that participate in scenes that pertain to a limited number of

themes, etc.) and desire to independently reconstruct cosmology and practice
through precise definition of events and actors depicted rather than by the auto-
matic and indiscriminate attribution of apparent ethnohistoric parallels (the philo-
logical approach used by Tello and the Peruvian School). The results of a
methodologically rigorous and independent analysis of iconography can then be
tested against the ethnohistoric and archaeological record.
The Cat6lica School, as Silverman (1996) calls it, takes a holistic approach
to the study of Peru's prehispanic art. This is particularly evident in the study of
Moche art and iconography and in the major field project on Vicus that was
directed by Makowski and Peter Kaulicke whose primary goal was to understand
the nature of Moche influence in Piura (see Makowski et al. 1994; Kaulicke 1991,
1992, 1994). Makowski and several of his collaborators have since turned
their attention to additional iconographic expressions of religion and society in
ancient Peru as seen in the recently published Los Dioses del Antigua Peru
(Makowski 2001).
In the United States, other approaches to ancient Andean art have replaced
the Berkeley School. The best known and most accomplished of the modem
North American schools of Andean art research is Christopher Donnan's at
UCLA, which focuses on the long-term study of Moche. Donnan has compiled a
comprehensive research archive of approximately 160,000 photographs/slides of
Moche art. Working with associates Alana Cordy-Collins (1977, 1992), Donna
McClelland (1977, 1990, 1997), and Luis Jaime Castillo (Donnan and Castillo
1992), the UCLA group has achieved unparalleled success, especially in the study
of fineline painting on Moche pottery (Donnan and McClelland 1999).
Most modern investigators appear to share, with their earlier counterparts, a
basic acceptance of the existence of a fundamental Andean culture across space
and time. Ancient Andean art is viewed as the reflection of a cosmological vision
and shared principles of ancient Andean social organization and structure. Also,
today there is general recognition that religion was not a separate realm of life in
ancient societies. Whereas Tello and other Peruvian School scholars were con-
cerned, for instance, to identify the gods of the ancient Andean pantheon, con-
temporary archaeologists view religion and social, political, and economic life as
embedded together in a society's cosmology, world-view, conception of the
proper structure of the social order, and sociopolitical organization.
Contemporary starting premises for the study of ancient Andean art encour-
age, indeed necessitate, the use of ethnographic and ethnohistoric information,
thereby privileging anthropology and highlighting the co-evolutionary origin of
New World archaeology and anthropology. This co-evolution was clearly stated
as a methodological principle by Tello (1923: 94): "with progress in the methods
of knowledge and the help of the anthropological sciences, we tend to use all
sources; not only those conserved by the writers of the ancient history of Peru,
but the myths and legends which, as traces of old beliefs and religious practices,

still are conserved today in the less advanced communities, and principally in the
monuments and materials left by the aboriginal peoples, which constitute the
most important source of anthropological and historical interpretation." At its
best, the use of non-archaeological sources of information can enrich icono-
graphic interpretation. At its worst, it may lead to indiscriminate application of
Inca and European concepts to an Andean past erroneously conceived of as essen-
tially, culturally, temporally, and geographically undifferentiated and unchanging.
In between these extremes are studies of better and poorer quality. Archaeologists
should seek to recognize and explain the varying, culturally specific features of
individual ancient Andean societies, while simultaneously pursuing cultural
themes that are fundamental and universal to Andean culture.
An important recent development in the study of ancient Andean art has
been the adoption of a material culture approach. This interdisciplinary field
examines how objects help people experience, construct, interpret, and reinterpret
the past-recent or distant (see, e.g., Lubar and Kingery 1993). It is premised
theoretically on art's active social context, its materiality, the fact that art and
other material objects are agents in the production and reproduction of social life
(understood broadly to encompass all of the nested institutions of a society).
"[M]aterial culture as a dimension of practice is itself causal. Its production-
while contingent on histories of actions and representations-is an enactment or
an embodiment of people's dispositions-a social negotiation-that brings about
changes in meanings, dispositions, identities, and traditions ... the spaces and arti-
facts analyzed by archaeologists are themselves the processes of tradition making
... things [are] continuously unfolding phenomena" (Pauketat 2001: 10). Through
daily practice, culture (knowledge that is shared differentially by members of
a society) is changed or revised. The role of agents (highly self-motivated indi-
viduals) and actors (all members of society) is causal yet constrained by custom,
history, and lived experience. Material culture, including art and landscapes,
expresses and constructs the realities of human experience.
With a material culture approach today's art-oriented scholars attempt to
"read" art-the way that a text is interpreted through a process of interpretation
and translation-and discern in its motifs and structure the nature and organiza-
tion of the producer societies. In this effort they are backed by solid field data on
the organization of production and consumption and context of these objects.
When art is permanent, issues of material technology (conception, selection of
materials, design, manufacture, distribution, use, perception) arise which, when
elucidated, provide important insight into a society's social, economic, political,
and ideological organization. Art may be empowering, i.e., the use of certain
objects enhanced the power of particular elite individuals (for example, on the
role of metallurgy see Burger 1988: 129-131, Shimada 1981; Shimada and
Griffin 1994; Lechtman 1993). Art also may reflect changes in the structure of
power within an ancient society (see, e.g., Browne et al. 1993; Cook 1992).

Moseley's (1992: 73-74) fonnulation of corporate styles is particularly rel-
evant to the material culture approach. Moseley (1992: 73) argues that corporate
styles were the outcome of political and religious organizations that supported
artisans, commissioned their work, controlled distribution, and dictated aesthetic
canons and iconography. His conceptualization of state art can be expanded to
encompass art that was produced in complex but non-state contexts. Among the
Central Andean corporate styles that we would identify are regional styles as well
as horizon styles, styles with an elaborate representational language and styles
with largely geometric or abstract iconography. Some corporate styles, such as
Huari and Inca, appear to have been created quickly. Other corporate styles, such
as Nasca and Moche, were the culmination of long regional stylistic continuums.
Moreover, we believe that Donnan and McClelland's (1999) brilliant eluci-
dation of individual Moche painters demonstrates the usefulness of a practice the-
ory approach to the study of ancient Peruvian art as a means of adding a necessary
local and agent-empowered dimension to corporate styles. We note Donnan and
McClelland's (1999: 295) cogent statement that during the seven hundred years
of production and development of the Moche ceramic style, "most painters prob-
ably never realized that it [the style] was changing at all. Their own work varied
little in the course of their painting careers, and the overall corpus of paintings
being produced by them and their contemporaries is unlikely to have been notice-
ably different from that of the generation of painters that preceded them."
However, we disagree that "[m]ost artists were simply producing a product with-
out concern for, nor even awareness of, their role in the overall painting tradition"
(Donnan and McClelland 1999: 295). Ethnographic studies of potters show that
there is constant communication among the artisans and that a clear system of
evaluation exists (see, e.g., Whitten and Whitten 1988: 52-61). Moreover, archae-
ological fieldwork in the Moche area has revealed the presence of Moche pottery
workshops in which numerous potters participated (Russell et al. 1994). Surely,
such workshops fulfilled Donnan and McClelland's (1999: 295) explicit proposal
that there were "many instances when a new aspect of art or technology was
attempted and proved sufficiently successful that other artists were compelled to
emulate it ... Other artists ... saw these new features and decided to adapt them
in their work." We agree with Donnan and McClelland (1999: 295) that, certainly,
the artists "would have known they were doing something different, but it is
unlikely that they would have sensed the importance of doing so to the overall
evolution of fineline painting." The latter argument is surely correct since human
beings do not have the power of prediction. But, the crux of the issue is the arti-
sans' self-awareness of themselves as creative actors within the overall cosmo-
logical framework and political-economic regime that supported their efforts.
Art historical methods of iconographic analysis combined with a sensitivity
to the profound context of Andean archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, and
ethnography, and with an understanding of indigenous technology can elucidate

information about the ancient societies that produced this art. Art in the ancient
Andes was materially and contextually diverse but was always the visible
expression and contributing constructor of the cosmology and religion, social and
political order, ideology, and economic organization of ancient societies. Art
represented, embodied, and vivified cult objects and social life in all its aspects.
Programmatically, a wide range of theoretical approaches, empirical con-
cerns, and laboratory techniques is necessary for the full study of ancient art.
Necessary enthusiasm for processual archaeology's ecological and adaptational
concerns and the earlier and equally necessary cultural historical devotion to
temporal seriation of styles must be matched by comparably intense interest in
material culture understood broadly. Critical, context-informed studies of art,
iconography, architecture, and landscape will produce better understandings of
the symbols, cosmology, world-view, communication of meanings, organization
of production, fundamental structure, and evolutionary-historical experience of
extinct art-producing societies as Andean social formations. The contributors to
this volume present new information and analyses of material culture that will
stimulate further interpretive breakthroughs in this field.
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Part II
Andean Art and Society
Introduction
Andean art encompasses aesthetic and technical masterpieces of first order. Even
before the end of the 19th century the more representational art traditions of
ancient Peru had become favorites of great museums as well as private collectors.
Ancient sites adorned with exotic sculptures attracted travelers, scholars, and
adventurers. The quality of precolumbian textiles is unsurpassed in world history.
Many precolumbian ceramics are among the most lovely, whimsical, and sensual
ever created. Given these appreciations, it is perplexing that Andean art has not
stimulated the pervasive, rigorous, detailed, systematic, art-oriented study and
analysis that is characteristic of the Old World (e.g., Classical Antiquity, Late
Antiquity, Oriental, Medieval and Renaissance Europe) as well as Mesoamerica.
Anthropologists and art historians dedicated to the Central Andes have some
significant catching up to do.
Kubler (1990: 32) has attributed underdevelopment in precolumbian art-
focused studies to the co-evolution of New World archaeology and anthropology,
as compared to humanistic Renaissance learning and appreciation that was the
source of Old World archaeology. For Kubler (1991: 158), "visual evidence [i]s
primary rather than only supportive of cultural theory." He regards anthropology
(within which New World archaeology is practiced) as a limiting force on the
study of ancient Amerindian art (Kubler 1991: 177). Yet, it can and should be
counter argued that anthropological perspectives can give the study of pre-
columbian art its greatest intellectual strength, providing a human and social con-
text for the art, and enabling scholars to achieve significant understanding of the
cosmological, symbolic, ideological, and sociopolitical systems represented in it.
We believe that contributions to this volume contribute to a better anthropological
approach to ancient Andean art and will motivate more persistent attention to it.
The anthropological study of Andean art, however, has not been without its
impediments. The analysis of art requires both a depth of archaeological knowl-
edge and a meticulous attention to details that are only achieved with many years
of dedicated study, for which there is often little academic reward. Only now are
23

we witnessing in the United States (in contrast to the Andean countries) the
maturity of the fIrst generation of scholars who have dedicated a lifetime of
research to the art of precolumbian societies of the Central Andes. Moreover, the
pattern among Andeanists in the U.S. today is for each scholar to devote hislher
career to one or two cultural traditions, permitting unparalleled expertise and
interpretive sophistication. In contrast, earlier professionals tended to study the
whole of the Americas, excavating in many places; Andean national archaeolo-
gists typically worked in many culture areas and time periods within their coun-
tries. While there are many benefIts to the comparisons made possible by broad
experience, the analysis of art requires intense specialization, and several of the
chapters in this book present the products of such specialized careers.
The analysis of Pucara iconography (Chavez, this volume) is an excellent
example of intensive specialization that promotes breakthroughs in understanding
the Andean past. Sergio Chavez and his late wife Karen Mohr Chavez began their
careers in the mid-1960s studying early cultures of Cuzco and the Lake Titicaca
Basin in the southern Andean highlands. Pucara art, almost certainly the apogee
of the Yaya-Mama tradition and the probable ancestor of both Tiwanaku and
Huari, presented serious problems. There were no signifIcant museum collections
or other corpuses of the art to study. Unlike many other Andean peoples who
buried exquisite pottery vessels and beautifully adorned textiles with their dead,
to be found intact centuries later by archaeologists and art historians (for example,
compare with Silverman, this volume), Pucara folk did not. There are almost no
complete Pucara ceramic vessels. Rather, the Pucara archaeological record, and
that of many other highland Andean cultures, contains thousands of exquisitely
decorated pottery sherds. Analysis of Pucara art had to begin with painstaking
re-assembly of vessel fragments, followed by reconstruction of representational
themes and motifs. Sergio Chavez's results would not have been possible without
the couple's extraordinary dedication to the uninterrupted study of collections
over many years. Moreover, the Chavezes developed laudable collegial relation-
ships with the institutions housing these materials, thereby ensuring access.
Even when signifIcant corpuses of a particular art style exist and require no
reconstruction, access to objects is often a serious problem. One must travel to the
collections since they are not loaned by their home institutions. In addition to
fIrst-hand study, scholars also depend on high quality illustrations, especially
photographs. Several great volumes of photographs and drawings are well-known
to scholars who analyze Andean art, especially Schmidt's (1929) and Eisleb's
(1975, 1977; Eisleb and Strelow 1980) volumes on German collections,
Posnansky's (1945, 1957) presentation of Tiwanaku materials, Tello's (1959)
Paracas treasures, Lapiner's (1976) luxurious trove of sensational masterpieces,
and the recent Arte y Tesoros del PerU series sponsored by Peru's Banco de
Credito. But these volumes are costly and scarce. The publication of high-quality
photographs is rarely profItable so art volumes require financial patronage.
Andean Art and Society 25
Authors and editors of books such as this one must struggle with publishers to
reach a balance that permits the presentation of enough photographs and illustra-
tions to sample the material under discussion, without pricing the book beyond
the reach of the readers for whom it is intended.
In the final decades of the 20th century, a practical solution to the collection
and dissemination of information about Andean art has come to be developed.
This is the specialized archive, a library consisting of photographs/slides of a
particular tradition or style of precolumbian art compiled by a researcher on the
basis of his/her own research trips to public and private collections. Christopher
Donnan pioneered this approach. He is to be congratulated for the success he has
achieved with his Moche archive, and thanked for opening it to all interested
scholars.
But archives of photographs/slides are expensive to compile, require consid-
erable space and organization and, unless curated with a continuing investment,
they soon deteriorate. The Moche archive has been successful because of its
support from the Fowler Museum of Culture History, UCLA, and an extensive
community of art patrons in southern California. Other scholars have had less
success in compiling a visual archive, either because the art style provokes less
enthusiasm than Moche or the university and community lack adequate financial
resources. So the compilation of archives has tended to be a small-scale, personal
kind of professional activity (as with the Middle Horizon archive of William H.
Isbell and the Nasca archive of Donald A. Proulx). It will be interesting to see
if digital opportunities promote new attempts at archive creation (see below).
There is another issue associated with the study of precolumbian art that is
so volatile that it is virtually a taboo subject: the ethics of display, description, and
publication of looted art. Many of the most spectacular objects of ancient art have
been found illegally and exported illegally. Professional archaeological associa-
tions not only have taken an important stand against looting, they also have mili-
tantly prohibited the appearance of looted objects in professional journals. The
justification for this latter position is that professional publication of illegally
acquired art authenticates the pieces and enhances their value, possibly promoting
more looting according to some critics. A deliberate (realistic or foolhardy) stance
was quietly taken by Helaine Silverman and Donald A. Proulx (2002) who chose,
as the cover illustration of their new volume on ancient Nasca society, a photo-
graph of a magnificent unprovenienced Nasca drum originally exhibited by the
Guggenheim Museum in 1968 (see Sawyer 1968: fig. 403) and subsequently pur-
chased by an antiquities dealer in New York City. And in this volume Silverman
considers the interpretive problems surrounding a recently published cache of ille-
gally excavated, tenuously provenienced textiles from south coastal Peru.
Obviously, like all archaeologists, we fervently hope that looting and traf-
ficking in illegal antiquities is curtailed. But we believe that ignoring important
artifacts and styles because they were not excavated under professional conditions

may result in greater loss of knowledge than is justified by the argument that
publication of illegal antiquities contributes to looting. There is a point at which
archaeological ethics come to resemble an ostrich with its head in the sand.
As entire precolumbian styles are plundered, the prohibition on professional pub-
lication does little more than ensure that archaeologists will be unable to provide
even minimal documentation of these objects, styles, cultures, and contexts, and
they will disappear from public record. We think that archaeological ethics must
be realistic and promote the preservation and dissemination of information,
whether by publishing or citing unprovenienced materials or by recording infor-
mation about ravaged sites (such as the profiles of looters' cuts). Otherwise, the
scholarly community loses information forever. Happily, there is also good news
in the study of precolumbian Andean art. While tomb raiding seems to have
become the favorite subject of video games, international agreements are making
it more difficult to traffic in illegal antiquities, and some art treasures have even
been returned to the countries from which they were stolen.
An important new development is electronic data bases for art and artifacts.
This new technology seems to be on the verge of transforming conditions for
photographic storage as well as for publication. Compact disks and web sites can
provide cheap access to hundreds and thousands of high-quality images. There
are still issues of computer compatibility as well as availability in developing
countries, and the renewal of electronic media as technologies are quickly
outdated. But it is likely that the next generation of Andean archaeologists and art
historians will have immeasurably more access to the art of the ancients than their
professors and forefathers.
Our coverage of the ancient art of the Andes begins with Pucara, on the north
side of the Titicaca Basin, itself an ideal test case for studying broad theoretical
problems concerning the emergence and organization of social complexity. Albeit
little known, within the southern higWands Pucara society appears to have laid
critical foundations for most subsequent cultural development. The type site of
Pucara (about 1.5 sqkm) experienced an early and possibly abrupt transition to
urbanism. Pucara corporate art is the crowning achievement of the Yaya-Mama
religious tradition (Chavez and Chavez 1976) of the south, rather as Chavin de
Huantar and its style culminated long cultural developments of northern Peru's
Initial Period (Burger 1992). Understanding the meaning and the influential role
of Pucara is essential, but nothing can be accomplished until the art style is
defined, and its basic icons and motifs are described. Chavez has given us a new
foundation in his analysis of Pucara art. It is the prerequisite needed by other
scholars, in providing both illustrations and interpretation, for the study of
broader relations and developments in South Andean culture.
Using a thematic approach, like that of Donnan (1976, 1978), Chavez
identifies two great themes in Pucara ceramic art, the camelid woman and the
feline man, as the supernatural personages that presided over Pucara ideology,

probably dividing the year, the world of myth, and the domain of social relations.
A rich collection of illustrations documents each of Chavez's interpretations, pro-
ducing the largest corpus of Pucara ceramic art designs available to readers. Each
figure was meticulously traced from pottery fragments. Secondary motifs, corre-
sponding to mythological or supernatural humans and animals, derive from the
two main themes. A series of well defined geometric designs are associated with
and/or derived from either the female or male theme as well. These figures are
standardized, explicit symbols of power for diverse domains. Only the feline
mediates the opposition, occupying ambiguous, intermediate contexts.
Archaeologists frequently assert that the techniques of archaeology are
uniquely suited to the study of long-term culture change. But all too frequently,
problems inherent in the archaeological record mean that interpretations of the
past depend on analogies and theoretically based expectations more than con-
stituting independent interpretations based on material remains. In her study of
Paraeas and Nasca art, Helaine Silverman considers issues of ethnicity and iden-
tity specifically on the basis of the archaeologically recovered textiles and pottery
of these related societies.
Paraeas and Nasca are two of Peru's great "Mastercraftsman" (Bennett and
Bird 1964) cultures. The spectacular corpus of representations in textile and
ceramic art has received renewed scholarly interest over the past thirty years from
art historians, archaeologists, and textile specialists, but not in the systematic,
school-organized, or coordinated research team manner of Moche.
Paracas studies have focused most especially on the spectacular textiles orig-
inally excavated by Tello (1959; Tello and Mejia Xesppe 1979) at sites along the
neck of the Paracas Peninsula. Working with Tello's curated materials, Dwyer and
Dwyer (1975; see also Paul I990a) sensitized us to the ability and function of cos-
tume to define an individual's social status and role and to the social choices and
organization involved in the creation and use of these highly iconographic items
(see also Paul 1985; Paul and Niles 1984). Paul (1982a,b, 1986, 1990a,b, 1992;
Paul and Turpin 1986 inter alia) has advanced our understanding of the chrono-
logical and stylistic relationships among the Linear, Block Color, and Broad Line
styles of Paraeas embroidered imagery, the nature and use of color in the embroi-
deries, the symbolism of the textile images, and the societal context of the ritual
attire. Frame (1986, 1991) has been concerned with the effect of textile technol-
ogy on the resultant imagery. Peters (1991) has attempted to deconstruct and
explain the similarities and differences between the Block Color images on
Paraeas Necropolis textiles and early Nasca painted ceramic iconography. It is
this problem that Helaine Silverman seeks to resolve in her chapter.
For as much as archaeologists appear to be able to differentiate Paracas
Necropolis and early Nasca pottery and textiles, there is still much confusion
about textiles. The situation has become further complicated with Alan Sawyer's
(1997) recent publication of a corpus of exquisitely embroidered, iconographically

complex textiles said to come from a looted site in the middle Grande Valley in
the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage. Silverman argues that competing definitions
of south coast textile styles have had important interpretive ramifications for sort-
ing out the cultural or ethnic identities of their makers as well as assessing the
sociopolitical dynamics and discrete societal contexts underwriting the produc-
tion of these great objects. She returns to the materials that constitute the basis
of these debates in terms of their style and context, especially scrutinizing those
textiles which were unscientifically excavated (looted) and whose provenience is
not documented. Of particular importance is her attention to Sawyer's (1997)
claim that there is an unrecognized body of early Nasca textiles that constituted
the source of the iconographic explosion seen in Nasca 2 and, especially,
Nasca 3 pottery (at the height of Cahuachi), and that influenced the Block Color
style of the Paracas Necropolis corpus. Though tempted by Sawyer's techno-
stylistic argument, she is nevertheless bothered by the lack of congruity between
his textiles' alleged context at Cabildo, in the middle Grande Valley, and the
remains she observed there during her systematic site survey.
Who made the Paracas Necropolis textiles and where did textile production
take place? Were Paracas Necropolis (Topara) people and Nasca people in direct
contact and, if so, where and how did this contact take place? Did Nasca people
make gifts of fine textiles to the Paracas Necropolis elite? Did an Early Nasca
elite control local sumptuary textile production? Beyond these empirical ques-
tions are the theoretically high stakes in this persisting problem of Paracas and
Nasca craft and ethnic identity in terms of the role of mythical representations in
identity construction, the durability of ethnic construction in contact situations,
and the transferability of symbols employed by ethnic "others." The archaeolog-
ical record is rich, but key problems must still be resolved by new fieldwork in
the Pisco Valley and at the Paracas Peninsula sites themselves.
Moche is another of the great art styles of the ancient Andes, but one which has
been considerably more amenable to interpretation than Paracas and Nasca thanks,
in no small part, to the extraordinary insights of Christopher B. Donnan together
with an unprecedented amount of field archaeology. For more than twenty years
Donnan and his collaborators have applied a Panofskian approach to the inter-
pretation of Moche iconography (e.g., Donnan 1975, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1982a,b;
Cordy-Collins 1977, 1992; McClelland 1977, 1990). These interpretations have
been recently confirmed by actual data from excavated mortuary contexts
(e.g., Alva 1988, 1990, 1994; Donnan and Castillo 1992, 1994). Indeed, elucida-
tion of Moche art and society is now the focus of a concerted international effort
(see, e.g., Alva 1994; Alva and Donnan 1993; Bourget 1990a,b, 1994a,b; Kaulicke
1991, 1992, 1994; Makowski et al. 1994; Uceda and Mujica 1994).
Art and life were intertwined in the ancient Moche world. Moche artists
represented their world in a highly stylized fashion and they lived in a world that
was highly stylized, where costumed rulers conducted breathtaking ceremonies

in accord with widespread expectations shared by elites across the north coast
valleys who participated in Moche civilization. Moche artists carefully depicted
the ritual dramas with which leaders constructed Moche identity and sense of
community. For more than is currently possible for any other ancient Andean
society, with Moche we can see the complex, rich, multilayered role that art
played in social life. Excavations at the pottery workshop of Cerro Mayal in the
Chicama Valley, for example, are revealing the fundamental organization of a
craft that was vitally important in Moche life (Russell et al. 1994). Pottery
production was organized into distinct activities and those artists involved with
particularly complex imagery were attached specialists who received food and
other provisions from the elite residing in the nearby palace at Mocollope.
Within this context, Margaret Jackson presents a provocative interpretation
of Moche art. She argues that Moche potters developed a kind of proto-writing or
occupational literacy involving ideographic and/or logographic elements
(pictures conceived in terms of set phrases, idea clusters, and abstract signs).
Documenting and illustrating her inferences, Jackson shows that actual steps in
the process of inventing writing proceeded along avenues completely unlike those
imagined by less convincing champions of precolumbian Andean writing
systems. But why, asks Jackson, didn't the craftsmen eventually dispense with the
ceramic objects and develop a writing system as happened in other ancient
civilizations? Her fascinating conclusion is that the social and political context
of fancy pottery consumption among the Moche elite demanded its continued
production. And this, in turn, provides important insight into the limits of
sociopolitical complexity among the Moche. For as hierarchical as this society
was, for as specialized its craftsmen and clever its irrigation system, still the
Moche were playing~uite literally and in the sense of Geertz's (1980) concept
of theatre-state-an essentially non-administrative geopolitical game.
In contrast to the foregoing exemplary Central Andean art styles, the material
culture of the adjacent moist eastern slopes is poorly known. There, preservation
is poor, travel is difficult, and research has only recently resumed. Nevertheless,
as Tello (1923,1943) and Lathrap (1970,1971,1973,1974 inter alia), most espe-
cially, have shown, the cloud forest (also called upper montafia or ceja de selva)
is vital to a full understanding of Andean civilization. For instance, highland poli-
ties such as Tiwanaku, Lupaqa, and Inca were keenly interested in products from
this ecological zone. It is increasingly clear from archaeological remains of this
region that large, powerful, sedentary polities arose here. Extensive agricultural
terraces on the steep eastern slopes supported dense populations (Isbell 1974).
Fortifications bear witness to conditions of competition among the residents.
Monumental stone buildings reveal the ability of local elites to organize labor for
the construction of civic-ceremonial projects.
Adriana von Hagen presents an exciting summary of the archaeologically
known Chachapoya people within which she contextualizes her discussion of

recently discovered Chachapoya iconography on portable objects dating to the
Late Intermediate Period and Inca Horizon. She suggests that the Chachapoya's
straddling of the ceja de selva implicated, in some way, Amazonian cosmology in
the development of the Chachapoya art style. Indeed, actual tropical lowland arti
facts are known from Laguna de los C6ndores where she and Sonia Guillen,
the director of the project, worked. At the same time, von Hagen gives plausible
evidence for highland influence on Chachapoya art in both the Late Intermediate
Period (Cajamarca) and earlier times (Recuay/Callej6n de Huaylas). There even
seem to be continuities with Vicus and possibly Moche art.
Most important in von Hagen's discussion is her demonstration of the deeply
embedded role of iconographic expression in Chachapoya settlements of the
living and of the dead. Chachapoya house exteriors were decorated with intricate
geometric stone friezes and figurative stone friezes. House interiors were deco
rated with deer antlers or tenoned stone heads depicting humans or felines.
In addition, the dramatic cliff tombs, which are the subject of her chapter, bore
vividly painted designs. Although various photographs of Chachapoya architec
ture have been published (particularly good views are found in Muscutt 1998),
it is the perishable materials (gourd, bamboo, textile) recovered by von Hagen
and Guillen that provide new insights into the full range of Chachapoya icono
graphy and its origins. Furthermore, much of this representational art straddles
the transition to historic times brought about by the Spanish invasion. Perhaps the
new Chachapoya data will furnish a new transition between recent ethnography,
early written accounts, and the meaning of precolumbian art and symbols.
Terence Grieder and his associates expand this volume's coverage of soci
eties outside the traditional core area of the Central Andes. Working from an
explicitly material culture approach the authors argue that a new tradition of cosmo
logical symbolism, expressed on Formative Period pottery from the south
Ecuadorian highlands, provided a new communication medium and facilitated the
accretion of supernatural power in the hands of shamans in a context of emergent
chiefdoms with growing political and economic institutions.
Their chapter is daring in its espousal of universal symbolism (e.g., Grieder
1982) and proposed interpretation of Formative Period symbols in terms of modern
north Andean shamanic cosmology. Readers will accept some of the authors' con
tentions and reject others. For instance, since potters made oxidized and reduced
vessels and these vessels were formally the same, the argument that potters were
clearly expressing color choice is convincing. However, we are not convinced that
these color differences communicated symbolic meanings that can be known four
thousand years later. The assertion that the oxidized finish implied red, blood,
vitality, and daylight while reduced surfaces meant black, night, earth, under
world and spiritual protection expresses a western logic that mayor may not have
prevailed in ancient Ecuador. On the other hand, Grieder et al. have cogently dis
tinguished ceramic vessels suitable for food service from ordinary cooking ware,

and the association of elaborate service wares with wooden structures on stone
foundation platforms plausibly suggests ceremonial feasting in public space.
Regardless of this chapter's speculations, we are impressed with the attempt to
contextualize technology (especially firing technology) in the potential explana-
tory knowledge of its times and art in its use context. Soffer et a1.'s (1993) study
of deliberately exploding Venus figures in the Upper Paleolithic validates this
chapter's argument that the processes and products of pyrotechnologies "were
symbolic, practiced as rituals and the products ... valued for their meaning."
This section of the book provides current treatments of a sampling of some
of the most spectacular ancient Peruvian art styles, as well as examinations of
lesser known artistic productions that might otherwise not find their way into a
volume of expected visibility. All of the papers in this section confirm that what
today are called masterpieces of ancient Andean art-objects in a wide range of
media-were not produced to be exhibited by an individual owner for private
admiration and appreciation by family and friends as is the case of collected art
in the late Western tradition. Rather, these objects were actively used for a range
of discrete and overlapping purposes in domains that were social, political,
economic, ritual, and so on. Whether textiles, pottery, or metallurgy, ancient
Andean peoples transformed their chosen media of expression into statements of
power and social relationships. These statements involved the mobilization of
human labor and technology to produce and iconographically inscribe works
of great artistry that were deployed by elites as status and identity affirming displays
and that ideologically enabled their privilege while tangibly reproducing the
relations of production that supported it.
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Chapter 2
Identification ofthe Camelid
Woman and Feline Man
Themes, Motifs, and Designs in
Pucara Style Pottery
SERGIO J. CHAVEZ
INTRODUCTION
The materials upon which this study is based primarily consist of some 10,000
pottery specimens derived from the archaeological excavations conducted by
Alfred Kidder II in 1939 at the site of Pucara (K. Chavez 1989a: 5-6). The exca-
vations included ceremonial dumps or midden deposits along the river bank
(Excavations I, II, and Ill), complex public architecture on the plain (Excavation
IV), and two temples on terraces above (Excavations V and VI). In addition to
these contexts, pottery was also found in offerings (Excavation I) and a burial
(Excavation VI); what appeared to be a domestic structure in Excavation I was
partially excavated, but clear pottery associations could not be determined
(S. Chavez 1992: 51-83).
Although most of the collection was housed at the Peabody Museum at
Harvard, Kidder left numerous specimens in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia
y Arqueologia in Lima, others went to Cambridge, England, and Vancouver,
Canada. Thanks to Kidder's notes, sketches, drawings and photographs, Karen
Mohr Chavez and I were able to identify and document most of the collection,
including materials in Cuzco corresponding to the 1955 excavations at Pucara car-
ried out by Kidder and Chavez Ballon to obtain samples for radiocarbon
35
36 Sergio J. Chavez
, 1,j~
/,\''''-'-'.11-
J•
•;- y... \ .....,
·cuzco " A,,_ ......
_)~-' __" , Pucara

t\
-"',) PUNO
\,
')
~
,.. "\
+
.....T1OIlIM.1CIUCIooUI'f -'-'
OU' fWI'1'UW' -'-
.,. fWJn e.WonM. •
~~104 •
_TaCT. Mil
i..I:'::10'.':::1,,,,;Mt:,,==~'j;"r __.,;jlr\a
Figure 2.1. Map of the Lake Titicaca Basin showing the location of Pucara, and other sites
mentioned in the text.
dating (K. Chavez in press, K. and S. Chavez n.d,a). Furthermore, additional com-
parative examples were also used in the present study derived from unpublished
excavations and/or sUIface collections conducted by Julio C. Tello, Manuel Chavez
Ballon, Karen Mohr Chavez, and myself in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin.
The site of Pucara is situated in the northwestern Lake Titicaca Basin at an alti-
tude of 3900m asl (Figure 2.1) [Note 1]. The site's name was given to the Pucara
style and archaeological culture. Pucara is characterized by multiple monumental
sunken temples and other public structures in front of a gigantic natural cliff, as well
as finely carved stone sculpture, and fancy ceremonial polychrome pottery. Pucara
was partly contemporary with the late Yaya-Mama occupation in Copacabana on
the basis of five radiocarbon dates obtained from recent excavations conducted at
the temple site of Ch'isi on the Copacabana Peninsula (from inside the sunken
temple ca. 220 BC and continuing to 10 BC, uncorrected). Because of the contem-
poraneity of these sites and others in the Basin they must be included within the
Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition (K. Chavez 1997; K. Chavez and S. Chavez 1997).
The Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition was defined for the first time in 1988
by Karen Mohr Chavez (l989b; see also K. Chavez and S. Chavez 1997) and was
Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 37

named after the identification of a circum-lacustrine style of stone sculpture
(S. Chavez and K. Chavez 1976). Beginning in the Early Horizon at ca. 800BC
(or even earlier, see Dean and Kojan 1999: 39-41 and Whitehead 1999: 20) and
lasting until AD 200-400, the Tradition consists of: a) temple/storage centers
with central sunken courts such as at Chiripa (the first widespread public archi-
tecture in the region); b) a style of stone sculpture having supernatural images,
associated with temples (called the Yaya-Mama style); c) ritual paraphernalia
such as pottery trumpets and ceremonial burners; and d) supernatural iconogra-
phy such as heads with rayed appendages and vertically-divided eyes.
This tradition, independent from the Chavin style of the northern Peruvian
highlands, represents the first unification of diverse groups of people in the Basin
despite the diversity of pottery styles associated with the Tradition (K. Chavez
1997,2002; Burger, K. Chavez and S. Chavez 2000: 310-311). The Tradition had
a strong and significant influence in the development of later polities in the Basin,
including Pucara and Tiwanaku, as well as on Huari in the region of Ayacucho.
Furthermore, many architectural elements also continued into Inca times.
Although Pucara temples follow Yaya-Mama architectural models/forms (e.g.,
those at Ch'isi and Mallku Pucara on the Copacabana Peninsula, and Chiripa in
the Taraco Peninsula) and have similar ritual paraphernalia (especially ceremo-
nial burners and trumpets) associated with them, Pucara temples are monumental
and multiple; its stone sculptures and iconography are more complex and explicit,
and exhibit greater elaboration (S. Chavez 1976, 1982, 1989, 1992). In addition,
burials in grave chambers situated in each wall of the sunken court of Enclosure 2/
Excavation VI indicate social differentiation and a hierarchical structure of polit-
ical and religious organizations (S. Chavez 1992: 78-83).
The Yaya-Mama Tradition was more than a religious phenomenon. Through
a network of ceremonies it incorporated economic, political, and social activities
and institutions above the household level into regional associations. In this kind
of context the Pucara polity unified and centralized most of the northern Titicaca
Basin, extending its presence and influence from at least Chumbivilcas in Cuzco
(S. Chavez 1989, S. and K. Chavez, n.d.; Nunez del Prado 1972; Rowe 1958) to
Tiwanaku in Bolivia (S. Chavez 1976). Pucara style materials have also been
found in the Vilcanota drainage and Cuzco Basin (Burger, K. Chavez, and
S. Chavez 2000: 315), as well as in the south and far south coast of Peru as indi-
cated by a textile in lea (Conklin 1985), and surface pottery in Moquegua
(Feldman 1989).
The procurement and distribution of obsidian shows a complex network of
exchange and contact during Yaya-Mama times, affecting regions as far away as
Chavin de Huantar (Burger, K. Chavez and S. Chavez 2000: 310-323, 350).
During these times both Chivay and Aka source obsidian types were introduced
for the first time into the Titicaca Basin, and minor amounts of Alca source obsid-
ian were also present at both high- and low-status areas at Chavin de Huantar in
38 Sergio J. Chavez
Janabarriu contexts. Such increased interaction may have been stimulated by the
Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition.
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, CLASSIFICATION,

DOCUMENTATION, AND INTERPRETATION
In order to achieve the interpretive goals of this study, it was necessary to
accomplish the descriptive aims first. The major goal was to layout the nature of
Pucara pottery shapes, techniques, themes, motifs, designs, and elements, and to
discover the rules of the style. Hence, the major classes of attributes include
vessel shape, paste, surface finish, decorative technique, and iconography.
Associations among these attributes were also tabulated. The primarily qualitative
analysis, then, also includes some quantitative considerations such as the fre-
quencies of co-occurrence between and among attributes and the frequencies of
occurrence of certain themes/motifs in excavated contexts.
After a long and painstaking process of fitting numerous pieces together, the
descriptions and drawings for each of the diagnostic sherds were made on 5 X 7-
inch index cards, including those possessing iconography and/or were rims,
bases, handles and lugs. Subsequently, a complete inventory of vessel shapes was
established, followed by technical and iconographic attributes associated with
each vessel shape. Of particular importance was the associated surface finish as
it co-varied with certain shapes (S. Chavez 1992: 84-101). Paste groups were
determined by examining every sherd using a stereoscopic microscope, generat-
ing 24 paste/temper groups. Petrographic analysis of rock and mineral con-
stituents by a geologist for the most part confirmed the classification and, with
further studies at and around Pucara, permitted the separation of local from non-
local pastes (K. Chavez, Chyi, and S. Chavez 1988).
The study of the complex and elaborate iconography includes and/or com-
bines geometric designs and several human and animal beings with supernatural
indicators. All the representational iconography is religious in nature, and virtu-
ally all representational Pucara style pottery can be understood as relating to the
two themes. The style conveys a clear, standardized, powerful supernatural
imagery. The classification of representational iconography into specific classes
and groups follows strict definitions of the terms themes, motifs, designs, and ele-
ments which I have developed and derived from Pucara iconography as follows.
A motif is defined as a main feature prominently displayed in whole or in
part, which is clearly delimited and depicted in isolation, in a repetitive fashion,
or in combination with only one other feature. Examples of motifs in Pucara
include single felines or in pairs, severed human heads in a repetitive fashion,
guanacos in association with birds, and isolated human heads with rayed
appendages. Motifs can also be accompanied by a few but smaller additional

motifs (e.g., smaller human severed heads and feline-headed snakes as
appendages associated with the feline motif), or with geometric designs (e.g.,
those associated with feline motifs).
An element refers to a basic and distinctive feature derivedfrom a motifelse-
where, which is usually smaller and/or stylized and is part of some complex
human or animal motif. Examples of elements in Pucara include the ring at the
feline's neck, the stylized and small circular head and the three wavy elements on
or off the face of some felines. Other more identifiable elements are referred to as
paraphernalia worn by personages such as crowns, earrings, necklaces, and
wrist/ankle bands; or as items held by personages such as staffs and axes.
A design refers to a purely geometric figure, which can be depicted in isola-
tion, in a repetitive fashion and/or in combination with different geometric
figures. Like elements, geometric designs can also be a part of some complex
human or animal motif. Examples of geometric designs in Pucara include check-
ered crosses, lunates, stepped blocks, nested parallelograms, and divider symbols
separating felines.
A theme refers to several motifs, designs, and elements directly associated
with a central personage forming a single main composition. For example, one of
the two themes identified in Pucara includes the camelid woman which is the
main personage possessing two or three motifs (the alpaca, the flower/plant, and
rayed head), several kinds of geometric designs (at the pedestal portion of the
bowl, the pack carried by the alpaca, face markings, decorations on her dress and
bag element she carries), and several elements and paraphernalia she carries or
wears.
By beginning with themes, which are the most complex compositions, then
sherds with parts of these themes could be classified with them. Variations of
details in each occurrence of the theme permitted further identification of associ-
ated attributes and, hence, the associations could be extended. By comparing iso-
lated motifs and elements to those found in a theme or its variations, then the
isolated occurrences could be aligned with each respective theme. Sometimes the
isolated motifs and elements were, in tum, associated with other attributes that
then could be related to the themes.
The identification of the feline man as a male and the camelid woman as a
female was achieved by looking at isolated cases in which attributes of sex/gen-
der could be determined, and by comparing associated attributes to similar ones
on each theme. Hence, the identification of sex and gender was achieved through
an inductive process and not by imposing a preconceived notion. Furthermore,
motifs or elements in the themes or in isolation that possessed additional attrib-
utes, showed that each theme could be related to either dry or wet season, wild or
domestic animals, and life-taking or life-giving activities. Another result derived
from the application of this method was that a number of geometric designs,
which otherwise would have been classified as a group by themselves, could be
40 Sergio J. Chavez
identified as either male-related or female-related geometric designs, constituting
the first such attempt in Andean archaeology.
After identifying the Camelid Woman and the Feline Man themes, I have
interpreted them as being compositions or perhaps summaries of two different
myths or stories, where the first is closely aligned with the main supernatural
female personage, her activities, power, life-giving attributes, and supernatural
domain; and the second directly associated with the main supernatural male per-
sonage, his activities, power, life-taking attributes, and supernatural domain. This
view can be compared to the Nativity Theme as Donnan (1976: 117) has done for
Moche, as well as to the Crucifixion Theme in Christian iconography, such that
when a motif or element is depicted in isolation in paintings and statues, it may
be identified as directly or indirectly deriving from the main theme (e.g., Christ,
Virgin Mary, the Cross, and the visiting kings). Similarly, in Pucara iconography
depictions of isolated motifs or elements serve to identify them as directly or indi-
rectly deriving from either the Camelid Woman Theme or the Feline Man Theme.
For example, the isolated human Severed Head Motif is considered to be a male-
related motif directly deriving from the Feline Man Theme because only the
feline man carries severed heads. Likewise, the Camelid Motif is considered to be
a female-related motif directly deriving from the Camelid Woman Theme
because only the camelid woman holds an alpaca.
The time-consuming procedures followed to implement the descriptive
goals, then, are crucial and necessary steps in achieving the interpretive goals.
The analysis of natural resources, as well as technical, functional, and icono-
graphic components of the pottery are all integral steps for understanding the
nature of Pucara society. They help determine such important issues as standard-
ization in shapes, themes, motifs, designs and elements; standardization in mea-
sure and production; control of production; nature and degree of specialization;
context of religious iconography and use of powerful representational images;
vessel functions and site activities; and finally, aspects of status differentiation
and social organization (S. Chavez 1992). Hence, the study of the supernatural
icons, their content, the shapes on which they occur, and the contexts in which
they are found, all contribute to answering questions raised as interpretive goals.
Likewise, the different spatial contexts from which the pottery at Pucara
was excavated (including ceremonial dumps, temple architecture, public archi-
tecture, burials, and offerings) provide the opportunity to test, through pottery
analysis, the functional differences that might exist over the site, in terms of
social differentiation, public activities, burial practices, and specialization of
activities.
Due to the complexity of analysis and the limited space available to me in
this chapter, I will concentrate only on the Feline Man and Camelid Woman
themes, and include a brief identification of most male- and female-related motifs
and designs.
Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man

IDENTIFICATION OF THE CAMELID WOMAN THEME AND
HER RELATED MOTIFS AND DESIGNS
41
The interpretation of the main personage as female is based primarily on

comparisons with figurines (Figure 2.2a, b). One of these figurines possesses a
pair of round applique reliefs representing breasts on the chest. Close similarities
between attributes on the female figurine and those characteristic of the person-
age in the Camelid Woman Theme (Figures 2.2c, 2.3, 2.4a-d) support the identi-
fication of this personage as female. Such primary attributes, which are absent or
different on the feline man, include: 1) simple straight mouth represented by a
horizontal incision; 2) protruding ears, in one figurine (Figure 2.2a), that are per-
forated, resembling the often excised circle/earrings and sometimes pendant ones
on the camelid woman (e.g., Figure 2.3a); 3) loose hair combed towards the back,
represented by vertical incisions on the figurine and camelid woman (Figure 2.2a, c),
or a pair oftwo thick braids visible at both sides (S. Chavez 1992: figs. 144, 151).
Also, a variation of the black veil covering the ears and neck on the other figurine
(Figure 2.2b), may be the cream cape-like element on one camelid woman
(Figure 2.3a); 4) the stepped hairline in one figurine (Figure 2.2b) is also present
on the forehead of the camelid woman; 5) red front-view face, on the
figurines with no face markings, but on the camelid woman with relatively
simple geometric designs; 6) necklace under the chin of one figurine, and more
o 10
.'._._' em
5 10
em
, .,I.
Figure 2.2. (a,b) Female figurines. (c) Camelid Woman Theme, pedestal-base bowl.
42 Sergio J. Chavez
Figure 2.3. (a,b) Camelid Woman Theme, from upper portions of two pedestal-base bowls.
elaborated ones on the camelid woman; 7) presence of a narrow band

surrounding the face of the figurine (Figure 2.2a), as on the Rayed Head Motif
(Figures 2.4e, f, 2.5a); 8) black veil and/or clothing on one figurine (Figure 2.2b),
and a black dress on the camelid woman.
Consequently, the shared attributes found on the figurines serve to positively
identify the central front-face personage in the main theme as female (Figures 2.3,
2.4a--c) and, by further association, other motifs in the theme as female-related.
Such attributes are absent on the feline man (Figures 2.8, 2.9, 2.10).
Reconstruction of fragments show the female personage/Camelid Woman
Theme represented only once on each vessel. The only vessel shape associated
with this theme is the pedestal-base bowl or ceremonial burner (for a description
of shapes and function, see S. Chavez 1992: 110-116, 516, fig. 8; K. Chavez
1986a: 144), where the main personage is represented entirely in front view and
in a standing position. Among all the human and animal representations in Pucara
pottery, the front view is reserved only for the camelid woman. Furthermore,
additional attributes are exclusively used to further enhance her position and
emphasize the personage (for additional details see also S. Chavez 1992: figs.
142-158). These attributes are the following: 1) she is portrayed on the entire
exterior surface of the vessel, from top of bowl to bottom of pedestal base; 2) she
is depicted in larger proportions than the other associated motifs; 3) the face is in
relief, and in some cases also the skirt and/or feet or "shoes." The face has excised
•',.... ':
~:c.;.,
"n;;~~:
c
o 5 10
em
Figure 2.4. (a,b,c,d) Camelid Woman Heads, upper portions of pedestal·base bowls. (e) Rayed Head
Motif, lower portion of pedestal-base bowl. (f) Rayed Head Motif. (g) Rayed Head Motif, tripod or
tetrapod vessel (polished black).
areas filled with white post-fire paint that occur on the forehead, around the eyes,
earrings, or a combination of these. Furthermore, in some cases there are addi-
tional excised areas including the chin, circular collar pendants, and the tips of the
"feathers" or streamers emanating from behind the head.
This central personage has a consistent number of associated motifs,
elements, and designs which are also standardized on a red background as follows:
1) her right arm is bent at the elbow, and her hand with four fingers holds a staff
extending from forehead height to almost the bottom of the skirt; 2) she also holds
in her right hand a round item, perhaps a bag (or a ball of wool yarn?); 3) her left
arm is also bent at the elbow, and her hand holds a camelid by a rope that is in
profile facing her. The smaller camelid is portrayed above the level of her hand.
44
II
_____ --l...._-=
a
Sergio J. Chavez
o 5 10
.'_1IIII'_1Ii em
Figure 2.5. (a) Rayed Head Motif, oversized beaker. (b) Camelid Motif (alpacas with foot prints)
lower portion of pedestal-base bowl. (c,d) Camelid Motif (alpacas with foot prints) upper portions of
pedestal-base bowls.
The abundant body wool and tuft on top of the head served to identify the camelid
as an alpaca; 4) a pair of exterior lugs at the lip and at opposite sides of the
vessel, separates the central personage and the alpaca from the plant or flower-
like motifs that are portrayed from rim to waist of the vessel; 5) finally, the
pedestal portion of the vessel has additional vertical bands or panels in zigzag
flanking the personage below the waist.
Additional attributes include face markings (Figure 2.4a-d) which can be
incised lines following the lower contour of the eye and terminating towards the
cheeks (Figures 2.2c, 2.4b), a black rectangle (Figure 2.4c) or double-stepped
blocks under the eyes (Figure 2.3a), zigzag bands originating under the eyes
and extending into the lower sides of the face (Figure 2.3b), and checkered
:1
lat::MI~- ..•.
-a.:..;:..-·· .. ··········1
.'jJ J\
45
46 Sergio J. Chavez
Figure 2.7. (a) Miniature male-headed effigy jar. (b) Miniature male-headed effigy bowl.
(c,d) Regular sized male-headed effigy bowls.
(Figure 2.4a) or nested (Figure 2.4d) crosses suspended from under the eyes.
Except for one case (Figure 2.3b), the forehead is further accentuated by excised
designs including two-stepped ones divided in two (Figure 2.4b) or joined
together (Figure 2.4a), three triangles (Figures 2.2c, 2.3a), or four vertical inci-
sions suspended from a horizontal line (Figure 2.4c). The ovoidal eyes are verti-
cally divided and surrounded by an additional ovoidal red band. Sometimes the
sides of the eyes are also outlined by excised fields tapering at both extremes-
giving the appearance of almond-shaped comers (Figures 2.2c, 2.4a, b). All diag-
nostic samples include a necklace. These necklaces can have one or two rows of
beads each alternating in a combination of three colors, and in one case in two
colors and extending from ear to ear (Figure 2.3b).
em
Figure 2.8. (a) Feline Man Theme, slightly outflaring bowl. (b) Feline Man Theme,
pedestal-base bowl.
The main garment she wears is what appears to be a black dress (perhaps
sleeveless), with a cream belt, or row of rectangles at the waist (S. Chavez 1992:
figs. 152-153). A vertical band at both sides of the waist extends along the
length of her skirt like side-flaps (Figure 2.2c). Each of these side-flaps contains
two rectangular panels of double-stepped blocks, which can also be present
at her chest (S. Chavez 1992: fig. 144) or bordering a kind of veil in one case
(Figure 2Ad). Other kinds of designs or elements can also be present at her
belt/waist (S. Chavez 1992: figs.152-l53). The skirt shows a hem-line and ends
at foot height. Most of the time she wears "shoes" which are consistently cream
in color (Figure 2.2c).
The plant motif is represented in a flowering stage, with fruits/seeds stem-
ming from the petal and/or leaves which can be circular elements and/or nested
crosses (Figures 2.2c, 2.3a), or in a non-jlowering stage indicated only by petals
alone (Figure 2.3b). It should be noted that the nested cross design is also present
as face markings below the eye (Figure 2Ad). Furthermore, in the single case the
non-flowering plant is associated with the simplest camelid woman (Figure 2.3b).
She lacks the excised geometric markings on her forehead, her hair or "cape" is
not present or visible, she has a staff with rounded rather than sharp comers, and
two small pendants hanging from a necklace, which in tum is atypically attached
from ear to ear. Conversely, the blossoming/flowering plants are associated
48 Sergio J. Chavez
Figure 2.9. (a,b) Feline Man Theme (wearing a feline pelt), from two pedestal-base bowls.
with the most ornamented women holding a scepter/staff with sharp comers
(Figures 2.2c, 2.3a). Consequently, it could be argued that these associations may
indicate either differences in age, rank, and/or season of the year.
The pedestal portion of the vessel contains a series of vertical bands in zigzag,
each alternating in three colors (Figures 2.2c, 2.4e; S. Chavez 1992: fig. 153). These
bands likely fonn independent panels which flank the skirt of the woman, and in
one case there is an additional motif preserved consisting of a head with six rayed
appendages terminating in small heads (Figure 2.4e).
MOTIFS AND DESIGNS DERIVED AND/OR RELATED

TO THE CAMELID WOMAN THEME
Except for the plant/flower (present only within the Camelid Woman
Theme), the camelid (Figure 2.5lHl) and Rayed Head (Figure 2.4e) are found in
isolation and repeated elsewhere forming independent motifs which can be iden-
tical to those in the main theme, or may possess additional variations or modifi-
cations but without losing their original identity or principal identifying
attributes. Hence, these independent motifs are considered to be female-related
and include the Camelid Motif (Figure 2.5lHl), and the Rayed Head Motif
oII'__5'_I11III1'0
em
Figure 2.10. (a,b) Feline Man Theme, from two pedestal-base bowls.
49
(Figures 2.4f, g, 2.5a). Note the similarities between the attributes present on the
female figurine (Figure 2.2a) and the Rayed Head Motif: protruding ears, band
surrounding the face, simple horizontal mouth, connected nose and eyebrows,
simple female-related face markings. Some similarities with the camelid woman
include: possible plant motifs (Figure 2.4f) and appendages terminating in small
feline-like heads and a ring (Figure 2.4g).
On the other hand, the Owl, some Felines, and some Feline-headed Snake
motifs are not present in the main theme, but they also share many attributes
with those of the camelid woman. Some of the attributes which serve to relate the
Owl Motif (Figure 2.6) to the camelid woman include: the stepped blocks, pairs
of stepped streamers (reminiscent of the feathers worn by the camelid woman),
band surrounding the face, and the rectangular block or bands under the eyes
(see also S. Chavez 1992: figs. 198-199 for owls on oversized bulging neck jar
50 Sergio J. Chavez
and miniature jar). Conversely, the Feline Headed Snake and Feline Motifs are
the only ones sharing attributes related to both the camelid woman and feline
man, or to each of them, implying an ambiguous and/or intermediary position.
Sometimes these two motifs are portrayed together (e.g., S. Chavez 1992: fig. 297).
Some of the feline-headed snakes are just like those on the chest of the feline man
(e.g., Figure 2.8a), but are also associated with female-related stepped blocks
(S. Chavez 1992: fig. 296), which are designs exclusively associated with the
camelid woman, present on her dress (Figure 2.2c), as face markings (Figure 2.3a),
and veil (Figure 2Ad; see the description of female related geometric designs
below, and for an expanded discussion of Feline-Headed Snake Motif see
S. Chavez 1992: 342-356).
The analysis and classification of the Feline Motif show even a greater diver-
sity with a complex of associated attributes and vessel shapes including ceremo-
nial burners, regular sized and miniature jars and effigy, oversized bulging necked
jars, and trumpets (see also the identification and description of male-related
felines below). In addition to the model forfemale-related felines (Figure 2.14a),
the Feline Motif is the only one that also can be anthropomorphized. Diagnostic
attributes include a series of geometric designs which serve to relate one group of
felines to the camelid woman, as follows: interlocking stepped blocks on Register
3, are also present on the pedestal portion of burners and jar necks (Figures 2.15,
2.16b), and checkered crosses especially on the feline's body (Figure 2.16), or
lunate-shaped designs (S. Chavez 1992: figs. 375-379). The body of such felines
also show a consistent portrayal of a series of joined nested rectangles (Registers
1 and 2) on a black background/body, a cream narrow band surrounding the chest
and lower body, and a ring pendant from the neck which is usually associated
with an inverted V-shaped mouth. Furthermore, another group of female-related
felines are anthropomorphized by possessing a human arm and hand, in one case
holding a bird by the neck (Figure 2.16b).
Finally, a series of geometric designs centering mainly on checkered crosses
and interlocking or stepped blocks are derived from, and/or related to the Camelid
Woman Theme and related motifs and elements. They can be classified as female-
related (Figure 2.19b).
IDENTIFICATION OF THE FELINE MAN THEME AND HIS

RELATED MOTIFS AND DESIGNS
Aside from the Camelid Woman Theme, the feline man constitutes the only
other theme representing a personage with supernatural attributes. Identification
of sex/gender of the feline man is based on related attributes present on male
human-head effigy bowls and a miniature jar (Figure 2.7). That is, secondary
sexual attributes on effigy head vessels determined the male sex identification,

while other features they possess closely compare and link these effigies to the
feline man theme on other ceramic objects. Following this approach an inventory
of the whole range of characteristics associated with the male personage in the
theme was identified.
The crucial characteristic on the effigy bowls is the presence of facial hair,
which is usually sex-linked to males. The miniature effigy jar presents this char-
acteristic with a moustache (Figure 2.7a) and the miniature effigy bowl has a
moustache and goatee (Figure 2.7b). Consequently, once the presence of mous-
tache and beard is associated with the representation of males, then the docu-
mentation of face markings and ways of wearing the hair serve to link them to the
figures on a pair of regular sized effigy bowls (Figure 2.7c, d), and, in tum, to the
main personage in the theme.
The main conventionalized attribute which links the miniature jar having
only a moustache with the miniature bowl portraying moustache and beard, is the
way the hair is worn or combed. Especially similar is the front portion or hair-
line that is parted in the middle of the forehead, where three or four horizontal
bands or braids parallel the hair-line to the sides of the head.
Additional attributes, which are shared in the two miniatures include a rela-
tively prominent nose and protruding chin. Of particular importance is the chin,
which protrudes way below the horizontal plane of the vessel's base-making the
bowl unstable, rocking from side to side. Furthermore, the exposed ears in the
first specimen lack earrings and the natural folds of the ears are represented by a
semi-circle followed by a horizontal T-shaped element.
Another important set of attributes are the associated face markings. The
head on the miniature effigy bowl possesses a band with four rings which begins
above each eye and continues below them. Three additional rings in different
color alternations are also present at both sides of the face. The background of the
face is cream, and at the forehead there is an element similar to those at the upper
end of the staffs held by feline men. On the other hand, the miniature jar (with
closed eyes, probably portraying a dead head) has a red face and a different set of
symmetrical face markings, including a circular element in the middle of the fore-
head. This element represents a small stylized head in front view, with a black tri-
angular field separating the mouth from the rest of the cream face (different from
female-related ones, Figure 2.4e).
The mouthllips are more elaborate than the simple horizontal incision in
the camelid woman. The first specimen (Figure 2.7a) includes a closed mouth
with drooping comers and the thick lips in relief, while in the second specimen
(Figure 2.7b) the mouth has thicker and deeper incision in the middle and is
painted black.
Two additional male heads on regular sized effigy bowls serve to build an
even larger list of male attributes (Figures 2.7c, d). This time, the faces possess
asymmetrical and more complex face markings, and lack moustachelbeard
52 Sergio J. Chavez
(which may be plucked faces or may not be preserved). However, attributes link-
ing with the miniature vessels include the staff element at the forehead, and the
three stylized heads on one side of the face which also begin above the eye and
continue below it. Furthermore, both bowls also possess the same kind of pro-
truding chins, thick lips in relief, and hair parted in the middle of the forehead (for
more details see also S. Chavez 1992: figs. 202-203); and in at least one speci-
men (Figure 2.7c) a red ear is preserved with a variation of the horizontal
T-shaped element in the center.
New attributes include a face which is cream on the left and red on the
right, and an impressive bird on the right side that stands in profile almost
surrounding the eye (Figure 2.7d). Based on the long neck and shape of beak, this
bird appears to represent a black flamingo. The face markings on the other effigy
bowl (Figure 2.7c) include on the right side two branching bands emerging under
the eye and surrounding its outer portions, where one terminates above the eye in
a black triangular element, and the other appears to be connected to the staff
element at the forehead. The other face marking also has a band under the mouth
terminating in the small stylized head element which is similar to that at the
forehead of the miniature jar, and two additional bands in zigzag continue above
the eye.
Based on these three effigy bowls and jar, we can generate a list of attributes
associated with the portrayal of male supematurals. Significant attributes, which
stand in clear contrast or opposition to those of the camelid woman, include:
(1) presence of moustache or moustache and goatee beard; (2) hair and braids
parted in the middle of the forehead (rather than plain hair following the hairline);
(3) thick red lips in relief and/or thick incision in the middle which is painted
black (rather than a single horizontal incision); (4) unlike the ears in the camelid
woman, those on the male heads are less pronounced with ear folds, and lack
earrings; (5) protruding chin; (6) symmetrical or asymmetrical faces with more
elaborate face markings (unlike the consistently red faces and simple face markings
on the camelid woman); (7) absence of excised areas or excised face markings.
It remains for me to make the crucial connection between the three-
dimensional effigy heads and the two-dimensional personage of the feline man.
Beginning with the face markings, most can be directly linked to or duplicated in
those on the male effigies, and hence, serve to identify the main personage as
male. For example, one class of appendage (Figure 2.7c) is virtually duplicated
on a feline man (Figure 2.8a). Since the head of the feline man is tilted upwards
with a crown and in profile, the hairlbraids are absent or not visible; hence, this
attribute will remain useful only in contrasting the male-female differences in the
previous step among the effigy bowls.
The thick lips are maintained in the feline man, although the mouth is open
with teeth and a pair of fangs, and a long appendage(s) emanates from the mouth.
The use of cream color for the face is consistently present on all feline men, as

well as on most human severed heads held or carried by him. Likewise, the
protruding three-dimensional chin with goatee beard continues on the two-
dimensional and profile-view of the feline man (Figures 2.8, 2.1 Ob). With respect
to the representation of moustache, it appears to be absent on the feline men.
However, in the absence of an appropriate space between the lip and nose, "artis-
tic liberty" may have resulted in placing or indicating the moustache at the tip of
the nose. Except when the feline man wears the pelt of a feline (Figure 2.9), such
a black rectangular area at the lower portion of the nose is consistently present on
all feline men and on human severed heads. Finally, none of the feline men pos-
sess earrings (also absent on the effigy vessels), and the single ear in each per-
sonage is barely outlined, sometimes with a variation of the horizontal-T design
(Figure 2.lOb, see also S. Chavez 1992: fig. 215).
Having determined that the feline man is male, what remains is the identifi-
cation of his associated characteristics present on the rest of the body and vessel
shapes. The Feline Man Theme is portrayed on a wider range of vessel shapes
than is the Camelid Woman Theme: most are pedestal base burners, followed by
a few slightly outflaring bowls and tall jars (e.g., S. Chavez 1992: figs. 204-206b).
The feline man is always depicted in pairs (usually in identical pairs either fac-
ing or chasing each other), and portrayed in profile occupying the entire exterior
of the vessel. Most lack relief, except for a very few specimens where the eye or
the face portion is sculptured or in slightly raised relief (e.g., S. Chavez 1992:
figs. 210, 213). Among the more outstanding characteristics of the feline man is
the upper torso which is in a position of lunging forwards or almost horizontal.
One arm is bent at the elbow and the hand holds a wavy zigzagging staff, which
can be formed by three parallel segments (some with additional G-shaped
appendages, Figures 2.8b, 2.lOb), or can contain a series of nested rectangles.
The lower portion of the staff can terminate in a human severed head or the styl-
ized round head (Figure 2.1 Oa), and in one case there is a smaller headless human
body (Figure 2.8a). Furthermore, all severed heads (including those held by feline
men and the smaller ones used as face markings) also share many similarities
with that of the feline man, such as the use of cream for the face, vertically
divided eyes, thick lips and lower nose in black, pointed chin, and a simple ear.
However, differences include closed mouth, prominent hair extending towards the
back of the head, and lack of goatee. Most of the severed heads lack the neck por-
tion, but in a few cases the neck is retained representing the trachea or windpipe
and larynx (Figure 2.10a).
The other arm extends towards the back, and in most cases holds both an axe
with holderlsheathlblood catcher and a human severed head. Sometimes a small
human leg (Figure 2.9a) or larger headless body is connected to the personage's
hand by a short band (S. Chavez 1992: fig. 206a, b). The legs and feet with three
toes are consistently portrayed in a running position, where one leg has the foot
flat on the ground, and the other tiptoed.
54 Sergio J. Chavez
Another significant attribute is the kind of garment and its associated orna-
ments. The personage wears what appears to be tight-fitting pants and a long-
sleeved shirt, where one arm and one leg are black and the others alternate in cream.
A bandlbelt at the waist contains horizontal zigzag lines or triangles-a pattern
repeated at the base of some crowns and axe handles. Sometimes a feline-headed
snake motifis present in the middle of the chest (Figure 2.8a). Additional elements
include a circle at the hip and shoulder joints, and a long bent appendage emanat-
ing from the middle of each bracelet and anklet. Furthermore, suspended from the
personage's neck and extending onto the shoulders, is a flaring-shaped collar. Such
collars can also be seen on Pucara style anthropomorphic stone statues (e.g.,
S. Chavez 1982: fig.l). Some feline men are portrayed wearing actual feline pelts
with nested diamonds on a cream background, a ring feline nose, and more feline-
like ears (Figure 2.9); but the collar and belt are still also part of their garments.
Specimens with large portions of the theme preserved show that additional
human legs and arms lie by themselves in empty spaces. The legs can be cut at
the thigh or femoral region or at the hip, and are bent with a semi-circle at the
knee (Figures 2.8b, 2.l0b). There are striking similarities between the feline man
and the severed legs, arms, and some of the severed heads-a situation which
may indicate that those body parts correspond to some feline men victims (see
motifs and designs derived from the feline man below).
Based on the classification and study of the different crowns, staffs, axes, and
face markings, it can be proposed that there are different kinds of feline men, and
perhaps each holds the same or similar rank. If we consider the crown to be
an important indicator of rank, then, there could be at least seven positions or ranks
of feline men. However, considering the staff, axe, and face markings, then, there
are perhaps four or five feline men. In addition, if the six known Pucara temples
were functioning at the same time, then, we could argue that each temple also
required a feline man to control and represent it.
MOTIFS AND DESIGNS DERIVED AND/OR RELATED TO THE

FELINE MAN THEME
Motifs that are considered to be male-related are found in isolation and
repeated elsewhere forming independent motifs, and can be identical to those in
the main theme, or may possess additional variations or modifications but with-
out losing their original identity or principal attributes. Likewise, motifs not pre-
sent in the Feline Man Theme, also share many attributes with it.
Among the severed head, arm, and dead body motifs (Figures 2.11, 2.12) the
Severed Head Motifis the most common and is portrayed on a wide range of ves-
sel shapes and locations, including regular sized and miniature bowls and jars, as
well as on trumpets (see also S. Chavez 1992: figs. 227-295). Such heads are
oI
0-
c
o 5 10
em
Figure 2.11. (a) Severed Head Motif, on the interior of slightly outflaring bowl. (b) Severed Head
Motif, miniature jar. (el Severed Head Motif, trumpet. (d) Severed Head Motif, on the interior of
slightly outflaring bowl.
portrayed in profile in a repetitive fashion, and usually have red faces. Some also
show attributes present on the feline man as well. Therefore, severed heads are
classified into plain red faces (Figure 2.11 a--e); those with a face marking (like
those on the miniature effigy jar, Figure 2.7a), and a ring at the forehead
and upper nose (Figures 2.11d, 2.l2a), or associated/alternating with severed
arms (Figure 2.12b). Additional severed heads with complex face markings
(Figures 2.l2d, f) show striking similarities with those present on some of the
feline men (Figures 2.8a, 2.9), as well as one with a flamingo face marking
(Figure 2.l2g) which is most like the one on the effigy bowl (Figure 2.7d).
Furthermore, miniature effigy jars having closed eyes may also be considered
independent severed heads (Figures 2.7a, 2.l2e).
The Guanaco and Bird Motif is portrayed on the interior and exterior of a
large outflaring bowl (Figure 2.13). The identification of the wild camelid is
based on attributes which are absent on the female-related domestic camelid/
alpaca associated with the camelid woman, and includes: lack of abundant wool,
homogenous cream-colored body, a streamer emanating from under the ear, and
guanacos are portrayed in a running or jumping position (instead of the station-
ary and controlled position with a rope at the neck). The male-related attributes
are seen in between each of three pairs of guanacos, depicted counterclockwise
on the interior of the bowl, where a smaller and simpler version of the staff with
56 Sergio J. Chavez
.,:.....5....'0
I :I 6%";; t""';":'::;:ii>.;';::'<D /
Figure 2.12. (a) Severed Head Motif, neck portion of jar. (b) Severed Head and Arm Motif, neck
portion of smaJljar. (c) Dead Human Body Motif, on the interior of outflaring bowl. (d) Severed Head
Motif, on the interior base of outflaring bowl. (e) Severed Head Motif, miniature male-headed effigy
jar. (f) Severed Head Motif, probably a slightly incurved bowl. (g) Severed Head Motif, slightly
incurved deep bowl.
G-shaped appendages carried by some feline men is present (Figures 2.8b,

2. lOb). The two guanacos depicted on the entire exterior of the vessel are larger
and more elaborate, and alternate with raptorial birds on a clockwise direction.
Smaller versions of the staff with specific designs and G-shaped appendages pre-
sent in front of each guanaco are also repeated on and above the crown, and the
face markings are also similar to those in some feline men. Likewise, smaller and
simplified versions of the other kind of staff in front of each bird is also repeated
on the body of the bird (for additional details, see S. Chavez 1992: 357-362).
Lastly, just like the Feline-Headed Snake and Feline Motifs associated
with the camelid woman, these motifs also share attributes related to both or each
of the camelid woman and feline man, and serve an ambiguous and/or interme-
diary position. Some feline-headed snakes duplicate those on the chest of some
feline men (e.g., Figure 2.8a), which can also be associated either with female-
related designs or with a female-related feline on the same vessel (e.g., S. Chavez
1992: figs. 296-297, for an expanded discussion of feline-headed snakes see
pp. 342-356).
The male-related Feline Motif also duplicates the diversity of associated
attributes and vessel shapes presented above in female-related felines. In addition
to the model for male-related felines (Figure 2.14b), the feline motif is the only
Figure 2.13. Guanaco and Bird Motif (guanacos on interior. and guanacos and birds on exterior).
large slightly outflaring bowl.
Figure 2.14. (a) Model for female-related feline motifs. (b) Model for male-related feline motifs.
58 Sergio J. Chavez
Figure 2.15. (a) Feline Motif (female-related), pedestal-base bowl. (b) Feline Motif
(female-related), upper portion of pedestal-base bowl.
one which can also be anthropomorphized (Figure 2.18b, note the human arm and
band emerging from the feline's front body). Some male-related felines can also
be seen in association with a series of human severed heads (Figure 2.l8a).
The attributes used to relate this group of felines to the feline man derive
from the kind of feline pelt some feline men wear (Figure 2.9, note the feline tail
and ring nose), where a series of independent nested diamonds are present on a
cream backgroundlbody (different from the connected nested rectangle on a black
body present on female-related felines). Therefore, since this kind of design
and pattern are also duplicated on a group of feline motifs, their male-related
5 10
em
~-~
,, '' '!It ~
.~~_:...'
o 10
1...'_.....I._-J'cm
Figure 2.16. (a) Feline Motif (female-related, with additional checkered cross on the base exterior),
miniature jar. (b) Feline Motif (female-related and anthropomorphized), regular sized jar.
association can be established and contrasted to those which are female-related.

Such felines (see Model in Figure 2.14b) also possess a consistent black narrow
band surrounding the chest and lower body, and a "bow tie" element at the neck,
and are usually associated either with a horizontal mouth (Figure 2.17a) or some-
times with teeth and fangs (Figure 2.18a). Such felines are also portrayed on
feline-effigy jars (Figure 2.17b). Additionally, male-related felines also include
the reclining-S designs on Register 3 and repeated on the pedestal position of
ceremonial burners (Figure 2.17a). Furthermore, another group of male-related
felines are anthropomorphized, such as one portrayed on an oversized jar
(Figure 2.18b).
The Winged Man Motif (Figure 2.19a; see also S. Chavez 1992: figs.
450-452) is an independent supernatural personage with bird attributes. The
attributes which directly derive from the feline man include: collar at the neck, a
crown with a feline head and segmented body (similar to the lower portion of
crowns in the feline man, Figure 2.8), face marking in zigzag, and a hand hold-
ing a severed human head. However, this motif also shows attributes different
from those of the feline man such as: the position of the feet, single hand holding
a head, bird tail and wing, and red face with a black circle at the forehead (as on
some of Severed Head Motifs).
Lastly, a series of geometric designs derive from the Feline Man Theme and
related motifs and elements serve to generate the male-related designs, which
60 Sergio J. Chavez
o It)
'-'__'--_...'. em
o 5 10
em
Figure 2.17. (a) Feline Motif (male-related), pedestal-base bowl. (b) Feline Motif (male-related),
miniature feline effigy jar.
stand in contrast to those derived from the camelid woman. Such designs are for
the most part variations of the reclining-S designs (Figure 2.l9c).
CONCLUSIONS: ICONOLOGY OF THE CAMELID WOMAN

AND FELINE MAN THEMES
The Pucara style iconography, then, includes a conventionalized set of
representational images, into which a number of supernatural attributes were
III
o 5 10
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"
Figure 2.18. (a) Feline Motif (male-related, associated with severed heads), trumpet. (b) Feline
Motif (male-related, anthropomorphized), oversized bulging necked jar.
incorporated to generate images of power. Even the geometric designs associated

with them also appear to have had affiliated symbolic meaning. The entirely reli-
gious nature of the iconography lacks secular or completely natural depictions, and
consists of complementary images centering on or aligned with the two themes.
•o
...
Qa
GO
...~
J.
""
ItS]..., I
C1I
...
Figure 2.19. (a) Winged Man Motif (and related birds), oversized beaker. (b) Geometric designs
derived from and/or related to the Camelid Woman
Theme. (c) Geometric designs derived from and/or related to the Feline Man Theme.
o 5 10
em
... K
...~
..
..~ CIl
.n.>.
<19.
Q
~
<1
"=','
~

It has been noted that the female personage in the Camelid Woman Theme is
portrayed in a larger and prominent position and stance, uniquely reserved for this
personage and theme and not shared by any other in the entire collection. The
long staff or distaff, held consistently in her right hand, may represent an emblem
of authority, supernatural identity, or position indicative of hierarchical rank.
Based on differences in face markings, elements or ornaments she wears or
carries, it is possible that there is more than one female personage represented or
aspects of a single one-given her consistent pose, with alpaca, plants, bag, and
staff that suggests access to, control ever, or association with the same elements.
It also has been shown that the plant motif (with stems in zigzag, perhaps a
vine-like plant) is depicted in two different stages: one flowering and the other
non-flowering. The flowering plant is, in tum, directly associated with a more
elaborate kind of woman holding a sharp-cornered staff or distaff, while the non-
flowering plant is associated with a more simple or less elaborate woman holding
a more rounded-cornered staff or distaff. Such differences may be indicative of
different times within a season and/or differences in the woman's age and rank.
Also, the geometric panels at the pedestal with zigzag bands (coinciding with the
woman's waist), could indicate roots growing below the ground, and would
make the central personage emerging from below the ground. Furthermore, the
camelid/alpaca is portrayed in a consistent stance, small size, and always led by
a rope in her left hand. The abundant wool in cream and black colors and the tuft
above the head, are more characteristic of domestic alpaca than llama. The load
with L-shaped interlocking designs carried by the alpaca may represent a light-
weight load of some special product. The two kinds of small and rounded bags
which are consistently held in the woman's right hand, include: one which is
criss-crossed as a net and could represent a ball of wool yam; and another having
a checkered cross design could represent a bag of seeds, since crosses (although
nested) emanate from some blossoming plants.
The Camelid Woman Theme shows a coordinated and unified composition
which, I would propose, represents a myth or story in which the main supernat-
ural female personage is associated with fertility, life-giving attributes, her activ-
ities, power, and supernatural domain. The woman herself is depicted in a more
naturalistic and passive stance, although with a symbol of authority and in a
prominent position. Furthermore, additional realms of the natural world may be
incorporated into her domain or sphere of activities, as follows: the plant/flower
motif is certainly an indicator of the warmer rainy season, when agricultural prod-
ucts are planted, other plants grow and are harvested; it is also the time when
camelids are born and adults shorn of their wool. In addition, the female-related
Owl Motif, representing the nocturnal great homed owl, also suggests the incor-
poration of night into her domain. In this respect, it should also be noted that her
dress is consistently black, as well as the body of female-related felines (some
even with lunate-shaped designs).
64 Sergio J. Chlivez
The only other theme in Pucara is the Feline Man Theme. This male person-
age also has supernatural indicators and a different pose which I call the feline
man pose. Based on the different kinds of crowns, staffs, face markings, and
attire, it is possible that there is more than one male personage represented, and/or
these may indicate differences in rank. Unlike the camelid woman, the feline man
is always depicted in profile and in pairs (either facing or chasing each other), and
very rarely the head may be in low relief. Such a unified composition, I would
propose, also represents a myth or story different from that of the Camelid
Woman Theme, where the main supernatural male personage is associated with
his activities, life-taking attributes, power, and supernatural domain.
Other realms of the natural world may be incorporated into his domain or
sphere of activities, as follows: the black-bodied flamingo (present on half of the
face of a male-headed effigy bowl), could be the Phoenicopterus chilensis which
possesses black wings, or grey plumage when immature. This bird is known to fly
into the Lake Titicaca Basin during the dry season to feed on salt-water mollusks
and crustacea (Aparicio Paredes 1957: 29-30), and serves to assign the colder
dry season in the feline man's domain. Also, the male-related Guanaco and Bird
Motif overwhelmingly indicates an association with a wild camelid and a raptor-
ial bird. The only other motif which is even more closely associated with the
Feline Man Theme is the male-related feline, whose pelt is also worn by some
feline men. The ferocious and man-devouring qualities may have also been
sought after or acquired by the feline man, especially since he consistently pos-
sesses the kind of fanged teeth present only on some male-related felines with
body color and markings resembling those of the jaguar. This association with
wild animals and qualities is overwhelmingly different and contrasts to the
domestic alpaca in the Camelid Woman Theme. Likewise, the active and life-
taking character of the feline man stands in clear contrast with the more passive
and fertility-oriented depictions of the Camelid Woman Theme.
On a different level of interpretation, I would also propose that inherent in
the Camelid Woman Theme is an economic aspect, an association with economic
activities. The presence of wool-producing alpaca, the possible wool yam she
holds, the staff which may be a distaff, as well as plants, lends support to the argu-
ment that she may have possessed an intermediary role between these natural
realms and supernatural forces regulating them. Specifically, the uncertain nature
of agricultural production and herding as they relate to, for example, cycles of
drought, flooding, frost, reduced pasturage and water, may have been attended to
by the camelid woman to regularize, manage, or seek out the goodwill of nat-
ural/supernatural forces which ultimately controlled the outcome of production.
Conversely, the Feline Man Theme reflects a political aspect, one involving
power, control, conflict, competition, and even non-local contacts, conflicts, or
alliances with other groups. In this discussion it is also crucial to incorporate the
associated motifs containing human severed heads, legs, arms, and headless
bodies, which bear striking similarities to those of the feline man. Based on
analysis of a number of shared attributes, I have proposed that severed heads
represent individuals who at one point possessed a rank close to the feline man
himself; that is, the resulting three to four tiered hierarchy of heads were ranked
from those least like the feline man (the most frequent) to those most like him (the
most rare). One of these groups possesses different face markings and hair. And
its paste is non-local, indicating that the high ranking individuals represented may
have been non-local, although probably within Pucara's sphere of influence.
I suggest that in Pucara politics, both local and non-local members participated in
a ruling elite of high status leaders possessing different ranks, perhaps corre-
sponding to a hierarchy of cultural centers (religious, political). They may have
been in competition or conflict with elites of other centers, including Pucara itself
such that decapitation expressed differing relations within the authority structure.
The severed head displayed publicly or portrayed in a repetitive fashion
magnifies the violent act, while at the same time suggesting social control by
threat of force or visual terrorism to prevent some act or conflict. Likewise, the
imagery is intentionally standardized, suggesting centralized control and manip-
ulation-a situation in which religion backed by actual decapitation by force pro-
vides a means of, or rationale for ruling by force or threat of force, especially
when religious or supernatural threats are no longer effective in ruling by persua-
sion (this interpretation was developed and proposed to me by Karen Mohr
Chavez). In addition, the use of force or threat of force is supported by the one
hundred mandibles/skull fragments uncovered in a public ceremonial context in
Excavation IV (S. Chavez, 1992: 63-64, fig. 2). However, this association also
implies a religious function for decapitation, perhaps involving human sacrifice.
Centralized control of decapitation that is publicly ritualized may express and
sanctify authority given to a restricted group, suggesting a monopoly over force.
This is as close as we get to declaring Pucara a pristine state on the basis of
iconography.
I also argue that in addition to this material/political interpretation, there also
is a ceremonial/mythical component to the iconography, and that practices may
have served both political as well as ceremonial ends. In this respect, the feline
man is shown carrying or ostentatiously displaying the severed parts, and never
actually severing them (hence, the term "sacrificer" was purposefully omitted
here). These body parts are depicted on fancy ceremonial shapes such as trum-
pets, ceremonial burners, and miniature vessels containing lime which is chewed
with coca-a frequent ingredient in rituals, and many miniatures occur in temple
contexts. On the other hand, the one hundred mandibles/skull fragments may
have been those of ancestors or important people, whose skulls were kept as relics
and as the focus of pilgrimages. Such pilgrimages, manifested ethnographically
as annual fairs at Catholic shrines, take place during the dry season when travel
is easier and there is no conflict with rainy season agricultural or herding activities.
66 Sergio J. Chavez
It is at these times when contact and exchanges between groups from other envi-
ronmental zones occurs (e.g., K. Chavez 1992: 69), and it has been argued that
the feline man has a dry season affiliation.
The presence of severed human heads as well as their artistic representations
are too often interpreted as evidence for warfare and termed "trophy heads:' to
imply trophies taken in battle. An assessment of Pucara sites in the region that could
provide clear indicators of warfare (e.g., weapons, fortifications, defensive earth-
works, and settlements in strategic locations), however, has failed to present evi-
dence for frequent, widespread, endemic, or reoccurring warfare. In this respect, I
have made a general survey of different periods in Andean prehistory when indica-
tors of actual and widespread militarism were present or absent. In this survey it
was concluded that periods when militarism is absent or not so clearly indicated
(that is, when actual uncontrolled fighting is less common), are times when violent
motifs and scenes are depicted (such as in Pucara), suggesting its use as a means of
social control to warn by displaying terrorist imagery in the absence of, or as a sub-
stitute for widespread warfare or rule by force. Conversely, during periods of
endemic warfare, violent iconography appears to be no longer necessary.
The documentation of two primary themes/supernaturals that are never
depicted together, and appear to represent distinct domains contributes to under-
standing the antiquity of principles of complementarity, so prevalent in Andean cul-
ture. The Pucara case constitutes the earliest evidence for the Lake Titicaca
higWands. Even when ambiguous imagery occurs, it employs felines, not the two
supernatural personages themselves. Furthermore, because both themes co-occur
in public religious contexts, both were being controlled at the same temples or pub-
lic ceremonial locations by emerging elites. Hence, I also propose that control over
the production of images (in pottery and perhaps other media as well), promoted
access to supernatural power that underwrote political and economic authority.
Based on the identification and classification of paste groups conducted by
Karen Mohr Chavez and confirmed by geological/petrographic studies (K. Chavez,
Chyi, S. Chavez 1988; S. Chavez 1992: 519-521), an overwhelming majority of
decorated fancy pottery were most certainly made locally. Furthermore, Pucara
style pottery shows a higher degree of elaboration and standardization than many
of the contemporary or partially contemporary pottery styles also associated with
Yaya-Mama sites in the southern portion of the Titicaca Basin (K. Chavez
2002)-despite their sharing the same components of the Tradition (temple archi-
tecture, ritual paraphernalia, and iconography). The handmade and labor inten-
sive techniques include: fine, broad, and regular incisions outlining polychrome
fields; excision; applique; carving of impressions for inlays; pre-fire painting and
higWy polished surfaces including the interior and exterior base bottoms; post-
fire painting within incised and excised areas; and combination of high
relief/three-dimensional figures with two-dimensional ones on a single vessel.

The presence of such labor intensive techniques, depiction of standardized
images, and locally produced pottery lend support to the proposition that Pucara
elites consolidated their authority by controlling the production of powerful
supernatural images, and transforming them into an explicitly-expressed corpo-
rate style. In this respect, Moseley's (2001: 79) definition and characteristics of
corporate style (derived from Inca examples) is of particular importance (see also
Silverman 1996: 134-135).
Although extensive diachronic comparisons are outside the scope of my
paper, it should be pointed out that Pucara's camelid woman and feline man
themes had considerable impact on later Andean developments, especially during
the Middle Horizon. Tracing their trajectories, as well as their social, political,
economic, and religious implications and developments through time and space
will require the same kind of intensive, systematic, and painstaking study of
attributes in material remains. Speaking in a preliminary fashion, female deities
seem to have enjoyed a long and important tradition in the prehistory of the Lake
Titicaca Basin. Rowe (1974: 338) was the first to identify the Bennett monolith
as a female being. Subsequently, Karen Mohr Chavez and I (S. and K. Chavez
1969, 1976) described a group of stone sculpture from the basin as pre-Pucara,
based on stylistic and seriational grounds, naming the style Yaya-Mama (Father-
Mother). In 1979 Patricia Lyon identified the female representation as a super-
natural. More recently, Karen Mohr Chavez (1986b) and I (S. and K. Chavez
n.d.b) traced the female and male personages from Yaya-Mama through Pucara
to Tiwanaku/Huari times. Continuities present on the monolithic gateway and
related Tiwanaku sculptures, as well as some of the snuff tablets from northern
Chile (S. Chavez and Torres 1986) lend support to the continuation of concepts
that originated with the Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition, as first disclosed by
Karen Mohr Chavez in 1989 (K. Chavez 1989b).
Yaya-Mama and Pucara iconography is obviously an important ancestral
tradition for southern Andean cultures. The Camelid Woman Theme is an impor-
tant link to Tiwanaku/Huari, and the importance of female supernaturals among
southern Andean cultures. Diagnostic attributes to be considered in the transition
from Pucara to TiwanakulHuari include: the prominent stance of the front-view
female personage, and a face with peripheral appendages terminating in small
heads. Likewise, the feline man is a crucial icon for understanding the role of
Yaya-Mama and Pucara world view in later cultures of the southern Andes. Not
only do profile males grasping staffs, characterized by the distinctive Pucara
stance, appear in Huari and Tiwanaku art, but they show a system of repetition
already apparent in Pucara, and an increased emphasis on Pucara's little known
but closely related winged man. There can be no doubt that profile "attendants"
and "flying angels" who dominate Huari and Tiwanaku religious representations
have their artistic and conceptual antecedents in Pucara and Yaya-Mama.
68
Acknowledgments
Sergio J. Chavez
I wish to dedicate this article to the memory of Karen Lynne Mohr Chavez,
my source of constant inspiration. She and John H. Rowe guided me and provided
valuable comments during the different stages of this research. Special apprecia-
tion also goes to Stanislawa Stachniewicz, who greatly helped in the preparation
of this article, and to Catherine Julien for her editorial comments on the intro-
duction. The illustrations were inked by Edwin Chavez, Geoffrey Deventier,
Teobaldo Y<ibar, and myself based on my original tracings and pencil drawings.
An earlier version of this paper was presented during the 33rd Annual Meeting of
the Institute of Andean Studies in Berkeley in 1993.
Notes
I. The color key for this chapter is as follows. Black represents black pigment, white refers to cream,
and dots are for red. Discontinuous horizontal lines/ dashes refer to excision, and small v-shaped pat-
terns refer to broken or worn surfaces. Most associated shapes were eliminated, but the reader can
refer to S. Chavez 1992 for illustrations and descriptions of shape and other details not visible here.
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Chapter 3
Differentiating Paracas
Necropolis and Early Nasca
Textiles
HELAINE SILVERMAN
INTRODUCTION
Bean (1998: 115) has argued that "[nlext to language, cloth and clothing animate
the most elaborated systems of representation in social and cultural life. In iden-
tity constructon and manipulation ... dress dominates the interface between peo-
ple and their social worlds." Vivid examples of Bean's contention abound across
the world. Indeed, one of the foundational texts in the anthropological study of
identity construction is Wobst's (1977) study of stylistic behavior and information
exchange manifested in the headdresses worn by members of different ethnic
groups in what today is the former Yugoslavia. In addition to the construction of
ethnic identity, dress is a dramatic expression of class, ideology, role, occupation,
and gender.
In this chapter I am concerned with one dimension of expressive identity
manifested in costume, that of ethnic or cultural identity. Specifically, I consider
the identity of the adult men who wore in life the extraordinarily beautiful and
technologically superb garments excavated by Julio C. Tello (1959; Tello and
Mejia Xesspe 1979) in cemeteries along Paracas Bay on the south coast of Peru.
This problem has confounded archaeologists for decades (Dwyer 1971: 220-223;
Kroeber 1944: 32-34; Peters 1991; Rowe 1995: 35-38; Silverman 1991; Strong
1957: 14, 16; Yacovleff and Muelle 1934 inter alia) because the complex poly-
chrome images on the textiles resemble complex polychome images on Nasca
pottery from the lea-Nazca region [Note 1], while the thin-walled monochrome
71
72 Helaine Silverman
pottery in apparent association with the mummy bundles is stylistically compara-
ble to the Topara ceramic tradition of Pisco, Chincha and Cafiete (see Lanning
1960; Wallace 1986). My second goal in this paper is to define the textile tradi-
tion corresponding to Early Nasca pottery and to evaluate the competing textile
definitions in terms of the ramifications of stylistic identity and stylistic influence
for the interpretation of south coast culture history two thousand years ago.
THE CONFLATION AND SEPARATION OF

PARACAS NECROPOLIS AND EARLY NASCA TEXTILES
Soon after the discovery of the Paracas Necropolis, Kroeber argued its
"embroidery design styles showed close relationship to the pottery design styles
which by then had become well authenticated as characteristic of Nazca ... The
cause of this peculiar relation is unknown, but the fact is now indubitable."
Kroeber specifically called attention to the "Paracas [Necropolis] textile repre-
sentation of demons or human beings [which] do not find their counterpart in
Paracas [Necropolis] pottery, and, vice versa, the corresponding pottery repre-
sentations at Nazca have only a rudimentary counterpart in the textiles of the
Nazca culture" (Kroeber 1937: 128). Kroeber proposed that the "stylistic relation
between Early Nazca pottery designs and Paracas textile designs is so close as to
leave little doubt of a common origin; that is to say, of a transfer of the designs
from one medium to the other."
Subsequent investigators also were struck by the iconographic similarity
between Paracas Necropolis textiles and Early Nasca pottery. Dwyer (1971)
chronologically ordered the textiles from the several Paracas burial grounds exca-
vated by Tello (1959; Tello and Mejia Xesspe 1979 inter alia) as "Paracas 9,"
"Paracas 10," "Nasca 1," and "Nasca 2," implying that there was evolution within
a single cultural tradition whose heartland was lea and Nazca. Rowe (1972: 67)
reaffirmed that the textiles "form part of the Paracas-Nasca stylistic tradition, the
earlier part of which is named for a group of sites on the Paracas Peninsula, the
later part, for the valley of Nasca." Dwyer (1971: 11) specified that "Nasca" was
an appropriate term only for the textiles of the later phases at Paracas since "the
local pottery style differs from that of Nasca." Indeed, Lanning's (1960) and
Wallace's (1986) research on the early pottery styles of the south coast clearly
demonstrated that the well made, thin-walled, monochrome pottery associated
with the spectacularly embroidered and complexly figured polychrome Paracas
Necropolis textiles pertains to a non-Paracas/non-Nasca tradition called Topara.
On the other hand, Nasca I pottery without polychrome slip imagery is quite sim-
ilar to the EIP I Chongos phase Topara pottery found at the Peninsula (Menzel
1971; compare Silverman 1993: figs. 16.5-16.10, 16.34-16.37 and Strong 1957:
figs. 7A-E, 9, IOF to Wallace 1986: fig. 3 and Silverman 1997: figs. 8, 10). But
Differentiating Paracas Necropolis and Early Nasca Textiles 73

the Nasca 1 ceramic corpus lacks the ubiquitous grater bowls of the contempo-
rary Topani phase at the Paracas Necropolis (and also present in the Pisco Valley,
see, e.g., Silverman 1997: fig. 9), and Paracas Necropolislfopara lacks the pan-
pipes (but note the depiction of panpipes in fig. 17 of the famous painted "manto
calendario" from Mummy Bundle 290: see Tello and Mejia Xesspe 1979: 111),
drums, trumpets, and polychrome slipped pots that are a hallmark of the Nasca
tradition.
Furthermore, scholars who have compared and contrasted Paracas
Necropolis textiles with textiles known or purported to be from the Rio Grande
de Nazca drainage and to date to the early EIP have observed that Early Nasca
textiles emphasize complex figural three-dimensional borders whereas the
Paracas Necropolis textiles emphasize embroidered designs on a base cloth
with an embroidered border (see a'Neale 1937; Phipps 1989; Sawyer 1997).
Moreover, Peters (1991, 1997) sees fundamental differences between Early
Nasca ceramic and textile iconography and Paracas Necropolis Block Color
imagery in terms of the subject matter represented (see Peters 1991: 311); bear in
mind that Peters lumps all of Paracas Necropolis Block Color imagery, dating
from EH lOB through EIP 2, and compares it to Nasca 3 ceramic iconography.
The examples of provenienced Nasca 3 textile art from the Nazca Valley
(see, especially, a'Neale 1937) are singularly unimpressive when compared to
the magnificent range of textiles from the Paracas Necropolis. Kroeber (1937:
128) concluded that "Early Nazca textile art ... is largely decorative and tends to
the geometric. Its representative or naturalistic impulses are relatively undevel-
oped." a'Neale (1937: 199) stated that "by contrast with the quantities of sump-
tuous embroideries from the Paracas Necropolis these scanty bits from Cahuachi
make a poor showing." Other textile collections from Cahuachi give the same
impression (see arefici 1993; Phipps 1989; Silverman 1993: chap. 18). O'Neale
also observed significant differences in shape between Paracas Necropolis and
Early Nasca mantles. Citing her, Bird and Bellinger (1954: plate CX) propose that
Textile Museum 91.511 is a Nasca not Paracas Necropolis piece; it is virtually
identical to the Krannert Art Museum mantle published by Sawyer (1975:
fig. 124). These pieces are readily comparable to some of Kroeber's perfectly asso-
ciated Nasca 3 textiles from Cahuachi (see a'Neale 1937: plate LXIf, LXIIa, e).
Rather than embroidery, Early Nasca textile artists "seem to have revelled in
passementeries of the 3-dimensional type and veneered bands with tabs or fringes
or both ... the 3-dimensional bird and flower fringes represent needleknitting ...
at its peak" (a' Neale 1937: 176-177; see Silverman 1993: figs. 18.4-18.14;
Ubbelohde-Doering 1952: fig. 143). Peters (1991: 313) identifies all cross-knit
looped textiles as "Early Nasca" in style, a position also taken by Sawyer (1997).
Phipps (1989: 308) concludes that the Cahuachi material "verifies our under-
standing of the importance of these needlework edgings- aesthetically, icono-
graphically, and potentially as a tradition which played a part in the ritual and
ceremonial life of the period." She argues that Early Nasca textiles extended and
developed the Necropolis tradition, "especially a preoccupation with needlework
as the dominant mode of textile expression, although I do not see the identical
production of mainstream Necropolis-style textiles at the site [Cahuachi]. Instead,
the three-dimensionally constructed needlework [cross-knit looping] took on
distinctive and dominant characteristics, elaborately decorating the edges of the
textiles" (Phipps 1989: 314). Phipps notes that "the central figures found in the
Paracas Necropolis mantles are not found in the materials coming from
Cahuachi." She concludes that Cahuachi's textiles belonged to a local style and
were locally produced. According to Phipps (1989: 3l~3l7), Nasca people
inherited, transposed, and transformed the Paracas Necropolis textile tradition.
The difference between the two textile traditions was succinctly expressed in
1954 by Junius Bird and Louisa Bellinger in their choice of title for a "catalogue
raisonne" of the Textile Museum's south coast textiles: Paracas Fabrics and
Nazca Needlework.
Because Nasca 1 pottery does not constitute adequate antecedents for the
iconographic explosion that occurred in Nasca 2 pottery (as seen on, e.g., the
Haeberli Panpipe: Figure 3.1; the Bernstein/Guggenheim Drum: Figure 3.2) and,
especially, Nasca 3, some scholars argue that Paracas Necropolis textile imagery
was transferred to the medium of Nasca ceramics (Dwyer 1971; Peters 1997).
But, Sawyer (1997: 42) attributes the poor impression of Early Nasca textiles to
the fact that no high status Nasca burials have been scientifically excavated.
Sawyer (1997) argues that extraordinarily fine and iconographically elaborate
Early Nasca needlework exists, but has long been been misidentified as Paracas
Necropolis in style and origin. Sawyer (1997) contends that Nasca 2 people made
embroideries whose subject matter is as vast as that present on the Paracas
Necropolis textiles. He says that this largely unknown corpus of elite Nasca 2 tex-
tiles provided the visual language for Nasca 3 pottery without calling into playa
transference of imagery from Block Color Paracas Necropolis textiles.
Sawyer (1997: 27) specifically argues that double-faced embroidery, the
double running stitch, and cross-knit looping were textile techniques executed
only by Nasca people. He emphasizes embroidery thereby making Early Nasca
textiles technically comparable to those of the Paracas Necropolis. Sawyer (1997:
97) also argues that the Early Nasca use of color on textiles is "sumptuous," par-
ticularly in comparison to the darker tones of Paracas Necropolis textiles, in spite
of the latter's rich polychromy.
Furthermore, in a reversal of the usual argument, Sawyer (1997: 33) says
that Early Nasca textiles of lea and Nazca evolved rapidly and influenced the
development of the more naturalistic Block Color style of Paracas Necropolis tex-
tiles. Sawyer (1997: 42) regards Paracas Necropolis Block Color textiles as more
formal and less iconographically complex than those made by Nasca people.
Specifically, he observes that "Necropolis Block Color embroideries display one
or two deity figures related to the ritual function of the deceased. In contrast, elite

Nasca embroidered textiles often exhibit complex groupings of agricultural and
trophy head cult deities" (Sawyer 1997: 43). I would counter argue that Block
Color imagery on Paracas Necropolis textiles developed continuously from
EH lOB through EIP lA and B into EIP 2. On the other hand, although Nasca
pottery evolved out of Paracas-Ocucaje antecedents in lea (Menzel, Rowe and
Dawson 1964: 251), Ocucaje 10 does not provide all of the necessary antecedents
for the subsequent Nasca 1 pottery style. The situation in lea created by this sce-
nario would remain to be worked out, given the continuity between lea's Paracas
and Nasca pottery.
Figure 3.1. The Haeberli Panpipe. Nasca 2. (photo: courtesy of Joerg Haeberli).
Figure 3.2. The magnificent Nasca 2 drum originally in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and
published by Sawyer (1968: fig. 403), now in the collection of David Bernstein (David Bernstein Fine
Art, New York City).
The only scientifically documented and published corpus of Early Nasca

textiles comes from Cahuachi (see O'Neale 1937; Orefici 1993; Phipps 1989;
Silverman 1993) and a few other Nazca Valley burials excavated by Kroeber (see
O'Neale 1937). The only textiles of known Nasca 2 date and provenience are
those excavated by Strong (1957) from his Cut 5 in a small mound at Cahuachi,
destroyed sometime before 1983. This mound is described as an "occupational
and residential area ... consist[ing] of a series of heavy walls, perhaps used as
walks, and a series of well-constructed, nicely finished wattle-and-daub walls and
floors, the former strengthened by both small and large algarroba posts" (Strong
1957: 28). Strong (1957: 28) says that "the main ceramic content of the fill in
Cut 5 consisted of a high percentage of very fine Cahuachi Polychrome sherds
[i.e., Nasca 2] with Proto-Nazca and earlier types in the deeper levels." However,
because Strong excavated by arbitrary levels and because the textile and ceramic
materials apparently were recovered in fill, as with Nasca 1, particular textiles
cannot be clearly associated with the Nasca 2 ceramic phase. For instance,

Strong's Lot 150, which produced some of the finest textile remains (see Phipps
1989: 672-678) had a post-fired incised sherd and Nasca 1 sherds, in addition to
Nasca 3 sherds.
Strong (1952: 28) recovered "numerous cloth fringes and other unworn frag-
ments from beautifully woven and colored embroideries, as well as other textile
types ... fine pieces were so abundant ... at Cut 5 that it seems possible that these
structures were used particularly by weavers." This context fits Sawyer's (1997)
model of elite-sponsored textile workers at Cabildo, for which he has no hard evi-
dence (he suggests that the textiles came from the tomb "of a master needle-
worker"). But the textile fragments recovered by Strong at Cahuachi and analyzed
by Phipps (1989) are much less iconographically complex than Sawyer's material.
I conclude that the scholars cited above are correct about the existence of sig-
nificantly different technological, stylistic, and iconographic emphases in Paracas
Necropolis and Early Nasca textiles. Note, too, that Paracas Necropolis/Topara
and Early Nasca burial patterns also were very different. The Paracas Necropolis
mummy bundles were placed in abandoned habitation and refuse. Nasca mortuary
patterns typically involved single burial in shallow pits, prepared cists, or funerary
urns, often with cane and log roofs (barbacoa). Various scholars have argued that
the dead of the Paracas Peninsula cemeteries were brought in for burial from else-
where, perhaps from Cahuachi in the Nazca Valley, perhaps from closer by such
as the Pisco Valley (e.g., Kroeber 1944: 33; Strong 1957: 16). Rowe (1995) was so
disturbed by the context and jumbled burial pattern of Tello's 429 mummy bun-
dles at the Paracas Necropolis that he suggested they are not in their primary place
of deposition. Other scholars have argued that the Paracas Bay communities
produced or could have produced their own dead (Dwyer and Dwyer 1975; Paul
1991a; Silverman 1991). Also, the great and nearby EIP 1 Pisco Valley sites of
Chongos and Alto del Molino provide an appropriate sociopolitical context for the
grave wealth of the Paracas Necropolis and Arena Blanca/Cabeza Larga cemeter-
ies (Silverman 1997). Note that Wallace's (1979: figs. 10-12) embroidery frag-
ments from the Jahuay type-site are unimpressive.
I believe that these differences are the reflection and production of two
distinct societies that were contemporary in EIP 1 and 2. In EIP I, moreover, these
societies engaged in some kind of contact, arguably intense, based on notable
ceramic similarities (Menzel 1971), but not including Nasca's polychrome slipped
and incised wares (see above). Significant comparisons existed in representation
(especially body posture) and theme (especially human and mythical figures using
forehead ornaments and associated with trophy heads) between textiles from
Paracas dated to EIP 1 and Nasca 1 pottery (Table 3.1). I suggest that the Paracas-
Nasca interface was constantly produced by subtly nuanced cultural negotiations
in a very active field of identity and political action. Possibly, this was a situation
of dynamic peer polity interaction/competition with restricted material exchange.
Table 3.1. Similarities between EIP 1 Paracas Necropolis Textiles and
Nasca 1 Pottery.
Paracas Nec. image/theme Mummy Bundle No.1 Date Nasca I pot published in
publication figure no.
spotted cat/pampas cat 3781 Paul I990a: 7.14 EIP IB Wolfe 1981: fig. I
with and without trophy Purin 1990: fig. 035
head Purin 1990: fig. 036 right
Lapiner 1976: fig. 473
serrated serpentine figure 310/Peters 1991: 7.66 EIP IB Strong 1957: fig. 10j
human in spotted cat costume 378IPaui 1990a: plate 13 EIP IB Purin 1990: fig. 036 (see
eating trophy head fig. 035 without trophy head)
human in killer whale aspect, 89IPaui 1991b: 5.7b EIP IB/2 Lapiner 1976: fig. 469
clutching trophy head, 378IPaui 1990a: plate 21 EIP IB
with or without forehead
ornament
human holding trophy head 310/Peters 1991: 7.68 EIP IB Purin 1990: fig. 033
human wearing forehead 89IPaui 1991 b: 5.9 EIP IB/2 Lapiner 1976: fig. 466
ornament and/or mouthmask
double-headed cat-face 310IPeters 1991: 7.64 EIP IB Donnan 1992: fig. 75
serpentine creature
beans 310/Peters 1991: 7.46,7.76 EIP IB Donnan 1992: fig. 72
birds 89/Peters 199\: 7.2\ EIP IB/2 de Lavalle 1986: 120 top,
262/Peters 1991: 7.26,7.28 EIP IB 122
310/Peters 1991: 7.31,7.32 EIP IB
camelids 262/Peters 1991: 7.51 EIP IB Helsinki panpipe: Purin
1990: fig. 138
Dwyer and Dwyer (1975: 151) state that among some rich bundles from the
Paracas Necropolis, later textiles were found among the outer wrappings and ear-
lier textiles in the inner mass. The Dwyers suggest periodic renewal of offerings.
Paul (1990a: 9) counter argues that "a bundle was constructed within a short
period of time and ... its contents were roughly contemporary in origin." This dis-
agreement is important because, furthermore, Frame (1995: 8, 15) argues that
there are Nasca textiles in various of the latest Paracas Necropolis bundles. She
says that these iI'.trusive textiles are recognizably distinct from the Paracas
Necropolis repertoire because they exhibit innovative features in the border, cen-
tral band, tab, and layout of the ground cloth as well as having a new kind of
embroidery-a double-faced interlocking stem stitch which created an image
visible on both sides of the fabric. If Frame is correct, this would be a case of
actual material exchange (see below). In this regard, I am unaware of EIP 1 or EIP
2 Paracas Necropolis style textiles in Nasca 1 or Nasca 2 contexts in lea or Nazca.
I have not seen provenienced Nasca 1 polychrome slipped and incised pottery or
Nasca 2 pottery at Paracas or in Pisco. I am unaware of Campana (Topani EIP 2)

pottery in Nasca 2 contexts in Nazca.
In the following sections I attempt to sort out true Early Nasca textiles from
those which are not. I describe Nasca textiles, as currently known.
Nasca 1 Textiles
Sawyer (1997: 37) states that during Ocucaje 10 ("Evolutionary Period")
and Nasca 1 ("Proto-Nasca"), "Nasca iconography developed steadily at ceremo-
nial centers such as Ocucaje and Cahuachi and spread quickly to other population
centers in the lea and Rio Grande de Nazca valleys ... New motifs appeared such
as the parrot, flamingo, killer whale and warriors wearing winged forehead orna-
ments and holding trophy heads. There were also more naturalized renderings of
the feline, fox, falcon, vencejo and monkey motifs, carried over from earlier
Paraeas periods." But caution needs to be taken with Sawyer's statement. First,
Ocucaje is a basin with many archaeological sites. To the best of my knowledge,
there is no primate Nasca 1 ceremonial center in Ocucaje (see Cook 1999).
Second, Sawyer's statement is ambiguous in terms of the medium or media upon
which Nasca iconography was developing in Nasca 1 times. At Cahuachi, the
scientific evidence strongly favors the ceramic medium over textiles (and see
Sawyer 1997: 40).
I disagree with Sawyer's (at present empirically baseless) conclusion that a
large proportion of iconographically complex embroidered textiles currently attrib-
uted to the Paraeas Necropolis site are actually Nasca 1 in cultural affiliation and
could be proven to be so were there a sufficient sample. Although this may be so,
it cannot be asserted in the absence of data. Also, Sawyer's (1997: 42) reasoning as
to why "Peruvianists tend to regard Paraeas embroideries as earlier than those of the
Nasca" is flawed. It is not, as Sawyer concludes, because there is a larger sample of
Block Color embroideries from Paraeas due to Tello's discoveries. It is because pot-
tery independently datable to EH IO/Jahuay 3 (Lanning 1960; Wallace 1986) and
EIP lIChongos (Menzel 1971; Dwyer 1979: 109) is associated with some of the
Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles. An independent cross-check on this associa-
tion exists: lea Valley Ocucaje 10 pottery is strongly influenced by the contempo-
rary Topara phase, Jahuay 3, and is found in association with textiles (in this case
in the Linear style) dating to Ocucaje 10 (see Dawson 1979: fig. 18).
There are very few textiles with a secure Nasca I ceramic association (ver-
sus Rowe 1972: 72, figs. 7, 8). Although Strong (1957; see Phipps 1989: appen-
dix V), Orefici (1993), and I (Silverman 1993) have recovered many textile
remains and Nasca 1 pottery at Cahuachi, none of us has this ceramic phase in
isolation and in association with textiles (as of published information available in
2000-2001). Indeed, at present, the only bonafide association of Nasca 1 pottery
with textiles may be the unpublished materials recovered by Aldo Rubini in his
Tombs 26 and 38 at Pena de Ocucaje in lea (see Dwyer 1971: 133) and an
embroidered fragment from the Nasca 1 Cordero Alto site in lea published by
Sawyer (1997: fig. 15). Speaking of Pena de Ocucaje, Dwyer (1971: 133) writes:
"As far as can be determined from Dawson's drawings and photos [of the Rubini
gravelots] these textiles did not differ significantly in style from contemporane-
ous specimens from Paracas. However, an exact comparison as to color, etc. was
not possible." In the absence of full description of the Ocucaje materials and
given the limited information provided by Sawyer about clear Nasca 1 textiles as
well as the lack of reported associations of other Nasca 1 pottery and textiles, to
all intents and purposes the Nasca 1 textile style is unknown.
Nasca 1 compared to Paracas Necropolis

There is enough range of imagery on published Nasca 1 pottery to permit
recognition that certain important Nasca 1 ceramic themes do not appear on EIP
1 Paracas Necropolis textiles. One of these is the fisherman: a human with net bag
and fish (see, especially, Bird 1962: figs. 37,38). Fish themselves are a popular
independent motif on Nasca 1 polychrome incised vessels (Strong 1957: fig. 7f, g,
lOa) and pattern-burnished vessels (Strong 1957: fig. 9b, g) and continue long
after; they appear on Paracas Necropolis textiles only in the context of birds of
prey (e.g., Peters 1991: fig. 267).
Other motifs are present in the art of both societies, albeit with different
frequencies. For instance, an easily recognizable monkey, such as occurs in Nasca
1 pottery (Lapiner 1976: fig. 472; Sawyer 1966: fig. 145) and continues in the Nasca
ceramic style, is also found on a Paracas Necropolis-influenced Nasca 1 vessel from
Ocucaje (Sawyer 1966: fig. 140) but is not present on EIP lA Paracas Necropolis
textiles. It occurs in EIP IB/2 Paracas Necropolis textiles as a figure with a thumbed
foot (Dwyer 1971: 159; Paul 1991b: figs. 5.5-5.8; Peters 1991: fig. 7.79).
Nasca 1 and later Nasca human males often wear sling headdresses (e.g.,
Donnan 1992: fig. 74). These are rarely, if ever, portrayed in the Paracas Necropolis
textiles (for a possible example see Tello and Mejia Xesspe 1979: fig. 111-16).
Nasca 1 and later costumed human and anthropomorphic figures frequently wear
earrings and mouthmasks (Paul 1990a: fig. 7.20) which were important items of rit-
ual paraphernalia. These do not appear to be as commonly portrayed on contempo-
rary textiles from the Paracas Necropolis and real mouthmasks are rare in the
Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles. Mejia Xesspe (1979: 462) states that 10
mouthmasks were found with only 8 of the 429 Paracas Necropolis mummy bun-
dles. Real earrings are more common: 73 were found with 23 mummies.
Ceramic panpipes, drums, and trumpets-common and vital elements of
Nasca ceremoniallife-do not occur with the textile materials from the Paracas
Necropolis and rarely are portrayed iconographically on Paracas Necropolis
textiles (for an example see Carrion Cachot 1931: fig. 12-f).

A rare Nasca 1 vessel portrays a coca chewer (see Silverman 1993: fig. 3.2).
This has no correspondence in Paracas Necropolis textile imagery of any phase
nor is coca chewing paraphernalia present among the artifacts from the mummy
bundles (see Paul 1990a: 47).
The most complex Nasca 1 ceramic image that I have found is a good pro
totype for the development of subsequent Nasca iconography without calling into
play borrowing from Paracas Necropolis or influence from a fancy Nasca 1
embroidery style. It is an Anthropomorphic Mythical Beinglhuman deity imper
sonator/masked ritual performer on an unprovenienced panpipe curated in
Helsinki's Didrichsen Art Museum (Figure 3.3). The Helsinki Anthropomorphic
Mythical Being easily evolves into Nasca 2 Anthropomorphic Mythical Beings
(see, e.g., Figure 3.1).
The iconography of the Helsinki panpipe also is comparable to certain ele
ments of Paracas Necropolis Block Color textiles. The camelid head was noted in
Figure 3.3. The Helsinki panpipe (Didrichsen Art Museum). The figure wears a tunic and leggings,
a forehead ornament, elaborate recurving mouthmask and earrings; the head is inverted; above the
forehead ornament is a domed black cap topped by a rayed/undulating headdress; the notch between
a camelid head's ears fits around a projection of the cogged headdress; the figure's protruding tongue
is a serpentine figure; the figure's feet have thumbs and rest on a serrated serpentine figure; one hand
grasps a human trophy head with painted face, the other a forehead ornament. A Nasca I sherd
recovered by Strong (1957: fig. IOj) at Cahuachi shows parts of a trophy head and serpentine figure
in similar relation.
Table 3.1. In addition, the Helsinki panpipe shares overall attributes with a bird
impersonator figure on Mantle 15 from Mummy Bundle 89 (Figure 3.4; Mummy
Bundle 89 is dated to EIP IB by Dwyer [1971: appendix B) and Paul [1990a: tables
5.2,5.3], but Paul [1991b: 183] dates it to EIP 2). Similar comparisons also may be
made betweeen the Helsinki panpipe figure and a more complex textile image in
Mummy Bundle 38 (Peters 1991: fig. 7.54; Mummy Bundle 38 is dated to EIP IB
by Paul [1990a: tables 5.2, 5.3], but Dwyer [1971: appendix B) dates it to Nasca 2).
On the other hand, there are Paracas Necropolis textiles dated to EIP lA
(e.g., a border fragment from Mummy Bundle 243 [Peters 1991: fig. 7.41]) and
ElP IB (e.g., mantle 24 from Mummy Bundle 310 [Paul 1990a: fig. 7.57, plate
25]) that seem to anticipate later iconographic developments on Nasca pottery
such as the Trophy Head Taster of Nasca 3 (Wolfe 1981: fig. 212) and Harpy Bird
Figure 3.4. Figure from Mantle 15 of Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle 89. It has in common with
the personage of Figure 3.3 the forehead ornament, mouth mask, a serpentine serrated tongue pro
jecting from a mouth in which the two teeth rows are clearly indicated, a tunic, dangling legs whose
feet point in the same direction and are thumbed, wings, and a forehead ornament grasped in one hand
in the case of the panpipe figure and in both hands on the Paracas Necropolis mantle. The panpipe
figure holds a human trophy head in the other hand. The panpipe figure's head is fully inverted; the
textile figure's head is turned sideways (redrawn from Paul 1991b: fig. 5, 6).

of Nasca 4 (Wolfe 1981: figs. 123-127), unless these developed from representa-
tions on Early Nasca textiles as Sawyer (1997) is arguing.
Nasca 2 Textiles
Paracas Necropolis Block Color textiles have great iconographic complexity
and are stylistically similar to iconographically complex Nasca 2 ceramic repre-
sentations. Bear in mind, however, that this is a circular argument since Dwyer
(1971) used Nasca 2 ceramic iconography to establish a Nasca 2 (EIP 2) textile
phase among the Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles. Nevertheless, there are
striking similarities between Paracas Necropolis textiles dated to EIP 2 and Nasca
2 drums (e.g., de Lavalle 1986: 134 top right [rollout in Tello 1959: plate
LXXXII], 135; Figure 3.2) and panpipes (e.g., Figure 3.1). The imagery that is
shared between EIP 2 Paracas Necropolis textiles and Nasca 2 ritual pottery is so
complex that the similarity must be explicable by direct contact between Paracas
Necropolis and Nasca 2 people.
Here is an example: the textile imagery from EIP IB/2 Mummy Bundle 38
from the Paracas Necropolis (Peters 1991: figs. 7.54, 7.83) and the ceramic imagery
on Nasca 2 drums (de Lavalle 1986: 134 top right, 135) are comparable in terms of
the costumed human figure with forehead ornament, domed cap over the forehead
ornament, projecting tongue that is a serrated serpentine figure/feline, thumbed feet,
grasping a trophy head in one hand, wearing a tunic and leggings and possible ear-
rings. Here is another example: EIP 2 Mummy Bundle 319 has textile imagery
(Peters 1991: fig. 7.36) that is readily compared to that on the Nasca 2 Haeberli
Panpipe (Figure 3.1) and the Nasca 2 Bernstein/Guggenheim Drum (Figure 3.2) in
tenns of a costumed human figure with falling human figures on its projecting
tongue, eyes outlined by a double-headed snake (this may be a mouthmask), wear-
ing the Spotted Cat headdress (the spots are depicted as beans), tunic and leggings,
with thumbed feet, and grasping a trophy head in one hand and a knife in the other,
associated with a serrated serpentine figure and bird iconography.
Two scientifically unprovenienced south coast textiles-masterpieces of ancient
Peruvian textile art-are likely to be Nasca 2 in cultural origin. They are Brooklyn
Museum Textile 38.121 (henceforth BMT; for illustration see Gundrum 2000;
Haeberli 1995; Tello 1959: plate LXXIX) and Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
Textile 35.32.179 (henceforth GEMT; for illustration see Lothrop 1964: 198, 199).
The Brooklyn Museum Textile

BMT was originally owned by Domingo Canepa of Pisco (Tello 1959: 70;
see discussion in Haeberli 1995: 122). The textile was early identified as Paracas
Necropolis in style and said to have a Cabezas Largas/Arenas Blancas provenience
(Levillier 1928; Paul 1991a: 34; Tello and MejIa Xesspe 1979: 85). But according
84 Helaine Silvennan
to Phipps (1989: 269), Haeberli (1995), and Sawyer (1997), BMT could have
come from Nazca and may be a Nasca 2 piece. Peters (1997: 867) considers BMT
to exemplify the "fuzzy interface between the Topani complex and artifacts of the
Nasca tradition in EIP 2." She says that BMT, a cross-knit looped textile, is "nearly
indistinguishable in style and iconography from the Necropolis embroideries, con-
trasting only in its emphasis on plant imagery. It represents a wide range of the late
Necropolis Block Color imagery, as if interpreted with precision and encyclopedic
knowledge by the craftsperson(s) of a different technical tradition, perhaps from
the Nazca area" (Peters 1991: 314). She continues that "[i]n general, the use of
cross-knit looping to form independent Block Color figures as a fringe-like border
around textiles is characteristic of Nasca 2 and absent from the Topara complex
burials" (Peters 1997: 867). Phipps (1989: 269) specifically argues that BMT and
GEMT "are most likely to have come from the Nazca Valley... From a techno-
logical point of view, as well as stylistic ... they conform to the aesthetic which is
originating in the Nazca Valley, and represent a transformation of the brilliant
achievements from the slightly earlier period."
BMT has an elaborate border composed of 90 intricate three-dimensional
crossed-knit looped figures attached by a band of three-dimensional flowers to a
plain brown cotton ground cloth that is decorated with 32 rayed heads (4 each in
8 rows) executed by the technique of warp-wrapping. The ground cloth heads
alternate by color (brown, yellow, green, pink, red, blue). In style, these heads are
readily comparable to King's (1965: figs. 42, 76a, b, c) "sun faces" from Ocucaje
in the lea Valley and surely represent the Oculate Being (compare to Dwyer 1979:
fig. 11, a bodiless Oculate Being from Caverna Vat Paracas dating to EH 9, also
fig. 23, a full-bodied flying Oculate Being in the Broad Line style, from Mummy
Bundle 410, dated to EH lOB [see Dwyer 1971: appendix B]). They also are com-
parable to the image on a textile published by Engel (1991: fig. 70), said to be
from Cabezas Largas at Paracas. Given the ubiquity of the "sun face" in lea, I
believe BMT's ground cloth was made in lea or by people from lea or by people
closely related to and in contact with those of lea. In their petaled form, alternat-
ing color scheme (blue, yellow, red, green) and central point of different color, the
three-dimensional flowers are reminiscent of but not identical to the embroidered
flower mantle ("Textile Specimen 3") from Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle
318 (de Lavalle and Lang 1983: 61), dated to EIP 2 (Paul 1990a: tables 5.2, 5.3).
It has a ground cloth embroidered with eight-petal flowers of alternating colors
and a cross-knit looped border band of three-dimensional birds, fully within the
Nasca tradition, attached to the ground by multicolored tabs sewn to the cross-
knit looped edging. That mantle, according to Frame (1995), was a Nasca 2 tex-
tile gifted to the individual in Mummy Bundle 318.
Stylistically, the three-dimensional figural border of BMT post-dates
the ground cloth (though archaistic imitation can not be excluded), based on the
obvious comparison of the 32 heads to lea Valley Oculate Being imagery and the
Differentiating Paracas Necropolis and Early Nasca Textlles 85

later features of the border images themselves. Beyond this observation, the pre-
cise dating and cultural attribution of the border imagery is difficult. Various of
BMT's border figures are conceptually and stylistically comparable but not
iconographically identical to figures on Block Color style Paracas Necropolis tex-
tiles (see comments by Peters above) and, as discussed below, comparisons also
may be made to Nasca ceramic and textile art (Table 3.2).
A key feature emphasized by Haeberli (1995: 124) in ascribing BMT to
Nasca 2 is the thumbed foot that can be observed on many of the cross-knit
looped figures (e.g., BMT figure 6 among others; Figure 3.5) and on the Haeberli
Panpipe (Figure 3.1). The thumbed foot was a principal attribute in Lawrence
Dawson's definition of the Nasca 2 ceramic phase. The thumbed foot has been
recognized as a time-sensitive feature of certain images on Paracas Necropolis
textiles (Dwyer 1971: 176, 202, 208) and in fully developed form was considered
a diagnostic of the latest phase of these textiles appearing, for instance, in Mummy
Bundles 38 (see Peters 1991: figs. 7.54. 7.85) and 253 (Peters 1991: fig. 7.55). We
have seen, however, that the thumbed foot occurs on Paracas Necropolis
textiles dated to EIP 1B and on the Nasca 1 Helsinki panpipe. Otherwise, BMT's
border figures are not readily comparable to Nasca I and 2 ceramic images. The
issue is whether, as Peters (1991) has suggested, BMT was made by Nasca
people applying their techical expertise to an iconography not culturally their
own, or whether some Paracas Necropolis textile artists were specialized in cross-
knit looping, using it only on rare occasions (for example, the cross-knit looped
border of the embroidered flower mantle in Mummy Bundle 318, see de Lavalle
and Lang 1983: 61).
Table 3.2. Similarities between BMT Border Imagery and
Paracas Necropolis Textile Imagery.
BMT figure # Paracas Necropolis textile illustrated in from mummy bundle date
83 Paul 1990a: fig. 5.5 421 EIP IA
7
18
12 Paul 1990a: fig. 7.58 310 EIP IB
12 Paul 1990a: fig. 5.14 451 EIP2
16
9 Paul 1990a: fig. 7.26 378 EIP IB
9 Paul 1990a: fig. 5.17 254 EIP IB
20
49 Paul 1990a: fig. 5.19 421 EIP IA
3 Paul 1990a: fig. 7.17 378 EIP IB
51
2 Paul 1990a: fig. 7.55 310 EIP IB
14 Paul 1990b: cover 290 EIP IB
43 Peters 1991: fig. 7.35 310 EIP IB
Figure 3.5. BMT figure 6 (from Haeberli 1995). Nasca 2.
In technique, BMT may be compared to numerous examples of cross-knit

looped textiles of known Nasca 3 or Early Nasca cultural affiliation from
Cahuachi and other Nasca sites (see Carmichael 1988: appendix 1; O'Neale
1937: plates LXI, LXII; Orefici 1993: plate 40; Silverman 1993: figs. 18.4-18.15,
table 18.1). Various Paracas Necropolis cross-knit looped elements (e.g., the
flower mantle with three-dimensional bird border in Mummy Bundle 318) also
may be compared to materials from Cahuachi (e.g., the ubiquitous bird borders
of Early Nasca textiles: see O'Neale 1937). In addition, there are notable icono-
graphic themes that cross textile technology. For instance, an embroidered figure
holding a fan on mantle 17 from Mummy Bundle 89 at Paracas (Paul 1991b:
fig. 5.8) may be compared to a small cross-knit looped fan figure from Cahuachi
(Silverman 1993: fig. 18.5).
The Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum Textile

GEMT's entire structure is made by cross-knit looping. Traditionally, it has
been considered a Paracas Necropolis piece (e.g., Paul 1979) but it, too, recently
has been put forth as a Nasca product (e.g., Peters 1991: 313; Sawyer 1997:
154-159). The textile consists of 32 figures (recall that the BMT ground cloth
contains 32 heads and both GEMT's and BMT's 32 figures are arranged in 4 rows
of 8), each enclosed within a square composed of two double-tabbed bands, with
an alternating series of four smaller figures around the border of the whole

textile. Ifthis piece is Paracas Necropolis in cultural origin, then the ground struc-
ture of 32 different images is significant for Paul (1979: 45) has reiterated that
Paracas Necropolis ground cloths typically are decorated with repetitions of a sin-
gle design. Peters (1991: 313) and Sawyer (1997), however, as indicated above,
believe that the cross-knit looped technique of the textile identifies GEMT as a
Nasca product. I see various iconographic and stylistic similarities, though not
identities, between GEMT and Paracas Necropolis textile motifs (Table 3.3).
GEMT also exhibits iconographic and stylistic similarities to known Early Nasca
Table 3.3. Similarities between GEMT Iconography and Paracas Necropolis

Block Color Imagery.
GEMT ground figure no.
(following Paul 1979: 46-48)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle No.1

or published illustration in/or comments
Lavalle and Lang 1983: 91

?
31O/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
Lavalle and Lang 1983: 119
bean body common in Paracas Necropolis textiles
but not in Nasca
composite image unknown
Peters 1991: fig. 7.83
?
31O/Paul 1990a: fig. 11.23
310IPaul 1990a: fig. 7.48
262/Peters 1991: fig. 7.28
89/PauI1991b: fig. 5.8
38/Peters 1991: fig. 7.19
?
38/Peters 1991: fig. 7.70, 71
310IPeters 1991: fig. 7.31
if the image is a frog (Paul 1979: 47), it is interesting to note
that toads are unidentified on Paracas Necropolis textiles
(Peters 1991: 291)
31O/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
38/Peters 1991: fig. 7.19
31O/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
310IPeters 1991: fig. 7.32
31O/Paul 1990a: fig. II.23
?
clearly portrays a crustacean such as a crayfish; neither
crustaceans or mollusks are depicted on Paracas
Necropolis textiles (Peters 1991: 291)
310/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
?
?
38/Peters 1991: fig. 7.19
(Continued)
Table 3.3. (Continued)
Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle No.1

or published illustration in/or comments
29 ?
30 310/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
31 262/Peters 1991: fig. 7.28
32 310/Peters 1991: fig. 7.76
GEMT border figure types A, B, C, D (following Paul 1979: 48)
32: A (feline) 378/Paul 1990a: fig. 7.3
32: B (falcon) 310/Peters 1991: fig. 7.32
32: C (bird) 378/Paul 1990a: fig. 7.8
32: D (human figures) ?
Table 3.4. Similarities between GEMT and Early Nasca Textiles and
Nasca 1-3 Pottery.
Nasca pot (P) or textile (T)/

published illustration in/ comments
31
12
13
14
B (falcon)
15
16
17
23
24
7
8
10
II
C (bird)
D (human figure)
T· O'Neale 1937: plate LVIIa

p. reminiscent of AMB
T· O'Neale 1937: plate LVIa
p- Spotted Cat's taiI
p- Lavalle 1986: 163 bottom
T- O'Neale 1937: plate LVIIc
T- O'Neale 1937: plate LXIIf
P- Lapiner 1976: fig. 524
P- Lapiner 1976: fig. 516
P- Lavalle 1986: 118 bottom,
p. Lapiner 1976: figs. 488, 491
P- reminiscent of AMB
P- Lavalle 1986: 121, 157 bollom
P- Lavalle 1986: 168 top right
T- O'Neale 1937: plate LVIa
P- Lavalle 1986: 154 bottom,
p. Lapiner 1976: fig. 514 right
p. Lavalle 1986: 163 bottom
T- O'Neale 1937: plate LVIIc
T· O'Neale 1937: plate LXIIf
GEMT border figure type A, B, C. D (following Paul 1979: 48)
A (feline) p. Wolfe 1981: figs. 7-25
p. Lavalle 1986: 157 bottom
p. Proulx 1968: plate 15a
p. Lapiner 1976: fig. 524

textiles (i.e., documented Nasca 3 textiles and textiles of unknown provenience
and relative date but within that tradition and which could date to Nasca 1 and/or 2)
and Nasca 2-3 pottery (Table 3.4).
The tabs (Figure 3.6) outlining the 32 GEMT figures bear significant simi-
larity to those published by O'Neale (1937) which date to Nasca 3 and possibly
to the tabs on Haeberli's (1998) Siguas textiles from the far south coast (espe-
cially the "I" or "dumbell" design [Note 2] on these tabs). Perhaps GEMT may
be dated to early Nasca 3 rather than Nasca 2.
The technique of manufacture of GEMT suggests a Nasca cultural identity.
On the other hand, we may also consider a Paracas Necropolis cultural attribution
because of Paul's (1979: 12) plausible statement that the Goteborgs Etnografiska
Museum collection of Paracas Necropolis textiles and artifacts, acquired from an
unidentified donor in 1935, are probably the result of the documented massive
looting of the Paracas Peninsula sites between early 1931-late 1933. I am
unaware of any such documented systematic looting in those years in Nazca
although I recognize that looting must have occurred (see Silverman 1993: chap. 7).
This conjecture also implicates another of the contemporary great masterpieces
of south coastal art, the exquisite and iconographically complex ceremonial staff
illustrated by Lapiner (1976: figs. 467, 468) that is also in the collections of the
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum. Peters (1997: 699) also opts for a ToparaJ
Paracas Necropolis identity, specifically in EIP 2. On the other hand, GEMT
could have been made by Nasca people in Nazca and been gifted to a Paracas
Necropolis grandee, as per Frame (1995).
Figure 3.6. Detail of GEMT tabs (from Lothrop 1964).
90
Other Textiles
Helaine Silverman
The difficulty of classifying BMT and GEMT as Paracas Necropolis or Nasca

cultural products is exemplified by another Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
textile, 35.32.205 (henceforth GEM; see Paul 1979: plates 11,12; Figure 3.7).
GEM has a square border frame surrounding a ground cloth that bears a painted
scene. There are 35 and 37 painted tape fringes pendant from opposite sides of
the square border framed textile. "Each tape is painted to represent serpents' bod-
ies which are decorated with various designs, such as beans, other vegetation
motifs, gold headpiece motifs and geometric designs" (Paul 1979: 33).
These features are unusual. Of the square frame Paul (1979: 32-33) observes
that on this piece, "unlike other examples of Paracas ponchos, the embroidered
borders continue all the way around the four edges, closing off the two customary
'breathing spaces'." Joerg Haeberli (personal communication, 1998) sees the
GEM tapes as similar to those illustrated by Frame (1991: figs. 4.16, 4.17) and
notes that some of its designs even appear on Nasca 3 pots. The only other com-
parison to these tapes that I can draw is to several Linear style Paracas Necropolis
mantles (from Mummy Bundles 190,382, 421-EIP 1A, EIP lB, EIP lA, respec-
tively) which have embroidered stripes on their central ground cloth. Painted tex-
tiles are quite rare in the Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles but Early Nasca
painted textiles are fairly well known (Sawyer 1979). Painted Paracas Necropolis
textiles appear to be restricted to EIP lB Mummy Bundle 290 (see Tello and
Mejia Xesspe 1979: 384-423). Peters (1997: 867) says that Paracas Necropolis
painted textiles "display some iconographic elements that are not typical of the
Block Color embroideries around them." Specifically, "the figures on the painted
mantle 45 from Necropolis burial 290 differ from the usual Block Color style in
the use of color, the form of details, and the range of iconographic elements pre-
sent, though they are part of a Topara complex gravelot" (Peters 1997: 760). Of
the same textile Peters (1997: 698) also says that the "painting style uses conven-
tions also characteristic of early Nasca polychrome slip painting." Just as I won-
dered if BMT's ground cloth and cross-knit looped border were contemporary, so
with GEM, I ask if the embroidered border and painted ground cloth are contem-
porary and the product of members of the same sociaVcultural group.
The painting of the GEM ground cloth is much sloppier in execution than
that on Textile Museum 1966.46.1 (Lapiner 1976: fig. 474) or Cleveland Museum
of Art-Norweb 40.530 (Bennett 1954: figs. 58, 60: henceforth CMAT) to which
the piece may be compared. In the cluttered, swirling, multi-figural composition
as well as particular representations, GEM is readily comparable to the Haeberli
Panpipe (Figure 3.1; the trophy heads within the GEM serrated signifier are com-
parable to the human body tumbling down the Haeberli Panpipe AMB's tongue),
to the Nasca 2 Bernstein/Guggenheim Drum (Figure 3.2) in the confusing mean-
dering of figures and serpentine signifiers, and to the bellic scene on the Nasca 2
Differentiating Paracas Necropolis and Early Nasca Textiles
Figure 3.7. GEM. Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum 35.32.205.
91
drum published by de Lavalle (1986: 135). The forehead ornaments, mouth
masks, tunics, earrings, and leggings on GEM are generic and, as such, compa-
rable to those on all the textiles and pots mentioned. But my gut feeling is that the
painted ground cloth of GEM is a Nasca 2 product while its embroidered border
is Paracas Necropolis in style.
Textile Museum 91.205 is identified as a Paracas altar (?) cloth by Bird and
Bellinger (1954: 53, 54, plates XVI-XIX); it is an example of the Nasca 2 inter-
locking warp and weft style (Rowe 1972). In my experience, the layout of the
ground cloth with repeating central anthropomorphic figures enclosed within
rhomboidal frames is unique for the south coast at this time.
In addition to the textiles discussed above, Sawyer (1979) presents three
fragments of painted textiles which he identifies as Nasca 2 (his Early Nazca
Phase A). One of these is the oft-published CMAT. Another is Textile Museum
1965.40.26a (Sawyer 1979: fig. 3). The other is American Museum of Natural
History 41.217082 (henceforthAMNH; Sawyer 1979: fig. 4). Sawyer (1979: figs.
4, 5) compares AMNH to the design on a Nasca 2 interior-decorated bowl.
Because it naturalistically depicts a condor, it also is similar to Paracas
Necropolis imagery (see Pau11990a: fig. 11.23). In overall composition and style
of painting AMNH is quite similar to other Early Nasca textiles (e.g., Lapiner
1976: fig. 476) and I accept Sawyer's Nasca 2 attribution.
Cleveland Museum of Art Textile

CMAT (illustrated in Bennett 1954: fig. 58) is one of the greatest (surviving)
paintings of ancient Peru. Unfortunately, the textile's archaeological provenience
is unknown though "said to have been excavated from Necropolis at Cerro
Colorado on the Paracas Peninsula" (Cleveland Museum of Art 1940 accession
sheet; see Sawyer 1979: 130).
The textile consists of a painted cotton field surrounded by an applied
camelid brown wool border that is almost 4 cm wide, and from it an orange
fringe. The textile is large, measuring 68.6 X 254.2 cm. It appears to depict six
anthropomorphic participants in a trophy head sacrificial rite, possibly to ensure
agricultural fertility. The figure on the extreme left can be compared to a Paracas
Necropolis figure published by de Lavalle and Lang (1983: 99, 118, 119). Peters
(1997: 699) sees a stylistic relationship to the G6teborgs staff which she attrib-
utes to ToparaJParacas Necropolis-EIP 2. CMAT's complete figure (Figure 3.8)
portrays a human in Spotted Cat costume with a decapitating obsidian knife and
trophy head in either hand, bean imagery on the ears, and forehead ornament with
plume. This is a suite of features found on the textiles of both styles. The middle
personages are reminiscent in theme and style of the figures decorating a Nasca 2
drum (de Lavalle 1986: 135), particularly in terms of the eyes, trophy heads and
earrings as well as the naturalistic aspect of the piece which itself is due to the
Figure 3.8. The complete figure on the Nasca 2 painted cotton ceremonial cloth in the Norweb
Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1940.530. (copyright permission: The
Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001).
painted medium. I agree with Sawyer's EIP 2 dating of CMAT and believe that
CMAT is a Nasca 2 product.
Sawyer's Nasca 2 Cabildo Gravelot

We must look critically at the south coast needlework recently published by
Sawyer (1997) and attributed by him to Nasca 2 (his "Early Nasca A"). My major
reservation with Sawyer's thesis is that his reference collection is a cache of
looted textiles. For all the immense interest that Saywer's textiles hold, in the
absence of recorded context they are of limited use to archaeologists and cloud as
much as they contribute to resolution of the Paracas-Nasca problem. Recall that
until recently, BMT was provenienced to the Paracas Peninsula (see above).
Remember that Conklin (1971) was misled by looters who told him that his
Chavinoid textile fragment carne from a "deep tomb near Chincha in the hills
some 15 kilometers inland from the Paracas peninsula," whereas the date of looting
and style of the textile suggest a Karwa provenience, not to mention the fact that
the cited location has no correspondence to actual geography. Given the reality of
the illicit Peruvian antiquities scene, I urge a degree of scholarly skeptism in
accepting proveniences for looted materials. Recent history shows that looters
both disguise the locale of a rich strike to mislead potential competitors and they
attribute their finds to a particular place so as to enhance the commercial value.
The textiles are "said to be from Cabildo" (Sawyer 1997: 45, 46). Sawyer
describes Cabildo as "a large important site." Presumably, it is in the immediate
vicinity of the eponymous contemporary farming settlement in the middle Grande
Valley. Sawyer says that "Archaeologists have not excavated at the site since most
of it is under cultivation and is covered by 10-13 feet ... of powdery alluvial soil,
making excavation difficult and hazardous. Local antiquarians [surely a euphe-
mism for antiquities dealers] state that huaqueros have found several rich Nasca
tombs at Cabildo in areas where the Nasca habitation levels have been exposed.
They believe that the site was a ceremonial center equal in importance to
Cahuachi." Given the annual flooding of the Grande River and the relative
scarcity of arable land in the drainage, I am dubious that rich tombs would have
been located in the valley bottom setting described by Sawyer. In 1989, I sur-
veyed the middle Grande Valley where the modem town of Cabildo is located. All
sites were off arable land. Eighteen had surface evidence of Nasca 2 occupations.
Most of these sites were located on the south/east side of the river. These sites are
briefly described in Table 3.5; their locations are shown in Figure 3.9.
Let us tum now to the looted textiles discussed by Sawyer (1997). Sawyer
interprets the material as a gravelot consisting of a large sampler and 27 in-
process textiles, 12 of which are embroidered and 15 of which are cross-knit
looped. Sawyer argues that "their association is highly credible, with the possible
exception of two fragments of an unfinished mantle border... that are in poor con-
dition while the rest of the items are remarkably well preserved." No pottery or
other artifacts accompanied the textiles when acquired.
On the basis of this material and textiles he relates to the cache, Sawyer
identifies an iconographically complex Nasca 2 embroidery style that he suggests
extends back to Nasca 1. This iconography includes supernatural figures, human
figures, and ordinary plants and wildlife.
The Cabildo textile no. 1 sampler (Sawyer 1997: figs. 30-33,40,41,46,47,
49) depicts iconographically complex human ritual performers/anthropomorphic
deities. It is comparable to samplers in the Textile Museum, Art Institute of
Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museo Nacional in Lima which are
illustrated in Sawyer's figs. 34-38, 50-55.
The exquisite Cabildo textile no. 2 in-process double-faced embroidered man-
tle border (Sawyer 1997: fig. 60) also portrays iconographically complex human
ritual performers/anthropomorphic deities in full ritual attire who are in association
with trophy heads, decapitation knives, Spondylus jewelry, gold ornaments, and

vegetables and fruits. It has similarities to tabbed borders in the Art Institute of
Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Berlin's Museum fur Volkekunde and the
Textile Museum which are illustrated in Sawyer's figs. 68-71 (note that one of
these was collected by Hans Disselhoff at Cahuachi). The iconography of Cabildo
Table 3.5. Sites with Nasca 2 Occupations in the Middle Grande Valley.
Site # Brief description of site Size in ha. Nasca phases present
278 broken funerary urns; simple pits; destroyed barbacoas 1.25 Nasca 1-3
279 mound of cane-marked conical adobes and round adobes; 0.5 Nasca 1-4
perishable watlle-and-daub superstructure was burnt in
antiquity; looters holes surround mound; parts of
barbacoas and human skeletal remains scattered on surface
287 major complex of small mounds, geoglyphs, and looted 8 N 1,2,3,5,7
cemeteries
300 looters holes surrounded by remains of barbacoas and 0.75 Nasca 1-3
human bones; small trapezoidal geoglyph
301 artificially terraced natural hill; vast area of looters holes 3.0 Nasca 1-5
around hill
305 major complex of small mounds, geoglyphs and areas 43 Nasca 1-5,7
of severe looting
311 geoglyph (damaged by plowing); four circular piles of 0.4 N2-5
stone (refugios)
313 small, planned architectural unit made of fieldstones set 3 Nasca 2-7
in mud mortar; unit consists of a square-shaped, cleared
patio and rooms bordering north and south walls of patio
321 probably ceremonial architecture (visible on 1944 aerial 4.2 (bulldozed Nasca
photo) destroyed by agricultural activities; geoglyph dispersion) 2,3,5,6,7
326 looted remains of barbacoas and human bone; 3.75 Nasca 2, 3, 5, 6
scattered loaf-shaped adobes and midden deposits
502 possible potter's house and grave 0.25 Nasca 1-3
504 massively looted area 0.08 Nasca 2, 3, 5
507 massively looted area 1.0 Nasca 1-3
508 massively looted area 1.0 Nasca 1-3
509 scatter of looted tomb contents 1.0 Nasca 1,2
510 sherd scatter 0.5 Nasca 2, 3
515 artificially terraced large hill which is badly looted; 4.5 Nasca 1-4
looting has dispersed tomb material and domestic refuse
520 terraces on a hillside; terraces have cleared areas 1.8 Nasca 2, 3
measuring 3 X 2 m; terraces massively looted;
scant amount of domestic refuse visible in
looters holes
d
"
Figure 3.9. All Nasca 2 sites recorded by Helaine Silverman in the middle Grande Valley. The
middle Grande Valley is a relatively large tract of arable land irrigated by the confluence of the Grande
and Ingenio rivers; it is the "bread basket" of the drainage. Topographically. it has easy access to the
lower lea Valley (around Ullujaya) due west and even greater proximity to the lower Ingenio and
lower Nazca valleys immediately to the northeast and southeast, connections of potential social and
economic importance. See Table 3.5 for site descriptions.

textile no. 2 also recalls Nasca 3 tunic bands decorated with mythical human
figures and agricultural plants from Kroeber's tomb Aj 13 (O'Neale 1937: plate
LVI) and also is highly reminiscent of Paracas Necropolis iconography (Paul
1991b: fig. 5.21 and 5.22 for Mummy Bundle 89) and GEMT fig. 8.
Cabildo textile no. 3, an unfinished mantle border (Sawyer 1997: fig. 77),
portrays another human ritual performer/anthropomorphic deity in full ritual
attire. Once filled in with color it would have been virtually identical to a mantle
border in the Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum (Sawyer 1997: fig. 76) to which
Sawyer plausibly assigns a Paracas Necropolis provenience.
Other Cabildo imagery includes: whiskered deity in association with manioc
root (textile no. 4: fig. 95), humans with and without ritual accoutrements (textile
nos. 10, 17-24: figs. 104, Il2, 113), various species of birds (textile nos. 5,6, II,
13,14,15,16: figs. 97, 98, 107-Il1), birds and flowers (textile no. 12: figs. 105,
106), fish (textile no. 7: fig. 100), and jack beans (textile nos. 8, 9: fig. 101).
Cabildo's bird and flower imagery has ready comparison in a Paracas Necropolis
textile in Mummy Bundle 262 (Peters 1991: fig. 7.28). The Cabildo bean imagery
may be compared to that on EIP 1B Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle 310
(Peters 1991: 7.46, 7.76), to EIP 2 Paracas Necropolis Mummy Bundle 319
(Peters 1991: 7.36), to Nasca 1 ceramic bean imagery (e.g., Donnan 1992:
fig. 72), and to that on the Nasca 2 Haeberli Panpipe (Figure 3.1).
Sawyer argues that these textiles are contemporary with the most elaborate
of the Paracas Necropolis Block Color textiles and that they are the source of the
imagery for Nasca pottery-and also the Paracas Necropolis Block Color textiles.
The issue at stake in Sawyer's analysis is not cross-knit looping since scientifi-
cally documented examples have been reported from Nazca Valley Nasca sites,
often in association with phaseable Early Nasca pottery, and the technique
appears to be more "at home" in Nasca culture than in the Paracas Necropolis
corpus. The issue is the cultural affiliation of the embroideries.
Although they have no ceramic association, two of Orefici's (1993: fig. 33
left, right) embroidered textile fragments from Cahuachi are virtually identical in
iconography and execution to comparative pieces published by Sawyer (1997:
figs. 68, 69). The embroidered tabbed border fragment bearing whale (?) imagery
that Hans Disselhoff collected at Cahuachi (see Sawyer 1997: 70) is comparable
to an embroidered band fragment recovered by Strong in his Strata Cut 1 at
Cahuachi (see Phipps 1989: 668). The birds embroidered on an edge band, with
fringe and tabs, from Cut 5 at Cahuachi (Phipps 1989: 681), show strong icono-
graphic similarity to the birds on the Cabildo gravelot sampler (Sawyer 1997: fig.
30), including gliding symmetry. The Cut 5 piece cannot be directly associated
with a particular phase of Nasca pottery (see discussion in Silverman 1993: 52).
The Nasca 2 cultural affiliation of the Cabildo materials is possible, though
not certain. The Cabildo provenience can not be accepted on hearsay, even if it
turns out to be correct. Note that virtually all of the comparative Nasca textiles
illustrated by Sawyer also lack site provenience. One can pick and choose from
among these materials to support one's case.
Nasca 3/Early Nasca textiles

With Nasca 3 we are on much safer footing because textiles have been found
in fIrm association with Nasca 3 pottery and are reported in the literature (see
O'Neale 1937; Silverman 1993: chap. 18). Others are known to be associated
with Early Nasca pottery, even if there is no fIrm association of phased pot to par-
ticular textile (see, e.g., OrefIci 1993; Phipps 1989; also O'Neale 1937). If
Sawyer is correct in his proposal of an independent Nasca 2 fancy textile style,
then Nasca 3 textiles (e.g., O'Neale 1937: plate LVIII) are a dramatic simplifica-
tion from their predecessors and compared to Nasca 3 ceramic iconography. Of
course, this perception could change if Giuseppe OrefIci publishes fully his mate-
rial from Cahuachi since a 1999 Discovery Channel documentary, "Peru's City of
Ghosts," indicated that OrefIci had found a cache of magnifIcent Early Nasca tex-
tiles at Cahuachi, apparently ritually buried, perhaps ritually "killed" [Note 3].
It is a pity that Kroeber's Cahuachi Textile 171140 (O'Neale 1937: plate
LVIIa) was recovered from a looted grave without direct ceramic associations (both
"Nazca A" and "Nazca B" sherds lay on the surface around the pit), for the multi-
fIgural iconography on this piece is notable for its great similarities to the falcon
figure from EIP IB Mummy Bundle 310 (Peters 1991: fig. 7.31), to the goatsucker
motif on a textile from the same mummy bundle (Peters 1991: fig. 7.35), to human
impersonators of the killer whale both on Paracas Necropolis textiles (e.g., Peters
1991: fig. 7.9) and the Spotted Cat on Nasca pottery (e.g., Wolfe 1981: fig. 21; note
that the Spotted Cat on this embroidered textile fragment is more similar to Nasca
3 ceramic examples than to any feline from the Paracas Necropolis). The bean pan-
els on Cahuachi Textile 171140, by virtue of the realism of plant portrayal, are
equally similar to Nasca and Paracas Necropolis depictions.
AN EARLY NASCA TEXTILE TRADITION

Based on the preceding discussion, I propose the following components of an
Early Nasca textile tradition, elements of which may begin as early as Nasca 1.
1. plain weave cotton ground cloths to which three-dimensional cross-knit
looped tabs and pendant figures are attached
- birds (O'Neale 1937: plate LXIIa; Sawyer 1975: fig. 124)
- birds and plants (O'Neale 1937: plate LXIIb; Silverman 1993: fIg. 18.4)
- fan fIgure (Silverman 1993: fig. 18.5)
- killer whales (Silverman 1993: fig. 18.9)
2. painted cotton textiles
- birds (de Lavalle 1986: 85)
- birds eating crops (Lapiner 1976: fig. 476; Sawyer 1979: fig. 10)
- birds (vencejos[?] and Horrible Bird) eating crops, fish, trophy heads
and other objects (de Lavalle and Lang 1979: 76-77)
- Spotted Cat impersonators holding agricultural plants and other objects
(Sawyer 1979: figs. 6-8)
- winged human figures wearing cross-hip loincloths, playing panpipes
and holding rattles; the figures alternate body position (up, down)
(Sawyer 1979: fig. 13)
3. so-called "flounces" and borders of cross-knit looped bands with struc-
turally attached tabs [Note 4] and three-dimensional figures
- full-body human figures, with and without hair (De Bolle et al. 1994:
98-100; de Lavalle 1986: 82)
- multicolored tabs and pendant heads with and without hair (De Bolle
et al. 1994: 100; compare to Rowe 1974: fig. 366; O'Neale 1937: plate
LXIh, i, j)
- tabs in the form of beans and pendant multicolored fringes (De Bolle
et al. 1994: 101)
- bands decorated with birds (O'Neale 1937: plate LXllf, h)
- multicolored tabs, multicolored fringe, border in between is decorated
with agricultural products and mythical figures wearing forehead orna-
ments and mouthmasks (Stone-Miller 1992: color plate 15)
- black tabs attached to multicolored band attached to striped plainweave
- multicolored tabs attached to multicolored band with colored fringe
threads
4. embroidered textiles
- tunic bands decorated with mythical human figures and agricultural
plants (O'Neale 1937: plate LVI; Orefici 1993: plate 33; Phipps 1989).
- bands with mythical creatures in association with beans (O'Neale 1937:
plate LVIIa)
- bands with birds and flowers (O'Neale 1937: plate LVIIc)
- bands decorated with fish (O'Neale 1937: plate LVIIb)
- bands decorated with intricate interlocking geometric designs (O'Neale
1937: plate LVIId)
- mantles decorated with human figures wearing turbans, earrings, tunics,
skirts, and loincloths and carrying slings, digging sticks and other staffs
(O'Neale 1937: plate LVIII)
5. other
Other kinds of Early Nasca decorated textiles are known (see O'Neale
1937; Orefici 1993: figs. 33-35; Phipps 1989; Silverman 1993: chap. 18).
Among these is tie-dye, a rare decorative technique in Nasca textile art

that is overrepresented in the literature because of its striking appearance
(Orefici 1993: color plate 35; Phipps 1989: 232). I speculate that it is
related to resist-painted Nasca 1 pottery. Tie-dye also is very rare among
the Paracas Necropolis textiles.
DISCUSSION
Bean (1998: 115) echoes many scholars when she says that cloth and cloth-
ing are "arguably the pre-eminent material product of human ingenuity" playing
"central roles in political, social, economic, and cultural systems around the
world." Indeed, the recent identification of depictions of elaborate fiber clothing
on Upper Paleolithic "Venus" figurines (see Soffer et al. 2000) suggests that
textile technology is almost as early as the appearance of anatomically modern
humans in Europe and that, from the beginning, textiles were associated with
social differentiation, power, prestige, and value.
The Paracas Necropolis textiles continue to be exceptional because of their
quantity, quality, known provenience, and context. Looted textiles without secure
provenience but presumed to be Early Nasca in date and cultural affiliation also
are an important piece of the puzzle about the relationship and implications of
style for understanding south coast societies. It is difficult to know which evi-
dence to favor. I attempt some tentative conclusions in this section.
There has been a significant amount of scientific excavation in Nasca ceme-
teries in the lea Valley and the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage since early in the
20th century. Published data suggest that these excavations have yielded poor tex-
tile remains (i.e., iconographic complexity is rare) in comparison to the abundant
fancy textiles of the contemporary Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles. This dis-
parity must be due to the limited distribution of fancy textiles in Nasca society,
and also to the amount of time required for their production (i.e., that there were
not many fine textiles).
Other differences between Early Nasca and Paracas Necropolis textiles can
be noted. Early Nasca and Paracas Necropolis textiles differ in terms of Early
Nasca's emphasis on design elaboration through edgings in contrast to the typi-
cally whole field iconography of Paracas Necropolis textiles. Also, Paracas
Necropolis iconography was elaborated on a wide range of garment types consti-
tuting elite or ritual attire depicting the role of the individual wearing them and
belonging to that individual (Paul 1990a). In contrast, in Early Nasca society,
there appears to have been an emphasis on communal participation in rites guided
by religious practicioners who were not necessarily the owners of their role-spe-
cific costumes (unless archaeologists find the costumes in graves, as is the case
with Paracas Necropolis ritual attire and, spectacularly, with the Moche burials at
Sipan). In addition, at least some of the published fancy Early Nasca textiles were
ceremonial cloths meant to be viewed rather than worn (Bird and Bellinger 1954).

Whereas Early Nasca imagery is consistent across media, the exquisite complex-
ity of Paracas Necropolis textile iconography has no match in the non-icono-
graphic simplicity of its associated pottery.
Paracas Necropolis textiles were made either by the inhabitants of the resi-
dential zones at Paracas (e.g., Silverman 1991) or by their cultural kinsmen in
Pisco (e.g., Silverman 1997), or both. I also accept that some textiles in the latest
Paracas Necropolis mummy bundles may have been acquired from Nasca people
(trade, exchange) or were items of deference (offerings, tribute) given by Nasca
people (see Frame 1995). Note that no Nasca 2 pottery is associated with these
Paracas Necropolis bundles said to contain Nasca 2 textiles. Frame (1995: 15)
argues that the "mixture of textile styles within some bundles, as well as the bun-
dle size and wealth of decorated cloth, suggests a ritual on a grand scale, using
tribute cloth from groups with different artistic traditions. If the elaborate con-
struction of the large bundles took place on the peninsula, supervised by priests
living in the limited habitation area nearby, cloth may have been assembled
beforehand through exacted tribute or offered by groups attending the ritual." The
elite dead of the Peninsula burial grounds, whom I presume to have lived in
Paracas and/or Pisco, may have received (in life and/or death) valued Topara-
Chongos bottles from Pisco Valley populations, Linear style and cross-knit
looped textiles from lea Valley Paracas (and Nasca 1-2?) peoples (compare Paul
1990a: plate 9 to King 1965: fig. 81d; were Linear style textiles still being made
in lea in EIP 1 and 2?) and, according to Frame (1995) and Sawyer (1997), Nasca
2-style textiles from Nasca peoples (by what means? living in which valley?). The
problem of the cultural identity of the dead of the Paracas Necropolis funerary
bundles is partly resolvable by Frame's (1995: 15) notion of tribute or offering.
But, let us not forget that non-elite people were buried at Paracas and their tex-
tiles are poorly known. Also, how interaction between residents of the different
valleys (i.e., members of different societies) played out on the ground in EIP 1
and 2 is a matter of debate (e.g., Massey 1992; Peters 1997; Silverman 1997).
And, the Paracas Necropolis burial phenomenon ceased at the end of EIP 2 for
reasons that also are debated and insufficiently supported with field data (see,
e.g., Peters 1997; Silverman 1997).
The production of embroidered and cross-knit looped sumptuary textiles
was abandoned in Nasca 3 times as too time-consumingllabor intensive (see
Sawyer 1997: 41). Certainly, fancy Nasca 3 textiles appear to be rare and I have
argued that in Nasca 3, pottery became the main vehicle of symbolic expression
in the material world of the ancient Nasca. I have attributed this shift in medium
of ideological expression to the growth of the cult at Cahuachi and the need for
the rapid production of large amounts of ritual pottery in the inclusive ceremonies
performed there; there was a conscious decision to designate pottery as the pri-
mary bearer of Nasca cosmology with the increase in ceremonialism in Nasca 3
society, particularly at Cahuachi, which required more and more pottery for ritual
and social purposes (Silverman 1993).

Archaeologists working on the south coast of Peru are blessed with extraor-
dinary conditions of preservation, both organic and inorganic. Now we need to
take advantage of this enviable situation and attack the problems of social identity
and elite behavior discussed in this chapter through intensive multi-sited excava-
tions. Such knowledge will permit more a more accurate as well as theoretically
informed consideration of intra-societal and peer-polity interactions on the south
coast of Peru at the beginning of the Early Intermediate Period, and of the nuanced
aspects of material culture manipulation in the cultural production and reproduc-
tion of these societies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge information on CMAT provided by Karen
Thompson, Curatorial Assistant, Textiles and Islamic Art, Cleveland Museum of
Art. I thank that museum for permission to publish CMAT. I express my appreci-
ation to Maria Didrichsen and the Didrichsen Art Museum for permission to pub-
lish the beautiful Helsinki panpipe. Museum research in Peru was conducted by
the author with the assistance of a Fulbright University Affiliations Program
grant. Fieldwork in the Middle Grande valley (as part of the Ingenio Valley sur-
vey project) was conducted with a grant from National Geographic Society and
with permission from the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. These institutions are
thanked for their support.
Notes
I. Except when quoting others, Nasca written s refers to the archeological culture of the Early
Intennediate Period whereas Nazca written with z refers to the geographical region, specific river
valley, drainage, and contemporary town (see Silverman 1993: ix).
2. This little marking on each of the tabs must have meaning. I speculate that it could represent the
maize plant with pulled-back leaves (see, especially, O'Neale 1937: plate LXIIc).
3. The hyperceremoniallocus of Orefici's find supports my argument that fancy textiles were made
for use in ceremonies at Cahuachi, but not necessarily for particular individuals as their property.
4. Although some EIP lB Paracas Necropolis textiles have tabs (de Lavalle and Lang 1983: 69 [prob-
ably from EIP lB Mummy Bundle 382]) instead of the more common multicolored thread fringe
(de Lavalle and Lang 1983: 45, 46, 49, 51-53, 55, 57, 58 inter alia), their ubiquity in Early
Nasca textile art and rarity in the Paracas Necropolis textile corpus suggest that they are a Nasca
invention.
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Chapter 4
Proto-Writing in Moche Pottery
at Cerro Mayal, Peru
MARGARET A. JACKSON
INTRODUCTION
Moche ceramic art is well known for its sensitive realism and attention to fine
detail. It is a tradition that continues to fascinate, in part, because the corpus of
imagery suggests a ready venue for cultural understanding, despite formidable
barriers of distance and time. Yet, Moche art includes a sizeable component of
images that can only be described as abstract. As scholarship surrounding Moche
imagery advances, it becomes apparent that these are not simple mimetic repre-
sentations. The images actually functioned as an integral element of a complex
communication system widespread among the valleys of the north Peruvian
coast, where the Moche held sway throughout the 1st through 9th centuries AD.
The Moche iconographic system was multivalent and multi-operational,
functioning at different levels of the social hierarchy in different ways. Different
individuals or classes of individuals in Moche society had differing levels of pic-
torial literacy. For the general populace, the images seem to have been locked
firmly into oral traditions, directly tying the overall production of cultural mem-
ory to mnemonic visualization, pictorial cueing, and patterns of rhetoric occa-
sioned by important events and accompanied by the circulation of ideologically
invested artwork. For religious specialists, the images were polyvalent, drawing
upon reservoirs of esoteric knowledge and comprising an iconic, semasiographic
system. Semasiographic systems, a term which derives from the Greek word
"semasia" (meaning), are those notational forms that use marks to convey mean-
ing in a non-verbally tied manner (see Boone and Mignolo 1994: 15; Brice 1976:
29-41; Sampson 1985: 29).
107
108 Margaret A. Jackson

The system functioned both horizontally and vertically, and seems. to have
included ideographic and/or logographic elements (Jackson 2000: 172-210; see
also Donnan and McClelland 1999: 59). Evidence from the Moche ceramic work-
shop at Cerro Mayal, upon which this article is based, reinforces these ideas and
leads to the suggestion that for those artists integrally involved at the higher lev-
els of image production, the pictures were conceived in terms of set phrases, idea
clusters and abstract signs. The ceramic mold technology presented here is inte-
gral to this suggestion. That the imagery was standardized to the point of con-
stituting a notational system legible among occupational specialists, and thus
identifiable as a form of proto-writing, is the thesis of the present article.
CERROMAYAL
Cerro Mayal provides a nearly unique opportunity to examine the ways in
which pots were fabricated and distributed throughout Moche society because it is
one of only three excavated sites known to have been involved in large-scale man-
ufacture of ritually important Moche ceramics (see also Armas et al. 1993; Bawden
1982; Uceda, Mujica and Morales, 1995). Cerro Mayal is centrally located in the
lower Chicama Valley (Figure 4.1). It is adjacent to the Moche civic-ceremonial
center of Mocollope, an area which includes an impressive sector of monumental
architecture, as well as an extensive, but mostly destroyed, zone of habitation.
Cerro Mayal was a large, nucleated workshop where the potters both lived
and worked. The site was first excavated in 1992 by Russell, Leonard and Briceno
(1994), with a second field season in 1997. Carbon-14 samples indicate that the
site was in use from roughly 550 to 880 AD (Attarian 1996: 15-16, table 2.1).
The pottery can be categorized as predominantly Moche IV, according to Larco
Hoyle's (1948) five-phase seriation, with occasional examples more approximating
Moche V in style.
There were distinct areas supporting different activities, for example, raw clay
mixing, pottery firing, waster dumps, and community hearths. The overall site is
thus divided into areas of intensive production, what appear to be production sup-
port areas, and habitation zones, strongly suggesting specialization of activities.
Botanical remains indicate that the bulk of the agricultural products consumed con-
sisted of maize and beans (Attarian 1996, 1998). Preliminary analysis of faunal
remains indicates that camelid meat was also a significant component of the diet.
The presence of staples suggests that artisans at the site were attached specialists
who received food provisions, probably from the adjacent palace at Mocollope. The
workshop's production was most likely a part of a system of embedded patronage
under the direct control of Mocollope's rulers (Russell and Jackson 2001).
The data that form the basis for the present report are a representative sam-
ple of 1474 sherds, pulled from the overall collection of 139, 240 sherds because
Proto-Writing in Moche Pottery 109
_ River
= Highway
• Modern town
• Archaeological site
t
o 5 10Km.
Figure 4.1. Map showing location of Cerro Mayal in the Chicama Valley, Peru.
of their iconographic content. Some 91.5% of the total collection were fragments
of undetermined ceramic forms. The remaining 11,793 sherds had some type of
diagnostic characteristic, such as rim or handle. The iconographic sample was
selected from the diagnostic group.
Incidence of motifs and vessel forms were subsequently cross-referenced by
the author to arrive at a correlation between ceramic type and image (Jackson
2000: table 2.1). Additionally, the larger diagnostic sample was analysed accord-
ing to the use-function of the product or vessel type (Russell and Jackson 2001:
fig. 6). Most imagery occurred on jars, bottles, tall flaring vases (known as flo-
reros), figurines, appliques and molds. Virtually all detailed imagery on vessels
was created using molds. The workshop's artists did not employ the fineline
painting technique to any large degree. They did, however, use slip paint for var-
ious motifs and decorative elements, conforming to well-known canons of Moche
imagery and iconographic content. Hand modeling was employed on a miniscule
number of pieces (a few spoon handles, for example).

Cerro Mayal's imagery can be divided into five main subgroups: humans,
animals, repetitive motifs, complex scenes or themes, and miscellaneous imagery.
The latter includes one-of-a-kind images and fragmentary items with unrecog-
nizable subject matter. A complete analysis of the iconographic sample is
presented in Jackson (2000).
The most common imagery was human subjects, comprising 51.22% of the
group, with animals and repetitive motifs each constituting just under 15% of the
sample. The majority of the ceramic imagery of these groups was generally
emblematic, being composed of solitary images. Complex scenes form the small-
est cohesive segment of the sample, representing only about 4%. In these, the
iconographic content is formed around a narrative internal structure with multiple
characters.
Cerro Mayal's ceramic workshop produced objects useful in a variety of
special events and rituals. The pots themselves give clues as to what some of
those events may have been. They were used as musical instruments, figurines
and talismans, ritual serving and consumption vessels, and tools (see Russell and
Jackson 2001). Molds were by far the most frequent tools recovered from the site
of Cerro Mayal. In fact, it seems likely that molds themselves were an object in
production at the workshop. Of 11,793 diagnostic sherds, 1451 were classified as
tools and of those, 1271 were molds or mold fragments.
MOLD TECHNOLOGY
In Moche society it seems that the finest pots were generally mold made,
while the common wares were handbuilt. This is something of a reversal to the
values we commonly associate with mold-made items today. A clarification of the
role of mold technology in Moche ceramic production is among the most signif-
icant results of the present analysis.
It has long been known that two-piece molds were used to produce some
types of Moche pottery; such molds essentially comprised the front and back
sides of a vessel's main chamber (see illustrations and descriptions in Donnan
1992: 60-63; Larco Hoyle 1945: 15,31). Yet, at Cerro Mayal, in addition to one-
or two-part molds, Moche artists were using complex joining techniques to
assemble sculptural compositions in an additive manner. This meant that any
given vessel might have any number of mold made elements, either stamped
directly onto it, or added through an applique process. The appliques themselves
could be formed of two-, or even three- part molds, allowing for an impressively
high degree of complex artistry.
Each mold comprised a complete iconographic package, whose message
remained self contained regardless of who was using the mold or what other
elements were selected for use. The molds could be used in a mix-and-match way,
Proto·Writing in Moche Pottery 111

applied to each vessel body differently, achieving variations of meaning. It seems
that molds were used not so much to produce faster and more, but as a means of
locking in iconographically significant elements.
MOLD INSCRIPTIONS
The most compelling argument in favor of a system of visual notation among
potters and related specialists comes from a body of inscriptions present on the
exteriors of many of the molds from Cerro Mayal and other sites. In the Cerro
Mayal study sample, approximately 19% of molds analyzed had some form of
exterior inscription. Of the 1271 molds and mold fragments collected in the 1992
field season, 368 were closely analyzed, yielding 69 with exterior inscriptions.
Three basic types of markings were evident: (1) those which appear to
roughly reflect the mold's interior imagery, such as eyes, nose, mouth, or feet,
incised upon the mold's exterior surface to serve as pictorial alignments assisting
the potter in positioning imagery on the finished product; (2) horizontal staight-
line incisions running perpendicular to the edges of the mold, used as register
marks to align multiple-part mold pieces, front-side to back-side or right to left;
and (3) small, sketchy pictorial drawings that bear no visible resemblance to the
imagery on the mold's interior, nor appear to serve any purpose overtly related to
the manufacture process.
I argue that none of the inscriptions can be regarded as casual or accidental.
Many refer to images and themes common to the larger Moche iconographic
repertoire, insinuating that the meaning and function of the inscriptions and the
iconographic content of their ceramic products were directly linked to a broader
symbol system. Furthermore, among the third category of molds, the conceptual
leap presented by the discrepancy between the molds' interior and exterior
imagery suggests that (1) those who were iconographically savvy thought of the
symbol system abstractly (e.g., as signs), and (2) that a Moche iconic "shorthand"
actually communicated specific information in an abstract notational form.
Pictorial Alignments
The inscriptions most readily understandable to us are those that appear to
roughly reflect the mold's interior imagery. Such things as eyes, nose, mouth,
etc., were most often crudely sketched upon the mold's exterior surface. These
markings were no doubt useful in assisting the potter to position imagery on
the ceramic object; he or she would be able to use the markings as guides.
Furthermore, in the most functionalist sense, one can imagine that the inscriptions
helped the potters to quickly differentiate one mold from another without being
forced to scrutinize each mold's interior prior to selecting it for use.

In Figure 4.2, examples of pictorial alignment markings in their simplest
form are shown. Figure 4.2a shows a mold whose inscriptions are a simple circle
and line positioned in direct correspondence to the human image depicted on the
mold's interior. In contrast to the crudity of the exterior incisions, the image cre-
ated by the mold (which was probably used to make figurines) is delicately
detailed and well-executed, suggesting that the artist felt little need to spend
energy on elaborating the exterior of this particular item.
The inscriptions on the mold pictured in Figure 4.2b are equally simple. This
time, however, the subject of the imagery is not human. The tell-tale circle around
the eye and the suggestion of a round beak allows us to identify the image as an
owl. While the beak is only vaguely alluded to on the mold's exterior, it is the eye
circle that allows for a positive identification of the mold's subject.
A third example, Figure 4.2c, illustrates how simple inscriptions serve to
identify the location of interior imagery, while simultaneously cueing a reference
to the identity of the character being depicted. The mold produces a human fig-
ure whose head is tilted back and whose face grimaces. The mold fragment was
probably an applique or perhaps part of a larger vessel mold; it almost certainly
was not a common figurine. The figure's grimacing mouth is noteworthy because
of its non-naturalistic style of depiction. The grimacing "banded mouth" is rarely
ever associated with ordinary people [Note 1]. By late Moche times the "banded
mouth" was an artistic convention that had a longevity of almost a thousand years
in coastal art. It appeared most often as part of the identifying characteristics of
fanged deity figures and other supernatural creatures. We may not know the pre-
cise identity of this mold's character, but the "visual short-hand" of the banded
mouth motif nonetheless signals that it was somehow related to the idea cluster
associated with the supernatural fanged deity.
Likewise, the inscriptions on the exterior of the large "Wrinkle-Face
Whistler" mold, in Figure 4.3, are keyed to both the position of the character's
features and the specific character identity depicted by the mold interior. In this
case, the wrinkles surrounding the pursed lips are the principal diagnostic indica-
tor of the character's identity. As it would scarcely be necessary for the potter to
draw so many wrinkles simply for the purpose of positioning the character's eyes
and mouth on the vessel, the specificity of the inscription attests to the fact that
the character's identity was also being communicated.
As illustrated in Figure 4.4, pictorial alignment markings were sometimes
relatively complex and were not limited to molds producing images of humans.
The exterior incisions of the mold in Figure 4.4a are comparatively elaborate, in
terms of other molds shown here, and faithfully conform to the interior imagery
of the mold. This mold formed a modeled jar neck, as indicated by the articula-
tion of its terminating edges. Note that the animal depicted, probably a lizard,
wears a specific type of headdress, cylindrical ear plugs, and is shown with a
banded, fanged mouth. These are the principal diagnostic traits of this character,
regardless of variations in scale and media.
Figure 4.2. Molds whose inscriptions echo interior imagery. (a) simple figurine; (b) owl with
characteristic circle around eye; (c) figure with "banded mouth."
Figure 4.3. Mold whose inscription echoes interior imagery. (al large "Wrinkle-Face Whistler"
mold exterior; (b1modeling clay impression of mold interior.
Likewise, the applique mold shown in Figure 4.4b (one half of a two-part
mold), depicting a very realistic fox head, features exterior inscriptions that
reflect the interior imagery. But the incisions are more elaborate than needed for
simple pictorial alignment. On the mold exterior, the animal's eye is surrounded
by two concentric circles that each terminate in a stylized bird head motif, a pic-
torial addition whose meaning is unclear. Several interpretations are possible, but
all are speculative. In Moche imagery, foxes are often shown as messengers;
Figure 4.4. Molds whose inscriptions echo interior imagery. (a) "Fanged Lizard" jar neck mold;
(b) "Snarling Fox" applique mold with elaborate exterior markings.
Colonial sources identify birds as messengers from the spirit world [Note 2].
Perhaps the connection evokes both creatures' roles as emissaries. Alternatively,
the connection could have been linguistic if, for example, there were some
homophony at play and the two images juxtaposed may have constituted a rebus
device of some kind. It is even possible that the bird heads are artistic devices
related to visual periphrasis, as was common to the ancient Chavin tradition of
terminating lines with zoomorphic heads (the kennings of Rowe 1967: 78-79)
[Note 3]. Whatever their significance, the presence of the bird head devices can
only be explained in tenus of abstraction.
In more general tenus, molds with exterior inscriptions closely keyed to their
interior imagery likely served a straight-forward technical function. It also seems
likely, however, that pictorial alignment inscriptions were linked to the larger
iconographic system by virtue of their consistent references to conventionalized
attributes of various characters.
Register Marks
The second kind of mold inscriptions are those with perpendicular straight-
line incisions leading off their edges. These doubtless served as register marks for
the purpose of aligning 2-part or multiple part molds. Still, commonly, register
marks are used by modem potters to align multiple-part mold pieces, front-side
to back-side or right to left.
Molds such as the large frog and the portrait head shown in Figure 4.5, were
clearly used in pairs, as evinced by numerous vessels in museum collections of
similar design. Each mold depicts a symmetrically divided subject; the edges of
the molds themselves show that the images were split along obvious lines of sym-
metry. The exterior of the large frog mold, Figure 4.5a, was inscribed with marks
indicating the position of the frog's main elements (eye, legs, mouth); secondary
iconographic elements (beans, com, aji peppers) were not included, suggesting
that they were not integral to the essential identification of the subject matter. The
line indicating the location of the frog's mouth runs off the leading edge of the
mold; the opposing counterpart mold (now missing) was probably inscribed with
the continuation and termination of the mouth line. Such a line served as a regis-
ter mark aiding in mold alignment.
A similar register mark is visible in Figure 4.5b, showing a mold that creates
the left side of a human face. The mold terminates in the front along the face's
axis of vertical symmetry (between the eyes and down the nose ridge) and along
the side of the head just behind the ear, suggesting that the finished portrait head
was made using at least three (or perhaps four) separate molds (two for the face
and one or two for the backside of the head). The exterior of the mold has a crude
circle corresponding to the interior location of the eye, and a horizontal line run-
ning across the bridge of the nose. The horizontal incision shows no point of ter-
mination and surely continued to the right side counterpart, forming a point of
alignment for the two mold halves.
Register marks can appear alone or in combination with pictorial align-
ments. Although examples of horizontal register marks in the Cerro Mayal
sample are relatively few, their technical purpose seems self evident.
Figure 4.5. Molds with register marks on their edges. (a) large "Frog Mold" (#181-14). insert
shows interior image; (b) portrait vessel mold (#194-15).
Pictorial Notations
Both pictorial alignment marks and register marks can be seen as directly
related to the ceramic production process, even though they may also refer to spe-
cific attributes of particular characters being depicted. A third type of marking found
on Cerro Mayal's molds is more abstractly notational. This type of inscription

generally consists of small diagrammatic images whose pictorial content bears
little or no direct resemblance to the imagery on the mold's interior. Neither do
the images seem related to any technical feature of the manufacture process.
Instead, these last seem to replicate, in abbreviated form, images conceptually
linked to the larger iconographic repertoire and/or other abstract concepts.
A case in point is the mold shown in Figure 4.6a. It produced a double cham-
bered rattle, similar to that shown alongside in Figure 4.6b. The mold interior is
smooth. A rattle produced in this mold would have clean lines with no impressed
relief designs or images. The exterior inscription, however, is quite unexpected; it
does not depict a rattle. Instead, it depicts someone playing a rattle (Figure 4.6c).
The mold is fragmentary (the inscribed figure's head is missing), but certain
details are evident. The figure's feet are shown in profile, the figure's right arm
extends perpendicular to the body and the hand grasps a slender object that
appears to be a handle (probably a rattle handle). As is typical of Moche artistic
canons governing profile figures, the subject's upper body is depicted frontally,
even though its meant to be read as a profile. The triangle between the legs indi-
cates the droop of a loincloth, a male garment, while a horizontal line at the waist
corresponds to the upper limit of the loincloth and the lower edge of the custom-
ary shirt tunic. Just below where the head would be, the figure's chest displays a
zigzag motif characteristic of high status individuals who wear fancy headdresses
secured by zigzag-decorated chinstraps. Such a chinstrap is worn by the musician
in Figure 4.6d.
Although particular costume elements are often linked to well-defined social
roles and events, one suspects that the connection here is between the object and
its future ceremonial use, rather than between the object and the social role of the
person who will use it. This suggestion is based on the fact that rattle players in
Moche imagery are not necessarily always shown wearing the zigzag chinstrap
and loincloth, nor is the role of rattle player determined by gender (Figure 4.7).
The Cerro Mayal sample includes examples of both males and females holding
rattles who wear various kinds of attire (see Jackson 2000: fig. 2.10).
The inscription may function instead as a metonymic reference to a specific
action or event [Note 4]. It is even possible that the connection was conceptually
similar to linguistic ordering. At one point in Arte de la lengua yunga, a Colonial
grammar describing Muchic, the north coast language, Fernando de la Carrera
describes what is essentially a derivative relationship between verbs and nouns,
where verbs were created from nouns. He writes that the verb phrase "I dream" was
created by use of an appended noun phrase which translates literally as "I am a
dream" [Note 5]. A linguistically tied pictorial notation could function in a similar
manner; for example, the verb phrase "I rattle" might have been constructed of a
noun phrase "I am a rattle" (e.g., an interpretive conflation of object and function).
Linguistic connections cannot be consistently demonstrated, however,
because many inscriptions are simply too far removed from presently available
Figure 4.6. (a) Rattle mold with "Rattle Player" inscription; (b) double-chambered rattle from Cerro
Mayal; (c) drawing of "Rattle Player" inscription; (d) elaborately dressed musician figure (Museo
Nacional de Antropologfa e Arqueologfa, Lima).
Figure 4.7. Rattle Players. (a) Male in elaborate dress holding double-chambered rattle (Field
Museum #100072, Chicago); (b) "Priestess Entranced," hollow figurine (Cerro Mayal); (c) Male
rattle players, small figurines (Cerro Mayal).

data. One enigmatic example, in Figure 4.8a-b, is a peculiarly shaped mold pro-
ducing an image situated on the interior of a concave vessel. A relatively rare theme
in Moche art, it depicts a female contorted into a posture of giving birth, with the
newborn's upside-down, crowning head visible at bottom. Figure 4.8c shows a
similar bowl, but unbroken, showing a woman in an attitude of parturition.
Nevertheless, the mold's exterior inscription is entirely different from the
interior theme. Instead of any pictorial reference to the interior image, the inscrip-
tion shows a double-chambered rattle with a long umbilicus-like tailor tassel-
cord attached, identical to those being held by the Rattle Players in Figure 4.7.
Even more intriguing is the fact that the rattle inscription in Figure 4.8 is not an
isolated symbol, as demonstrated by a second mold fragment (Figure 4.9) from
Cerro Mayal. The molds' exterior markings in Figure 4.9 are almost identical to
those in Figure 4.8. Unfortunately, the interior imagery produced by the second
mold is not recognizable. We can only determine that the mold clearly does not
produce a rattle. Instead, the form produced is cylindrical, with a single extension
emerging from one comer, devoid of any markings or impressions.
What is the connection between a woman giving birth and a double cham-
bered rattle? And how should the second example be interpreted? Explanations of
these images are speculative. It may be that the double-chambered rattle is con-
ceptually linked to fertility rituals, perhaps to shamanism, or it may be linked to
the musical iconographic complex in some other conceptual fashion. Close read-
ing of linguistic sources does not uncover any vocabulary for words such as
"birth," "fertility," "rattle," "to give birth," "to play music," "to make sound," or
any such related concept [Note 6]. Thus, it is impossible to know if perhaps a
homophonic (rebus) or other linguistic connection existed. It may be that the double-
chambered rattle was conceptually linked to the act of giving birth. Perhaps the
rattle form, with its long umbilicus tail, was a metaphor for the uterus itself. With
so many variables, this is a question that remains open to further study. But,
regardless of how one interprets the image, it seems clear that this type of inscrip-
tion is not connected in any literal sense to the imagery of the object produced by
the mold. The meaning is much more complex. Instead, the imagery has been
consciously, deliberately used to denote abstract cultural references.
Pictorial notations on mold exteriors have other variants. Inscriptions of what
I have termed a "ritual vessel assemblage" motif are found on a group of molds
mostly related to bottle production (Figure 4.10; see Jackson, 2000: fig. 1.2) [Note
7]. No two molds produced the same interior imagery, yet all have the same motifs
inscribed on their exterior. Recognizable as ceramic forms by their distinctive
silhouettes, the inscriptions show stirrup spout bottles and hourglass-shaped
"florero" vases drawn in minimal detail and lined up in a row.
The quick, abbreviated lines of the inscriptions are analogous to those seen
in painted imagery, as for example in Figure 4.11. These motifs are most often
associated with death scenes and offering rituals (see Benson, 1972: 138). Moche
Figure 4.8. (a) "Birth Bowl" mold (#8570-1); (b) drawing of exterior mold inscriptions;
(c) similar, unbroken "Birth Bowl" (Lavalle 1986).
Figure 4.9. (a) Mold with "Double-chambered Rattle" inscription (#8338-1); (b) drawing of mold
#8338-1; (c) drawing of similar inscription on "Birth Bowl" mold (#8570-1).
artists had well established visual precedents for depicting this type of ritual ves-
sel in minimal form. Stirrup-spout bottles, floreros, and the like were emblematic.
They functioned as icons in their own right and as references to the spirit world,
the preparation of the dead for funeral, or the practice of making funerary offerings.
Therefore, again, the mold inscriptions do not carry a literal correspondence to that
which the mold produces, but instead refer to abstract ideological constructs. The
"ritual vessel assemblage" motif reads as specifically tied to a particular social
moment. For whatever social value they may have had, floreros and stirrup spout
vessels functioned as independent signs referring to a complex ideological cluster
that was socially widespread and well understood by the artists. As in the previous
...
~
f...
.~...
Figure 4.10. Molds with "ritual vessel assemblage" inscriptions. (a) vessel body mold (# 197-19) with
"Geometric Snake" motif interior; (b) mold (#125-4) ~
with "Female with Braids" interior imagery; (c) vessel body mold (#108-9) with low relief humans on
interior; (d) bottle mold (#138-19) with "Rolling ~
Wave" motif interior; e) jar mold (#8714-2) with tab handles, no interior imagery. =
~
~
:3.
=.
1:1
IrQ
5'
gfo
~
~
~
Figure 4.11. Bottles with painted vessel assemblages. (a) seated figure with stirrup spout bottle, paired
gourd bowls and f1orero (from Berrin 1997:
fig. 74); (b) woman and skeleton with f1orero, wrapped copper squares, stirrup spout and strap handle
bottles (from Benson 1972: fig. 6-11). ~
~

example, the mold inscriptions do not carry a literal correspondence to that which
the mold produces, but instead refer to abstract ideological constructs.
One final cohort of mold inscriptions has no obvious pictographic references
at all. Typically connected with face stamp molds (Figure 4.12), these are
Figure 4.12. Molds with geometric "Textile Pattern" inscriptions (Cerro Mayal).

completely geometric, comprised of zigzags, triangles and abbreviated step-frets.
Their motifs are strongly reminiscent of textile patterns, particularly patterns seen
on warriors' tunics and belts. It is possible that the geometric motifs' significance
may have been based in textile patterning that was, itself, given meaning through
association with specific persons or offices. Throughout Andean art we find indi-
cations that textiles were emblematic of a person's rank, ethnicity, and place of
origin [Note 8]. Moche ceramic images showing people holding tunics for display
or as offerings suggest that this was also true in the north coast valleys (see, for
example, Berrin 1997: plate 77, with comments by Benson, p. 138). Thus, the
geometric motifs may have served to identify the persons depicted by the molds.
By extension it can also be suggested that these molds were associated with a par-
ticular vessel type, the globular jar, which was itself associated with ritual feast-
ing. Thus, the meaning of the inscriptions may have been abstractly linked to
particular persons and social moments. In addition to the inscriptions mentioned
here, the Cerro Mayal sample included various others. Some were so fragmented
that they proved to be beyond interpretation.
It seems clear that a significant number of mold inscriptions were not con-
nected in any technological or literal sense to the imagery of the objects produced
by the molds. Instead, their meaning came as a result of complex distillations of
well understood associations. Whether linguistically motivated or conceptually
tied to culturally resonant moments, imagery appears to have been consciously,
deliberately used to denote abstract cultural references. As such, this third cate-
gory of inscriptions can only be regarded in terms of pictorial notation.
OCCUPATIONAL LITERACY
It is important to note that similar inscriptions appear on more than one
mold. If the inscriptions were only isolated examples it would be a simple thing
to dismiss them as oddities. But because there are groups of molds having essen-
tially the same inscriptions, they must be addressed in terms of their intentional
notational value. It may be that these markings represent examples of a type of
Moche iconic abbreviation that, in fact, communicated specific information
through a system of recognizable signs.
If mold inscriptions functioned within the workshop to signal specific infor-
mation (technological or other), we can assume that most of the potters working
there understood the significance of the markings. Today, this is called "occupa-
tionalliteracy," where workers of a certain kind develop and learn to read the spe-
cialized signs and signals intrinsic to their jobs (Rush et aI., 1986). Occupational
literacy is created in the workplace out of need by the specific community that
uses it. It may be common only to a single community or it may be used by
other communities engaged in similar activities. In terms of viewing Moche

iconography as a coherent symbol system, it is particularly significant that simi-
lar markings are present on ceramic molds from the workshop at Huaca de la
Luna in the Moche Valley (Armas et al. 1993; Uceda et al. 1997). It implies that
Cerro Mayal's notational forms were not an isolated phenomenon and may
actually have been widespread among a particular class of artisans.
In general, the workshop at Huaca de la Luna produced pots that were very
similar to those produced at Cerro Mayal. The Huaca de la Luna workshop made
the same general form categories, such as jars, bottles, fIoreros and figurines, as
well as many of the same motifs, animals, warriors, fanged deities and the like.
The production technique employed at Huaca de la Luna seems to have closely
paralleled Cerro Mayal in terms of using combinations of hand-building and
mold-making techniques. Significantly, the ceramic workshop at Huaca de la
Luna produced molds whose inscriptions can be roughly divided into the same
three categories as those of Cerro Mayal: pictorial alignments, register marks, and
abstract signs.
Examples of pictorial alignment and register mark inscriptions from the
Huaca de la Luna workshop are similar in most respects to those of Cerro Mayal.
Inspection of extant molds suggests that the incisions were made while both
halves were in place. By this method the Huaca de la Luna workshop produced
human faces, owls, beasts, and sea lions. Like Cerro Mayal, moreover, Huaca de
la Luna's mold inscriptions include those that are abstract. For example, I
observed a mold producing the image of a person attired in high status regalia,
including shield, libret, club or staff, and large stepped-crescent headdress. This
mold has simply an abbreviated crescent headdress inscribed on the mold exte-
rior. Whoever the subject of the depiction may have been, it is clear that in the
mind of the artist he was reducible to this one sign, a royal crescent.
In a second example I observed in the Huaca de la Luna collections, a mold
produced a bird head. Its exterior, however, is inscribed with an image of a porra
or war club. As Moche war clubs are strong icons in their own right (see, for
example, Berrin 1997: 154), often functioning as metonymic references to the
warriors to whom they belonged, it is interesting to ask what connection a bird
head might have to a war club. This particular mold was one piece of a two-part
applique. Such an applique could have been used on a vessel by itself, but also
would have been integral to the construction of the elaborate bird-headed head-
dresses worn by high status individuals depicted in large scale portrait vessels
[Note 9]. In this context, as part of a larger construction, the war club would be
an appropriate visual reference to the overall composition. It signals a key ele-
ment in how visual notation may have been conceived by Moche craftsmen. The
war club icon was quite likely more than just symbolic of warriors. If used as an
abbreviated indicator of the ceramic composition's overall theme, of which the
bird head was only a part, the war club icon would function as a fully developed
abstract sign, far removed from any directly motivated connections.

That a form of occupational literacy existed among potters in the Chicama
and Moche Valleys is further suggested by the presence of signs common to both
workshops. The same type of "ritual vessel assemblage" inscriptions found at
Cerro Mayal, seen in Figure 4.10, were also found at Huaca de la Luna.
EMERGENT WRITING
Can it be that these findings signal a form of nascent or emergent writing?
In an important study of how writing arose in the ancient Near East, Denise
Schmandt-Besserat challenges the idea that all forms of writing evolved from pic-
torial drawings (a developmental model which she dubs the "Pictographic
Theory") (Schmandt-Besserat 1996: 4). As late as 1974 scholars such as I. J. Gelb
were still arguing the 18th century notion that scripts such as cuneiform began as
pictography [Note 10]. Yet, Schmandt-Besserat notes that the Widespread belief
that any written script will naturally begin pictorially and gradually evolve into a
more abstract form is not consistent with the archaeological data. She proposes
instead that the antecedent of phonetic writing, at least in the ancient Near East,
was actually a counting device [Note 11].
Schmandt-Besserat ties the use of tokens (small bits of modeled clay), that
evolved to meet the needs of an expanding economy, to the rise of social structures.
Tokens originally represented the concrete counting of physical objects. They later
evolved into complex tokens with inscriptions, punctates and sub-categories. More
than a simple one-to-one object correspondence, tokens represented an entirely
new level of abstraction. The conceptual leap was to endow each token shape with
a specific meaning. Thus, the token shapes became abstract signs.
Corresponding to the increase in bureaucracy, methods of storing Near
Eastern tokens in clay "envelopes" and archives were devised. Tokens enclosed
inside envelopes were represented by impressed markings on the exterior of the
envelopes. Scribes soon realized that actual tokens were not necessary, and the
hollow envelopes were replaced by solid tablets having markings alone. These
markings became a system of their own (Archaic Cuneiform) which developed to
include not only impressed markings but more legible signs traced with a pointed
stylus. Schmandt-Besserat makes a key point in noting that the substitution of
signs for tokens was a first step toward writing. She likened the systematized
inscriptions to "picture signs" or "pictographs" because they represented pictures
of the tokens used as counters in the accounting system (Schmandt-Besserat
1996: 7-8) [Note 12]. In an analogous way, the systematized inscriptions of the
Moche potters are also representations of pictures, that is, substitutions for larger
concepts.
In the Near East, alphabetic writing resulted from bureaucratic demands
and from the invention of abstract counting. While scribes invented ever more

efficient accounting methods, in the process they invented signs for cardinal num-
bers that were not linked to concrete counting systems, as they had been previ-
ously. As a byproduct the scribes were left with pictographs that could represent
objects independently from numerical accounting. In other words, writing came
as an offshoot of a technical development unrelated to narrative speech and unre-
lated to narrative picturing.
Schmandt-Besserat's tracing of the development of alphabetic writing is rel-
evant to the present study at several points. First, in challenging the dominant par-
adigm (the Pictographic Theory), she allows room for an exploration of other
mechanisms by which written forms might arise. In particular, by pointing out
that alphabetic script probably came about as the by-product of a social function
other than human narrative, she opens the way for the suggestion that notational
forms such as those seen in the Moche pottery workshops may have been both
technological by-products of occupational specialists, as well as the incipient
beginnings of a larger codified sign system. Second, in pinpointing the moment
that the conceptual leap from a one-to-one semasiography to a "pictographic" (or
"logographic") system occurred in the Near East (scribes making "pictographic"
notations of tokens), she identifies a key distinction that is paralleled in the
Moche mold inscriptions presented here: Moche mold inscriptions generally rep-
resent pictures of cultural icons whose meanings were well understood by the
system's practitioners.
One might conjecture that it was only a matter of time before the craftsmen
might have dispensed with the ceramic objects altogether, to use the signs alone.
And yet, they never did. Although the potters seem to have developed a codified
system of visual notation, the social institutions surrounding feasting, gift reci-
procity, and other ritual activities would continue to demand the production of
certain kinds of objects, including fancy pots.
CONCLUSION
What, then, can we conclude when we begin to see evidence of abstract
signs and occupational literacy in workshops such as Cerro Maya!? The evidence
points to a system of pictorial notation in use among occupational specialists.
Under the circumstances, however, given the larger ritual functions of specialized
pots in Moche society, one would not expect the notational system to replace the
actual objects in production.
The question of "emergent writing" among the Moche implies that Moche
"picture signs" would have eventually evolved into an alphabet akin to other
known glottographic scripts. At the moment, based on the data from Cerro Mayal,
no solid evidence exists that they were "emerging," in an evolutionary sense, into
anything other than what I have already suggested, a specialized visual notational

system. Cerro Mayal was a workshop of relatively little time depth and the mate-
rials from the site do not provide enough evidence of change over time to sub-
stantiate an assertion of "emergent writing." Schmandt-Besserat's model is based
on a large data sample spanning a huge region and thousands of years. No such
archaeologically secure data sample exists for the Moche region, making asser-
tions of change over time and "emergence" presently untenable. Discovery of a
data sample with greater time depth may, however, provide for a reassessment of
this point at some future time.
The fact that the inscriptions occur in relatively few numbers is not the con-
cern of the present study, but rather, that they occur at all seems remarkable. It
appears that the artists who created the imagery thought of the various themes and
related concepts in terms of set visual phrases. Icons representing specific con-
ceptual compounds constituted abstract signs. Signs, once abbreviated and placed
into circulation among a comparatively closed group, communicated particular
information autodidactically. Therefore, based on the archaeological evidence
presented here, it seems clear that a system of visual notation existed among
ceramic specialists. Although the Moche never developed what we would recog-
nize as alphabetic writing, their use of visual symbols, standardized to the point
of functioning as signs, points toward what can convincingly be termed "proto-
writing."
Acknowledgments
Scholarship and fieldwork for this project have been supported, in part, by
the Fulbright LLE. program, the National Resource Fellowship, Edward A.
Dickson Fellowship and UCLA's Latin American Center. Special thanks go to
Dr. Glenn Russell, Banks L. Leonard, Jesus Briceno, Dr. Santiago Uceda, and the
Instituto Nacional de Cultura of Trujillo, Peru. Portions of this paper were initially
presented at the the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology
under the title, "Moche Iconography at Cerro Mayal, Peru" (Seattle, 1998).
Notes
I. The term "banded mouth" refers to the practice of depicting the lips as a continuous band encir-
cling the mouth. The term is most often seen in connection with descriptions of Chavin and
Cupisnique period artwork (see Rowe 1967; Roe 1982).
2. For more on Fox Messengers see Benson (1972:48-51) and Donnan (1978: 74-76). We can infer
that birds and owls were thought of as messengers from the spirit world from the care and redun-
dancy with which Father Carrera questions the Indians about their beliefs and idolatrous prac-
tices. As part of confession, they are specifically asked, "Ecaprecoz xllom precna pren frepi~rer,
fiaiiissap~ren, pucu, fiii, pocpoc, licaprecoz mcecha, macharec, pong, echallo?" [phonetic font
problem: the letter following the first c in macharec should be an inverted h] Translated in its most

literal form this means, "Do you think for certain [believe] in your dreams, in bird, owl, bird of
foretelling [omens], bird of foretelling [omens), are you in the habit of [accustomed to) worship,
sacred place/object of worship [huacalidol], [special] stone, or other thing?" Phrased more collo-
quially this would be, "Do you believe in your dreams, in birds, in owls, in bird omens? Do you
worship huacas, idols, stones or other things?" (Carrera 1939: 75, supplementary vocabulary,
pp. 68-74; translations mine).
3. Moche corollaries can be seen in various painted images with linear elements terminating in
"snake" heads (belts, ropes, hair braids, rainbows, etc.) and in mural imagery. Here I am thinking
of the standing figure at Huaca de La Luna whose arms terminate in curvilinear elements with
bird head motifs (Mackey and Hastings 1982), as well as the "Personaje Menor" in the
Decapitator mural cycle described by Uceda et al. (1994, 1998: fig. 6; see also Campana and
Morales 1997). While kenning denotes the standard use of a descriptive phrase in place of the
ordinary name for something, it is a type of periphrasis closely related to metonymy, synecdoche,
and the use of salient descriptive features of the referenced object as a substitute for naming.
Although there is some amount of controversy in various disciplines concerning these terms,
"kenning" is a Norse literary trope most often associated with the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf,
and other Old Germanic language oral traditions (Abrams 1993: 69).
4. Metonymy is a trope where the literal term for one thing is applied to another with which it is
closely associated because of contiguity in common experience. For example, "crown" or
"scepter" stand for "king" (see Abrams 1993: 68-69). The use of periphrasic tropes is common
in oral cultures because of the heavy dependence on stereotyped expression and mnemonic visu-
alization as a means of remembering.
5. Carrera (1939: 52-53) writes "frep, es el sueiio, y es nombre substantivo, y junto con la particula
eiii, que es parte del verbo substantivo, dice: frepeiii, que en rigor dice: yo soy sueiio; yentienden
los indios este romance, como de verbo, yo sueiio; caxll, significa los orines, y junto con el verbo,
rez din! caxllrez, que dice en rigor, tu eres orines, y entienden el romance, como de verbo,
tu orinas ..." Distinction between sueiio "to dream" and sueiio "the act of sleeping" is based on
comparative language sources (Schumacher de Peiia 1991: 51).
6. In Muchic, the word "pregnant" (preiiada) was listed by Lehmann as kuoiiiaN [phonetic font
problem: the 0 is a raised circle] with an alternate spelling of kuiiiang [phonetic font problem: the
ui has an upside down arc uniting them; ng should be a single symbol] and by Middendorf as
kufin = kuin [phonetic font problem: there should be a little circle over the u in kuin] (cited in
Schumacher de Peiia 1991:48). The term for "child" was listed by Larco as iiiin (cited in Carrera
1939: xvi by Radames Altieri, editor), inviting speculation about a linguistic relationship between
pregnancy and children.
7. Images of typical ritual or funerary assemblages often include stirrup spout bottles, hourglass-
shaped floreros and tall globular jars.
8. In the Andes particular textile designs correlated to specific geographic locations, huacas, and/or
specific people (see Zuidema 1982: 446, citing Albomoz, Betanzos and Molina).
9. An excellent example is shown on the cover of The Spirit ofAncient Peru (Berrin 1997). From
the Larco Herrera collection in Lima, the large portrait head stirrup spout bottle on the book cover
wears a headdress with a rolled band around the forehead having two sculpturally modeled pro-
truding bird heads which could only have been made from multiple part appliques.
10. Schmandt-Besserat cites Gelb (1974) as essentially repeating an idea unchallenged for over two
hundred years. Originally put forward by William Warburton, in Divine Legation ofMoses, pub-
lished in London in 1738, Warburton's original comments were based upon his observations of
Egyptian, Chinese and Aztec manuscripts which were, in those times, considered "primitive" by
definition (see Schmandt-Besserat 1996: 4).
II. Schmandt-Besserat (1996: 6) writes that "the first 'pictographic' tablets at Uruk are out of step
with other socioeconomic developments [coming very late in the sequence] ... Ifwriting emerged
so late it could not have played a role in state formation."
12. Although Schmandt-Besserat calls them "pictographs," scholars such as Geoffrey Sampson
(1985: 59) would call them "Iogographs." This discrepancy of terms points out a strong need for
a clarification of key vocabulary, as the differences in word usage may cause disagreements
between scholars where none need necessarily exist. For example, Schmandt-Besserat uses words
like "writing" to mean visible marks that directly reflect spoken sounds. Semasiographic systems
(which would include the token system) would not be considered "writing." Schmandt-Besserat
uses words like "sign" and "symbol" in a way that is directly at odds with how semioticians like
Charles Peirce define them. For Peirce (1985: 4-23), the word "sign" is an overarching designa-
tion, "something that stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity"-a sweep-
ing concept comprised of a triadic sub-division of icons, indices, and symbols. For
Schmandt-Besserat signs are a subcategory of symbols. Schmandt-Besserat (1996:89) writes that,
"Symbols are things whose special meaning allows us to conceive, express, and communicate
ideas ... Signs are a subcategory of symbols ... they carry precise and unambiguous information."
While I disagree that signs are a subcategory of symbols, in the context of the present study and
in general, I use the words "symbol" and "sign" to distinguish between those forms whose mean-
ings are presentational (vague or interpretive) and those that are discursive (precise or specific).
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Chapter 5
Chachapoya Iconography and
Society at Laguna de los
C6ndores, Peru
ADRIANA VON HAGEN
INTRODUCTION
Explorers and researchers have documented distinctive Chachapoya-style
architecture and pottery across a wide swath of the northeastern Peruvian Andes.
The Chachapoya area lies sandwiched between the Marafion River to the west
and north, the Huallaga River to the east, and is bordered to the south by Pias. It
covers some 155,000 square kilometers (Figure 5.1). The land ofthe Chachapoya
encompassed a range of ecosystems: the tropical forest along the Maraiion, the
windswept jalca or high grasslands, the temperate highland valleys ideally suited
for potato cultivation and the ceja de selva, or tropical montane wet forest flank-
ing the easternmost cordillera of the Andes. In the words of an early writer, the
land of the Chachapoya was a "very rugged and wet land, all year it does nothing
but rain, and for this reason the Indians build their houses on the summits and
heights" (Primeros Agustinos 1916: 56). The name Chachapoya, in fact, may be
a corruption of the Inca (Quechua) name for the province called Chachapoyas:
sacha (tree) and puyu (cloud) which can be roughly translated as "cloud forest."
This is an apt description for much of the Chachapoya territory [Note 1].
The Chachapoya, whose territory straddled gateways (called entradas in the
Colonial literature) to the eastern lowlands, may have served as intermediaries in
exchange systems, bartering lowland forest products for highland produce and
goods. At various times in Andean prehistory the Chachapoya interacted with cul-
tures living to the west of the Maranon-as seen, for example, in pottery influenced
137
138
o
EXTENT OF CHACHAPOYA CULTURAl

I FlUENCE
CHACHAPOYA ARCHAEOlOGICAL
SITES
MODERN TOWNS AND cmES
IVVEAS
DEPARn.£/fT BOUNDARY
•
"'\....---.
Adriana von Hagen
Figure 5.1. Map of the Chachapoya cultural area (credit: Adriana von Hagen).
by the Cajamarca tradition. At other times the Chachapoya appear to have flour-
ished in relative isolation. Although the Chachapoya played a part in the greater
Andean cultural sphere, their art and architecture conveys a bold, independent spirit
that sets them apart from their neighbors.
A Chachapoya identity appears to have coalesced around AD 800 and to
have lasted through the Inca conquest. Understanding of late prehispanic
Chachapoya prehistory-the subject of this chapter-remains fragmentary
Chachapoya Iconography and Society 139

despite over a century of exploration including recent archaeological research.
Particularly detrimental to archaeologists' attempts to reconstruct ancient
Chachapoya society is the widespread looting of burial sites and poor preserva-
tion in an area of extremely high rainfall. In 1997, however, looters led archaeol-
ogists to an extraordinary Chachapoya-Inca burial site perched high above
Laguna de los C6ndores, in the department of San Martin, northeastern Peru (von
Hagen and Guillen 1998; von Hagen 2000).
Rescue archaeology at the plundered tombs and studies of the mummies are
revealing differences in burial patterns and the ways in which the Chachapoya
and the Incas prepared their dead for the afterlife. Studies of the burial offerings
are disclosing new aspects of the little known Chachapoya art style, exposing pre-
viously unrecorded iconography on perishable items such as gourds and textiles
with in situ context. At the same time, more recent excavations and mapping at
Llaqtacocha, a residential site near the lake (Guillen 2000), will enable us to
sketch a much fuller picture of Inca rule in a rebellious area on the eve of the
Spanish invasion.
In this chapter I present a brief overview of Chachapoya cultural history and
the Inca conquest of the region, followed by a description of the excavations
at Laguna de los C6ndores, and then an examination of aspects of the newly
discovered iconography from this site.
CHACHAPOYA SETTLEMENTS OF THE LIVING AND DEAD
Chachapoya settlements ranged in size from more than 400 structures at
Kuelap, one of the largest known sites (Narvaez 1988), to sites with 30 or fewer
structures (Muscutt 1998; Schjellerup 1997). Settlement planning is characterized
by its organic design, with sites following the terrain in a random pattern. The sit-
ing of Chachapoya settlements along ridges and on the tops of mountains served
not only a defensive purpose but also minimized damage from heavy rainfall and
maximized drainage.
Circular stone houses dominate the majority of settlements. These houses
range in diameter from 4 to 10 m and were once topped with conical, thatched
roofs. While circular houses are not unique in the ancient Andes, those of the
Chachapoya stand out because they are decorated with intricate geometric friezes
and figurative stone mosaic friezes such as those embellishing several structures at
Gran Pajaten (Church 1999; Savoy 1970). Houses were built of limestone masonry
set in mud mortar plastered within and without (few traces of the original plaster
remain); some houses may have been painted. Cornices surrounded or were set in
a half moon around the houses, protecting the foundations from rainfall.
Interiors were often decorated with deer antlers or tenoned human and feline
heads fashioned in stone, but few of these remain in situ. Single entryways led
140 Adriana von Hagen

into the houses, which contained few, if any, windows. The floors of Chachapoya
houses were prepared with layers of clay and small stones to isolate the floors
from humidity. Some settlements had elaborate drainage systems.
In addition to its distinctive architectural style, Chachapoya culture is also
notable for its hard-to-reach tombs clinging to cliffs and perched under rock over-
hangs. The Chachapoya located their cemeteries near settlements. Burial patterns
include groups of clay sarcophagi containing individual interments, a pattern typ-
ifying the northern Chachapoyas cultural tradition. To the south the Chachapoya
favored above ground burial structures known as chullpas, accommodating one
or many individuals. Some chullpas are embellished-like the houses of the
living-with plaster and paint, friezes, deer antlers and at times with elaborately
carved wooden figures attached to the roof.
THE INCA CONQUEST

Spanish chroniclers described the Chachapoya as a loose confederation of
culturally related peoples who allied in times of war (Cieza de Leon 1959;
Garcilaso de la Vega 1966). The Inca conquest of the Chachapoya, which began
around AD 1470, is said to have been "attended by great bloodshed ... and cost
the Incas many men, partly because of the rugged and difficult nature of the land,
and partly because the people were so spirited and warlike" (Garcilaso de la Vega
1966: 478, 480).
Despite its broken terrain and rebellious people, the region's human and
natural resources must have been very attractive to the Incas, who invested
considerable time and effort in conquering the region and in quashing several
subsequent uprisings. As part of their policy toward conquered peoples, the Incas
dispatched Chachapoya as mitrnaq to other parts of the empire (Espinoza 1967;
Schjellerup 1997). By some accounts (Espinoza 1967; Lerche 1995), the Incas
removed as much as fifty percent of the Chachapoya population, resettling the
region with colonists, including Chupaychu, Lucana, Wanka, and peoples from
Cajamarca, Lambayeque, Ferrenafe, and Sana (Schjellerup 1997).
Long before the Incas, the strategic location of the land of the Chachapoya,
which straddled zones with access to tropical forest products, fostered long-
distance exchange networks among peoples living on the coast and in the high-
lands to the west and in the upper montane forest and tropical lowlands to the east
(Church 1994). Early Spanish documents speak of rich gold mines (Schjellerup
1997), but the Incas, and no doubt earlier peoples, probably valued the area more
as a source of coca, medicinal and hallucinogenic plants and herbs, honey and
beeswax, cacao and wild vanilla, vegetal dyes, animal pelts, the hardwood of the
chonta palm, feather cloth, and the feathers of tropical birds used to decorate high-
status textiles. Importantly, the Chilchos controlled access to several gateways to

the eastern lowlands (Lerche 1995; Schjellerup 1997). The intense Inca presence
in the Chilchos valley to the north, at Laguna de los C6ndores, and in the
Huabayacu watershed, the southern boundary of Chilchos territory (Lerche 1995,
1999,2000; Muscutt 1998; Schjellerup 1997, 1998), points to keen Inca interest in
areas with access to tropical lowland resources.
THE CHULLPAS AT LAGUNA DE LOS CONDORES

Laguna de los C6ndores lies in the heart of territory once occupied by the
Chilchos people, a group of ayllus that formed part of the Chachapoya confederacy-
like polity (Espinoza 1967; Lerche 1995; Schjellerup 1997; Urton 2001). The
Chilchos inhabited the area east of Leymebamba and northeast of Bolivar,
between the Huabayacu and Chilchos rivers, both tributaries of the Huayabamba
that flows into the Huallaga.
In 1997 Sonia Guillen and I investigated a Chachapoya-Inca burial site,
known as LC1, tucked into a narrow ledge 100m above Laguna de los C6ndores
(Guillen 1999; von Hagen and Guillen 1998; von Hagen 2000). This site, com-
posed of six intact chullpas and the foundations of a seventh (Figure 5.2), is one of
18 burial sites we have documented on the limestone cliffs looming above Laguna
de los C6ndores (Guillen 1999). Although the ranch hands who had discovered the
burial site in late 1996 churned through the tombs, slashing mummy bundles with
machetes and destroying valuable contextual information, we recovered more than
Figure 5.2. Plan of the chullpas at Laguna de los Condores (credit: Adriana von Hagen).

200 mummy bundles and a wide array of burial offerings dating to the
Chachapoya (ca. AD 800-1470), Chachapoya-Inca (ca. 1470-1532) and Early
Colonial (ca. 1532-1570) periods. The remarkable preservation of the organic
remains from the Laguna de los C6ndores burial sites is extremely unusual in an
area of high rainfall.
Many of the burials and their offerings date to the Inca occupation of the
area, including some 30 khipu. Not only are these khipu the first to have been dis-
covered in the humid, montane forest, but they also are some of the few extant
khipu with provenience (Urton 2001). The architecture of the chullpas, built of
limestone masonry set in mud mortar, and decorated with geometric stone friezes
and embellished with red and yellow paint, as well as the pictographs adorning
the cliff wall, however, are Chachapoya. It is interesting to note that several of the
pictographs on the cliff wall are covered by the chullpas, indicating earlier use of
the ledge, probably as a burial site, since Chachapoya tomb sites are invariably
adorned by pictographs (Muscutt 1998). At the same time, excavations in the area
in front of the chullpas uncovered hearths with the remains of charred camelid,
fish, and human bones (Guillen 1999). Some of the chullpas' front walls partly
cover these hearths, again indicating earlier use of the site.
The chullpas' builders took advantage of a natural ledge, 45 m long and 5 m
wide, in the limestone cliff (Figure 5.2). The tombs are nestled against the cliff,
which serves as their back wall. The builders modified the ledge by leveling the
floor and carving smaller ledges into the cliff onto which they built low masonry
walls set in mud that supported the back roofs of the chullpas. These roofs are
composed of thick, roughly hewn wooden planks. Each tomb is about 3 m high
and divided into two levels by a platform of small logs. The structures are roughly
quadrangular in shape and built of limestone blocks set in mud mortar. Four of
them-Chullpas 2, 4, 5, and 6---are plastered and painted in shades of white as well
as in red and yellow ochre, while a zigzag stone frieze adorns Chullpas 2 and 6.
Deer antlers protruded from either side of the window of Chullpa 6.
All the chullpas face the lake and an ancient settlement that snakes down the
ridge of a moraine on the northern shore, which we named Llaqtacocha, or town-
on-the-lake. Ancient Andean peoples often regarded lakes as places of origin and
lakes feature in several Andean origin myths (Sherbondy 1982; Urton 1999). The
lake is the largest in the Chilchos homeland. No doubt it featured in the sacred
geography of the Chilchos, who may have regarded it as their paqarina, or place
of origin. The lake's strategic location-straddling a gateway to the eastern low-
lands-also may have imbued it with special powers. When the Incas conquered
the area they appropriated the Chilchos-Chachapoya burial sites, thereby physi-
cally and spiritually usurping sacred sites overlooking a venerated lake, so that
their ancestors would have power and control over the paqarina of the Chilchos.
The settlement's approximately 130 mostly circular structures were home to
the people interred in the chullpas, although we do not rule out the possibility that

people may have been brought from elsewhere for burial at Laguna de los
C6ndores. Mapping and excavations at Llaqtacocha in 1999 revealed
Chachapoya, Inca, and possibly Colonial architectural remains covering some
33 ha, as well as fragments of Chachapoya and provincial Inca pottery, indicating
that Llaqtacocha and the burial sites overlooking the lake are contemporary
(Guillen 2000).
Chullpa 1 stands some 10m apart from the others, although a wooden,
balcony-like construction, part of which collapsed in antiquity, connects it to the
roof of Chullpa 2. There too, the builders modified the cliff face, creating a ledge
onto which they built a low stone wall from which they cantilevered the beams of
the upper balcony. The remains of a lower balcony are also visible beneath the
upper one; it collapsed under the weight of a stone dislodged from the cliff wall,
probably during an earthquake. Such cantilevered balcony-tombs are known from
other parts of Chachapoya territory (Muscutt 1998; Savoy 1970), and we recorded
similar constructions on the cliffs below and above the chullpas.
We believe that LCI served as a Chachapoya burial site long before the
Inca colonized the area. Preliminary evidence suggests that the Incas removed
the earlier Chachapoya burials they found at LCI and relocated them in Chullpas
1 and 3 (both of which are hastily built, later additions lacking plaster and paint
and embellishments such as friezes or deer antlers. Chullpa 3, for example, has
only one wall, wedged between Chullpas 2 and 4). The Incas then reused the
more elaborate chullpas built by the Chachapoya as tombs for their people, a mix
that probably included Cusco bureaucrats and mitmaq as well as local lords and
their kin. In Chullpa 1 we recovered the skeletal remains of approximately
200 individuals (S. Guillen, personal communication, 2000). Because Chullpa 1
did not contain mummy bundles and because its roof was covered in part by
the collapsed beams of the upper balcony, this burial structure escaped the
plunder.
In contrast to the other chullpas, which contained flexed, embalmed bodies
wrapped in several layers of cloth, the human remains from Chullpa 1 consist
mainly of disarticulated skeletons and a few burials placed in baskets. Many of
the bones had been painted red, probably with cinnabar. And unlike the mummy
bundles in the other chullpas, which were stacked on two levels inside the burial
structures, the excavations in Chullpa 1 revealed no pattern to the disposition of
the disarticulated human remains. Indeed, the bones appear to have been tossed
somewhat unceremoniously into Chullpa 1. We found pottery scattered among
the bones, mainly Chachapoya as well as Chachapoya-Inca and provincial Inca
ware, which may have fallen from the upper balcony when it collapsed. In addi-
tion, the excavations revealed decorated and non-decorated hollow bamboo
containers, whose function we have yet to determine, and an extraordinary pyro-
engraved gourd whose imagery, we believe, reflects the religious cosmology of
the Chachapoya before the Inca conquest.
144
CHACHAPOYAICONOGRAPHY
Adriana von Hagen
Although we found close to fifty decorated gourds at the site, the imagery
and workmanship of the gourd from Chullpa 1 is unique. The gourd is missing a
few pieces and is quite fragile, but enough remains to reconstruct its iconography.
It is a bottle-shaped gourd, about 17 cm high and 14.5 cm in diameter. There is a
band, about 3 cm high, near the top of the gourd composed of a pyro-engraved
eye-like pattern, similar to the eyes of the felines in the bottom panel. (I use the
term "feline" somewhat loosely since some of the figures appear to be hybrid
animals or composites of humans and animals.) The bottom half of the gourd
is covered by a 6 cm-high band arrayed with pyro-engraved figures forming a
complex scene (Figure 5.3).
The scene is composed of five main figures, distinguished in the rollout
illustration by letters A-E, running from left to right. A distinct line separates
Figure A from Figure E. The scene appears to illustrate a narrative of some sort,
perhaps a Chachapoya myth. The protagonists in this narrative or myth are rep-
resented by the half-human, half-animal beings (shamans?) that featured in the
local religious cosmology, possibly engaged in transforming themselves into
felines, their supernatural alter egos [Note 2].
Figure A is an upside-down feline with a fanged mouth, a circle on its snout
and on its ankle, and a tail that ends in a feline head. It clutches a smaller animal.
Figure B, a goggle-eyed, anthropomorphic figure with splayed arms and wearing
earspools, follows A. Figure B's lower half-apparent when Figure B is turned
upside down-seems to be some sort of feline, judging by the rounded ears, the
fanged teeth and the zigzag markings on the tail-like appendages that emerge
from its head to become either the arms or forelegs of the lower figure or the legs
of the anthropomorphic figure above it. These zigzag markings also appear on the
tails of the other felines. These zigzag markings could also refer to those found
on snakes. Accordingly, the tails portrayed on the gourd, although they end in
feline heads, may serve as metaphoric serpents. Snake-like appendages and tails
are common themes in ancient Andean art. The earspools on Figure B resemble
wooden ones attached to carved wooden figures found at LC 1 as well as wooden
earspools that were worn by actual persons, also found at LCI.
Figure 5.3. Rollout of pyroengraved gourd from Chullpa 1 at Laguna de los C6ndores
(credit: Cecilia Nunez).

Figure B is followed by another feline, C. Unlike Figure A, Figure C is por-
trayed right-side up, and like Figure A it has a fanged mouth, a circle on its snout
and a serpent-like tail that ends in a feline head. The tail is held in the left hand
of D, an anthropomorphic being with a similar face to that of Figure B, but sport-
ing a double row of teeth. It too wears ear spools, but these have attachments that
either represent feathers appended to the ear ornaments, or perhaps a plumed
headdress, which the artist located on the sides because there was not enough
space to place it over the head.
Figure D is the most human of the all the figures, as underscored by the five
fingers it has on either hand, although its feet have only three "toes." (All the
other protagonists have either three or four fingers, or digits.) Figure D's legs are
splayed and there is an H-shaped design on its torso. In its right hand, part of
which is missing, it holds what appears to have been the tails of the last figure, E.
Figure E can be interpreted as a splayed feline or some sort of a hybrid ani-
mal, viewed from above as if it had been filleted like a fish. It has rounded ears
and the designs on its torso, which may represent pelage markings, recall the eyes
on the other felines as well as the band near the top of the gourd decorated with
an eye-like pattern. In addition, it has a wrap-around fanged mouth with impres-
sive upper and lower canines. This section of the gourd is broken, but Figure E
probably had eyes similar in shape to the others depicted on the gourd, especially
the ones on the upside-down creature beneath Figure B. Figure E's tails have
zigzag markings that continue between its front and back legs, ending in small
animals with circles on their snouts (similar to the animal clutched by Figure A).
While Figure E's double tail may have some deeper significance, it can also
be interpreted as a Chachapoya convention for portraying a subject with bilateral
symmetry, since animals do not normally have two tails. In addition, it recalls the
tail-like appendages emerging from the creature beneath Figure A. The tails are
similar to those of a profile feline, 8.3 cm high, pyro-engraved on a hollow bam-
boo container, also found in Chullpa I (Figure 5.4). The tails on the bamboo con-
tainer feline have zigzag markings like the ones on the gourd and it also has
fanged teeth, a curlicue on its snout and a circle on its ankle.
Related Imagery
Similar imagery to that on the gourd and the bamboo container appeared on
some of the textiles from the mummy bundles found in other chullpas. The vibrant,
beautifully-woven textiles from Laguna de los Condores recall Cieza de Leon's
(1959: 99) description of the skill of Chachapoya weavers: "They made fine and
highly prized clothing for the Incas, and they still make excellent garments, and
tapestry so fine and handsome that it is greatly esteemed for its quality"[Note 3].
Let us look first at an unku, or sleeveless tunic, recovered from the mummy
bundle of an adult male (Figure 5.5). He wore a bone nose ornament and his
Figure 5.4. Pyroengraved profile feline found on a hollow bamboo container from Chullpa 1 at
Laguna de los C6ndores (credit: Cecilia Nunez).
extended earlobes, which once held earspools, indicate that he was an orej6n, a
sign of status among many ancient Andean peoples, including the Incas and the
Chachapoya. The body had been wrapped in five layers of textiles. The outer
wrapping consisted of plain weave cotton cloth, dyed blue, and decorated with a
chain stitch in cotton yam arrayed in a zigzag pattern around the bundle. Like
many of the mummy bundles from LCl, a stylized, embroidered face and a cot-
ton yam braid emerging from the top of his head, topped the bundle. The next tex-
tile was plain, as was the fifth, while the third was a disassembled garment
composed of two panels, each 38cm wide and about 1.80m long. The two ends
had been basted together and wrapped around the body.
The fourth textile was an unku placed over the body with the neck slit sewn
shut over the head. It is composed of two panels, each about 39 cm wide and 1.90 m
long (97.5 cm long and 79 cm wide, as worn), sewn up the sides and the center,
leaving openings for the arms and the neck. (The neck slit was subsequently sewn
shut when the unku was placed over the body in preparation for burial.) Below the
neck slit, on either side of the unku, is a feline, 7.1 cm high, with an arching tail
embroidered in blue and red camelid fiber. The unku's 5.5 cm-wide fringed border
bears volute-like designs in interlocking tapestry and profile feline heads in
brocade. The brocaded figures on the shoulders depict seated profile felines,

Figure 5.5. Unku covering the mummy of an adult male at Laguna de los C6ndores (credit:
Adriana von Hagen).
Figure 5.6. Profile feline executed in brocade on an unku from Laguna de los C6ndores (credit:
Cecilia Nunez).
3.6 cm high and 7.3 cm wide, with circles on their snouts and tails that end in feline
faces similar to Figures A and C on the gourd from Chullpa 1 (Figure 5.6).
The central part of the unku is divided into two sections, one of blue
cotton with the remains of camelid fiber embroidery and another of brown cotton
decorated with two pairs of woven figures (in warp-faced plain weave with

supplementary warp floats), each 13.2cm high and 12.3 cm wide. These sets of
figures are mirror images of each other and have splayed arms and legs and dia-
mond-shaped designs on their torsos (Figure 5.7). An upside-down view reveals
a creature akin to Figure E, the splayed feline on the gourd. The unku image has
similar ears and wrap-around teeth with upper and lower incisors. The unku
image can also be read sideways, forming two profile felines.
Related iconography appeared on a slit tapestry fragment found discarded
among the looted offerings at Lei. It probably formed the central, decorated
band of an unku (Figure 5.8). Its composition echoes that of the gourd, with
images including an anthropomorphic being wearing ear ornaments, 7 cm high,
with splayed legs and arms grasping the animal next to it. The face of this animal,
with the circle on its snout and its fangs, resembles the felines we have seen on
the gourd and on the bamboo container, although its stance is more like that of a
llama (viewed sideways), and it could represent a composite animal.
Figure 5.7. Central figure woven on an unku from Laguna de los C6ndores (credit: Cecilia Nunez).
Figure 5.8. Tapestry fragment from Laguna de los C6ndores (credit: Cecilia Nunez).

Finally, the iconography on the gourd, the bamboo container and the textiles
from Laguna de los C6ndores recall the imagery on a wooden lintel illustrated by
Lerche (1995: 69), which he found at a looted burial cave near the Chilchos
valley-the northern boundary of Chilchos territory. The 2.3 m-Iong lintel had been
placed over the cave entrance, which was also embellished by slashes of red paint.
On either side of the lintel perch two carved human figures, one of whom wears
an unku-like garment and sports ear ornaments similar to those found at LC 1. The
human figures flank an animal that Lerche describes as a caiman-feline hybrid. It
has, however, only upper incisors and not the interlocking canines depicted on the
gourd figures and other images recovered from Laguna de los C6ndores. The
animal has swallowed the head of a smaller, tail-less creature, which Lerche says
the residents of the Chilchos valley identified as an anuje, or brown agouti
(Dasyprocta variegata) [Note 4]. The eyes, the rounded ears and the circles on the
ankles and on the snout recall Figure E, the splayed feline on the gourd from
Chullpa 1.
DISCUSSION
The Chachapoya imagery I have described is both familiar and strange. Its
common Andean themes, artistic conventions and traditions include: front-facing
figures holding staffs, or in our case, the tails or necks of flanking figures; front-
facing figures with splayed arms and legs; the heads or bodies of felines or hybrid
animals shown in profile, baring prominent, interlocking canines; felines or
hybrid animals with curlicues or circles on their snouts; figures, human and ani-
mal, with circles on their ankles; metaphoric attachments, i.e., tails that resemble
snakes and end in the heads of felines; hybrid creatures that combine the fearsome
qualities of several animals, notably felines, caimans, raptors, or serpents; ear-
spools that denote rank or supernatural attributes; and finally, artistic canons such
as bilateral symmetry and anatropic organization (Kubler 1975), that is, an artis-
tic convention that reveals a new facet of an image when it is viewed upside-down
or sideways (see Burger 1992).
Many of these themes and conventions first appear in Cupisnique art, whose
culture flourished on Peru's north coast ca. 1500-600 BC, and also among coeval
societies in the upper Jequetepeque drainage, especially at the site of Kuntur Wasi
(Onuki 1997). During the Chavfn horizon (ca. 400-200 BC), a widespread reli-
gious cult inspired works of art in metal, cloth, stone and ceramics. These
displayed imagery inspired, in part, by the earlier, coastal and north highland
centers (Burger 1992). Several of these traditions and conventions recurred in
various media over the next several hundred years in the art of Moche and
Recuay, its highland contemporary (ca. 200BC-AD 700), as well as in Huari
(ca. AD 600-900).

Does the imagery found on the objects from Chullpa 1 (which, as noted ear-
lier, contained the burial offerings and remains of the people placed in the chull-
pas before the Inca occupation) reflect Chachapoya imagery in use at Laguna de
los C6ndores in pre-Inca times? The fact that similar imagery appears on textiles
and on other artifacts associated with the Inca re-occupation of the chullpas sig-
nals that local people continued to manufacture goods, and especially to weave
textiles (as part of their labor obligation to the Inca state), using pre-Inca imagery,
while at the same time creating hybrid styles. This occurred in other parts of
Tawantinsuyu, for instance, on Peru's south coast (Menzel 1959) and the north
coast (Hayashida 1999). The provincial Inca wares and other prestige goods such
as Inca-style coca bags [Note 5] and wooden keros recovered from Laguna de los
C6ndores were probably imported into the region and bestowed as gifts to
Chachapoya lords.
As noted, there is evidence for long-distance exchange among coastal, high-
land and tropical forest peoples dating as far back as the Early Intermediate Period
(200 BC-AD 600), if not earlier. Strong support for links with the west comes
from excavations at Gran Pajaten, a site with Chachapoya-style architecture in
Rio Abiseo National Park some 100km south of Laguna de los C6ndores as
the condor flies. There, archaeologists uncovered ceramics apparently imported
from the highlands west of Pajaten. The pottery resembles that of Cajamarca,
Huamachuco, the Callej6n de Huaylas (Recuay and White-on-Red) and perhaps
the Callej6n de Conchucos (Church 1994: 288). Other researchers have also noted
the presence of Cajamarca ceramics in the Chachapoya area (e.g., Reichlen and
Reich1en 1950; Ruiz 1972; Schjellerup 1997).
Several scholars have pointed out similarities between the stone-working
traditions of Late Horizon Gran Pajaten and the Callej6n de Huaylas during the
Early Intermediate Period. This is especially notable in the treatment of tenoned
human and feline heads and in bas-relief stone carving found in other parts of
Chachapoya territory (see, e.g., Grieder 1978: 149, fig. 148; 155, fig. 156 for
Pashash; Isbell 1997: 241, fig. 7.8; 259: fig. 7.13 for Cajamarca; McCown 1945:
385, plate 16, fig. b; 387, plate 17, figs. d, e for Huamachuco; Muscutt 1998: 40
for La Joya in Amazonas; and Savoy 1970: 141, plate 13 for Gran Pajaten).
Lastly, an in-situ tenoned head of a feline at the Chachapoya site of Gentil near
Chuquibamba features a mouth band with prominent incisors and teeth that wrap
half way around the head, in a style reminiscent of Recuay tenoned heads
(K. Muscutt, personal communication, 2000).
Because the land of the Chachapoya straddled the ceja de selva, providing
gateways to the tropical lowlands to the east, we should also consider the role
Amazonian cosmology played in the development of the Chachapoya art style.
(And let's not forget similar discussions for Chavin imagery as in Lathrap's 1971
article. Chavin de Hmintar is located on a tributary of the Maranon, roughly
halfway between the coast to the west and the tropical lowlands to the east, much
Figure 5.9. Feathered headdress found at Laguna de los C6ndores. (credit: Adriana von Hagen)
more distant from the tropical forest than the Chachapoya area.) Some of the arti-
facts recovered from LCI are unmistakable tropical lowland imports. These
include feathered headdresses and desiccated animals not native to the ceja de
selva [Note 6]. One of the remarkably well-preserved feathered headdresses
(Figure 5.9) is festooned with what appear to be parrot feathers and has a cane
framework reminiscent of contemporary lowland headdresses (see Braun 1995:
68). The desiccated animals, tours de force of taxidermy, appear to have been
used as carrying devices of some sort, since some of them have slits behind their
necks and an attached carrying cord. The most notable example from LeI is what
appears to be a margay (Felis wiedii), so well preserved that even its whiskers are
intact. Its tail, forelegs and hind legs are stuffed with unspun cotton, and it has a
bone inserted through its septum. We have tentatively identified another, smaller
feline as either a margay or an oncilla (Felis tigrina). It was found with spindles
inside its pouch. Laguna de los C6ndores is located well above the range of the
margay, which is found below 900m in elevation (Emmons 1990). The oncilla
occurs up to 3200m in elevation (Emmons 1990).
Laguna de los C6ndores and other Chachapoya ceja de selva sites may have
served as staging areas for encounters between the Chachapoya and the Xibito
and/or Cholon to exchange tropical forest products for those of the highlands
(Schjellerup 1997). Indeed, in the 17th century, the Cholon and Xibito traded
coca for Spanish garments and iron goods, traveling eight days to Cajamarquilla
(modem Bolivar). Trade along the Huallaga in the 18th century included "salt
fish, woven pouches, beeswax, manioc meal, feathered hats, container lids, coca,
and fish lines" which were sold or traded to highland peoples (Steward and
Metraux 1948: 604). The Xibito, (also spelled Jiyito, Hibito), according to the

map published by Espinoza (1967), lived to the southeast of the Huabayacu and
along the Huayabamba, while the Cholon occupied tributaries of the Huallaga to
the east of Gran Pajaten (see also map by Martinez Compaii6n 1978-1988). "The
Xibitos and Cholones ... seem to have developed their characteristic cultures
based on more typical lowland cultural traits but who were still different from the
lowland selva tribes, ... representing an intermediate adaptation" (Schjellerup
1997: 54-55).
Does art of the Chachapoyas region ultimately owe its development to inter-
action with Early Intermediate Period societies to the west and to the east?
Admittedly, the iconography discussed this article appears on objects manufac-
tured late in Andean prehistory (the Late Intermediate Period and the Late
Horizon). That which is here being posited as pre-Inca Chachapoya imagery
appears as if from nowhere, with no documented antecedents. Nonetheless, it is
possible to pinpoint similarities with art styles, conventions and themes used west
of the Maraiion beginning as early as the Initial Period (ca. 180G-400BC), and
it is possible to identify items imported from the eastern lowlands. Sadly, there is
neither enough evidence from controlled excavations nor a comprehensive
sequence of radiocarbon dates or a detailed study of changes in Chachapoya
architecture over time to help us elucidate the origins of the art style. Nor have
archaeologists, engaged in a losing race against looters, excavated other
Chachapoya burial sites with preservation similar to that of Laguna de los
C6ndores. Ideally, the study of an intact pre-Inca Chachapoya burial site could
help us unravel the origins of Chachapoya cosmology and iconography. Even so,
the finds from Laguna de los C6ndores provide a first look at new aspects of the
little-known Chachapoya art style and our studies mark a beginning in the search
for its origins.
Notes
I. Following Lerche (1995), Schjellerup (1997) and Urton (200 I), I use Chachapoya to refer to the
people and culture that occupied the region under discussion in antiquity. Chachapoyas, on the
other hand, refers to both the modem capital of the department of Amazonas and the eponymous
modem province.
2. Although ethnographic analogies should be used with caution, especially in light of the thousands
of years that separate ancient Andean art and beliefs from those of contemporary Amazonian
peoples, it is nonetheless interesting to signal the widespread belief among aboriginal South
Americans that shamans are in fact jaguars disguised as humans, who reveal their feline alter egos
when they ingest hallucinogens (Saunders 1998). Reichel-Dolmatoff (1975: 120) points out that
the Desana people of Colombia regarded shamans as "upside-down jaguars;" that is, as reverse, or
inverted animals, not ordinary felines. Cordy-Collins (1998: 167), in her analysis of Cupisnique
and Moche feline imagery, notes: "It is probable that the Tembladera and Moche cats in this study
were represented in their strange posture, and crouched amid hallucinogenic cactus and whirling
phosphenes, to re-enforce and underscore just that message: that the animal shown in these scenes
is not an ordinary feline; rather he is a transformed, reversed jaguar-a shaman."

3. Ongoing studies of the technical features of the Laguna de los C6ndores textiles will also help to
clarify contacts between the Chachapoya and other prehispanic societies. Meanwhile, it is inter-
esting to point out that plain weave, cotton textiles from LC I all display paired warps and single
wefts, a trait that is considered typically Chimu (Rowe 1984: 24).
4. The brown agouti is found in the Chilchos valley, but the caiman (if indeed the animal carved on
the lintel displays caiman attributes) is not native to the area, although it does occur in the Huallaga
to the east.
5. Chuspas, or bags for carrying coca leaves, as well as wooden keros were common diplomatic gifts
conferred by Inca functionaries on mitmaq colonists or on local lords (Rowe 1995-96, 1979).
6. The animals discussed here await positive identification by an expert. An x-ray of the desiccated
feline with the bone through its septum revealed pelage markings on the body and legs, as occurs
on the margay and the oncilla. The ocelot (Felis pardalis) has a tail that is shorter than its hind leg,
unlike our specimens. There is another feline species, the pampas cat (Felis colocolo, also classi-
fied as Oncifelis colocolo), whose range includes the humid, montane forest, high altitude cloud
forest and open grasslands (Wolfe and Sleeper 1995). Unlike the margay and the oncilla, however,
which have rounded ears like our specimen, the pampas cat has long, pointed ears (Wolfe and
Sleeper 1995), spots on its body and stripes on its legs. The Andean mountain cat (Oreailurus
jacobita or Felis jacobita) has stripes on its body and its legs, and it inhabits the puna.
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Guillen, Sonia, 1999, Evaluacion y Delimitaci6n del Sitio Arqueol6gico Llaqtacocha. Unpublished
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Hayashida, Frances M., 1999, Inka pottery manufacture in the Leche Valley, Peru. Latin American
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Isbell, William H., 1997, Mummies and Mortuary Monuments: A Postprocessual Prehistory ofCentral
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Lerche, Peter, 2000, Quest for the Lost Tombs of the Peruvian Cloud People. National Geographic
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Chapter 6
Art and Prestige Among Noble
Houses ofthe Equatorial
Andes
TERENCE GRIEDER, JAMES D. FARMER, ANTONIO CARRILLO B.,
AND BRADFORD M. JONES
INTRODUCTION
Challuabamba is located in Azuay Province in the southern highlands of Ecuador,
at an altitude of 2300m asl (Figure 6.1). Challuabamba is just west of a zone
called El Descanso where the Burgay, Deleg, and Tomebamba rivers join to form
the Paute before it plunges into the gorges that lead to the Amazon. The site is
located on the south bank of the Tomebamba River between the Salado and the
Apangora, small tributary creeks.
Uhle (1922: 108) was the first to write of the archaeological remains of
Azuay Province, including "the unexpected discovery of great treasures" (since
Uhle's time there has been a wholesale destruction of ancient tombs and their
contents). Subsequently, Collier and Murra (1943), at the end of their studies in
Cerro Namo, made an archaeological reconnaissance of Azuay. Their work was
the foundation of modem studies in the province and was the inspiration for
Bennett's (1946) excavations on the haciendas of Huancarcuchu, between
Challuabamba and El Descanso, and Monjashuaico, between El Descanso and the
mouth of the Gualaceo River. The ceramic typology established by Bennett as a
result of that fieldwork has served as a model for later investigators.
157
158
o
km
Terence Grieder et aI.
Figure 6.1. Sites in the equatorial Andean region. I. Challuabamba. 2. Valdivia. 3. Real Alto.
4. Machalilla. 5. Cotocollao. 6. Cerro Narrfo. 7. Pirincay. 8. Catamayo. 9. Cerro Naiiaiiique.
10. Bagua. II. Pacopampa.
Art and Prestige Among Noble Houses 159

Several archaeologists have studied Formative sites in the area in recent
years. Gomis (1989) published a study of Challuabamba pottery and her work is
presented in Hocquenghem et al. (1993); Idrovo Urigtien (1992) refers to Gomis'
work at the site. Hammond and Bruhns (1987) began excavations in 1984 at
Pirincay, a site located 20 km down-river from Challuabamba. Bruhns et al.
(1990) continued that work (and see Miller and Gill 1990). Carmichael (1981)
obtained radiocarbon dates from Challuabamba as part of a larger study of south-
ern Ecuador focussed on the Jubones River (1979). Arellano (1994, 1997) dis-
covered remains comparable to those found at Challuabamba at Lorna Pucara in
the Cebadas Valley, between Cuenca and Riobamba.
Our work was conducted at Challuabamba between 1995 and 2000. The site
covers an area of approximately 70 ha. Five excavations produced an abundance
of Formative Period cultural material in deposits about 2 m deep in the stable lev-
els at or near the edge of the first river terrace (Figure 6.2; Table 6.1). Among the
elements which comprised the archaeological culture of Challuabamba [Note 1]
during the second millennium BC, three appear particularly important: technical
developments in pottery which increased its value as a communication medium,
a tradition of cosmological symbolism which provided much of the content, and
the gradual accretion of political and economic power in the hands of shamans.
This chapter presents evidence for the close relationship among these three
elements. We argue that the widely shared cosmology provided a context for
the symbolic interpretation of reduction-fired pottery, which became a vehicle
for expressions of the supernatural power of shamans as the politico-economic
institutions of chiefdom grew around them.
POTTERY AT CHALLUABAMBA
The making of pottery was already ancient in the northern Andes by the time
it came into use at Challuabamba. Red-on-Cream, Red-and-Black, and Burnished
Black wares at Challuabamba were all made of the same local clays (according
to David V. Hill, a geologist and consultant in petrographic analysis of ceramic
and lithic materials), but the wares can be distinguished from each other by
the atmosphere in which they were fired. Differential firing distinguishes not
only Challuabamba's pottery, but was characteristic of the Middle Formative
Period (2200-1200BC) overall in Ecuador and indicates masterful control of a
complicated process (see Shepard 1965: 86-90,213-224).
The three named types are very generally defined based on a few features.
"Red-on-Cream" is defined by a cream body and red paint. "Red-and-Black" is
defined by a basic oxidizing fire producing a cream body with parts (usually
either the interior or exterior of the body) that are smudged to black, and with
red paint combined with the black on some areas, usually without burnishing.
,t._
~\)I..... ' H._y" .. ,... - . '-;-0

~'__.•. _" .. .,.t::J ./1"':.m.. : •.':~ *
Figure 6.2. Sections through Challuabamba Cut 3. Note that it shows the walls of a trench ending at the
south wall of Sector G, as in the diagram upper right.
The trench wall goes north to south from A to G, west to east across the south wall of G, then north and
east around H, and north from H to B. Subsequently
sectors H, J, K were excavated. Carbon samples: TX·9241, about 30 em east of the G-H division, on
the upper surface of Level 5, base of Level 4, at 120 cm
below datum. TX-9027, 210cm below datum point, in Sector B just below boulders (Level 2) beyond
left edge of drawing. TX-9026, in Sector A in heavy sherd
scatter 230 em below datum.
Art and Prestige Among Noble Houses
Table 6.1. Radiocarbon samples, Challuabamba, 1995-1997.
161
Lab. No C-14AgeBP Location Associations l-y Calibrated

TX-9025 3130:!:60 Cut 2,Lv.3 (I20cm) below burials and boulders I 340-1460BC
TX-9026 3160:!:50 Cut 3,A. Lv.I-3 (120cm) below boulders I370-1470 BC
TX-9027 3200:!:60 Cut 3,B. Lv.I-3 (40cm) boulders, disturbed burials 1390-15lOBC
TX-924 I 3530:!:72 Cut 3,H. Lv.4 (base) burial 6, 7, ceramic offering 1744-2334 BC
TX-8439 3950:!:200 Cut I,Lv.1B (85 cm) below boulders, on floor 1709-2334 BC
Red-on-Cream and Red-and-Black share a set of jar and bowl forms with very
thin walls, typically 2 nun thick even for fairly large globular jars. "Burnished
Black" is reduction-fired and burnished, either completely or in part. This type
first appeared as a deep black burnished pottery, but over time began to show oxi-
dation at the end of the firing to achieve contrasts of black and white, or overall
gray tones. Variations notwithstanding, there is a unity in the Burnished Black
category, which is defined by reduction firing, the use of burnishing for decora-
tion and, importantly, by a distinctive set of 3 to 4 nun-thick, vertical-walled, flat-
based bowl forms. The consistency of these features suggests that they were
meaningful to the designers and users of these vessels. The division of the deco-
rative designs into two groups, one for Red-on-Cream pottery, another for
Burnished Blackware, also supports the definitions of the wares.
In Figure 6.3 we see the development of these wares through time, from
about 2000 BC at the bottom to about 1200 BC at the top. At the beginning of the
sequence all three wares were present, Red-on-Cream being the largest group
(on the right), as it remained, with a group of similar forms smudged to Red-
and-Black, and a smaller group already showing the thicker walls and high bur-
nish of Burnished Black (on the left). While Red-on-Cream remained the basic
pottery ware throughout the sequence, with its own forms and decorations, the
hybrid Red-and-Black slowly disappeared as Burnished Black peaked, and at the
end Burnished Black tended to merge with Red-on-Cream, though highly bur-
nished black vessels continued to be made in succeeding periods. The history of
Red-and-Black makes clear the increasing understanding among potters of firing
as the crucial process in obtaining color in ceramics. Viewed within the history of
Andean pyrotechnology, in which metallurgy was incipient, this was an important
step [Note 2].
The best data we have on pottery history comes from about 26 cubic meters
of cultural deposits in the three adjoining sectors, G, H, and J in Cut 3. A sum-
mary of the main pottery types by levels, based on rim sherds, is presented in
Table 6.2. The percentages in Table 6.3 show that oxidized wares, particularly the
Red-on-Cream group, make up the major part of the pottery in all levels and it
was increasingly dominant in later levels. The Black-and-Red type appeared
....
~
;3
;;l
~
~
:sI...
~
~
~
,~
.,: : !aJ
· .. ·····"1 6 IJ mif\ l ~!ILJ.. ~
"":::":'B--- \ 'i __ }__V_l__CL;_CI:7__~__ ~~

-----~. -- r w /:"\, " 67 ~
~ .....,. J :/ \\~.'d)' meD :.-"~Mi-IfIJ&';;!"·~l
I \ <II ,
ch ~l,' \- 19
~! l':~\" ..
5.'~\
------~. -/:~--_-~~\~nCD' _.¢)~<>/~

• I \ ~'c""iJ
([\~=-=:-.
"-'-,:' 1I1>!.': " "\, ~~ I

~ 4,/ " \ ~"---!--..J ' . " .
.5 ,/ 11 U J6 \
Figure 6.3. Challuabamba pottery. Periods are divided by horizontal dashed lines, earliest at the bottom.
Period I: ca. 2000-1800 BC. Period II: ca. 1800-
1600BC. Period III: ca. 160Q-1400BC. Period IV: ca. 1400-1 200 BC. Types are divided by diagonal
and vertical dashed lines: Burnished Black on the left,
Red-and-Black in the center, and Red-on-Cream on the right.
Art and Prestige Among Noble Houses
Table 6.2. Number of rims by pottery type.
163
# of rims:
Levell
2
3
4
5
6
7
TOTAL
Red-on-Cream Red-on-Black Reduced(Bumished Black/Gray)
972 78 122
768 23 176
238 j I 31
584 106 65
In 50 7
100
001
2696 268 402
Table 6.3. Percentages of each type by level.

Red-on-Cream Red-on-Black Reduced(Burnished Black/Gray)
Level I 83% 6.6% 10.4%

2 79% 2% 18%
3 85% 4% 11%
4 77% 14% 8%
5 70% 26% 3%
TOTAL 80% 8% 12%
early, and its vessel forms show that it developed out of the oxidized type, based
on a desire for a blackware. Unpainted reduced pottery of the Burnished Black
type appeared early but in very small numbers, but gradually replaced Red-
and-Black, which nearly disappeared in Level 2, when reduction-fired wares-
Burnished Black and its gray or brownish variants-reached their maximum. In
the surface level reduction-fired types remain fairly common, and Red-and-Black
made a small recovery, both probably reflecting the greater variety of pottery forms
and decorations characteristic of that period. Challuabamba's pottery has a very
coherent history, which is reflected in the closely related technical and artistic solu-
tions it achieved. Challuabamba's potters rarely made a purely utilitarian product.
That may reflect what was an ancient tradition by the second millennium (e.g.,
Pratt 1999), and it emphasizes the role of pottery as a communication medium.
While the internal development of ceramic art at Challuabamba is important,
we wish to note that it was part of a larger development which can only be noted
here. Features in pottery from seven sites or styles within the northern Andes offer
interesting comparisons with Challuabamba and suggest interactions with it:
Valdivia, Cotocollao, Machalilla, Cerro Narrio, Catamayo, Bagua, and Cerro
Nafiafiique (Figure 6.1).
164 Terence Grieder et aI.

A TRADITION OF COSMOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM
The cultural context in which these technical processes occurred was an old
cosmology. Indeed, we argue that the basic principles of this cosmology were
present in the Americas long before the settlement at Challuabamba. Symbolic
colors, especially red (blood, vitality, daylight) and black (spiritual protection,
earth, night and underworld) are among the oldest symbols of this cosmology.
More recent are the net and cross designs, which seem everywhere to have celes-
tial connotations: the network of stars, the changing orientations of the galaxy or
Milky Way, with associations with textile and basketry structures, turtle shells,
and the earth's surface as opposed to the underworld (Grieder 1982: 180,56).
The two firing practices, oxidation and reduction, are evident in the earliest
levels of our excavations. Since there is no functional difference in the products
of the two, it was presumably the color, with its symbolic meaning, that was being
selected. The firing techniques themselves dramatized the symbolism, the oxi-
dizing fire being open to the daylight and fresh air, the reduced fire being buried,
enclosed and in darkness. Perhaps basic in the tradition was the idea that night
and day were universal conditions and that each was ruled by particular powers,
the sun by day and the earth or darkness by night, when the sun was swallowed
by the earth and traversed the underworld to be born again at dawn. Such ideas,
Figure 6.4. The most common Red-on-Cream rim decoration is complete in the upper left, with
two partial examples below. This diagnostic set of sherds is from Cut 3, Sector H, Level 4c.
found very widely in native American belief systems (e.g., Urton 1981: 68-69),
provide a baseline for discussion of symbols at Challuabamba.
Compared with the rich vocabularies of symbols found in later societies,
Challuabamba begins with a restricted set of abstract symbols. From the start dec-
orations on reduced wares were different from those on oxidized wares. Oxidized
wares, which seem to have matured first, had rim decorations on the everted rims
of globular jars. Most common was a red rectangle flanked by vertical lines and
a curl on each side, a design popular over centuries (Figure 6.4, upper left). Also
early and long-lasting, but less common, are splashes of red paint made by flick-
ing a loaded brush to leave a string of random drops on the interior of cream
Figure 6.5. Burnished Black sherds from Cut 3, Sector H, Level4b. Scale is 12cm total length.

bowls. Red stripes and red areas, sometimes zone-incised, gradually became
more common on oxidized wares in the middle and later levels.
From the beginning Burnished Black had pattern-burnished lines (some-
times called "line luster") on matt background areas of blackware, in straight
line designs, especially diagonal lines, X's, and nets of crossing diagonal lines
(Figure 6.5). Burnished lines on matt areas may have been the first form of bur-
nishing, which later reached very high luster over all surfaces of much blackware.
Burnished low relief, often of living creatures, human or feline, began to appear
before the middle of the sequence.
Living creatures are not represented in the earliest levels, but become more
common in both oxidized and reduced wares by the middle of the sequence. Birds
of uncertain species are most common, with owls, bats (Figure 6.6), and felines,
and a few creatures of mixed species appearing. The most significant example of the
last is the black fish-tailed, four-footed, spotted, fanged creature from Burial 6
(Figure 6.7). All of these designs, both abstract and representational, may be taken
as having more than a purely pictorial intention. Owls and bats immediately suggest
nocturnal symbolism, and felines and birds were important symbolic creatures in
later cultures in which they represented the shaman and spiritual messengers.
Figure 6.6. Solid modeled head of a bat facing inward from the rim of a Red-on-Cream basin from
Cut 2, Level 2. The whole sherd is 5.4cm high.

The design style on pottery, stamps and seals (Figure 6.8) emphasized lines,
shapes and color, the design elements expressive of energy, as opposed to mass
and texture which express material existence. That accords with the spiritual
focus of a society based on shamanic beliefs.
THE CIDEF AND IDS HOUSE

It has been argued by various scholars that interregional interaction accom-
panied the rise of rank society (see, e.g., Flannery and Marcus 1994).
Archaeologists working on pre-Incaic Ecuador have been studying the interaction
of economic activity and increasing social complexity for some time (see, e.g.,
Muse 1991; Zeidler 1991). Two features of ancient Ecuadorian chiefdoms make
economic activity a justifiable indicator of chiefly power: chiefly households
were major centers of production, and the class of specialist long-distance traders,
or mindala, owed their noble sponsors "specific parts of what they obtained in
their extraterritorial work ... : gold, bead wealth, and clothing" (Salomon
1986: 125-131).
The chief's house was not only an economic and political center, it also
filled the role of temple or principal shrine in the chiefdom. Its cosmic impor-
tance, Salomon (1986) writes, was "constantly demonstrated by ceremonious
building, design and repair" and even thatching the roof of the chief's dwelling
Figure 6.7. Burnished Black effigy jar from the offering in Burial 6, Cut 3, Sector H, Level 4.
It measures 6.8 em high, 9.2 em rim diameter.
/~
oj
~ .ED
. I .to
D
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was a special act of tribute and loyalty. Salomon (1986: 126) quotes a colonial
source on housebuilding for a chief: "they sacrifice some of the most valuable ani-
mals they own, as for example live deer, llamas, guinea pigs, and coca, removing the
hearts from these animals while they are still alive. These, together with the blood,
are the foremost offerings, and afterward they eat them raw. They anoint the walls
of the house with the blood and ground white maize, because they believe in it and
are fooled by the devil ... that this is the house's nourishment." Salomon notes that
despite the numerous spiritual specialists mentioned "there is no testimony of any
special religious buildings... Other than shrines or deified landscape features, the
chief's household itself is likely to have been the main place of ceremonial action."
Furthermore, it is worthwhile to consider if a connection can be shown
between the regional interaction evident in equatorial Andean pottery and social
organization. Two phases of stone wall building at Challuabamba may provide
insight into that issue.
In the upper levels of Cuts 1, 2 and 3 the evidence of building is abundant.
There are lines of river boulders (Figure 6.9) containing floor areas and many
chunks of pole-marked mud from bahareque (wattle-and-daub) walls. In the
deeper levels, below Level 2 in Cut 3, for example, there is evidence of fragile
earth floors, but only one definite post-mold (Cut 2, Level 5).
Figure 6.9. View of the site from the top of Cut 3, looking east. Level I has been cleared. Cut 2,
with similar foundation lines, is in the center in the middle distance. Cut 1 is on the terrace edge in
the distance beyond the fence-line.
170 Terence Grieder et al.
Figure 6.10. Cut 4, looking east, showing earlier phase of small stones flanking wall trench,
at depth of 60-45 em. In foreground are large stones of later revetment wall.

In Cuts 4 and 5 lower levels show lines of small waterworn stones set as if
to flank a stockade wall with a later level above them of much larger waterworn
stones which suggest revetments for platforms (Figure 6.10). As in Cuts 2 and 3,
numerous chunks of dried mud with post molds show the use of bahareque build-
ing, but we were unsuccessful in a search for post holes. We think the posts in Cut
4 in the lower double line of stones may have been set so closely together in the
sandy soil that no mold remained. In Cuts 2 and 3 there is evidence of seven buri-
als beneath the level of the earlier floors, probably all of them with some offer-
ings, and one (#6) with such exceptional offerings that high rank seems certain.
This suggests the burial of selected individuals beneath building floors beginning
as early as Level 4 in Cut 3, or about the middle of Challuabamba's history.
Challuabamba's architectural remains suggest wooden buildings by at least
the 15th century BC, some of them roughly oval in plan, and later straight lines
of stone revetments for platforms. From the bahareque remains we deduce that
wooden structures stood on those platforms.
There are middens full of fragments of animal bone in two places, associ-
ated with the earlier floor in Cut 4 and in Level 1 of Cut 3 above the later stone
revetment, where a fragment of antler was part of the midden. We interpret these
deposits as evidence of feasting, a practice attested in the northern Andes both
much earlier (Pratt 1999) and in colonial times (Salomon 1986: 81-83). Salomon
points out that cooked maize products, especially beer, were basic food gifts from
a chief to his people and were shared equally, but "consumption of meat had
marked overtones of rank and privilege" and deer hunting was largely a noble
prerogative. The abundant production of wide shallow-concave or flat-based ves-
sels suitable for food service, rather than cooking, in all the wares and especially
the reduced wares, supports the idea that ceremonial feasting associated with
wooden structures on stone-founded platforms was a regular feature of
Challuabamba life.
The two successive building types at Challuabamba are reminiscent of
earlier developments at the Valdivia site of Real Alto, where between about 4400
and 2400 BC, or Phases 1-3 of the Valdivia sequence, "there was a major trans-
formation in domestic architecture in which mean floor area of the domestic
dwelling more than tripled" (Zeidler 1991: 255-256). The large oval thatched
houses around a rectangular plaza at Real Alto (Marcos 1988 [IV]: 23-73) are
generally taken as a typical settlement pattern, but note that ancient Cotocollao
had rectangular thatched houses clustered around a central cemetery (Villalba
1988:64-67). Farther south at Catamayo large oval structures with fieldstone
foundations for the floors and thatched roof and rectangular stone platform revet-
ments (Guffroy 1987: 155, 175, 198) seem to be transitional to the stone-faced
platforms of Cerro Nanafiique and Pacopampa. An oval thatched house with stone
foundations excavated at El Mirador (Burger 1994: 108), on a hill near
Pacopampa, may have housed the priests or officials at that site. At Challuabamba

it appears that the revetment wall is found extending along the riverbank. The
northern region was clearly not a single architectural province, but it contrasted
strongly with the central Andean region, where from Late Preceramic times walls,
plazas and platforms were built of stone. At Real Alto it appears that certain build-
ings in the central plaza were set aside for ceremonial rather than domestic use.
Zeidler (1991: 256) argues that in later phases "Real Alto became a local-level
ceremonial center for its adjacent daughter communities." Perhaps this process
was happening at Challuabamba, too.
CONCLUSION: CONTENT, MEDIUM, AND

POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
Content, medium, and political ideology are analytical categories which we
are accustomed to treat as independent variables, but they are always interdepen-
dent. A basically shamanic cosmology existed in Ecuador before the Formative
Period, expressed in such materials as gourds and textiles. With the invention of
pottery, that became a medium for expression. The common impression that pottery
is purely instrumental in function neglects its social dimension as a communication
medium, which was probably primary in its early history (Pratt 1999: 82-84).
Challuabamba pottery, which includes culinary wares, elaborate service ves-
sels, bottle forms suitable mainly for ritual, stamps and carved cups, and a few
simple figurines, was a highly developed medium of communication. Although
intention can rarely be proven, we must assume that consistent qualities in early
pottery were intentionally sought. Although a cream surface decorated with red
paint was perfected first, it was deemed insufficient by the ancient potters and a
profoundly black surface was created, such as we see in Red-and-Black pottery.
This black surface was not burnished but, rather, thickly carbonized. It contrasted
with a thick deep red paint. These wares form a nonverbal dialogue that was con-
sequently amenable to translation by anyone familiar with the technical processes
(see Lechtman 1977: 13-17). The next statement in that visual dialogue was
Burnished Blackware. Its most important external quality-its blackness-
extended throughout its whole body, in contrast to the cream clay body evident in
a broken Red-and-Black vessel. A basic principle ofAndean technologies required
that whatever feature of color or design provided the expression in a product, that
feature should be inherent in its structure (Lechtman 1977: 9, in metal; Grieder
et al. 1988: 208, in textiles). Burnished Black fulfills that principle.
The blackwares were fired in saggars, perhaps like the bamboo crates
described by Whitten and Whitten (1988) for modem Canelos Quichua firing,
or inside overturned larger pots, to achieve a reducing atmosphere. Control of the
atmosphere requires some kind of container for the fire that can be opened or
closed. At Challuabamba we do not have evidence of the container, only of the

results. A large ceramic pot set rim-down over the fIre, containing smaller vessels
to be fIred, would have been functionally ideal. We believe that symbolically it
could have reminded the potter of the dark interior of the earth, or the womb of
mother earth, or the dark underworld and the night. Whether the blackness was
the initial attraction or not, in the long run it was the technique that spread
throughout the Formative cultures of the Americas, from Chavin in Peru to Olmec
and its relatives in Mexico. Where it originated is unknown, but with the evidence
currently available it seems that Challuabamba was a participant in the early
development of reduction fIring.
Control of fIre was indispensable not only for pottery, but shortly thereafter
for the working of metals. Those pyrotechnologies, which we regard as utilitar-
ian, were apparently not so regarded anywhere in the Americas, where both the
processes and the products were symbolic, practiced as rituals and the products
(especially the metals) valued for their meaning (Hosler 1994: 227-251;
Lechtman 1977: 9, 16). As the media in which cosmic symbols and political
ideology were expressed, the pyrotechnologies, at least in their higher forms,
were patronized and controlled by the elite.
Ceramic technology was a special knowledge. Helms (1979), in her study of
Panamanian chiefs, emphasizes the chief's superior knowledge in both the hori-
zontal dimension of the larger world beyond the local scene, and the vertical
dimension of the cosmic and eternal. While Helms describes later mature chief-
doms and their art, Formative Burnished Blackware expresses similar ideas in a
nocturnal and occult aspect, emphasizing fearsome supernatural powers which
may have been required by emerging chiefs. The focus of the elite on reduced
wares was a choice, apparently dictated by the ideology of chiefdom that was
developing in that period. Helms (1979: 175-6) considers esoteric knowledge of
the cosmos a "controllable form of 'elite goods'," a resource that is as important
for the operation of society as are the material products of the economy. She fInds
it particularly characteristic of rank societies that sanctity ("association with 'ulti-
mate truth"') reinforces the political power of the ruler, as we might expect in a
technologically undeveloped society (Rappaport 1971: 40--41). The reputation for
harshness, the threat of death, the fear inspired by ancient chiefs (Salomon 1986:
125), all suggest a reputation for powers beyond the merely political.
Modem native societies in the equatorial highlands of Peru and Ecuador
show the incorporation of this conception of the world into the shared philosophy.
Whitten (1976: 58-59,67-68) tells us that the Canelos spend their nights asleep
around the center posts of their houses (i.e., the universal axis) dreaming of trav-
els through the universe. When they awake they recount their dreams to their
companions. Typically in native South America, dreaming reveals a superior real-
ity providing integrative insights into the order of the world (Sullivan 1988:
250-261). The night, and especially the night sky with its everchanging detail,
was the realm of the bat and the owl, and the night forest the kingdom of the

jaguar. With the coming of daylight the power of the night vanishes into caves,
the underworld, and hidden places such as the wombs of women. This occult real
world, lit on earth only by fire, was the domain of specialists who had sought out
and paid for the secret knowledge of the universal order and the many spirits who
controlled it.
Although material goods have been the focus of studies of ancient interre-
gional exchange, the importance of information exchange in the northern Andes
has also been attested by numerous scholars. Langdon's (1981: 107-9) descrip-
tion of the yage (Banisteriopsis sp.) complex in the Colombia-Ecuador border-
lands shows that metaphysical and biomedical knowledge was highly valued in
exchange relationships. The Siona people consider themselves the only true spe-
cialists in yage visions and believe they are the most skilled in "raveling the vast
realms of the universe." Every aspect of Siona life is affected by the knowledge
and powers of the shamans and the "supernatural agents" they control. "When a
master shaman resides among the Siona, he is considered the politico-religious
leader of the group (casique), and the community members drink yage with him
regularly to maintain community well-being. Shamans with such supernatural
powers are called 'jaguar' and are believed to be able to transform into that ani-
mal as well as several others during hallucinogenic episodes," according to
Langdon. The shaman's power resides in knowledge of a set of culturally pat-
terned visions and their accompanying songs, allleamed through apprenticeship
to other more senior shamans. Sullivan (1988: 650-660) has described the impor-
tance for the health of whole societies of the confident performance of these
shamanic rituals. Intragroup feasting would have provided the opportunity for
Challuabamba shamans to dramatize noble generosity, to communicate knowl-
edge of occult symbolism, to show personal wealth in fine pottery, and to rank
their fellow villagers by the food and containers they were served.
Burnished black pottery became a tangible manifestation of the conception
of chiefly power and prestige in the Formative Period. The invention of reduction-
fired ceramics was not only important as a stage in the development of pyrotech-
nologies, but also added to elite exchange a crafted artifact, not to be found in
nature, that expressed the ideology of leadership.
The way of life we call the American Formative, which spread with such
rapidity over a wide region from the Central Andes to Central Mexico during the
second millennium BC, owed its success to the cohesion of three factors. First
was the widespread acceptance of what we think of as a "shamanic" world view,
which was the philosophical context for subsequent developments. Second was
the invention of reduction-fired ceramics and all the variations in ceramic sur-
faces that controlled firing made possible, which provided the principal material
artifact during the Middle Formative Period in chiefly ritual and elite exchange.
Third was the increasing powers of some individual shamans as they developed
their exchange network, adding not only prestige gained by wider knowledge of

the world and its products, but also economic advantages not available to the
common folk around them. Out of this group of shamans grew the hereditary
lords who ruled Formative Period polities and later ones.
Acknowledgments
The Challuabamba project was carried out under authorizations of the Instituto
Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural del Ecuador dated June 6, 1995, June 17, 1996,
January 22, 1997, June 14, 1999, and June 16,2000. The project was funded by
research funds of the David Bruton Jr. Centennial Professorship in Art History at
the University of Texas at Austin, by gifts for Art History faculty research from
Dana De Beauvoir, and by the University Grant-in-Aid Program for Faculty,
Office of the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, Virginia
Commonwealth University. Special thanks to Francisco Chimbo and the
Jaramillo family, represented by Juan Pablo Jaramillo, for permission to carry out
excavations on their properties. We thank Jorge Marcos for consultation on the
excavation collections and review of a draft of the paper. We are grateful to Joyce
Marcus and Karen Stothert for helpful comments on a draft of the paper. Any
remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.
Notes
I. The spelling "Challuabamba," Quichua for "fish field," follows the spelling used by the Ecuadorian
Instituto Geognlfico Militar ( the source for all geographic names used here) and traditional in the
region. Max Uhle (1922: 21ft) used that spelling in the first report on the archaeology of the site.
Jij6n y Caamafio, beginning in 1930, changed the spelling to "Chaullabamba" (e.g., 1951:
145-158). The fact that "Chaullabamba culture" as described by Jij6n y Caamaiio corresponded to
the Chorrera culture as defined by Evans and Meggers (1957) (see Bischof 1975: 15, Tellenbach
1998: 272) makes return to the earlier spelling advisable in order to associate the name with mate-
rial more directly related to the Challuabamba site.
2. It is significant that the Formative traits associated with the rapid spread of rank societies in both
Peru and Mesoamerica include a common set of ceramic vessel forms, reduction-fired and differ-
entially-burnished vessels, and many common decorative designs. The spread of these features
through the equatorial Andean region appears to be prototypical for the wider spread of Formative
culture. Lathrap (1973) proposed similar conclusions on the basis of different evidence from the
tropical lowlands.
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Part III
Landscapes of Power
Introduction
Space is the means, medium, and outcome of human action (Soja 1989). It is
usually dealt with in terms of a scale, "place" being a small portion of space
created and emotionally experienced by each actor, "landscape" a larger unit
encompassing numerous places, and "space" the largest unit, including even the
abstraction (Hirsch 1995). Our use of "landscape" is not intended to be rigorous
about scale, but inclusive and encompassing larger and smaller spaces, under-
standing them as produced by human action and experienced by human bodies,
more and less intentionally.
Places and landscapes are manufactured by physical and cognitive alteration
of topography and built environment, but they only have meaning when experi-
enced by senses, emotion, and memory-imagined and real. Landscapes are cog-
nitively perceived and conceptually constructed by human actors. Consequently,
they have different meanings for different individuals and groups (Rodman 1992),
meanings and memories that may be contested. Thus, landscape also has the
aspect of power for it is the medium for action in the present (directed at the past,
present, or future). Therefore, agency operates in a spatial context. As theorized in
a poststructural social science, space-rather than structure-is the repository for
behavioral potentialities and constraints, the primary resource for action, and the
accumulated result in the present of past action (historical contingency).
Emphasis on landscape in the study of prehispanic Andean cultures includes
both structural and poststructural approaches with scholars often preferring struc-
turalism which assumes uniform response to landscape in terms of cultural rules.
Also, Andeanists have employed ethnographic analogies that suppose changeless
Andean culture, psychology, and political systems. In Central Andean archaeology
the exploration of power in regional landscape may be said to have begun with
Zuidema's (1964) study of the structural organization of the ritual geography of
the Inca capital of Cuzco, followed by Lathrap's (1974, 1985) and Isbell's (1978,
181

1986) strongly structuralist studies of the power-generating forces of early
V-shaped mounds and related ceremonial centers of the Andes and tropical forest.
Description and discussion of ancient landscapes may approach the "thick
description" of Geertz (1980) in which meaning is revealed in the details of form,
style, and presentation. Experiences of past landscapes are empathetically
inferred by modem scholars, who argue that the meanings inscribed into these
landscapes stimulate similar emotions, constraints, and senses of power today as
were promoted in the past. Not surprisingly, scholars disagree regarding how
completely this emic understanding can be achieved (e.g., Cooney 2001; Thomas
1991, 1999,2001). While there is reason to debate the degree to which modem
academics can respond to ancient landscapes in the way that their builders and
ancient occupants did, there can be no question that description of those land-
scapes, the thicker the better, provides the most intense modem experience of the
past. With these thoughts in mind a generous and broadly ranging discussion of
prehispanic Andean landscapes has been included in this volume.
Attention to crafted landscapes in the Andes has encompassed physical phe-
nomena as diverse as the great geoglyph-marked plain at Nazca (e.g., Silverman
1990), carved rock sites of the Inca (van de Guchte 1992), the placement and lay-
out of ceremonial centers and ceremonial cities (e.g., Burger 1992; Ko1ata
and Ponce Sangines 1992), and the poetics of imperial administrative centers
(e.g., Stone-Miller and McEwan 1990). The landscape paradigm also can treat
ephemeral phenomena, as in McEwan and van de Guchte's (1992) discussion of
ancestral time and sacred space in the Inca state ritual of capac hucha (and com-
pare to the ephemeral sacred landscapes created by modem-day Andean pilgrims:
see Sallnow 1987; see also Bastien 1978).
One of the most interesting examples of this genre of study is found in the
collaboration between art historian Rebecca Stone-Miller and archaeologist
Gordon McEwan (1990). They have discovered that the aesthetics, structure, and
technical and formal features of Huari textile art and imperial architecture are
highly comparable and that both disseminated the ideological messages of the
Huari state that sponsored their creation. The great Huari administrative center of
Pikillacta was literally draped across the Cuzco landscape, "as if the architect had
given no particular consideration to topographic irregularities. Thus, Pikillacta
appears not to have been adapted to the terrain, but rather imposed on, or built in
spite of [it]. In this sense it is very like a textile that has been draped over an
uneven surface, such as a human body" (Stone-Miller and McEwan 1990: 57).
The draping of imperial architecture on an otherwise (assumed to be) secular ter-
rain transformed it into a conjoined political-religious landscape.
Archaeologists and art historians are not alone in the study of ancient
remains. Architects, including Jean-Pierre Prozten, William 1. Conklin, and
Carlos Williams Leon, have made impressive contributions to Andeanist scholar-
ship. Thus, it is fully appropriate that this edited volume features contributions by
Landscapes of Power 183

archaeologists, art historians, and architects (here, the fascinating paper by
Protzen and Nair).
The recognition of spatial patterning, the spatial aspects of cultural activity,
and social representation of space are important tasks for the archaeologist (see
Kus 1983). In this section we present five papers that contribute significantly to
the contemporary investigation of landscape in the Andes, including architecture
and the built environment overall (understood as the physical as well as cognitive
manipulation of nature). The papers encompass traditional sites (bounded places
of human activity: Tiwanaku, Conchopata) as well as relatively vast areas com-
prised of related sites (the Nazca Lines, emplaced petroglyphs). Each of these
chapters emphasizes the functional interrelatedness of the social, political, and
religious spheres, although the descriptions frequently leave the experience of the
landscapes to the imagination of the readers.
Various parameters of behavior and ideology link these case studies. Most
salient, we believe, is that each, in its own way, implies bodily movement through
space and landscape as the vivifying agent of power, regardless of the dominant
domain. Thus, one moved through Tiwanaku both physically as well as cognitively
and ritually in terms of its cosmograrnic layout (in addition to Protzen and Nair's
contribution in this volume, see Kolata 1993; Kolata and Ponce Sangines 1992; for
a contrary perspective see Isbell 1994, 1998, in press; Vranich 1999). One traversed
the pampa in the course of making geoglyphs and subsequently performing cere-
monies at them (Johnson, Proulx, and Mabee; see also Silverman 1990). By walk-
ing from petroglyph to petroglyph in the Ecuadorian highlands social, political,
and cosmological territory was created and reiterated (Bray). At Conchopata
(Ochatoma and Cabrera; Isbell and Cook), residents of the densely occupied city
walked past rectangular stone and mud structures, open plazas, streets and canals,
through narrow alleyways of the city, and perhaps, up a small ramp into aD-shaped
ceremonial structure. Moreover, the newly discovered iconography of Conchopata
pottery suggests that revolutionizing movement took place as Huari warriors phys-
ically went to Tiwanaku, crossed Lake Titicaca in reed boats, and brought back to
Ayacucho esoteric knowledge (compare to Helms 1976).
Tiwanaku is the most impressive center of monumental stone working in the
ancient Americas. The apogee of its stone working craft was expressed in mega-
lithic gateways that figure prominently in all reconstructions of the ancient civic
center. But if modem scholars are to have a realistic sense of the ancient experi-
ence of Tiwanaku, they must know where these great gateways stood, what they
looked like in their larger architectural contexts, and how they functioned to con-
strain and promote the activities of people as they moved about the sacred city.
Protzen and Nair show that popular reconstructions of the ancient buildings
that incorporated the great gateways are actually fanciful and should not be given
credence. Taking a thick description rather than inferential approach, the authors
describe the remains of each gateway with unparalleled precision, definitively

detennining the most probable number of gateways represented by the remaining
ruins, the rules for their carving, the differences among the pieces, and which
gateways probably belong in the same building. They are able to detennine the
original location of some gateways and probable locations for others. One of the
most interesting contributions of Protzen and Nair's paper is the evidence they
present for miniature (half-size) gateways that were incorporated into larger
architectural compositions. Tiwanaku's "celebration of gateways," as Protzen and
Nair call it, clearly defines the unique experience of Tiwanaku. This study is pre-
requisite for any attempt to physically resituate the gateways and, eventually, vic-
ariously experience the site. Protzen and Nair also show how Tiwanaku's static
architecture is embodied action, becoming a venue for dynamic movement. One
important issue to be resolved is whether the gateways were attached to architec-
ture (thereby with constricted and channeled approaches and limited vistas) or
whether they were free-standing with easy passage when originally in use.
Protzen and Nair ask, "what represents the solid part of the architecture, and what
represents the void, or space through which people move?" Only as these ques-
tions are answered by even more thick description will archaeologists and art his-
torians begin to experience the meaning of Tiwanaku's ritual landscape.
Ochatoma and Cabrera describe a newly discovered D-shaped temple exca-
vated at Conchopata. This same form was identified in ceramic iconography
found at the site in 1977 (see Cook 2001). Co-occurrence of the form in iconog-
raphy and in the built environment documents a tight integration of art and land-
scape, at widely varying scales, in early Huari culture. Ochatoma and Cabrera
provide marvelously thick description of the ruins of a D-shaped building, includ-
ing its confusing proliferation of ceramic and other offerings. They are convinc-
ing in their argument that the building must be recognized as a new kind of
ceremonial structure, and probably the type of temple associated with the first
Tiwanakoid iconography to reach the Ayacucho region. The depictions of mythi-
cal beings as well as humans, especially warriors, imply that living individuals
manipulated material culture to associate themselves with supernatural entities,
and achieved personal political power that was exercised in the context of an
expanding territorial state. Giant ceramic vessels constituted a medium for the
representation of new cosmological concepts. Much attention was given to men
in fancy clothing carrying symbols that included different weapons, shields, and
an eagle perched on the shoulder (and consider the frequent association of parrots
and warriors in late Nasca ceramic art: see Eisleb 1977: 209; Kroeber and Collier
1998: color plate 23). Apparently, new statuses and hierarchies were being
worked out on the exquisitely made pottery and promoted visually to those who
witnessed the vessels at Conchopata and apparently beyond, at other centers to
which the spectacular pots were carried.
Isbell and Cook discuss further new discoveries at Conchopata and their
relationship to the development of Huari. They provide more information about

exciting new iconography, mortuary behavior, pottery making within architectural
contexts, and the greater spatial organization of Conchopata. As editors, we could
have divided Isbell and Cook's paper into two chapters, one that would fit more
readily in the art section and the other in this landscape section of the volume. But
we felt it best to maintain the integrity of the contribution and also link it to
Ochatoma and Cabrera's paper because of the fascinating data on Conchopata as
a site of dynamic political activity and sociocultural experimentation.
Conchopata was clearly the "second city" of Huari's Ayacucho Valley heart-
land. Isbell and Cook's fieldwork documents several new pottery offerings, rec-
ognizes unanticipated differences among them, and proposes a typology in terms
of which the Middle Horizon ceramic offering tradition may now be discussed.
They also report new information on mortuary practices at Conchopata, and pro-
pose a classification of types of burials, another essential for further dialogue
about Huari and the Middle Horizon. Their information suggests the existence of
royal burial and at least some burial contexts (the "mortuary room burial" and
"offering house") associated with rituals of ancestor veneration, including re-
entry and addition of offerings (note that important differences distinguish
Conchopata ancestor treatment from Inca practice). This suggestion is informed
by the architectural configuration of the burials (for an excellent cognate argu-
ment concerning an earlier time period on the coast see Dulanto 2002; see also
Isbell 1997). The Conchopata data promise to help archaeologists understand the
great megalithic chambers in the Cheqo Wasi ("stone house") sector of Huari (see
Benavides 1991).
Osteological analysis of human remains from Conchopata suggests that elite
males practiced polygamy. Although amply described for the Inca court at the
time of the Spanish Invasion, the implications of polygynous households have
been little explored for Andean prehistory.
Identification of a probable palace at Conchopata is also very exciting. It was
a secure, walled enclosure with a large courtyard and small plaza, probably for
political assemblies of different order, and with attached residential areas for the
ruler and his many wives. Conchopata must have been a very lively urban center
fourteen hundred years ago, with art and architecture promoting and reproducing
creative new social relations that emphasized differences in power.
The great lines and figures of Nazca have puzzled archaeologists, adventur-
ers, journalists, and the reading public since dissemination of their discovery.
Many kinds of serious explanations have been proposed, from ritual to practical
(see, e.g., Aveni 1990; Isbell 1978; Kosok 1965), but none has been definitive.
Consequently, a new explanation, and one with as much field data as offered here
by Johnson, Proulx, and Mabee, is an intriguing surprise. The authors argue that
the famous geoglyphs of the Nazca region mapped knowledge of the subsurface
hydraulic resources which were exploited by means of a system of so-called fil-
tration galleries. Knowledge of hydrology became complete enough for the ancient

inhabitants to exploit underground water sources located well above the level of
the river, turning arid valley sides into gems of irrigation-based agriculture.
The knowledge of presumably "primitive" peoples of the past has astounded
archaeologists before. Therefore, such sophistication in ancient Nazca should not
be rejected out of hand. Nonetheless, we must ask how the ancients of Nazca could
have leamed so much about subsurface faulting and water flow. Ifthe Johnson et al.
theory is more thorougWy validated, archaeologists may begin to look at the geo-
glyphs and markings for what they can tell us about ancient conceptualizations of
hydrology and water circulation. We will have a very different understanding of
scientific knowledge in ancient Nasca society, for the giant desert symbols and
associated settlements bespeak a remarkable system of knowledge with ramifica-
tions far beyond the ecological domain (see, for example, Earls and Silverblatt
1978). The hydrological mapping hypothesis does not negate previously proposed
anthropological ideas about the Nazca geoglyphs (see, e.g., Aveni 1990; Reinhard
1988; Silverman 1990; Urton 1990), rather, it makes them newly understandable
and ever more fascinating. IfJohnson, Proulx, and Mabee's new mappings are cor-
rect, the geoglyphic symbols must have been part of a system of knowledge that
integrated ground water into human space-time, ritual action, political power, and
religious ideology. The implications of this study are profound, including for con-
temporary problems of subsistence and development in Nazca.
Tamara Bray takes us to the Ecuadorian highlands bordering Colombia. This
area experienced its own trajectory of social complexity, until forcibly incorpo-
rated into the Inca Empire by Huayna Capac. Taking a hermeneutic perspective,
Bray asks why exotic petroglyphs appear in some places, but are unknown in oth-
ers. She carefully locates and describes the remains, providing excellent infor-
mation for broader comparative studies. Some of the figures, particularly long
snouted creatures with tails curling over their backs, are probably monkeys, the
most popular theme on ceramics and other art from the region. However, the sec-
ond most common figure in the Pimampiro petroglyphs, the bicephalic creature,
is not known elsewhere in local art. Alternatively, similar figures, usually identi-
fied as two-headed snakes, have a very wide distribution in various art traditions
of the Andes and surrounding lowland cultures. And a mythical snake-like animal
was described in early colonial times that may relate to the same beliefs.
Bray concludes her discussion arguing that Pimampiro was ecologically
transitional, and probably an important border. The imagery of this rock art sug-
gests that "landscape features were an important node in a regional system of
visual communication that may have articulated shared understandings about ter-
ritoriality, ethnic difference and social identity ... and notions of the foreign." She
concludes that "the production of these petroglyphs may be understood as a spe-
cific form of material practice that may have been intended to visually represent,
physically commemorate, and actively maintain a social memory of local history
and inter-ethnic relations."

The five chapters in this section present a tremendous, integrated corpus of
art, iconography, and landscape data, much of it for the first time. The analyses
and interpretations are new and together they constitute a meaningful addition to
our knowledge about landscape and power in the precolumbian past of the
Andean region.
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Chapter 7
The Gateways of Tiwanaku
Symbols or Passages?
JEAN-PIERRE PROTZEN AND STELLA NAIR
Architecture, to state the obvious, is a social act-social both in method and

purpose. It is the outcome of teamwork; and it is there to be made use of by
groups of people, groups as small as the family or as large as an entire nation.
Architecture is a costly act. It engages specialized talent, appropriate technol-
ogy, handsome funds. Because it is so, the history of architecture partakes, in
a basic way, of the study of the social, economic, and technological systems
of human history. (Kostof 1995: 7)
INTRODUCTION TO AN ARCHITECTURAL
APPRECIATION OF TIWANAKU
Tiwanaku sits an elevation of 3840 m asl in a broad, treeless valley that drains into
nearby Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. The site of
Tiwanaku was the center of a civilization of the same name that emerged here
around 300BC and lasted to about AD llOO when it collapsed. At its apogee
Tiwanaku had expanded its sphere of influence far beyond its immediate envi-
ronment into modem day northern Chile, southern Peru, and eastern Bolivia.
Over the last five centuries, the archaeological site of Tiwanaku has suffered
unspeakable damage inflicted by treasure hunters, hacendados, farmers, builders,
practice-shooting armies, and railroad barons. The site today consists of two dis-
tinct areas (Figure 7.1). The larger of the two, just east of the town, centers around
the huge man-made platform mound of Akapana, and comprises the main struc-
tures of Kantatayita, the Semi-subterranean Temple, Kalasasaya, Putuni, and
Kerikala. The smaller area is to the south of the town and consists of the man-
made mound of Pumapunku (literally, "gate of the puma"). There is little standing
189
190 Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair
The Gateways of Tiwanaku 191

architecture and what is standing is largely and questionably reconstructed. Most
of what the visitors encounter are enormous stone slabs, elaborate gateways,
stelae, and lots of carved building blocks, all dressed with astonishing skill and
strewn about the site. It takes considerable imagination to visualize the original
appearance of Tiwanaku's architecture. With patience and careful observation,
however, some order can be imposed on this chaos.
Architecture-and, by extension, the landscape within which it is embedded-
provides a window onto the civilization that created it. Architecture also has to be
understood from the ground up, so to speak, in order to be fully appreciated. Starting
from the foundation to the roof, the observation and analysis of the construction of a
building may offer insights into the structural knowledge of its builders, the tools they
used, and the sequences in which the building has been put together, which in tum
may yield clues to labor organization. We may acquire knowledge of the builders'
understanding of the properties of the various materials and how they interact, of the
environmental forces that act on a building and how the building interacts with these
forces, and other similar questions. Sophistication in construction technique and exe-
cution may point towards specialization within the labor force. Finally, the qualities
of construction materials used, their provenience, and the sheer volume of construc-
tion may be taken as indicators of the economic resources committed to architecture.
From the formal properties of the architecture-its tectonics-one can glean
notions of measurements, proportions, and ordering principles, from the small
scale of an ornament, to a fa~ade's composition, to the large scale of a site's lay-
out, and possibly draw some inferences about the builders' knowledge of mathe-
matics, geometry, even astronomy perhaps, and about their aesthetic preferences.
Variations in construction techniques and tectonics between buildings could
possibly indicate different usages or social status of its inhabitants.
The buildings, their relationships to each other and to the surroundings, and
the layout of a site may hold clues to the ancient builders' conception, ordering,
structuring, and uses of physical space, and hence their construction of social space.
The characteristics of the spaces created within a building, between buildings, and
the buildings and their surroundings may reflect social or power relationships, and
perhaps reveal larger cultural patterns.
The present study does not aim at a comprehensive investigation of
Tiwanaku architecture. Rather, it is concerned with the site's many gateways,
intact as well as shattered into pieces. Our interest should come as no surpise
since the so-called Gateway of the Sun and Gateway of the Moon are doubtless
among the better known architectural features of Tiwanaku.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GATEWAYS

Although the Gateway of the Sun and Gateway of the Moon are the only
standing monolithic gateways today, there are many more fragments of other
192 Jean-Pierre Protzen and SteUa Nair

monolithic and non-monolithic gateways at the site. Stiibel and Uhle (1892 [II]:
26-27) already wondered about the abundance of gateways relative to the scarcity
of buildings found at Tiwanaku. What was their significance? The gateways
bespeak notions of passage and movement, as our colleague William J. Conklin
(1991) once proposed. Conklin, an architect and specialist in precolumbian textiles,
thought that doorways and lintels, sometimes richly decorated, were the diagnos-
tic elements of Tiwanaku architecture. He attributed a particular significance to
them, writing that the "doorway and passage associated with architraves must
have been of great symbolic importance at Tiahuanaco. Not only is the impor-
tance attested to by the architraves themselves, but the architrave and its associ-
ated gateway opening are often repeated in miniature form as an iconic device on
a variety of Tiahuanaco ... architecture" (Conklin 1991: 286-287).
The Tiwanaku people did not limit their celebration of gateways to the con-
struction of actual doorways and their iconic representations, but also, as we shall
show, they built numerous diminutive gateways, about half the size of a normal
gateway, in a variety of guises, thus further accentuating the importance of gate-
ways in Tiwanaku's architecture. In a vein similar to Conklin, Goldstein (1993:
24) wrote, "For Tiwanaku, the monumental representation of state power crystal-
lized in a characteristic ceremonial architecture whose archetypes are found at
Tiwanaku and its altiplano satellites. In the broadest sense, the key elements can
be categorized as (a) artificial terraced mounds, (b) rectangular enclosures,
including walled precincts and sunken courts, and (c) a complex ofdoorways and
staircases that channeled access to a ceremonial core" (emphasis ours).
Although somewhat more obliquely, Kolata (1993: 98-99) also assigns
symbolic significance to the gateways. He says, ''This differential architectural
treatment, which signified substantially different investments of labor and capital,
implies that these buildings, and more specifically their points ofentry and egress,
architecturally encode a culturally significant symbolic, or status hierarchy"
(Kolata 1993: 98-99, emphasis ours).
We have no doubt that the gateways of Tiwanaku were important elements
of its architecture, and that quite possibly they had symbolic significance and may
have served as ritual passages. However, we argue that without knowledge of
where the gateways actually stood (a fact that is far from established and that we
will address below) and without knowledge of the gateways' relationship to each
other and to the buildings of which they may have been a part, and of the build-
ings to each other, interpretations of the gateways' significance and symbolism
cannot transcend mere fiction. To apprehend architecture, it is not sufficient to
contemplate a building as an object from a distance, one must experience it, walk
around it, through it, and be in it. To quote Whiteman (1987: 140), "we become
unwillingly subject to architecture. It envelopes us and controls our experience
extensively. ... Architecture ... works on us even when we are not looking."
In other words, an understanding of the use, function and meaning of architecture

cannot be derived from a mere contemplation of its artifacts, it also has to be tied
to the experience of the architecture. These appreciations of architecture make the
study of Tiwanaku's gateways an important endeavor. We will examine in detail
the known gateways and present evidence for the existence of many more gate-
ways, large and small, including an analysis thereof, for the purpose of establish-
ing the gateways' characteristics, and of finding out what clues they hold to their
relationship to each other and to the configurations of which they may have been
a part. We will also review what is known about the gateways' original location.
FULL-SIZED GATEWAYS
The known large gateways at Tiwanaku are the aformentioned Gateway of
the Sun, Gateway of the Moon, Sandstone Gateway, and the fragments of several
gateways at Pumapunku. Most of these gateways and their fragments have been
previously documented. In 1848 Leonce Angrand, a French diplomat, made
exquisite and accurate drawings that are now housed in the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris (Prtimers 1993). Alphons Sttibel, a German geologist and stu-
dent of volcanoes, measured most of the gateways, gateway fragments, and many
stones in 1876-77 with astonishing precision. His work was later published with
the assistance of Max Uhle who added an historical dimension to the publication
(Sttibel and Uhle 1892). From the measured and drawn fragments of Pumapunku,
Sttibel and Uhle concluded that the fragments came from three distinct gateways.
Arthur Posnansky, an Austrian engineer and naturalized Bolivian, who spent con-
siderable time studying Tiwanaku's ruins, thought that there may have been four
gateways (Posnansky 1945 [II]: 146). The piece that Posnansky believed to
belong to the fourth gateway, Sttibel and UWe suspected to belong to Gateway I
[Note 1] (Sttibel and Uhle 1892: plate 29, figs. 29c, d).
All the above mentioned gateways share a number of common traits. They are
(or were) monolithic. That is, they were cut from a single slab of stone, including
the threshold; the actual doorway openings are set into a double-stepped recessed
frame, or chambranle [Note 2] on both sides; and the reveals of the jambs and the
doorhead are beveled, Le., they flare open to one side, such that the opening of the
actual doorway is larger on one side and smaller on the other (Figure 7.2).
The Gateway of the Sun and the Gateways of Pumapunku share additional
features. They are plain on one side, and divided into several fields by a step
molding on the other. On the plain side, the doorway is flanked by two rectangu-
lar recesses or pockets, one on either side of the doorway (the function of which
will be explained below) (Figure 7.2). The step molding that divides the other side
at about two-thirds of the height of the gateways wraps around, crowns or roofs,
the doorway head, thus defining six distinct fields: one each on either side of the
doorway below the step molding, one each above it, a field in the middle, the
~ J-----,C ~ 7.2
7.4
Figures 7.2-7.4. (Figure 7.2) Plan, Section, and Front View of Gateway III. (Figure 7.3) Back side of
Gateway ill. (Figure 7.4) T-shaped sockets suggesting the addition of building blocks to Gateway III.

"wrap around" area, and another just above it. The fields above the step molding
each contain one or two niches of Type 2a, and the fields below one niche each
of Type 2b [Note 3] (Figure 7.3). The niches have the peculiarity that their jamb
and head reveals are beveled, flaring open to the back (Protzen and Nair 1997:
152, fig. 13). From this, and by analogy, we infer that the plain side of the gate-
ways with its smaller opening is indeed the front or outside of the gateways,
whereas the modulated side with the larger opening is their back or inside [Note 4].
The gateways of Pumapunku, although shattered into pieces, can be
reassembled into a recognizable form. Their fragments are all to be found clus-
tered around four enormous sandstone slabs, or platforms, paving the eastern
edge of the man-made mound.
Pumapunku Gateway III

Stiibel and Uhle did not identify all the pieces of this gate but only recorded
the left jamb with a sizeable piece of its lintel, or architrave still attached. Since it
was recorded by them, Gateway ill has been broken into two more pieces, but is
otherwise complete, that is, no pieces are missing apart from the threshold.
It is the broken gateway that most accurately can be reconstructed. The
width of its doorway can precisely be calculated to 77.4 cm thanks to the incised
meander frieze on the Gateway's front above the doorway (Figure 7.17). The
constituent parts of the frieze are repeated with such regularity, that it is easy to
reassemble it with great accuracy in spite of obliterated or shattered sections. The
height of the doorway opening can be directly measured on the remaining jamb
pieces, from the door head to the traces of the broken off threshold.
On the back side, the step molding roofs the head of the doorway in triple-
stepped fashion. The gateway's back side indicates that gateways, although mono-
lithic, were not whole compositions in themselves, for the recessed double-stepped
chambranle of the Type 2b niche in the lower right field is not complete (Figure 7.3).
The right ascendant would have had to be continued on another building stone that
was attached to the gateway. Several recessed and plain T-shaped cramp sockets
on the narrow sides of the stone slab do in fact suggest that other building stones
were probably attached to the gateway, thus prolonging the monolith in the plane
of the gateway. The rectangular recessed pockets on the gateway's front side also
have T-shaped sockets arranged perpendicular to the main plane of the gateway,
indicating that more building blocks were added to the gateway perpendicular to it
and flanking the doorway itself on either side (Figure 7.4).
Pumapunku Gateway II
We identified at least three more pieces for Gateway II than had been
recorded by Sttibel. This gateway is nearly complete, all that is missing is a piece

of its lintel. The intact fragment of Gateway II's lintel shows that on its front, right
above the recessed chambranle, the lintel has a narrow molding, some 3.6 cm
high, and 3 cm deep, forming the upper edge of the transverse, that does not
appear on the surmised lintel piece.
In general appearance Gateway II is very similar to Gateway III, but it differs
from the latter in two aspects (Figures 7.5, 7.6, and 7.7). First, it is graced by
niche icons on the jamb reveals, a feature that is unique to this gateway. Second,
it does not have a meander frieze. Instead, where the frieze is on Gateway III,
Gateway II has three narrow ledges stepping back. On these ledges one finds tiny
T-shaped cramp sockets regularly spaced, suggesting perhaps that some orna-
mentation was attached there in lieu of an incised frieze. Like Gateway III,
Gateway II has T-shaped cramp sockets of all kinds in similar places as Gateway
III, and thus may have been set into a similar context.
Pumapunku Gateway I
The piece that Posnansky believed to be a part of a fourth gateway, and that
Sttibel and Uhle suspected to belong to Gateway I, we have positively identified as
the left jamb of Gateway I, or at least of one exactly like it. On this gateway, the
step molding roofs the doorway in two steps, not three as on the previous two gate-
ways. We also noticed that on this gateway the Type 2b niches have slightly
different proportions (Figure 7.7). It is this difference that let us associate the frag-
mentary left jamb piece with Gateway I, for its Type 2b niche matches the exact
measurements of that on the right jamb. We will return to the question of this dif-
ference and its consequences later. Little of the gateway's lintel has survived, but
what is left is· enough to affirm that, like Gateway II, it had no incised frieze.
Instead, where the frieze would be, there is a large recessed area into which, again,
some equivalent ornamentation could have been set (Figure 7.8). Again, Gateway
I has T-shaped cramp sockets, recessed or plain, in similar places as Gateway III,
and therefore it, too, was in a similar context with walls extending its main plane
and walls extending perpendicular to its front side and flanking the opening.
Pumapunku Gateway IV
A stone fragment at Pumapunku that came from a door head does not fit any
known gateway. We therefore postulate the previous existence of a fourth gate-
way at Pumapunku.
Gateway of the Sun
As noted above, the Gateway of the Sun shares a wide range of features
with other gateways at Tiwanaku, but it also differs from them in some aspects.
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Front view of Gateway I. ;S
198 Jean-Pierre Protzen and SteUa Nair

The stone slab from which it has been cut is wider and taller than those of the
gateways of Pumapunku. There is room enough above the step molding for two
Type 2aniches on either side of the doorway, although the one to the far left is
not complete (Figure 7.9). The left ascendant of its chambranle would have had
to be completed with another stone. The step molding wraps around the doorhead
in a two-three stepped fashion. One curiosity of this gateway is the asymmetry of
its crown on the back side, for which we have no sensible explanation. But it is
the elaborate, beautifully executed frieze on its front that makes the Gateway of
the Sun truly stand out (Figure 7.10).
Sttibel and Uhle had already observed that the frieze was not simply unfin-
ished, as it is often said, but that in fact it had been carved by two different hands.
The central portion with its fifteen fields in three rows and five columns to the left
and right of the central figure, and the meander just below, were expertly carved
with the utmost care and precision. The nine fields on the left, and the six and
three half fields on the right end with their corresponding meander, were carved
rather crudely by an inexperienced hand (Figure 7.11). That these extreme por-
tions are not just the outlines for finer work to be done later, can be seen in the
fact that figures and ornaments show "errors" that could not possibly be repaired
in a presumed final carving stage. Drawing several figures from the frieze on top
of each other, Sttibel <::'.d Uhle (1892: plate 16) clearly illustrated the differences
in precision between the central and the peripheral sections of the frieze.
Re-examining the frieze we noted that not only are there differences in the
quality of execution, but also differences in technique. While the recessed
portions in both carvings were pecked out, in the better carving these were first
outlined by incision, thus creating very sharp and precise edges (Figure 7.12).
In the lesser carvings the edges are uneven and fuzzy. Here even the outlines
were obtained by pecking, and the pecking itself was made with a coarser tool
than in the precise carvings as can be inferred from the size of the pecking marks
(Figure 7.13).
In addition, we find formal discrepancies in the composition of the frieze.
The middle section of the frieze was conceived as a whole, complete in itself.
This is indicated by the meander in the lowest register with its obvious ends on
either side which underline the central section's symmetry already intimated by
the figures in the upper registers converging on the central figure. The additional
meanders with their new beginnings, and the rough figures facing away from
what should be a new axis of symmetry, upset the logic of the design and the bal-
ance of the middle section. Does the lesser carving represent later work, the work
of epigones, as Sttibel and Uhle argued? Both the inexperienced hand and the dis-
ruption of the design's symmetry support their argument; Posnansky (1945 [II]:
45), however, dismissed Sttibel and Uhle's arguments with slight of hand.
Furthermore, the recessed portions in the lesser carvings are noticeably lighter in
Figures 7.9-7.10. (Figure 7.9) Back side of Gateway of the Sun. (Figure 7.10) Front view of
Gateway of the Sun.
7.13
Figures 7.11-7.13. (Figure 7.11) Frieze on the Gateway of the Sun. (Figure 7.12) Detail of central frieze
(meander center left). (Figure 7.13) Detail of
left-hand frieze (meander).
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color than in the finer carvings, possibly suggesting that the former are fresher
than the latter. Evidence of a re-use and re-design of the Gateway of the Sun is
also found on its reverse side, where an equally inexperienced hand had started to
modify the stepped chambranle around the larger niches. It is difficult to imagine
what the intention of this modification was (Figure 7.9).
Akapana Gateway
In the summer of 1995 we recorded the remains of yet another gateway on
the summit of Akapana. Some of the pieces of this gateway were known to the
local attendants at the site but, to our knowledge, they have never been docu-
mented. Stiibel and Uhle (1892: 27) did mention the remnants of a gateway on the
mound's plateau. Whether these remnants are identical with the pieces we
recorded will probably never be known. This gateway differs from the aforemen-
tioned gateways in that it is not a monolith, but a trilithon, that is, a gateway
assembled from an enormous lintel and two jamb stones (Figure 7.14). Only frag-
ments of the lintel, and one candidate for the left jamb stone remain. A cut stone
depicted in Squier (1877: 280, center right) has all the characteristics of our jamb
stone and could be identical with it [Note 5]. The right jamb stone, no longer
existing, may have been the one illustrated by Stiibel and Uhle (1892: plate 38,
fig 22). It should be noted that Bernabe Cobo (manuscript: Libro XIII, capitulo
XIX; Cobo 1964 (II): 196) who visited Tiwanaku in 1610, and probably again in
1620, described just such a gateway: "cinquenta pies al oriente del (Acapana) ha
quedado en pie una portada grande de solas tres piedras bien labradas, a cada lado
la suya, y otra encima de ambas" [Note 6].
The gateway atop the Akapana shows a very unusual construction technique.
The underside of the lintel is cut at an angle, the exact angle of the bevel of the
door head flaring open to the inside. The top of the jamb is cut at the same bevel
or angle to receive the lintel. With this configuration, the bottom of the Type 2a
niche above the jamb had to be carved out of the beveled surface of the jamb. It
is noteworthy that the short extension of the niche's height so created is exactly
what is needed to bring the niche's dimensions in line with the established pro-
portions (Protzen and Nair 1997: 155-156). These details bespeak a remarkable
sophistication in stereotomy, or the art of stone-cutting, presuming an under-
standing, if not knowledge, of descriptive geometry.
The reader will have noticed that the jamb stone lacks the Type 2b niche. We
are not sure that the jamb stone we identified really was connected with the lin-
tel pieces. While the position and dimensions of the niche bottom and of the step
molding on the jamb match up precisely with the corresponding parts on the lin-
tel, the jamb stone's depth, or thickness, is 3 cm less than that of the lintel. It is
thus possible that the jamb stone belonged yet to another gateway with the same
features as the ones we proposed above, but with different dimensions.
Figures 7.14-7.16. (Figure 7.14) Construction of Akapana Gateway. (Figure 7.15) Comparison of
Scheme I and Scheme 2. (Figure 7.16) Gateway of the Moon,
front and back.
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The Gateways of Tiwanaku

The Gateways Compared
203
The gateways described thus far, in spite of their apparent identical design, fol-
low two different vertical composition schemes. In other words, the vertical layer-
ing of the various elements, the lower fields and within them the bottom and top
of Type 2b niches, the position of the step molding, and the upper fields and within
them the bottom and top of Type 2a niches, is not the same for all gateways. The
Gateway of the Sun and Gateway I follow one pattern: Scheme 1; Gateways II, III
and the Akapana Gateway follow another pattern: Scheme 2 (Figure 7.15).
The differences, as mentioned in our description of Gateway I, seem to stem
from the number of steps in the molding that wraps around the head of the door-
way, which in tum determines the fields on either side of the doorway. This obser-
vation led us to revise our earlier determination of the proportions of Type 2b
niches (Protzen and Nair 1997: 155-156). Originally, we established the propor-
tion of 1: 1.4495 based on the entire set of such niches found at the site. Although
there are variations in the dimensions of individual niches, the spread of the width-
to-height ratios of all niches measured only 0.043 standard deviations. This gave
us the confidence that we were on the right track. Re-analyzing the raw data, and
plotting only the Type 2b niches found on the gateways, we do, however, fmd two
distinct clusters with differing average proportions. The niches in the first vertical
composition scheme (Gateway I and Gateway of the Sun) have average propor-
tions of 1:1.5474, while the proportion of those in the second scheme (Gateway II,
and III) average 1:1.3431. The newly created sets have a much narrower spread of
values, with respective standard deviations of 0.007 and 0.009. Henceforth, we
will distinguish between niches of Type 2bl and 2b2 for niches on gateways of
Scheme 1 and Scheme 2, and Type 2b3 for all other niches of this kind. A similar
analysis of the gateways' openings measured on both the front and the back,
reveals that they all are in the average ratio of 1:2.1435, regardless of the vertical
composition scheme to which they belong. In spite of the noted differences, taken
together, the gateways discussed above form a single stylistic group; the two
different compositional schemes are only variations of the same theme.
Although the Gateway of the Sun and Gateway of Akapana do not have
cramp sockets on their narrow sides (they may not yet have been carved), the par-
tial Type 2a niches on either suggest that these gateways, too, were meant to be
embedded in walls extending out to the left and right that would have continued
a row of Type 2a niches. As seen above, Gateways I, II, and III similarly were
meant to be imbedded in walls extending to the left and right of them. Yet, the lat-
ter walls did not immediately continue the row of Type 2a niches above the step
molding, for if the spacing of these niches were the same or at least similar to that
on the Gateways of the Sun and of Akapana, one should find the next niches at
least partially outlined in their respective fields on the gateways themselves.

Gateway III and the Gateway of the Sun have a common iconography. The
meander in the lowest register of the Gateway of the Sun is identical in design and
dimensions to the meander on Gateway III, with two exceptions (Figure 7.17).
First, the heads at the extremities of the meander on the Gateway of the Sun are
raptorial bird heads whereas on Gateway III they are the heads of what Uhle
thought were fish. Second, whereas on the Gateway of the Sun the meander is
executed in a champleve technique, on Gateway III it is merely incised. It is, of
course, possible that the meander frieze on the latter gateway is unfinished, that
indeed, the bands within the meander were still to be pecked out.
Common to all the above gateways is a most curious detail: sugarloaf or
cone-shaped recesses, from 8 to 14cm in diameter and about 20cm deep or high
(Figures 7.4, 7.14). The cones are carved into the bottom of the jambs on either
side of the gateways with an additional cone, vertically aligned and similarly
oriented, in the upper, inner corner of the Type 2b niches flanking the gateways.
In each case, a small hole is drilled from the face of the gateways into the cone
near its apex. In most cases, these cones have been broken open, as if some force
had been applied to them. Posnansky (1945 [II]: fig. 10) proposed that these
cones were the pivot holes for doors for the niches. Given the configuration of the
cones, this argument makes no sense. That the cones served a different function
is evident from the cones on the left jamb of the Akapana Gateway that does not
have a Type 2b niche. In contrast to the other gateways, here the cones are
arranged apex to apex. In this particular case one could imagine that the cones
might have been used as anchoring devices, the lower one to fix the jamb to the
floor, the upper to attach the lintel. In each case one could imagine some object
inserted into the cones and held in place by a pin pushed through the drill hole.
Miniature cones, with diameters of about 2.5 cm and depths of 3 cm, are found on
other building stones. Further investigation of these cones might some day reveal
their true function.
Gateway of the Moon

The Gateway of the Moon does not fit any of the above designs. It does not
have a step, but a simple molding, and there is no indication of niches of either
Type 2a or 2b (Figure 7.16). The inverse stepped rabbet and the plinth at the
bottom are not repeated in any other design. Curious, too, is the fact that the door-
way is narrower at the bottom than the top. The gateway's opening is taller than
that of the above gateways; its proportions are 1:2.2442. Also, the gateway is cut
from a much smaller stone than the gateways previously reviewed. The incipient
rectangular recesses flanking the opening on the front side are unlike the rectan-
gular pockets found on the Gateway of the Sun. They are vertically arranged and
are much higher on the gateway. Whether they were intended to receive recessed
cramps is doubtful given their configuration.

The meander frieze on the Gateway of the Moon (the iconography of which
is identical with that on the Gateway of the Sun) appears to have been carved in
the same inexperienced hand we fmd on the latter's additions. The figures and
ornaments are far from precise horizontal lines-they are only approximately so
and are quite irregular. And looking at the reveals of the jamb we noticed that
their finish is rather bumpy, and far from the perfectly even planes we have
become accustomed to see on the stones of Pumapunku. The Gateway of the
Moon's divergent design and its less than prefect execution let us argue that this
gateway may represent a later attempt at creating a gateway similar to the gate-
ways discussed above. As such it is a rather pale imitation.
Sandstone Gateway
The Sandstone Gateway is found on the south side of Akapana, immediately
adjacent to the railroad tracks. Squier (1877: 283) illustrated it and Middendorf
(1895 [III]: 391) photographed it. In both renderings the gateway is buried to half
its height and has a big stone slab leaning against it. That slab has since disap-
peared. In 1996 the gateway was excavated in order to reveal its full height
(Figure 7.18). This gateway was cut from a single slab of reddish sandstone. The
opening has the common features: double stepped recessed chambranles framing
the opening on either side, and beveled reveals and head. The threshold (that here
is still intact) is 31.5 cm high, and it shows that the recessed chambranle also went
around the opening at the bottom. Since no threshold has survived on any other
gateway, we do not know whether re-turning the chambranle at the bottom was a
standard design feature of Tiwanaku gateways. The proportions of the opening of
this gateway, 1:2.2500, are closer to that of the Gateway of the Moon than to any
of the other gateways. Its design, however, deviates from either quite drastically;
it has on either side only a simple chambranle with no wrap-around molding crown-
ing the opening on the back side nor any suggestion of a frieze on its front. Front
and back of this gateway can only be determined by examining the bevel of its jamb
and head reveals. The Sandstone Gateway also lacks any cramp sockets, recessed
or otherwise, from which one could infer anything about its original context.
A number of isolated architraves, or lintels, testify to the former existence of
still more gateways at Tiwanaku. These architraves bespeak two distinct designs,
the doubly curved and the anticephaloid.
Curved Architraves
The doubly curved lintels, seen in elevation, are cut in a shallow elliptical arch;
in cross-section their backsides recede in a steep parabolic curve. The combined
curvatures produce an incredibly beautiful, but complicated surface the creation
of which would tax any stonemason's skills today. One such architrave of andesite
7.17
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front view. (Figure 7.19) Doubly curved architrave at
Kantatayita. (Figure 7.20) Anticephaloid architrave. (Drawing by Mireille Rodier).
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was uncovered at the Kantatayita in a test excavation by Gregorio Cordero
Miranda in 1976 (Figure 7.19). Its front was adorned with anarch-shaped frieze
of "flying" figures holding staffs and was probably inlaid with gold leaves
(Conklin 1991: 283; Isbell and Cook 1987). Another curved architrave of sand-
stone, now broken into several pieces, is found near the southern-most platform
at Pumapunku. This architrave was unadorned and probably unfinished. One
fragment each of two more such lintels are built into a crude retaining wall of
unknown date on the southeast side of the same mound.
How the curved lintels were supported, and what the corresponding gateway
looked like, is not known. All we can say about their appearance is that the actual
doorways defined by these architraves were much wider than any of the gateways
discussed above. Whereas the typical doorway width of the monolithic gateways is
between 75 and 85 cm, the curved lintels indicate doorway widths of monumental
dimensions, ranging from 168cm (Kantatayita) to 266cm (Pumapunku). No
matching jamb pieces to the curved lintels have yet been identified, nor is anything
known about the context to which these gateways belonged.
Anticephaloid Architraves
Museums from Berlin to La paz and Tiwanaku hold in their collections of
Tiwanaku materials prismatic stones with two opposing human figures standing
head to head carved in high relief on one of their long faces (Figure 7.20). These
stones are invariably set upright, and commonly thought to be a kind of stelae.
Conklin (1991: 282-283) was first to suggest that the stones might have been archi-
traves with the figures looking down from the head of the doorway. In this position
neither figure is standing on its head, and the whole composition makes better sense.
An investigation of the still intact pieces reveals that each one has clearly elaborated
seatings, or points of support, at either end. Although, to our knowledge, none of the
pieces has a documented provenience or known context, we find Conklin's sugges-
tion persuasive. The only reservations we have are, first, that on some pieces the
points of support, or turned-down ends, are very thin, sometimes less than 6 cm in
width. On stones that measure 1.40m or more in length these supports appear very
fragile. Second, on the two intact anticephaloid pieces in the museum at Tiwanaku,
the two figures are not centered on the face of the stone. Given the observable
tendency to symmetry in Tiwanaku architecture, it appears odd that the two figures
looking down from the doorhead should be off-center relative to the passage. But, if
they were lintels, as we still believe, then each anticephaloid architrave stands for
yet another gateway at Tiwanaku. Here, as is the case with the doubly curved lintels,
nothing is known about the construction and context of gateways with anticephaloid
architraves, except that the doorways must have between 125 and 145 cm in width.
Aside the architraves just discussed, there is an intimation that the Tiwanaku also
used straight or beam-like architraves. Conklin (1991) illustrates as an example of
a decorated beam architrave, a stone photographed by Posnansky (1945 [II]:
figs. 140a,b). This stone, presumably a flat slab with a decorated band on one of
its narrow sides, was found serving as threshold in a house in La Paz. Posnansky
said that he "saved" it in the Miraflores Museum, however we have not seen it
there. He gave no dimensions for the stone, which leaves one guessing what kind
of stone it was. Conklin (1991: 283, fig. 3) shows yet another example of a dec-
orated beam-like architrave, a stone now in the Museum fur Volkerkunde in
Berlin (Cat. no. VA 10883), that is very similar to another stone illustrated
by Posnansky (1945 [II]: figs. 138, 139, 139a). Both these stones are unbroken
and measure 57.5 and 66 cm in length respectively. If they served as lintels over
doorways, these doorways must have been quite narrow.
MINIATURE GATEWAYS
Strewn about Pumapunku are not only fragments of full-sized gateways but
a large number of building stones of various shapes. While some of these stones
are still intact, most are badly mutilated. Nevertheless, working at Tiwanaku over
the last few years we succeeded in determining the relative position of many
stones and establishing their relationship to others. Some of these building stones
fit together to form both blind and open diminutive gateways.
Blind Miniature Gateways
We identified two fragments that once formed a monolithic, blind miniature
gateway, 48 cm wide and 95 cm high (Figure 7.21). From the front, these frag-
ments have the appearance of a gateway set into a double stepped, recessed cham-
branle. Just inside the gateway there is a shallow space, 17.4 cm deep, the sides
of which are adorned with a step molding at about a quarter of the space's height.
The back of the space is formed by a plain wall some 8 cm thick. One might argue
that blind gateways are not really gateways, but more closely represent niches.
But niches are unlike gateways in their basic form. Cross-sections in plan and ele-
vation reveal the difference: in the case of niches there is a smooth beveled tran-
sition from the opening to the back of the niche, whereas in the blind gateway
there is a deliberate hiatus, a distinct hint of a room into which the opening leads
that is absent in the niche.
Composite Blind Miniature Gateways
Our "discovery" of this blind miniature gateway was crucial for our under-
standing and interpretation of other stones at Pumapunku. There is a variety of
stones, executed in right-handed and left-handed versions, that feature a stepped
rabbet on one side, beveled jamb reveals, a step molding at about a quarter of their
7.23
7.21
Figures 7.21-7.23. (Figure 7.21) Blind miniature gateway. (Figure 7.22) Composite blind miniature
gateway, decorated with crosses. (Figure 7.23) Row of composite blind miniature gates.
height, and a straight rabbet on the opposite side with the traces of T-shaped cramp
sockets. We figured these stones to be the jamb stones of blind miniature gate-
ways. A plain stone slab fitted into the straight rabbets on the "back" side and
anchored to the left and right-sided jamb stones with cramps, crowned with a suit-
ably shaped lintel stone, of which there are several, indeed combine to form a
composite blind miniature gateway.
Some of the jamb stones, as described above, are decorated with crosses
recessed within larger crosses, with only half a cross motive at the upper end of
the stone. A lintel fragment with half a cross matching in position and dimensions
the half cross on the jamb stones, suggests that some cross-stones, too, formed
blind miniature gateways (Figure 7.22).
A number of H-stones (see Protzen and Nair 1997 for a typology of the
building stones at Pumapunku) with Type 1 and 2a niches, within which are
carved the corresponding niche icons, together with lintel stones with recessed
panels could have composed a whole row of blind miniature gateways. All the
details on the H-stones match such a reconstruction: beveled jamb reveals, step
moldings, and rabbets with the appropriate T-shaped cramp sockets for the attach-
ment of a stone backing (Figure 7.23). It should be noted that Sttibel and Uhle
(1892 [II]: 38) had anticipated this very same combination, although they had not
recorded any actual lintel stones.
Open Composite Miniature Gateways
From other stones and stone fragments we infer that there were also com-
posite open miniature gateways of both designs, plain and decorated with crosses.
Monolithic Miniature Gateways
Further fragments show the existence of monolithic miniature gateways: the
two pieces of what Posnansky called the "Little Pumapunku," and two fragments
of what we designate as Gateway A (Figures 7.24, 7.25). Both Angrand and
Sttibel found the Little Pumapunku still intact, measured, and drew it. Their
respective drawings agree fairly well, with one exception: they differ significantly
in the representation of the small window above the gateway. Angrand shows the
window to be mushroom-shaped, flush with the outside of the gateway, and set
into a rectangular recess on the inside (Prtimers 1993: 460, fig. 45). Sttibel and
Uhle (1892 [I]: plate 36-2, figs. 2, 2a) show three detail drawings of the opening.
When we tried to reconstruct the window from these drawings we were not able
to make the two sides agree; the window could not be built as drawn. Today that
window is destroyed, and key elements are missing, such that we cannot recon-
struct it with absolute certainty. Enough clues, however, are left to show that there
is no evidence whatsoever for the "platelets" shown on the inside by Sttibel, nor
for the recessed tympanum on the outside. Given the accuracy of Sttibel's other
work, we can only guess that the sketches of this particular detail got garbled
7,26
7.27
Figures 7.24-7.27. (Figure 7,24) "Little Pumapunku." (Figure 7.25) Gateway A (fragment of left
jamb on the right). (Figure 7,26) "Escritorio" type stones follow the same composition scheme.
(Figure 7,27) Gateway A and Five Niche stone.

between his initial field visit and the final publication of the work fifteen years
later. Our own reconstruction of the window agrees with that of Posnansky: a
mushroom-like shape with a "stepped stem."
Another Style
A lone fragment of a miniature gateway has an entirely different design or
style. The gateway's inside appears to have been entirely plane; on the outside the
actual doorway is set in the usual double stepped recessed chambranle, but that
chambranle is then triply framed in relief, the two outermost frames in quadruple
steps and the innermost in triple steps. This stone may be related to two other iso-
lated pieces, one at Pumapunku, the other inside an office of the Tiwanaku
Museum complex. Both these stones show niche icons similarly framed in three
layers of relief. The three stone fragments, the two niche icon stones and the gate-
way fragment, are unique, no others of this kind have been uncovered to this day,
and none of their features can be related to the other stones. The three stones are
not only different in design, but they vary in dimensions, material, and execution.
Compared with the finish of other stones at Pumapunku, the three stones are not
cut with the same precision as most of the others, and are of a much poorer qual-
ity andesite. Of course, different styles, materials, and execution do not necessar-
ily stand for different historical periods-they can be contemporaneous-but they
most likely would signal buildings with different functions or status. But three
stones do not make a building, and will not support a theory.
Miniature Gateways in Context

What is remarkable about Little Pumapunku and Gateway A is that they are not
isolated stones but, rather, seem to fit into the context of other stones and stone
fragments we recorded at Pumapunku. Most visitors to Tiwanaku are familiar
with a stone commonly referred to as "El Escritorio del Inca." It was drawn and
illustrated by several 19th century explorers, d'Orbigny, Wiener, and Rivero and
Tschudi among them. The Escritorio is not an isolated stone since at least two
more fragments, Fragment A and Fragment B, suggest that there may have been
other stones very similar in design, all of which fit into the same scheme of
vertical composition of elements (Figure 7.26).
In our reconstruction of these stones, the reader will note that the proportions
of the large, or Type 2b niches, on Fragment A, differ slightly from those on the
other two: they have the same height, but are just a bit wider. As we reconstruct
them, they are perfectly congruent with the niches on Gateway A, which itself fits
into the same vertical composition scheme, and have the same proportions as the
lYPe 2b2 niches on Gateways II and ill, that is I: 1.3431 (Figure 7.27). The Type 2b
niches on the "Escritorio del Inca" have proportions 1:1.5474, as do the niches 2bl
on Gateway I and the Gateway of the Sun. In other terms, the miniature architecture

is a replica of the full-sized one; in each we encounter two different vertical com-
position schemes with the same proportional relations.
On the reverse side of Fragment A we find another remarkable coincidence:
the outlines of step moldings, and the distance between them, perfectly match the
corresponding parts on the Little Pumapunku. Even the clamp sockets on top of
either stone are in the proper position. Are we suggesting that Little Pumapunku
was clamped to Fragment A? In a way it does not seem to make much sense as
the window and the doorway would give access to a small, narrow and dark
space, but then we know so little about Tiwanaku architecture that it is difficult to
judge the meaningfulness of a given configuration. If Little Pumapunku was
clamped on, it would have made it another blind miniature gateway.
MINIATURE GATEWAYS AND FULL-SIZED

GATEWAYS COMPARED
Gateway A appears to be a perfect miniature replica in almost all its details
of full-sized gateways of Scheme 2 (Figure 7.28). The front of Gateway A shows
the gateway in its double stepped, recessed chambranle, as well as the two "pock-
ets" with T-cramp sockets so typical of the larger gateways. On its back side, the
gateway is roofed with a triple stepped step molding similar to Gateways II and
III, has the corresponding Type 2b niches below the step molding, but is lacking
the Type 2a niches above it. Instead there is a sizable recess that could have
received a stone with a niche or some other element.
The apparent close affinity between the two gateways, strongly suggest that
the Tiwanaku had some scaling factor that allowed them to maintain the relative
proportions of similar elements independent of scale. We have been searching for
a linear or non-linear monotonic function that would provide the desired trans-
formation. Trying first to derive the specific dimension of an element in one scale
from the corresponding element in the other scale, Protzen did not fare too well.
No matter how he manipulated the numbers he always ended up with margins of
errors as extreme as 18%, and with average errors of 9% or more. When he turned
his attention to the cumulative values of sequences of elements, the results
became much more convincing. The function
x'= tg300x
predicts corresponding values within a margin of error of ± 1% or less, with one
exception. Figure 7.29 illustrates this relationship and its exception at the base of
the gateways. Note that the value of tg 30° is 0.5774, making the smaller archi-
tecture slightly larger than half scale [Note 7].
Through our investigation of dimensions and proportions we had hoped to
find rules that apply generally but, instead, we get a picture of infinite sensibili-
ties to specific conditions. This situation is not unlike that described by Coulton
"- )J I
ur
-.......J ff
ill ~
" 1"-1 \ ~ '- l
" r-'
II "
... ~n( ~~ 7 I] I)n(

w _LL I
() .. ---
y /[ .....
.. L -
'" h • ~A •
u. V /
wV
bu
ill / 1/
C(
/
'" A B C 0 E F x
7.28
7.29
Figures 7.28-7.30. (Figure 7.28) Gateway A and Gateway III. (Figure 7.29) Scaling factor relating
the miniature to the full-sized architecture. (Figure 7.30) Entrance to Putuni today (from north and
perpendicular to the gateway's axis).

(1977: 66) for the early Greek architects who probably "used a system similar to
the one set out by Vitruvius for the Ionic order." Coulton (1977: 66) explains the
system: "In this the rules do not relate each element to a single common module,
but form a sort of chain, so that each element is derived successively from the
preceding one, usually the immediately preceding one. The ratios between suc-
cessive parts are also more complex than in the modular system, and ratios
between widely separated parts may be very hard to calculate. Because of this
structure, such a system gives more scope for experimentation and variation."
LOCATION OF GATEWAYS
The knowledge we have gained of Tiwanaku architecture, thus far, is mainly
on the detail level of construction, wall assemblies, and design. We do not know
where the many gateways stood, what spaces they led into, and in what relation-
ship the gateways were to each other and other elements of the architecture. What
is actually known about the gateways' original locations?
Gateway of the SUD
The Gateway of the Sun, now standing in the northwest comer of the
Kalasasaya, was erected there by Posnansky in 1908 (Posnansky 1945 [I]: cap-
tion to plate XLV), approximately where d'Orbigny saw it in 1833 (Figure 7.10).
Although d'Orbigny said it was laying on the ground, this is unlikely, for in his
accounts he shows drawings of the gateway's two sides; he could not have drawn
both sides had it been prostrate (see d'Oribgny 1945 [IV]: 1535; 1835-47: VIII;
Atlas, Partie historique, Antiquites plate No.6). D'Orbigny probably found it in
exactly the same state as subsequent explorers saw, depicted, and even pho-
tographed it, broken into two pieces, upright but reclining, and buried in the
ground to about a quarter of its height.
The first known references to the Gateway of the Sun are the notes and a
drawing by the hand of the German naturalist, Thaddaus Haenke, that date to
about 1799 (Gicklhom 1969: 22, fig. 6). In his notes, he apparently also describes
the Gateway of the Sun. Unfortunately, these notes have not been entirely deci-
phered and it is thus not known whether he wrote anything about where he
encountered the Gateway (Krauskopf 1972).
Whether the present location of the gateway is its original one is open to
debate. It stands today eccentrically placed and incongruously isolated, with no
obvious relationship to its immediate surroundings. Historical documentation
claims that Marshall Jose Antonio Sucre, who later became President of Bolivia
and was impressed by the ruins of Tiwanaku, ordered the local authorities on
February 6, 1825 to re-erect the Gateway of the Sun (Ponce 1995: 15). This order,
however, is silent about the gateway's original location and the place of its resur-
rected glory, if indeed the order was heeded. D'Orbigny's observations eight
years later cast doubt on the execution of that order.

Most observers agree that the Gateway of the Sun's current location is not
its original one. Some researchers, ourselves included, believe that the Gateway
of the Sun had been brought to its current location from elsewhere. Squier (1877:
295), for example, surmised that it may have stood in the courtyard of the
Kalasasaya in a structure similar to Pumapunku, or that it came from the
Kantatayita [Note 8]. Middendorf (1895: 383), questioned the gateway's location,
saying "[da] ist ein Baudenkmal, welches eigentlich nicht hierher gehOrt hat, und
gewiss nicht fur den Platz bestimmt war, auf welchem es steht, wiewohl es
denselben nun schon seit Menschengedenken einnimmt"[Note 9].
Middendorf did not speculate whence the gateway came. Conklin (1991:
285) argued on stylistic grounds that it, as well as the Gateway of the Moon, had
to come from Pumapunku. Our own view today is agnostic: we do not know
where it came from. If there indeed had been gateways on the summit of Akapana
with pronounced stylistic, dimensional, and proportional affinities with the pre-
sumed gateways of Pumapunku, it is quite possible that this style was not limited
to Pumapunku, but that it had spread to other parts of Tiwanaku as well.
Gateway of the Moon

Squier, who visited Tiwanaku sometime in the middle of 1864, described
and depicted the Gateway of the Moon as marking the entrance to a cemetery laid
out on the summit of an ancient mound. Middendorf reported that the gateway
was brought there some fifty years before his own visit in 1887 by one corregi-
dor Marcelino Huachalla (1895 [III]: 380). Whence the gateway came
Middendorf did not say. Francis de Castelnau (1850-59 [1-3]: 391-392), who
came upon Tiwanaku in early December of 1845 wrote, "Pres d'un des angles du
carre (Kalasasaya), sont deux portails d'une execution remarquable, dont l'un, Ie
plus petit, est renverse et a environs 2 metres 1/2 de hauteur; l'autre est encore
debout: c'est un beau monolithe qui a ete fendu al'un de ces angles; il a environs
3 metres 1/2 de haut" [Note 10].
There is no doubt that the larger gateway Castelnau is describing is the
Gateway of the Sun; but is the smaller one the Gateway of the Moon? It is a
possibility, for Rivero and Tschudi (1854: 294) illustrated the Gateway of the Sun
with a prostrate smaller gateway next to it. Admittedly, the drawing is not of great
accuracy, but anybody who has seen the Gateway of the Moon will not fail to rec-
ognize it [Note 11]. Angrand sketched at Tiwanaku in December of 1848 (Prtimers
1993: 387). He drew the Gateway of the Moon, standing upright, and named it
"Porte monolithe (B)" which, on his general plan of the ruins, he placed beside the
road from La Paz to Tiwanaku, roughly where it stands today. Ifthe gateway men-
tioned by Castelnau and illustrated in Rivero and Tschudi, is indeed the Gateway
of the Moon, it must have been moved to its present location between Castelnau
and Angrand's visits, that is between 1845 and 1848, roughly forty years before

Middendorf visited the site. His account of the moving of the gateway would thus
seem corroborated. Tschudi, who visited Tiwanaku on October 19 and 20, 1858,
wrote that there was a second, smaller gateway next to the Gateway of the Sun, but
that it was moved to the nearby cemetery in 1857, that is just a year before his visit
(Tschudi 1971: V: 294). This is not possible, but perhaps Tschudi meant to write
1847, which would fit perfectly with the above reckoning.
Pumapunku: Gateways and Platforms

The earliest descriptions of Pumapunku by Pedro Cieza de Le6n and Bernabe
Cobo, who saw Tiwanaku in 1549 and 1610 respectively, leave one with the dis-
tinct impression that at least one gateway was still standing on one of the platforms:
"Solamente esta en pie sobre la losa mayor una parte [puerta in Cobo's manuscript]
que mira al oriente cavada en una gran piedra muy labrada, la cual piedra tiene de
alto nueve pies y otros tanto de ancho, y el hueco de la puerta es de siete pies de
largo, y el ancho en proporci6n" (Cobo manuscript: Libro XIII, capitulo XIX;
Cobo 1964: II, 195) [Note 12]. Cieza de Le6n (manuscript: Primera parte, capitulo
cv; Cieza de Le6n 1986: 283) reported " ... porque ay muchas portadas grandes con
sus quicios, unbrales, y portaletes, todo de vna sola piedra. Lo que yo mas note,
quando anduue mirando y escriuiendo estas cosas, fue que destas portadas tan
grandes salian otras mayores piedras sobre que estauan formadas" [Note 13].
It is generally thought that the faint, and slightly recessed or raised areas to
be found on the platforms at Pumapunku are where the gateways stood, or were
to be erected. Our detailed study of these areas during the summers 1995 and
1996 have failed to enlighten us. We find some regularities, but we cannot match
the measurements of any gateway to the measurements of the outlines. These
outlines look suspiciously similar to those found by the French Mission at the
Kalasasaya and that led Ponce to his unwarranted reconstruction of the east gate-
way to that structure. Do these areas in fact represent outlines of structures?
If they do, they pose a kind of figure-ground problem: what represents the solid
part of the architecture, and what represents the void, or the space through which
people move? In other words, what was built on, the recessed or the raised parts?
Clues to these questions might be found at the gateway to Putuni. The
entrance to this structure was excavated in 1903 by Georges Courty of the Mission
Scientifique Fran~aise aTiahuanaco under the direction of Georges de Crequi-
Montfort and E. Senechal de la Grange. Comparisons of photographs taken within
days from the excavation and the accounts of Posnansky [Note 14] with today's
conditions permit the conclusion that at least three remaining piers were left undis-
turbed (Figure 7.30). A stone has been added to the inner side of the gateway's
southern pier that was not there at the time of Posnansky's photos, and the stair-
way on the outside that led to the entrance has disappeared, but the basic configu-
ration of the entrance has remained intact. Here. under the piers are four sligiltly

recessed areas, carved out of the paving, or foundation slabs, of the entrance. Thus,
it appears, that the recessed areas, indeed, do outline the position of walls and
piers. But, it also appears that it is not sufficient to simply vertically "extrude" the
outlines to recreate the structure above as Ponce did at the Kalasasaya. The stones
set into the outlines have all kinds of cut-outs, recesses, and pockets that alter the
basic outline considerably, such that it is by no means obvious what was to come
above these base stones. It is noteworthy that the distance between the piers mea-
sures 125.5 cm, meaning that the span of Putuni's gateway is of the same order of
magnitude as that of the purported anticephaloid lintels.
Half-scale Gateways
If we have been able to establish a dimensional and compositional relation-
ship between the small Gateway A and the Escritorio type sto~es and a possible
connection between the Little Pumapunku gateway and one of the Escritorio type
stones, we have to this date not found any clues as to where this half-scale archi-
tecture stood, nor how it fit in with the full-scale architecture.
CONCLUSION
Our investigations have established that the large monolithic gateways of
Tiwanaku were not free-standing, but set, or meant to be set, into walls extending
the gateways' main plane. Fritz Buck and Javier Escalante (Escalante 1993: figs.
162 a, b, c, d) have presented reconstructions in which the Gateway of the Sun is
flanked by several copies of the Gateway of the Moon. In our view, this is not a
plausible combination because the differences in design and proportions between
the two gateways do not permit them to be put side by side. However, it is entirely
possible to assemble walls that potentially could accommodate gateways of either
Scheme I or 2. The hypothetical wall corresponding to Scheme 1 shown here is
made up of actual building stones we recorded at Pumapunku (Figures 7.31,
7.32). All the building stones used have the appropriate dimensions, and have
T-shaped clamp sockets in the right locations. Plausible as it may appear, the
proposed reconstruction is altogether speculative-we have no evidence that such
a configuration existed, nor that it was connected in this form to any gateway-
yet it is suggestive and may lead to further research.
Perhaps most surprising among our findings to date is that the openings of
the large monolithic gateways at Tiwanaku were, or were meant to be flanked by
walls perpendicular to the gateways' main plane on their front side. (Note that in
the above hypothetical reconstruction. walls are also projecting from the front
side). These walls would have constricted and channeled the approaches to the
gateways, and thus perhaps underscored the passage of the gateway proper by a
Figures 7.31-7.33. (Figure 7.31) Hypothetical reconstruction of a wall with actual stones found at
Pumapunku (back side). (Figure 7.32) Hypothetical
reconstruction of a wall with actual stones found at Pumapunku (front side). (Figure 7.33) So-called
model stone at Kanatayita.
.N...
\C
!sa,
i:l
7.32
~ 7.31

preparatory path. The walls would also have curtailed the vistas that one would
have had of and through the gateways as one approached them. In the case of the
Gateway of the Sun, the flanking walls may even have interfered with the view-
ing of the great frieze.
We have shown that besides the monolithic Gateway A and Little Pumapunku,
there were a multitude of composite half-scale gateways to be found at Pumapunku
in particular. Some of the latter gateways, especially those composed of H-stones
and Cross-stones could possibly have been incorporated into the full-sized archi-
tecture as we have illustrated in our speculative reconstruction. However, of the
rougWy half-scale architectural pieces, the Escritorio type stones and the related
Gateway A stand out for they do not seem to fit into the full-scale architecture. As
noted above, we have no clues to where this reduced architecture stood, nor of how
it was connected to the full-sized architecture, and much less of what its function
was. Many people refer to another diminutive architectural piece, the stone at the
Kantatayita with a sunken rectangle and little stairs leading into it, as an architec-
tural model of a semi-subterranean temple (Figure 7.33). Models have a least two
very distinct functions. First, models are prototypes, representations of things not
yet built or realized. Architects typically use models, usually at a much reduced
scale, to visualize, test, and communicate their ideas before they are set into the real
world. Second, models are replicas, representations of actual things.
It is unlikely that the Kantatayita stone and all the half-scale architecture we
have recorded are models in the first sense. The fact that many stones were exe-
cuted in several exemplars is not congruent with the idea of a prototype, but rather
bespeaks mass production. The Tiwanaku architects probably had means other
than exact miniature replicas to represent and convey their visions, as for exam-
ple a kit of parts, a system of measurements and proportions, and rules of com-
position. If they needed models nevertheless, they did not have to be carved at
half scale from hard materials, models at much smaller scale and made from mal-
leable materials like clay would have served the purpose just as well. Thus, the
half-scale architecture must have had another function. Sttibel and Uhle (1892
[II]: 38) proposed that this architecture was ideally suited for altars. The idea is
intriguing, for we find in our own history examples such as Gothic altars with
their arches, spires, rose windows, etc., carved from wood or stone, that are
miniature reflections of the larger architecture without. Nevertheless, our own
view today is that we do not know enough about the context of this half-scale
architecture to offer a hypothesis of its possible use or function.
We remain similarly agnostic with regard to the function and possible sym-
bolic meaning of the full-scale gateways. If we have succeeded in establishing
elements of their immediate context, we still do not know where they originally
stood and in what relationship they were to each other and to the buildings they
may have been a part of. As noted in the introduction, without this knowledge the
architecture cannot be apprehended, much less interpreted.

If the answers to many of our questions seem to elude us, it is not only
because the site has been devastated and that key pieces of the puzzle have been
destroyed or lost, but also because the site of Tiwanaku probably never reached a
state of "completion." Like any other site occupied over several centuries, it
underwent many transformations, with one phase of construction overlapping an
other, and one vision replacing another. Cieza de Leon (manuscript: Primera
parte, capitulo cv; Cieza de Leon 1986: 283) had the clear impression that
Pumapunku was abandoned before it ever was finished: "Y notase por 10 que se
ve destos edificios, que no se acabaron de hazer" [Note 15].
Our own investigations confIrm Cieza's view. The Gateway of the Sun and
all the gateways at Pumapunku show work in progress, as do the platforms and
many other stones there. Ifindeed construction was still underway at Pumapunku,
attempts to reconstruct its architecture become attempts to outguess the builders'
intentions or to read their minds. In the absence of drawings, sketches, models, or
descriptions betraying the builder's ideas, this is a formidable challenge.
Thus, we may never know what the significance or symbolism of the gate-
ways at Tiwanaku were, what hierarchies of spaces they were designed to create,
nor the kind of social or political relationships they were intended to establish or
embody. How the Tiwanaku people might have used the gateways, how the gate-
ways might have shaped their behavior, are questions that may remain without
answers. What we have learned, however, is that the Tiwanaku builders had an
extraordinary sense of architectural order. The strict treatment of perfectly planar
surfaces, modulated by sharp geometric figures and moldings reveals an aesthetic
that is preoccupied with the precise relationship of elements to each other and an
overall canon to which every detail had to conform. The architectural composi-
tions bespeak knowledge of mathematics and geometry. The exactitude with
which motifs are laid out and combined suggests the use of standardized units of
measurement and the attendant tools. The use of construction cramps is a true
invention-it has no known precedent in the Andes. And the flawless execution
signifies the work of higWy skilled, specialized masons. Where did all this inven-
tion, knowledge, and skills come from? To all appearences, the architecture at
Pumapunku is itself a remarkable innovation that has no known antecedent nor
subsequent in the Andes.
Notes
I. In this chapter, the numering of the gateways follows that of Posnansky.
2. Chambranle: "A structural feature, often ornamental, enclosing the sides and top of a doorway,
window, fireplace, or similar opening. The top piece or lintel is called the transverse and the side
pieces or jambs the ascendants" (Harris 1977: 104).
3. In another paper we have described the three basic niche types found at Tiwanaku: Type I, Type
2a and 2b. We also have established that Type 2a and 2b niches can be inscribed in rectangles with
very specific proportion: 1: 1.0394 for Type 2a, and I: 1.4495 for Type 2b (Protzen and Nair 1997).

4. In this text, the designation of right or left jamb of a gateway is always relative to the front side
of the gateway.
5. It should be noted that the picture is not of an actual view, but a composite drawing incorporating
several observations made by Squier. Although Squier was one of the first to actually photograph
the ancient remains of Peru and Bolivia, his book was illustrated with engravings made after the
photographs.
6. Fifty feet to the east of it (Acapana) remains standing a large gateway of only three well wrought
stones, to each side its own, and another on top of both. (our translation)
7. Angles of 30 degrees are easy to construct, even without the help of a compass. With three sticks
of equal length one can construct an equilateral triangle, all angles of which are 60 degrees.
Marking the mid point on one of the sides and joining that point to the apex of the angle opposite
that side, one bisects this angle into two angles of 30 degrees.
8. Note that Squier's Temple is today's Kalasasaya, his Hall of Justice, Pumapunku, and the structure
he "ventured to call symbolical," Kantatayita.
9. [There] is a monument, that did not really belong here, and that certainly was not destined for the
place on which it now stands, even though it has occupied it in living memory. (our translation)
10. Near one of the corners of the square [Kalasasaya] are two gateways of remarkable execution, of
which the smaller one is thrown down and is about 2 and a half meters high; the other is still
standing: it is a beautiful monolith that has been split in one of its corners; it is about 3 and a half
meters high. (our translation)
II. The drawing is not based on firsthand observation by either Tschudi or Rivero. Tschudi did not
visit Tiwanaku until 1858, that is some seven years after the orignal printing of Antiguedades
Peruanas (1851), and it is not known whether Rivero ever visited Tiwanaku. The descriptions of
Tiwanaku given in Rivero and Tschudi are so meager, and rely so much on other sources-Cieza
de Le6n and Garcilaso de la Vega, among others-that it is difficult to believe that they are
Rivero's own eyewitness accounts. For their atlas, Rivero and Tschudi relied in great part on
drawings given to them by renowned artists such as Mortiz Rugendas, who had extensively trav-
eled throughout South America between 1834 and 1843 and had produced exquisite and highly
accurate drawings of many ancient sites, Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, and Tiwanaku among them.
12. There remains standing on the major slab only one part [doorway in Cobo's manuscript] that
faces east and is carved in a large stone well wrought, this stone is nine feet tall and another so
many wide, and the opening of the door is seven feet long (high?) and with the width in propor-
tion. (our translation)
13. ... because there are many large gateways with their hinges, lintels, and doorways, all of one
stone. What I most noted, when I went looking (at) and writing (of) these things, was that from
(under) these large gateways projected other major stones on which they were arranged. (our
translation)
14. Posnansky (1945: II: figs. 35, 36) shows photographs of the area shortly after the excavation was
done. He complained that in the time between the excavation and his taking the photographs numer-
ous stones had already been scavenged and that much of the area had been destroyed "by that mis-
erable folk" (Posnansky 1945 [II]: 106--110). The photographs may actually not be Posnansky's, but
rather those commisioned by the French Mission, of which Posnansky obtained the plates.
15. And one notices from what can be seen of these buildings, that they had not been completed. (our
translation)
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et Ethnographiques et de Notes sur I'Ecriture et des Langues des Populations lndiennes. Paris.
Chapter 8
Religious Ideology and Military
Organization in the
Iconography ofaD-Shaped
Ceremonial Precinct
at Conchopata
JOSE OCHATOMA PARAVICINO AND MARTHA CABRERA

ROMERO
INTRODUCTION
Between August 1997 and January 1998, the authors conducted archaeological
excavations at Conchopata, on the edge of the modem city of Ayacucho, in the
central highlands of Peru (Figure 8.la). Research was undertaken at Conchopata
for three primary reasons. First, we hoped to learn more about the art and iconog
raphy of the Middle Horizon. Oversize Conchopata pottery decorated with repre
sentations of the Front Face Staff God, which also appears on the Gateway of the
Sun at Tiwanaku, is well known from the site and Conchopata's imagery raises
crucial questions about Andean prehistory. Second, little was known about spatial
organization at Conchopata, and particularly about the organization of craft
production. Third, and perhaps most decisive, was the history of destruction at the
site and the continuing threat of loss of archaeological information (see summary
in Isbell and Cook, this volume).
225
226 Jose Ochatoma Paravicino and Martha Cabrera Romero
Airport
Terminal
Conchopata Site
Pre erved Area
b
Figure 8.1. (al Location of Conchopata with reference to Ayacllcho. Note encroachment of airport
runway; (b) Sectors of the preserved area of Conchopata.
Our 1997-98 excavations concentrated on Sector B (Figure 8.1b), adjacent
to Ayacucho's airport. We excavated some 450 sq m during the field season,
recovering approximately 2.5 tons of archaeological materials, mostly pottery
fragments that range from extremely fine to coarse domestic wares. Evidence
associated with the production of this pottery was also recovered, including
molds, smoothing and burnishing tools, paints, pestles to grind up ceramics, piles
of tempering sand, and kilns. In addition to pottery production loci, a series of
other architectural remains were uncovered including burial areas, living spaces
and, perhaps most important, a ceremonial enclosure constructed during the early
Middle Horizon.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN SECTOR B

Our excavation focused on the central part of Sector B where four sub-areas
were chosen following a systematic surface survey of the site (Figure 8.2a). A pot-
tery workshop was discovered in the first sub-area. It contained more than a hun-
dred objects linked to pottery production, including smoothing and burnishing
tools. These were associated with architectural constructions that functioned
as storage areas for clay and tempering. There also was a kiln for the firing of
Religious Ideology and Military Organization
10m
z.o---- 1997-98 Excavation
227
JJis
Ia
3m
@)
Figure 8.2. (a) Architectural remains in Sector B-III at Conchopata; (b) D-shaped ceremonial
precinct as it appears in Stratum B.
vessels. This small compound revealed simple stone and earth drainage canals
located under the wall foundations and floors.
The most exciting discovery was made in the second subsector. We found
a D-shaped building with evidence of numerous activity areas devoted to ritual.
We define this building as a ceremonial structure.
Burials were recovered in the third subsector from what were initially resi-
dential units. Upon the death of the inhabitants the floors were broken and cylin-
drical cysts were excavated into the underlying rocks, lined with flat stones and
then sealed with mud. Large stone slabs covered each tomb. The majority of the
tombs show evidence of post-depositional disturbance and typically contain only
fragmentary osteological remains and a few grave goods. The disturbance proba-
bly was caused by conquered populations who invaded Conchopata to defile
tombs and sacred areas after the site was abandoned and after the collapse of the
capital city of Huari. It is also possible, of course, that the tombs simply reflect
Huari mortuary behavior.
Finally, the fourth subsector consists of a residential unit with rectangular
rooms, mud plaster and white paint on the internal wall surface. Associated with this
compound is a kitchen and patio area where ceramic vessels were made and dried.
Small pits with remains of guinea pigs as well as burnt and unburned camelid bones
were identified in the comers and along the internal edges of some enclosures.
It appears that Conchopata was an important pottery production center and
that it also had special areas for worshiping the supernatural, houses for craft

specialists and functionaries, as well as tombs to bury the dead within their resi-
dential compounds.
THE D·SHAPED CEREMONIAL BUILDING

The D-shaped enclosure is located in subsector D5 and was revealed by foun-
dation trenches dug for modem house construction. Although the entire area was
leveled with heavy equipment, lower strata remained untouched. The excavation
profiles of the foundation trenches revealed oversize ceramic sherds (several dec-
orated in the Conchopata style) and the remains of a stone wall.
When excavation began the area was covered with vegetation (graminea,
opuntiaficus, opuntia subulata) and loose gravel mixed with undecorated pottery
fragments. A disturbed surface stratum 5 to 10 cm thick contained ceramics of the
Conchopata, Chakiparnpa, and Huarnanga styles with no particular spatial pat-
terning.
Stratum A was defined by change to a dark gray-brown soil that contained a
higher density of decorated and undecorated Huamanga, Chakiparnpa, and
Conchopata ceramics. Other finds include a small number of camelid bones, some
stone hoe fragments and a wall foundation 60 cm wide and 10 to 13 cm thick.
Stratum B, light brown in color with irregularly dispersed small stones, was
confined to the D-shaped building. Artifacts were relatively scarce except for
oversize Conchopata urns and other large vessel fragments as well as Huarnanga
and Chakipampa sherds that were concentrated near the western and northeastern
walls (Figure 8.2b). These two ceramic concentrations and a camelid burial were
excavated as features. They continued through Strata B, C, and D (Figures 8.2b,
8.3a, b).
Feature 1
This feature consisted of a half circle concentration of ceramics placed one on
top of the other. It was uncovered in the interior western half of the ceremonial
enclosure measuring 2 m east to west and 5.9 m north to south to a depth of 10 to
15 em. The iconography of this layer is dominated by the Front Face Staff God
with feline and falcon motifs (Figure 8.4). Ongoing ceramic analysis suggests
that these fragments do not correspond to entire vessels. They are discrete frag-
ments with high quality, polychrome decoration.
Feature 2
This feature, located adjacent to the wall on the northeast side of the enclo-
sure, formed a fan-shaped concentration of potsherds that widened as it reached
Religious Ideology and Military Organization 229
___ StratumC Stratum D
-3m -
--3m - b
Figure 8.3. (a) D-shaped ceremonial precinct as it appears in Stratum C; (b) D-shaped ceremonial
precinct as it appears in Stratum D.
the center of the enclosure. It measured 2.2 m north to south and 4.15 m east to
west with a depth of 15 to 20 em. Ovoid hammer stones-probably for breaking
ceramics-were dispersed throughout this feature that included intentionally
smashed sherds as well as camelid bones.
The majority of the material recovered consists of fragments of elaborate
ceramic urns and necked jars. The pottery shows a superior manufacture in forms,
finish and decoration. It was here that an entire oversize modeled face was recov-
ered, along with urn fragments painted with human figures kneeling on a small
reed boat and holding a shield in one hand, and either a bow and arrows or an axe in
the other (Figure 8.5). Other human figures may be warriors or priests (Figure 8.6);
all appear to be males. Numerous geometric designs on the decorated pottery frag-
ments probably depict decorations on the clothing worn by these men (Figure 8.7).
Feature 3
This feature consisted of a ritual camelid burial. It was found close to
the southern wall of the enclosure. The burial appeared to have been sealed with
mud, now a compact soil layer located immediately over the skeletal material.
The cranium was oriented toward the north and was deposited on a hardened sur-
face of burnt soil. Postcranial remains were located on a bed of gravel deposited
over the same burned surface. Despite the poor preservation of the bones it was
clear that the camelid was immature and was probably a ritual sacrifice.
Figure 8.4. Front Face Deity heads on Conchopata pottery.
Stratum C (Figure 8.3a) was defined by darker gray soil mixed with fine
orange dirt, producing a pale pink color along the interior wall of the D-shaped
building. Toward the southern edge there was a clear change in the stratigraphy
which, although contemporaneous, is more gray and compact, as if burned. Only
a few loose stones were found in the northern half of the structure, but a feature
formed of large stones occurred in the south. This level was located 50 or 60 cm
from the wall foundation with a depth of 10 to 15 em, covering a compact plaster
floor [Note 1] with a series of new features.
Feature 4
Next to the interior northern wall of the D-shaped building, and below
Feature 3 was a lens of fine pinkish ash that covered the floor. On its surface lay
a large, globular and utilitarian vessel with a flat base and a curved everted neck,
discarded in its place of use. It has chevrons under the lip and parallel,
231
cDE
Figure 8.5. Images of warriors kneeling in reed boats on Conchopata pottery.
undulating lines on the neck with three protuberances decorated with curved
lines. It appears to be an Qkros style vessel with a form similar to those of the
Huarpa period.
Feature 5
This irregular feature was located immediately below Feature 1 in the north-
west comer of the enclosure. It had a depth of 20 em, ending at the plaster floor.
It was also associated with the lens of burned pale pink-gray soil containing
burned material resembling contemporary plastic.
This feature consisted of another concentration of medium-sized ceramic
jars and utilitarian bowls associated with a broken ceramic smoothing tool. As it
was located immediately on the floor of the structure, and the vessels were
AB
Figure 8.6. Images of standing warriors on Conchopata pottery.
restored in their entirety, it would appear that these vessels were broken inten-
tionally during ritual activities.
Feature 6
This feature containing basalt flake debitage was covered with fine sandy
soil with gray and pink patches. It consisted of an intentionally fragmented jar
located just inside the northern wall of the D-shaped structure. Its base was sit-
ting in a 39 em-wide pit, associated with a pounding stone.
This vessel corresponds to the de facto deposit of an anthropomorphic
necked jar with a globular body and conical base in the Chakipampa style, with
octopus and starfish designs and circles with dots. The field of decoration covers
the upper half of the vessel body, ending at the insertion of the neck.
Feature 7
A pit was located in the northeast comer of the enclosure near the previous
feature. It contained decorated and undecorated pottery corresponding to two or
more vessels, one in the Chakipampa style, and three stone tools, a polisher and
two pounding stones, next to a complete Chakipampa style spoon with a small
curved handle decorated with a snake.
San
J ••
K
Figure 8.7. Textile designs painted on Conchopata offering sherds.
Feature 8
This feature was identified in the northern sector of the enclosure near
Features 6 and 7. It consisted of an irregularly shaped concentration of thick-
walled, undecorated jar and urn fragments. It contained a number of vessels that
were broken intentionally and covered with a lens of fine sediments. A large peb-
ble chopper was located nearby. The feature had a depth of 8 to 10 cm.
Feature 9
This was another concentration of large ceramic fragments and camelid
bones situated on the floor of the building. Located in the northeast, it had a depth
of 15 cm. The ceramic sherds were thick-walled, corresponding to an undeco-
rated urn. Disarticulated camelid remains, flakes and blades of basalt, and what
appeared to be small blocks of burnt plastic, were also recovered along with the
same fine sediments that cover almost all the features. Approximately 50 cm to
the west, a small diatomite square (8 cm thick) was found directly on the floor.
234
Feature 10
Jose Ochatoma Paravicino and Martha Cabrera Romero
Feature 10 also was located in the northeast section of the structure, close to
the previous feature. Consisting of a further concentration of thick-walled, undec-
orated ceramic sherds, the feature produced a large urn of poor manufacture. The
vessel represents another de facto depositional event, as it was broken intention-
ally upon the abandonment of the structure, as part of an unknown ritual. A whole
pot was placed on top of the fragments and pushed up against the wall. This pot
has a composite body of a straight everted flaring inferior half and a straight
inverted flaring superior half, with two handles and a short neck. It was undeco-
rated and in good condition.
Feature 11
Another concentration of broken pottery, this feature was located 1.2 m from
the northeastern edge of the building, close to the ring of calcareous rock near the
middle of the room. Situated beneath Feature 2, Feature 11 shared the same
general characteristics as previous features such as the covering of fine gray-pink
sediments. Whereas other concentrations, however, contained fragments of
decorated Conchopata urns, this feature presented remains of a large Chakipampa
style jar with rough finish.
Feature 12-A Possible Solar Clock
This unusual feature was found in the northeast quadrant of the D-shaped
building, but close to its center. It was a semicircular lithic object of calcareous
rock, 10 to 12 cm thick and 8 cm high, placed there when the floor was laid.
The object was broken but marks on the floor show that it was originally circular,
forming a ring about 1 m in diameter. Inside the stone circle a cylindrical rock
with a conical end was found. This object measures 60 cm long with a diameter
of 25 cm. It was discovered lying on its side within the ring. The surrounding
sediments were not compacted nor was there evidence of a floor within the
ring, so we believe that cylindrical stone was placed upright in the center of the
little circle. We furthermore suggest that the feature represents a solar clock or
sundial.
Feature 12 was also covered by a lens of fine pinkish-gray sediment, the
result of a general burning episode prior to the filling in of the D-shaped build-
ing. Excavation in the interior of the ring revealed soil varying from compact to
semi-compact, associated with a few thick-walled, decorated and undecorated urn
fragments. Further segments of the ring were also recovered in association with
small blocks of clay and diatomite. Bedrock was reached 25 to 30 cm below the

surface of the floor. Evident on the irregular surface of the bedrock was a small
circular depression 10 cm wide and 15 cm deep. Three further small holes were
discovered in the bedrock just to the west of the ring that may have supported
posts for some kind of structure.
Feature 13
This feature was found in the southwest quadrant of the D-shaped building,
1.5 m from its edge. It consisted of two square slabs of diatomite (40 X 40 cm)
with a thickness of 8 cm placed on the enclosure floor 1.5 m from each other on
either side of a V-shaped area of compacted clay. Near one of the slabs was a
whole Huari Black lyre cup, undecorated apart from the slip.
Feature 14
This feature was located in the southwest comer of the enclosure next to the
wall and beneath Feature 1. It consisted of fragments of a large conical base jar
with a globular body in the Chakipampa style that had been set into a shallow pit
in the floor. Nearby was an almost complete Okros style bowl with orange slip
fleur-de-lis motifs made with straight lines on a wavy band, and a rim decorated
with chevrons (Figure 8.8a). The surrounding floor was burned gray at the time
of abandonment.
Feature 15
This feature further supports the characterization of this structure as "cere-
monial." It consisted of 6 calcinated human crania located on the floor in the
southern half of the enclosure. They were dispersed within a circular area mea-
suring approximately 1.2 m in diameter in conjunction with interspersed lithic
blocks. The surrounding sediments were more compact and seem to indicate that
a layer of hard, burned clay covered the crania. The floor showed signs of burn-
ing too, which suggests that the entire feature was burned in place. The vault of
each cranium had been perforated and the group was accompanied by a small
inferior maxilla corresponding to a dwarf individual.
The crania were not oriented in one direction but placed in various positions
in an area devoid of ceramic remains. They were accompanied by a series of lithic
blocks that may have served as protection. The perforations appear to have been
performed post-mortem. The crania may have belonged to sacrificial victims or
decapitated individuals and were possible trophy heads like those found in the
Nazca region. Feature 3, a young camelid burial, may have been the upper por-
tion of Feature 15.
Figure 8.8. Sample of pottery from Conchopata.

Feature 16
This feature was one of many vessels resting in shallow depressions just
inside the west enclosure wall. A large Chakipampa jar base and body fragment
were found in a pit 60 cm deep and 81 cm wide. The jar was decorated with a
lobed motif like a climbing plant, and geometric motifs resembling marine crabs.
A modeled human face was also present at the point of inflection of the vessel.
The jar neck was wide and straight-rimmed with no decoration. The density and
quantity of sherds suggests that the jar was very large with a height of approxi-
mately 1.05 m. We infer that it may have been used to store chicha (com beer)

because solidified deposits adhering to the inside of the vessel base resemble
chicha residue.
These are the principal elements found on the enclosure floor, all covered by
the same lens of fine pale pink sediment. We believe that the pots were broken in
place intentionally and burned with an unknown kindling at the moment the
building was abandoned.
The next stratum is the structure's hard white plaster floor (Figure 8.3b).
It was laid on a bedding formed of pulverized calceous rock mixed with fine sand.
The locations of large urns and solar clock were apparently planned in advance
for they were set in depressions penetrating well below the floor.
The floor surface was subsequently broken to accommodate camelid bone
offerings as part of the rituals carried out in the D-shaped building. Such pits are
easy to identify because they were refilled to floor level with loose soil mixed
with ceramic sherds of all types. Three such pits were documented and classified
as burials.
Feature 17
This was a pit 70 cm in diameter and 40 cm deep, near the northeast edge of
the building, excavated through the floor to bedrock. It contained the flexed
remains of a young camelid. The faunal remains were covered by a soil contain-
ing a fragment of Spondylus shell, a smoothing tool and fragments of undeco-
rated pottery and decorated sherds in the Chakipampa style.
Feature 18
This pit was made by breaking through the floor surface. It was located in
the southeastern sector of the enclosure and measured 90 cm across and 38 cm
deep (to the bedrock). It contained another camelid burial in very poor condition,
but perhaps secondary. The pit fill contained soil with a few domestic ceramic
fragments.
Feature 19
This is another offering pit in the central part of the D-shaped building. The
oval-shaped pit measured 1.2 m long and 75 cm deep. What appear to be adult
camelid remains were found resting on bedrock at the bottom of the pit, some
apparently burned. The pit was filled with soil containing the distal end of a pro-
jectile point and a few fragments of domestic pottery. The discovery of these
offering pits shows that the D-shaped bJlilding was a ceremonial structure where
camelid sacrifice took place.

Architectural Evidence
The D-shaped ceremonial structure is located in the central part of sector B,
surrounded by rectangular buildings and narrow alleyways (Figure 8.2a). The
inside diameter of the D-shaped building is 10.5 m. Its flat side faces north. The
remaining walls reach 40 to 60 cm in height, and the east, west and southern walls
measured 76 to 72 cm wide, while the width of the northern section varies to as
little as 50 cm. The masonry is rough stonework employing calcareous field
stones present in the area. The walls were constructed using mud mortar, placing
stones in two courses with flat sides to the exterior to form a more uniform sur-
face. The floor or white pavement was constructed using diatomite or pulverized
calcareous rock mixed with fine sand, sieved to ensure homogeneity of particle
size and better compaction of the sediments. The floor averaged 8 to 10 cm thick,
and rested on a lens of sand that provided a level bedding. The wall foundation
was set into a trench cut 50 or 60 cm into the bedrock.
The walls defining this enclosure were low and no windows or niches were
observed. Access may have been from the southeast where the remains of a small
ramp were destroyed by the later construction of another building. It was con-
structed from the same material as the floor and is inferred from what little is left
as well as the absence of wall on the southeast side of the D-shaped building.
The external face of the wall received no special finish and remained irreg-
ular in texture, while the interior face was covered with fine clay plaster. This
finish was 2.5 to 3 cm thick and had an extremely compact texture, hardened by
fire that left patches of burned soil in the interior of the enclosure.
The wall seems to have only 3 vertical courses of stones and the top appears
to have been carefully finished. The enclosure most likely did not have a roof and
took the form of a large depression with low walls only 60 cm high. The absence
of a roof also would have permitted the sun's light to fall on the solar clock
located inside the enclosure.
Judging from the remains found on the floor of the D-shaped building (Figure
8.3b), it appears that large jars were placed in depressions made for this purpose
on the west side of the building. There were also large undecorated urns placed
directly on the floor. Associated with both of these vessels were other, smaller
ceramic pots, bowls and jars. All were intentionally shattered with pounding stones
when the structure was abandoned, as part of an undefined ritual conducted inside.
THE CERAMIC ICONOGRAPHY

The site of Conchopata grew in importance after 1942 when Julio C. Tello
found fragments of huge, elaborately decorated ceramics with iconographic sim-
ilarities to the Front Face Staff God depicted on Tiwanaku's Gateway of the Sun.

From then on Conchopata became a focus of research concerned with the devel-
opment of a Tiwanaku religious cult.
The pottery discovered by Tello in offering pits consisted of large urn frag-
ments, vessels with straight, slightly flaring walls, flat bases and horizontal
handles. Some vessels were decorated with a human figure whose rectangular head
was adorned with rays ending in feline or falcon heads, feathers or concentric cir-
cles. The individual held two staffs, one in each hand, and his eyes were divided ver-
tically, shedding what appeared to be decorative tears. He also displayed feline teeth.
In 1977, William Isbell, Anita Cook and Abelardo Sandoval (Cook 1987, 1994;
Isbell 1987; Isbell and Cook 1987) conducted emergency excavations to investigate
the accidental discovery of another ceramic cache with depictions of the same indi-
vidual. However, these vessels showed the deity accompanied by winged assistants
and other motifs found in Tiwanaku decorative themes. This confirmed beyond
doubt the existence of a new religious cult in Ayacucho with south highland roots.
During our own excavation of Sector B we found more of this elaborate
pottery in a ceremonial context. The decoration contains not only the Tiwanaku-
style head, but also previously unknown figures resembling chiefs or warrior
priests kneeling on reed boats and carrying weapons and shields (Figure 8.5). The
iconographic corpus is enhanced by additional warriors with shoulder emblems
of birds and jaguars (Figure 8.6b), perhaps indicating a highly developed military
organization. We believe that these motifs represent the social and ideological
character of the Huari period, linking supernatural beings and diverse individuals
to state power and territorial expansion. As our analysis is still in its initial stage
it is primarily descriptive in nature. The iconographic themes under study are
described below under the rubrics: Gods and mythological beings, warriors,
plants and geometric motifs.
Gods and Mythological Beings

Our excavations produced many fragments with representations of the same
Front Face Staff God that had been discovered by Tello. This imagery was painted
on large vessels that appear to have been broken intentionally inside the D-shaped
building. In contrast to previous discoveries in subterranean pits, these remains
were found exposed in the western and northeastern quadrants of the structure,
30 cm below the surface and about level with the tops of the walls of the build-
ing. This stratigraphic placement suggests that the features were deposited when
the building was abandoned.
Iconography related to the Tiwanaku cult is found primarily in the upper half
of the vessel bodies. This iconography includes feline heads in profile (Figure 8.9)
and the Front Face Staff God's head with radiating rays that terminate in concen-
tric circles, feline heads, falcon heads, feather symbols, and human heads and a

large, open mouth below (Figure 8.4). Around the Front Face Staff God's head is
a band of white paint with interlocking frets in red. The god's eyes are divided in
half and surrounded by a circle with wings at each extreme, as well as a tear band
with circles, that ends with a serpent head. The face has a human nose and a
mouth with feline fangs. Another variant of this general theme displays com cobs
at the ends of the rays radiating from the head.
The face of the deity is generally rectangular, with right angles above
but rounded comers below. Designs are clearly marked and outlined with solid
colors, though lesser quality vessels have more elusive coloring. The Front Face
Staff God appears only on the outside of large urns.
The second theme found on large urns is the profile feline head wearing a
headdress with radiating lines similar to that of the previous individual (Figure 8.9).
The muzzle projects from the forehead and two large fangs protrude from the
mouth, that has a serpent-like tongue ending in a semicircle with three projecting
fingers that reach the tip of its headdress. This figure is always portrayed in
profile with divided eyes and tear band design in the form of a feline.
Ceremonial urns decorated with mythical motifs almost always have decora-
tions on the tops of their thick rims. Stylized hawks and felines are most common,
but several geometric motifs also occur (Figure 8.10).
A third motif associated with the previous supernatural beings includes ani-
mals in profile with wings, feline and falcon feet and heads, with a stem ending
in a flower protruding from their mouths. While feline heads have a divided eye,
falcon heads have a normal eye. The heads are crowned with a semicircular form
with a dotted circle at each end and "feathers" in the center.
Finally, there are beings that Anita Cook has called "winged attendants,"
linked to the Front Face Staff God from the Gateway of the Sun. These mytho-
logical figures are represented with a profile face, a front-facing body and
extended arms (Figure 8.11a). From the upper part ofthe head extends a series of
rays ending in felines, concentric circles and feathers. From the mouth protrudes
another band ending in a falcon's head. The nose is usually rounded and feline
teeth pass over the lips. The body is dressed in a tunic with necklaces draped from
the shoulders. At the waist is a belt from which hang snake heads. Both hands
hold objects such as a short staff with rectangular designs divided into triangles
and decapitated human heads. The figure is usually standing on a pedestal.
The Warriors
During the Huari period, war was not simply a method of conquering others,
but became an institution with specialists in warlike activity. The iconography
from vessel fragments recovered from the D-shaped building exhibits various rep-
resentations of warriors with distinct weapons and shields perhaps indicating a
hierarchical military organization.
Figure 8.9. Mythical profile heads on Conchopata pottery.
241
The first theme corresponds to human figures found on the upper half of the
exterior of urns. The men are represented kneeling, in profile, on a reed boat hold-
ing weapons and a shield in extended arms (Figure 8.5). The theme varies in the
warriors' facial tattoos, their weapons and the designs on their shields. They have
headdresses with either rectangles or zigzags made with small rhomboids similar
to those motifs found in lowland Amazonian societies. There are two basic types
of facial tattoos: repeated step blocks or lines with zig-zags that curve around the
eye. The figures wear tunics decorated with small checkerboard squares that are
sometimes filled with little circles. In their right hand they carry a shield with
feline heads and chevrons on the top and bottom or with concentric circles. The
u.u..l.-.....l'-"'-- A
Scm
Figure 8.11. Anthropomorphic themes on Conchopata pottery.
left hand holds weapons: a bow and arrows or an ax with a handle and a tassels
on top.
The second type of warrior is also represented on urns, but is found equally
on the inside surface as the outside. These profile human figures may have been

chiefs or people of rank within the military hierarchy. They are found on flaring
sided urns with decorated bands around the vessel rim divided by horizontal lines
creating small squares alternately filled with tattooed human heads and geomet-
ric motifs such as step-frets or curved lines. The profile human figures are found
in the decorative field from the bottom of this border to the vessel base. The first
figure has a conical helmet with three horns in front and a tunic with designs of
circles, dots and half moons ending in a strip of vertical chevrons (Figure 8.11 b).
It also holds a long knife or sword in its right fist and a circular shield with a con-
centric circle design in the left. On the central part of the torso, at chest level,
hangs a human head resembling a Nazca trophy head. Feline paws with claws sit
on the figure's shoulders.
Another warrior has a profile face with tattoos of vertical bands with small
crosses, long hair and a frontally positioned body except for the feet (Figure 8.6).
The unique aspect of this character is the presence of hawks perched on its shoul-
ders. The individual holds a tasseled axe and a shield, and is clothed in a tunic dec-
orated with geometric band motifs. He wears a headdress with more geometric
motifs and squares of alternating colors.
A different form of representation found on large jars consists of a huge face
applied on the vessel neck in bas-relief. Such human figures may represent an
unarmed priest or a governing leader. The faces can be smiling, serious, or laconic
and are occasionally tattooed or bearded (though the latter instance is very rare).
These figures sport large cylindrical ear spools resembling those of the Inca elite.
They also have headdresses (or turbans) and geometric designs on their bodies
including dotted circles, circles within squares, step-fret designs, s-curved lines,
divided eyes, and hooked lines. These immense vessels are very finely finished
using an Indian red slip. The absence of weapons seems to indicate that these
people were elite rulers, not warriors.
Nasca-like Motifs
We believe that there are motifs in our ceramic corpus that are Nasca-like
[Note 2]. We specifically point to a large composite vessel with the same careful
finish as the urns, but with different design motifs. Its rounded body form is dec-
orated with lobed motifs similar to those of the Chakipampa style (Figure 8.8e).
The flaring neck has various types of designs filling two panels defined by central
bands of white and black. Near the lip, two horizontal bands are present, the upper
divided into small alternating squares of color and the lower filled with chevrons.
A line divides one of the neck panels into two fields with repeating figure-8s, and
four small rectangles with stylized human heads.
There is only one panel on the other side of the vessel. It has four heads, the
lower two on small pedestals. The heads are round with circular eyes, a straight
nose and oblong mouth. A band of interlocking frets surrounds each face, and on

top of the head are complex ray appendages. The form and decoration of this
vessel relate it to the Chakipampa style in which one observes the mixture of
coastal elements with highland designs from the Huarpa style.
COMMENTS AND INTERPRETATION

The Huari Empire that gained preeminence throughout the central highlands
of Peru had its roots in the Huarpa (AD 100-600) cultural tradition. The proba-
ble capital of this immediately pre-Huari society was Nawinpuquio, a site located
8 kIn southwest of the Central Plaza of Ayacucho. The Huarpa cultural tradition
was contemporaneous with Nasca (south Peruvian coast) and Tiwanaku (Bolivian
highland plateau or altiplano around Lake Titicaca). Huarpa developed an agri-
cultural technology that rehabilitated soils and controlled the use and distribution
of water in an ecologically precarious region characterized by few fertile valleys
and considerable aridity.
From the beginning, Huarpa maintained an exchange relationship with the
southern Peruvian coast where Nasca culture was characterized by exquisite
ceramic craftsmanship, a warlike disposition, and a complex, urbanized society.
In addition to interaction with Nasca, Huarpa maintained ties with Tiwanaku.
Tiwanaku established colonies in its highland periphery in order to obtain prod-
ucts unavailable to it locally. The Tiwanaku were skilled at carving stone, weav-
ing, ceramic and metallurgical production. Moreover, they developed a method of
dehydrating meat and potatoes, thus preserving them for long periods while
carried over large distances. They were also highly skilled at llama herding. The
Tiwanaku were organized into planned urban centers where their power structure
was based in an administrative theocracy with a prestigious religious cult that
later functioned as the central cult of Huari.
Interactions among these cultures caused a slow change in the Huarpa
people. In response to Nasca and Tiwanaku influence the Huarpa improved the
quality and quantity of their craft production. They developed newer and better
techniques and more elaborate and complex forms. They established large-scale
production workshops where people specialized in various crafts (such as pottery
and metallurgy) produced objects for consumption by other sectors of the society,
especially rural populations.
Huari, as a process, developed out of the community at Conchopata.
Conchopata was densely occupied, with rectangular stone and mud structures,
open plazas, streets and canals. It was a ceramic producing center that produced
for local demand and for exportation. In our view, Conchopata was key in the
development of the Huari state. The site is a prime location for the study of com-
plex and hierarchical systems of specialized ceramic production, circulation and
consumption.

Our recent archaeological discoveries have revealed new evidence concerning
the use of space in pottery producing activities. Architectural spaces were
constructed specifically for the storage of clay and tempering agents, for the
preparation of clays and elaboration of ceramic objects (pots and figurines), and
for the drying and firing processes. The objects used in these activities were found
in place, providing a glimpse of their impressive diversity: smoothing tools made
of ceramic fragments, stone burnishing instruments, whole molds with anthropo-
morphic and zoomorphic forms, the remains of natural paints, bone tools, false
wheels and support disks.
All this serves as abundant proof that pottery production was the predomi-
nant activity undertaken at the site, carried out by specialized craftspeople and
others. Master specialists and functionaries would have benefited from elevated
status and privileges evident in the houses they occupied. Specially plastered and
whitewashed houses have been excavated at Conchopata, along with other simple
structures with no embellishment. Many contexts seem to have remained undis-
turbed as many jar fragments are restorable into entire vessels, implying that they
are in the place they occupied at abandonment, perhaps broken by wall-fall. In
other instances, complete molds and vessels were identified in close association
with tools used in ceramic production activities, giving the impression that they
were abandoned suddenly where they were used.
This last observation is further supported by the excavation of several tombs
inside living quarters, the majority of which were disturbed and mixed with
Huamanga style domestic ceramic sherds. Such disturbance may have occurred
during the last phase of the site's occupation, scattering fragments of human
remains, camelid bones, Spondylus shell and other grave offerings.
The information recovered from residential areas indicates that the inhabi-
tants abandoned Conchopata in a violent, sudden manner. A noticeable decline in
ceramic quality occurred during Conchopata's final phase. Many areas were not
occupied, but used as dumps, and many workshops began producing coarse, infe-
rior pottery. Pottery production began to concentrate on domestic pottery instead
of finewares.
Beyond evidence that forms the basis for a narrative concerning the site's
abandonment, another important discovery at Conchopata opens a door to the ori-
gins of this community and that of the urban Huari core. This is the large, D-
shaped ceremonial enclosure in the center of Sector B, surrounded by smaller
buildings, alleyways, and patios constructed at different points in time. This tem-
ple is much larger than the buildings that surrounded it and held a wide variety of
ritual contexts such as caches of elaborate ceramic vessels that were broken inten-
tionally. Complete vessels were identified also, resting on the floor with camelid
burials, burned human crania and a possible solar clock.
The most remarkable of these finds is the discovery of previously unknown
iconographic themes. These motifs represent the religious ideology and militaristic
social organization of the community, providing valuable material confirmation
of the ideological relationship between Huari and Tiwanaku. Although large poly-
chrome urns have been known since 1942, excavation of the D-shaped building
has contributed new images of mythical beings and possible warrior-priests to the
iconographic corpus.
The Front Face Staff God theme, along with profile felines, falcon heads on
animal bodies, and the winged attendants (among others), is now greatly
enriched. Human warriors wear distinctive attire. They have distinctive shields,
shoulder emblems of jaguars and hawks, and human heads suspended on their
chests (Figure 8.11b). These conventions may represent formal military organi-
zation, institutionalized within Huari. The distinct personages probably represent
members of the governing elite and warrior chiefs. The first type of personage is
found on large jars with faces sculpted on their necks, at times smiling, at others,
stem, and with the mouth and nose applied with paint. They wear large earspools
with small holes, like those worn by the Inca Cuzco elite. They sport tunics or
unkus with geometric designs similar to those found on actual Huari textiles
found on the Peruvian coast. They do not hold weapons, and therefore we assume
they represent priests or controlling elite.
The second type of personage represents warriors with their weapons. They
are shown kneeling on reed boats with tattooed faces and their bodies in profIle,
holding square shields and axes or bow and arrows. Their attire is decorated with
simple designs such as small squares with circles, which may have represented
uniforms. Others display more elaborate clothing, circular shields, homed hel-
mets and jaguars or hawks on their shoulders. This differentiation of individuals
is new to Huari iconography and suggests that Huari achieved a highly complex
military organization that facilitated conquests throughout the central Andes.
Analysis of these remains is continuing. There are many more questions to
be answered. First, it is important to pinpoint the differences between Tiwanaku
and Huari art to understand the role Conchopata had in Huari state formation.
Second, we hope to determine who created these images that represent ritual
behavior at Conchopata. We are confident that a more detailed analysis will reveal
much more about the relationship between Huari and Tiwanaku.
Acknowledgments
Our excavations were financed by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research whose support we gratefully acknowledge. The project
was conducted by a team of researchers from the Universidad Nacional de San
Cristobal de Huamanga under the direction of Principal Investigators Jose
Ochatoma Paravicino and Martha Cabrera Romero. The research team included
Ismael Mendoza, Walter Lopez, Maria Cahuana, Haydee Ccaipani, Cesar Alvarez,
and Lorenzo Huisa, all of whom are thanked.
Religions Ideology and Military Organization

Notes
247
1. Editor's note by William H. Isbell: White plaster and a soft white stone found frequently at
Conchopata have been identified as diatomaceous earth or chalk. This material was probably
processed into gypsum plaster as well as white wash for walls.
2. Editor's note by Helaine Silverman: The material that Ochatoma and Cabrera report in this section
is internally consistent. However, their identification of "Nasca-like" is not necessarily acceptable
to a Nasca specialist.
REFERENCES
Cook, Anita G., 1987, The Middle Horizon ceramic offerings from Conchopata. Nawpa Pacha
22-23: 49-90.
Cook, Anita G., 1994, Wari y Tiwanaku: Entre el Estilo y la Imagen. Fondo Editorial, Pontifica
Universidad Cat61ica del Peru, Lima.
Isbell, William H., 1987, Conchopata: Ideological innovator in Middle Horizon IA. Nawpa Pacha
22-23: 91-126.
Chapter 9
A New Perspective on
Conchopata and the Andean
Middle Horizon
WILLIAM H. ISBELL AND ANITA G. COOK
INTRODUCTION
The Middle Horizon (AD 550-1000) was a time of many cultural changes, from
northern Chile to Cajamarca (Figure 9.1). Burial practices, household organiza-
tion, residence patterns, and/or ceramic styles were transformed in many places.
New polities replaced old ones. Expansive states or empires emerged for the first
time, unifying vast numbers of formerly independent cultural groups (Schaedel
1993). An emblematic new art became conspicuously popular. Its principal figure
was a mythical person represented front face with ray appendages about the head,
who grasped a staff in each outstretched hand (Front Face Staff God in the ter-
minology of Ochatoma and Cabrera, this volume); secondary human figures
kneel in profile with a staff held before the body. These and other icons appear to
represent the ideology of a powerful new religion (Cook 1987, 1994; Isbell 1983;
Lanning 1967; Moseley 1992).
This distinctive religious art had two great centers, each with a capital city
that appears to have been a primary political and ceremonial seat during the
Middle Horizon (Figure 9.1). Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian altiplano constituted
a southern heartland, with its metropolis at Tiwanaku [Note 1]. The Ayacucho
Valley was the northern heartland, with its great city at Huari [Note 2]. Each
heartland included smaller cities, probably one-time competitors of the first order
capital that were eventually subordinated by their more powerful neighbor.
Tiwanaku's best-known second city is Lukurmata, on the shore of Lake Titicaca
249
250 William H. Isbell and Anita G. Cook
Figure 9.1. Map of Huari and Tiwanaku spheres.
A New Perspective on Conchopata and the Andean Middle Horizon 251

(Bennett 1936; Bermann 1993, 1994; Isbell 1995; Janusek 1994; Kolata 1989,
1993; Ponce S. 1972, 1985, 1989; Rivera S. 1989). Huari's foremost second city
is Conchopata, in the south end of the Ayacucho Valley (Figure 9.2) that is known
as the Huamanga Basin (Benavides 1965; Cook 1987, 1994; Isbell 1987, 1997;
Isbell and Cook 1987; Lumbreras 1960c, 1974a; Menzel 1964, 1968, 1977;
Pozzi-Escott 1982, 1985, 1991; Schreiber 1992).
Conchopata covered at least 20 ha and perhaps a good deal more before
much of the site was destroyed by modem urban development (Figure 9.3).
Traditionally, it is dated to the end of the Early Intermediate Period and early part
of the MH, before Huari achieved supremacy. Menzel (1964) argues that
Conchopata was abandoned by the end of MH lB, its seminal Tiwanaku-based
religious institutions usurped by a more militaristic Huari.
The chronology of the northern, Huari sphere of the Middle Horizon was
developed by Dorothy Menzel (1964, 1968, 1977). She recognized two ceramic
styles as most Tiwanaku-like, the "Conchopata Style" (oversize ceramic urns at
that time known only from offering contexts excavated at Conchopata by Julio C.
Tello in 1942) and the "Robles Moqo Style" (found at Pacheco on Peru's south
coast, with occasional fragments appearing at Conchopata and Huari). Menzel
formulated a seriation of ceramic styles, composed of four epochs, the earliest
two subdivided into phases A and B. This chronology has been used throughout
Peru, so it serves as the background for the phases distinguished at Conchopata,
for its burials, buildings and plazas (Figures 9.4, 9.5; Table 9.1).
Like her predecessors Menzel (1964: 67) assumed that Tiwanaku was the
source of Ayacucho's new sacred Middle Horizon art. She suggested that it was
probably brought back by Ayacucho folk who traveled some 800 km to the alti-
plano, where they learned the new religion. The Conchopata Style, with front-
face deities and profile figures was unique to the Conchopata site, and assigned
to MH lA. It seemed reasonable that it must be the earliest representation of the
foreign ideology, and that it sparked cultural changes that inaugurated the Middle
Horizon. Robles Moqo Style pottery, perhaps equally Tiwanaku, but found more
widely distributed, was assigned to MH lB. Menzel implies that it represents the
first extra-regional expansion of Huari (and Conchopata) under the new altiplano
religious influence.
Menzel showed that Huari pottery and iconography appeared throughout
much of Peru. The stylistic consistency as well as the contexts implied military
conquest. Most Andean prehistorians recognized Huari as an imperial capital
(Isbell 1978; Isbell and McEwan 1991; Lumbreras 1959, 1960c, 1974b; Menzel
1964, 1968, 1977). However, a few insisted that the Middle Horizon was no more
than commercial and religious interaction between independent new cities (Shady
1982, 1988, 1989; Shady and Ruiz 1979), or a confederation of kin groupings
(Topic and Topic 1992; J. Topic 1992, 1994).
San Miguel
River
AyacuchoValley
Huanta Basin.
:uc
U
Figure 9.2. Huamanga Basin showing location of Conchopata.
.--.. _",,, _.'
,...,'. .J
85
85
54
' ........
'\..
l.
/~~..
56
"--"';: .._..-..,
Figure 9.3. Map of Conchopata on the edge of Ayacucho.

Figure 9.4. Map showing Conchopata perimeter walls,
"'lIP by Juan CaltO.8latker (SUNY Din9l\amlOtl)
I=II
Q.
>e.
S'
~
(")
Q
~
N
'£.
~
~
;:c
~
r:r
f.: d:j: r' 'II,·, =l'l>
,, ,, '.:.. J.."
I: ,:- " -== .
'-Probable Pe~imeter Wall
~t
-=::-
~fI--_. --- ---
I.0 ZONE B
'. ~ # •
:":':":-
.":.::.::.:1.:: I
::1' I
r-f"
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Perimete
Ii Wall
II
II
n Ii 10
LEGEND
CONCHOPATA ARCHAEOLOGICAL
ZONE
=::=::::::=::=::::::: Eat.'II',1IOtlTIttl(I'lU
low*, Atctla'ok9Ca' Walb

AreNtKtutaJ ,·..tut••
luUV••"okI., MncJ'IU. etc.)
~::::==:. C~
Oelll Tomb () CUI B.dtoctl 1x~ 6KIled Ooorway
______, Moc»meuMing Wal.
"'11',,',,',',',' Mod«nConllNC:llonT,.f'Id'In
1(':<'('(':<':1 Highw.y(Av OelEjiteitO)
-__ _ ....Odel" fel'ltt L.itle
I= === UppeI AtetlHOfGOieaI walls .d" II! n II
Uncl.IitlfdAtdl,ftolOOleatW... ~
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ZONES
"/···
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--.
, .t
'"""'~Clt·~n;;~
:!...-- ; j.. '
-_.1'.."==.~- .
;~';
CONCHOPATA ARCHAEOLOGICAL ZONE
Figure 9.5. Map of Conchopata showing locations of each oversize ceramic offering.

Table 9.1. The relative chronology for the Middle Horizon
(Menzel) and new Conchopata relative chronology. Absolute
dating is suggested on the basis of
radiocarbon dates
Menzel's Middle Horizon Chronology
Late Intennediate Period

Middle Horizon Epoch 4
Middle Horizon Epoch 3
Middle Horizon Epoch 2B
Middle Horizon Epoch 2A
Middle Horizon Epoch IB
Middle Horizon Epoch IA
Early Intermediate Period
AD 1000
AD 850
AD 700
AD 550
Conchopata Chronology
Vallejos Phase
B
Alarcon Phase A
B
Huisa Phase A
B
Silva Phase A
Mendosa Phase
Huamanf Phase
mSTORY OF INVESTIGATIONS AT CONCHOPATA
Conchopata is famous for its spectacular over-size pottery decorated with
polychrome depictions of the Middle Horizon mythical beings in a style that
(along with "Robles Moqo" from the Pacheco site in the Nazca Valley on the
south coast) is more like the figures on Tiwanaku incised stone sculptures than
any other art north of Lake Titicaca. Even at Huari nothing quite so similar to
Tiwanaku has been found.
The archaeological site of Conchopata was first described in 1927 by
Benedicto Flores. The first excavation at Conchopata of giant ceramic vessels
with Tiwanaku iconography was conducted in 1942 by Julio C. Tello.
Unfortunately Tello did not publish his findings, so Menzel (1964, 1968, 1977)
interviewed students and colleagues who had accompanied Tello during his field-
work to ascertain the archaeology of the site. She concluded that the offering pot-
tery had consisted of large urns, some with a band of icons that included the
front-face deity with ray appendages about the head, painted on the upper third of
the vessels. These urns had been smashed, apparently by blows directed at the
religious images, implying deliberate breakage. The fragments had been found
in simple pits, suggesting some kind of buried offering. This was the evidence
for new religion in Ayacucho, focused on the front-face deity also known at
Tiwanaku.

Only a few of the urns Tello discovered were decorated. Unfortunately, we
do not know how many fragments or how many whole vessels were recovered, all
the iconography, or even how many pits containing ceremonial fragments were
discovered. Were the pits close together? Were they associated with any architec-
ture? Many questions occur that cannot be answered with the Tello collections, in
spite of the key role they play in the belief that Tiwanaku influence inaugurated
a new religion in Ayacucho. To continue the popular scenario, Tiwanaku religion,
transplanted to Ayaucho, prompted cultural and political innovations that soon led
to imperial expansionism, political unification under Huari rule, and the Middle
Horizon.
Lumbreras (1959, 1960, 1974a, 1985) conducted survey and excavations at
the site between 1957 and 1962, searching for more ceramic urns with Tiwanaku
iconography, but he found no new ceramic offerings. Lumbreras found architec-
tural remains, part of a drainage system, and a large midden with pottery of
diverse styles. The midden also contained burnishing tools made from discarded
pottery sherds. This indicated that the site was occupied by specialists engaged in
large scale pottery production. Lumbreras thus provided new insight into the
Middle Horizon by proposing that Conchopata was a settlement of ceramic spe-
cialists who produced high quality, Tiwanaku-influenced urns. However,
Lumbreras did not map the distribution of architecture and artifacts so we have
only air photographs from the late 1940s on which to base the original extent of
Conchopata (see Isbell 1987). Mario Benavides (1965) presented a classification
of Conchopata pottery using the material excavated by Lumbreras.
Isbell first visited Conchopata in 1966. Much destruction had taken place at
Conchopata following Tello's work, especially in the context of the leveling and
compacting of the airport runway in the late 1950s. In 1966 the modem airport
was a dirt runway with a corrugated iron shed as terminal, and a dirt road that
continued on to the northern tip of the Chakipampa mesa where the military gar-
rison was located. The entire area was an archaeological zone.
A modem airport was built in 1977 to replace the early dirt runway. The
1977 construction work led to the accidental discovery of more Conchopata pot-
tery from an offering. Almost immediately, Isbell (1987; Isbell and Cook 1987),
Cook (1983,1987,1994) and Knobloch (1983,1989,1991) conducted an emer-
gency study of the context and materials. Dorothy Menzel (personal communica-
tion) recognized the 1977 material as more divergent from Tiwanaku than the
Conchopata Style and referred to it as "provincial." She suggested that the new
offering collection must be slightly later than the Conchopata style, and assigned
it to MH IB. Knobloch (1983) by contrast argued that the 1942 and 1977 ceramic
offerings might be contemporary, both dating to MH lB. If Knobloch is correct
significant rethinking is in order. Should the onset of the Middle Horizon be
placed later in time, to correspond with what had been Epoch IB? Or might it be
that Tiwanaku-like religious iconography did not initiate the Middle Horizon, and

the greatest similarities between Tiwanaku and Conchopata iconography appear at
least half a century after the onset of expansionism and other cultural changes? In
either case, from the moment of its appearance at Conchopata, there was iconog-
raphy more like Tiwanaku as well as iconography less like Tiwanaku. Either the
people of Conchopata were extremely fast at inventing changes or the new reli-
gious art did not come from Tiwanaku itself. Archaeologists would be obliged to
seek a third source-a source from which both Tiwanaku and Conchopata picked
and selected new religious images, but not always the same ones.
In 1982, Denise Pozzi-Escot (1991) systematically excavated Sector A of
Conchopata, uncovering a series of square and rectangular buildings with
entranceways and as well as more open, public areas. She also discovered numer-
ous artifacts associated with pottery production (such as smoothing and burnish-
ing tools, molds and pallets) that provided a great deal more information about
pottery production at Conchopata, including the identification of residential units,
households, and workshops. But she found no new ceramic offerings.
In 1991 Ismael Perez and Jose Ochatoma began excavations in Conchopata.
That year, in the northern portion of Sector A, they discovered a workshop with
associated patios, pottery production areas and a kiln. Subsequently Perez and his
students excavated in the southeast corner of Sector B, uncovering a series of
architectural spaces forming a pottery workshop with pottery making tools (Perez
1998a; Perez and Ochatoma 1998).
This, then, was the sum total of information about offering pottery until new
excavations were conducted at Conchopata by Jose Ochatoma, Martha Cabrera,
William H. Isbell, and Anita G. Cook between 1997 and 2001. Among the goals
of our new excavations at Conchopata have been the recovery of additional
Tiwanaku-related art to elucidate relations between Tiwanaku and the Ayacucho
cities of Conchopata and Huari. We also hope to learn more about life and cul-
tural development during the Middle Horizon, and to reevaluate cultural chronol-
ogy, establishing a Cl4-based absolute time scale [Note 3]. Renewal ofresearch
at Conchopata makes it possible to bring new information to bear on the cultural
significance of Tiwanaku iconography as well as the oversize ceramic vessels on
which they were painted. We can investigate the production of these and other
ceramic vessels, and ask new questions about their dating. It is also possible to
begin to examine broader issues of religion, ideology, and social organization
through newly discovered mortuary remains at Conchopata.
In this chapter we present new information on the pottery from Conchopata
and we consider other aspects of the site. We suggest a typology of burial patterns
to establish a basis for discussing similarities and differences with Tiwanaku and
other Andean cultures, as well as examining internal social differentiation within
Conchopata and Huari society. The newly excavated architectural remains at
Conchopata permit a preliminary discussion of the use of space, including func-
tional identifications of at least some building types and their relations to social

and political activities. As new information about Conchopata and the Middle
Horizon is described and interpreted, entirely new understandings will emerge.
THE CONCHOPATA OVERSIZE CERAMIC

OFFERING TRADITION
This new fieldwork has produced numerous ceramic offerings, significantly
more varied than the early collections, and coming from a remarkably greater range
of contexts. To more cogently describe and interpret the "Conchopata Oversize
Ceramic Offering Tradition" we propose a typology of ceramic offerings. We doubt
that our typology is final and definitive. As more is learned about giant ceramic ves-
sels, their history, use, and production, we anticipate that changes will be required
in the typology. However, the new typology initiates discussion of form, contexts,
and meanings that are prerequisites for more profound understandings.
We recognize four types of oversize ceramic offerings, based on aspects of
context as well as number and form of vessels included (Figure 9.6). We also have
adopted a convention of referring to the offerings by the year they were discov-
ered, followed by a letter designation in the event that several offerings were
found in the same year.
Conchopata oversize offering pottery comes in two shapes, urns (Figure
9.7a) and face-neck jars (Figure 9.7b). The urn has a flat bottom about 33 to 50cm
in diameter, and diverging sides with a broad, open mouth 60 to 90cm wide. The
sides are slightly curved, slightly recurved, or nearly straight and the urns range
in size from about 50 to 80 cm tall. The vessel body is composed of fine-textured,
reddish-orange paste about 1.3 cm to as much as 4 cm thick. The urns usually
have flattened rims that may be decorated on the upper edge. Two broad strap
handles, horizontal or vertical, were placed opposite one another near the middle
of the vessel.
The second offering form is the oversize face-neck jar that is a human effigy
vessel (Figure 9.7b, see also Cook 1987; Isbell and Cook 1987). The neck was
turned into a human head by modeling and painting a nose, ears, and other facial
features, often including hair. The body of the jar represents the torso so it was
painted with the textile motifs of a shirt or poncho, and with representations of
hands and arms. Oversize face-neck jars have conical bases or flattened bottoms.
Vessel bodies are spherical to cylindrical and have broad shoulders with con-
stricted necks and tall, parallel-sided collars. Frequently the rims are thickened
and decorated. The jars have two heavy vertical strap handles about half way up,
asymmetrically placed so the second is about one third of the way around the
body from the first. This leaves a broad front panel to represent the chest. The jars
may be 60 cm to more than I m in height, with walls up to and more than I cm
thick.
260 William H. IsheD and Anita G. Cook
-~~~
Type 1 •
~~--
Type 2
~~/f[:1&n
Type 3
Figure 9.6. Typology of Conchopata Oversize Ceramic Offerings.
Oversize Ceramic Offering Type 1 (OCO Type 1). This kind of offering con-
sists of numerous giant vessels, smashed and buried in a simple pit excavated into
the ground. Two examples have been excavated in recent years, the 1977 offering
and the 2000B offering, although offerings 2000A and 1999B probably belong as
well. Both 1977 and 2000B contained oversize face-neck jars, all decorated,
although 2000B included some other shapes as well. We suspect that the offer-
ings excavated by Tello belong to this type, although they contained only urns.
Perhaps OCO Type 1 urns and OCO Type 1 face-neck jars should be differenti-
ated into OCO Type lA and OCO Type 1B respectively, but since we have secure
information only for offerings of jars, we have shown only jars in our illustration
(Figure 9.6, Type 1).
Figure 9.7. (a) Urns; (b) Face-neck jars; (c) D-shaped icon on smaller set of vessels.
Oversize Ceramic Offering Type 2 (OCO Type 2). This type consists of
numerous oversize vessels, smashed and deposited on a surface within a sizable
architectural enclosure. Two examples have been reported, 1997-98 excavated
in a D-shaped building by Ochatoma and Cabrera (this volume), and 1999A,
excavated in a rectangular patio and adjoining room by Isbell and Cook. The
1999A offering consisted of urns only, many undecorated. However, the 1997-98
offering contained both urns and face-neck jars (and other forms), so we show
both urns and jars in our illustration (Figure 9.6, Type 2).

Oversize Ceramic Offering Type 3 (OCO Type 3). This type consists of only
one or two oversize urns, smashed and distributed on a surface, usually within a
small room or patio. Two examples of OCO Type 3 offerings stand out, 2000C
and 2001, because more than half of a fancy painted urn was found in each case.
However, there is one example of an undecorated urn set into a patio floor but
broken, as well as groups of several decorated sherds from one or two fine urns
that could be included in this type.
Oversize Ceramic Offering Type 4 (OCO Type 4). This is the most problem-
atic offering type. It consists of numerous oversize jars broken on the surface or
floor of a room. The best example is the 1999C offering, from room EA-36.
However, this offering is controversial because the jars range from very large to
normal in size, only some are decorated, and none of the decorations are particu-
larly Tiwanakoid. In addition, the jars are of modest quality, in paste, finish, and
painting. Furthermore, there are several other rooms at Conchopata that had
numerous broken vessel fragments on their floors, jars as well as other shapes.
Were all of these offerings? Obviously, if there was a Conchopata tradition of
deliberately smashing large ceramic vessels, we do not want to exclude the
remains from our study because they were significantly different from what we
think occurred in the creation of the 1942 offering, discovered by Tello, that
became the "type offe:iTJg" simply because it was the only example known for
thirty-five years. Consequently, OCO Type 4 offerings are recognized as includ-
ing giant jars of modest quality as well as many other kinds of ceramics, and
occurring in regular rooms within Conchopata's compounds. But this type
demands careful study in the immediate future.
The inventory of oversize ceramic offerings from Conchopata has grown
immensely since 1942. The new list is as follows.
1942-0CO Type lA. Smashed oversize urns were excavated in 1942 at
Conchopata by Julio C. Tello. The collection was taken to the Museo Nacional de
Antropologia y Arqueologia in Lima, where some vessels were reconstructed and
placed on exhibit. However, little is known about this offering, other than the
iconographic information published by Menzel (1964, 1968, 1977) and by Cook
(1994). When Isbell first visited Conchopata in 1966, a depression in the ground
was said to have been the Tello excavation, although not everyone agreed. This
depression was still visible in 1977, only some 10 or 20 m east of the offering dis-
covered in that year. The depression disappeared later that year as the entire area
was covered with fill from the expansion of the Ayacucho airport. We tentatively
locate the 1942 Offering in this area (Figure 9.5), and since it is surrounded
by most of the recently discovered offerings, this location seems quite probable.
The iconographic themes in the 1942 offering (Cook 1994: lamina 9 or Cook
1987: chart 2) are numerous, including the front-face deity (Menzel 1977: fig. 42,
63C), the kneeling profile figure with staff (Menzel 1977: fig. 67), a standing

profile figure or warrior (Menzel 1977: fig. 66), several varieties of floating
attendants (Menzel 1977: figs. 63A, 91), a disembodied mythical profile head
(Cook 1994: lamina 7, bottom), and a large but realistic bird (Menzel 1977: fig.
63B). This variety leads us to suspect that the 1942 collection probably consists
of several offerings, each with a more limited range of icons.
1977-0CO Type lB. This offering was buried in a pit under a deep layer of
pink sand. The context had been damaged so it was impossible to determine
whether the sand had been cut through or whether the offering pit predated the
deposit that had walls of buildings on its upper surface. The ceramic collection
consisted of decorated oversize face-neck jars. The majority (about 25) was dec-
orated with similar Tiwanaku-inspired decorations (Figure 9.8), although 5 dis-
tinct vessels had designs that seem more Nasca in origin (Figure 9.7c). A few
fragments of other ceramics were also found, including a couple of pieces that
appear to belong to face-neck jars like those in the 2000B offering.
1997/98-0CO Type 2. This offering collection was excavated from the
D-shaped building, EA-72 at Conchopata by Jose Ochatoma and Martha Cabrera
(this volume; see also Ochatoma and Cabrera 1997). It is highly varied, including
both urns and face-neck jars, as well as a host of other shapes and new icons.
Distinct horizontal and vertical groupings of vessel fragments may suggest sev-
eral depositional events. The collection includes two variants of disembodied
front-face deity heads with ray appendages, that are obviously related to
Tiwanaku. There are several different disembodied mythical profile heads and
a number of new warrior icons, some standing and others kneeling in reed boats
as they grasp shields and weapons. A completely new form is an exceptionally
large human effigy vessel, probably a face-neck jar, with a face twice actual
human size.
1999A-OCO Type 2. This offering was excavated from a surface in patio
EA-4 and adjoining room, EA-2, by Isbell and Cook (Figures 9.8, 9.9, 9.10,
9.11). Many smashed oversize urns were deeply littered across a surface consid-
erably above the base of the walls. Only a small proportion was decorated. All the
icons are known from the 1942 Tello collection, including a front-face staff deity
with ray appendages about the face (Figure 9.9), three floating profile figures
(Figures 9.10 and 9.11), and a realistic bird (Figure 9.12). Significantly, the
1999A icons are so similar to the published examples of 1942 iconography that
they might have been painted by the same master craftsman.
This Conchopata oversize offering has been dated by radiocarbon, with a
charcoal sample from a pottery-bearing stratum yielding AD 850 ± 60. Charcoal
from the base of the room that contained a fragment of a warrior
kneeling and a reed boat dated AD 530 ± 90. A sample from a nearby room that
also contained oversize pottery, although with no identifiable icons, is AD
920 ± 50.
Figure 9.8. 1977 face-neck jar.
1999B-OCO Type IA (?). This offering may have been a collection of

smashed urns deposited in a pit. It was excavated from the damaged southeast
portion of room EA-IOO, that was D-shaped or circular. The oversize urn frag-
ments may originally have been buried in a pit that was disturbed at the same time
that part of the wall of this room was destroyed. Many fragments of regular size
pottery were found, and also several fragments of an oversize urn with warriors,
and on its inside a woman with a spotted feline nursing at her breast (Figure 9.13).
Figure 9.9. 1999A front face deity.
Figure 9.10. 1999A floating feline attendant.
Figure 9.11. 1999A floating bird attendant.
Figure 9.12. 1999A realistic bird.
Figure 9.13. Woman nursing spotted feline.
If the offering was originally deposited in a pit, these other ceramics may also
have been in the pit as well. However, they may have been mixed into the same
strata when the area was disturbed.
The iconography of 1999B is new and unique, consisting of 7 human faces,
probably male, each distinguished by its apparel and adornments. Each face is
shown in profile with protruding tongue, one behind the other as though in pro-
cession (Figures 9.14, 9.15). A radiocarbon date of AD 680 ::!: 60 was obtained
from the deepest stratum containing examples of 1999B offering pottery.
1999C-OCO Type 4. Many fragments of smashed jars, including some face-
neck examples, were found on the floor of room EA-36 (Figure 9.16). One face-
neck vessel was especially large (Figure 9.17), but none of these jars was
particularly fine, and none has any Tiwanakoid designs. Burned wood from just
above the floor in EA-36 radiocarbon dated AD 700 ::!: 60.
1999D-OCO Type 4. Room EA-31 also contained many smashed jar frag-
ments, although none were particularly fine, or decorated with Tiwanaku-related
icons.
2000A-OCO Type 1B (7). In the western edge of the EA-I00 extension were
many smashed oversize sherds. One set was clearly contained within a pit so
these sherds were attributed to offering 2000A. Most of the pottery is plain, and
little of it has been studied. The fragments appear to belong to jars, and the only
icon identified on the sherds is the warrior also discovered by Ochatoma and
Figure 9.14. 1999B face urn.
Cabrera (this volume, their Figure 8.l1A). It seems possible that originally there
were several oversize ceramic offering pits in this area, but that most if not all
were disturbed, perhaps including 1999B. Alternatively, the entire area was a
spectacular pottery dump.
2000B-OCO Type lB. This offering of oversize vessels is important for it
demonstrates the variability in Conchopata's offering. This offering was placed in
Figure 9.15. Seven faces on 19998 urns.
a pit, and includes several different shapes, some only regular size. There are
some 73 regular size jars that are plain or decorated only on the rim. A few were
unbroken. All the oversize vessels, about 27, come from face-neck jars, and all
were decorated (Figures 9.18, 9.19). However, these oversize face-neck jars are
not as large, as thick or as well finished as the 1977 offering jars. Furthermore,
although they are elaborately decorated, they have few colors and no Tiwanakoid
icons. All their decoration is in the "Chakipampa" style, native to the Ayacucho
Valley (Menzel 1964). The face-neck vessels were concentrated toward the bot-
tom of the 2000B offering pit, so it appears that the ceramics were deposited into
the pit in layers [Note 4]. A sample of charcoal from within the 2000B offering
pit yielded a radiocarbon date of AD 680 ± 40.
2000C-OCO Type 3. This find consisted of fragments from two incomplete
oversize urns, one elaborately decorated (Figure 9.20) and the other plain.
Numerous fragments of the two were found on the floor of room EA-78, as
though they were broken on the spot. A few more pieces were found on the floor
of adjoining room EA-79, and several pieces were recovered in the construction
trench of the modem house cutting the south end of EA-78. Other fragments may
have been destroyed by this building. About 50% of the decorated urn was easily
reassembled.
2000D-OCO Type 3. This collection may represent disturbed ceramic offer-
ings reused as fill. However, several partial urns of high quality were discovered,
including one that was nearly half complete. This is rare except in OCO Type 3
offerings, so we have assigned the find to that class. The oversize pottery came
from under a red clay floor in patio room EA-6. The most complete urn represents
the warriors, grasping weapons and shields, that kneel in reed boats (Figure 9.21).
Examples of these icons were first discovered by Ochatoma and Cabrera (this
Figure 9.16. Excavation of Room EA-36, showing vessel fragments.
volume, their Figure 8.5) in the D-shaped building, EA-72. We obtained a radio-
carbon date of AD 570 ± 40 from the stratum of EA-6 that contained the over-
size pottery. Several other fragments of oversize urns from below the floor in
EA-6 had Tiwanakoid designs, but more consistent with Robles Moqo than the
Conchopata style.
2001A-OCO Type 3. One smashed urn, virtually complete and decorated
with disembodied mythical profile heads (Figure 9.22), was found on the floor of
the large patio EA-98. The smallish oversize urn had been placed near a doorway,
in excavation EA-98D, on a dais of stones, smashed to pieces, and left as it fell,
except for one or two sherds that somehow disappeared. This is the most nearly
complete urn in Conchopata style ever found. It can be associated with a radio-
carbon date from a burned roof beam, lying on the same floor at the south edge
A New Perspective on Conchopata and the Andean Middle Horizon
Figure 9.17. Face-neck jar from EA 36 (photo: William H. Isbell)
271
of the patio, in excavation EA-98(A). This date is AD 780 ± 60, but this should
date the cutting of the beam for the roof, perhaps a century or so before the patio
was abandoned with the smashed urn in one of its doorways.
2001B-OCO Type 3. Fragments of several oversize urns were found under a
possible floor or surface in EA-168. They include urn fragments similar to the
1999B, OCO Type lA offering, and several Robles Moqo pieces most like frag-
ments from the 2000D, OCO Type 3 offering. Although a few of these fragments
fit together, it was not possible to mend significant portions of any urns, so this
context may represent trash rather than offering activity.
Analyses of ceramic collections from Conchopata have only begun so many
conclusions are still far in the future. However, it seems likely that the ceramic
urns and jars in at least OCO Types 1 and 2 are incomplete. That is to say, all the
Figure 9.18. Face-neck jar from 2000B.
fragments of each vessel were not placed into the pit in OCO Type 1 offerings,
and all of the fragments of each vessel were not left on the floor of a large room
or courtyard in the case of OCO Type 2 offerings. We conclude that OCO Type 1
and OCO Type 2 probably were not broken on location and then simply covered
up (OCO Type 1) or abandoned (OCO Type 2). Deposition processes were more
complex and prolonged.
A second observation that can be made at this time is that sub-styles of
Conchopata oversize offering vessels can be identified on the basis of vessel shape
and decoration themes. Pottery of the 1942 offering may represent the same style
found in the 1999A offering. Interestingly, 1999A consists of pottery scattered
across the surface of a patio and room, while 1942 came from one or more pits.
Perhaps these two offering deposits represent part of the same offering ritual.
Figure 9.19. Face-neck jar from 2000B.
273
Within the 1997-98 OCO Type 2 offering is a warrior icon (Ochatoma and
Cabrera, this volume, their Figure 8.llA) who also appears in the 2000A OCO
Type lB offering. Again the same style of oversize pottery occurs on a floor and
in a pit. Other offering styles appear in more than one context too, but not in OCO
Type 1 and OCO Type 2 offerings. Warriors kneeling in reed boats occur in the
1997-98 OCO Type 2 offering, and in the 2000D OCO Type 3 offering. Profile
human faces appear in the 1999B OCO Type lA (?) offering, and in the 2001B
OCO Type 3 offering. Other fragments of offering styles appear here and there,
although some seem to be unique. To date, the style that characterizes the 1977
OCO Type lB offering has only been found within a few meters of the pit.
Similarly, pottery of the 2000B OCO Type lB offering is not known from other
contexts, except for a couple of face-neck jar fragments in the 1977 offering.
Figure 9.20. Decorated um from EA-78.
One fact revealed by the new Conchopata discoveries is that polychrome

iconography on oversize urns and face-neck jars is not exclusively Tiwanakoid in
style. A rich tradition existed that depicted social themes more naturally, espe-
cially warriors and bejeweled elites. Furthermore, the shapes of Conchopata
offering vessels, oversize urns and face-neck jars are not ceramic shapes that
characterized Tiwanaku. The face-neck jar seems especially to be a central high-
land tradition, and the large offering urns are without known antecedent.
Radiocarbon dates associated with offering pottery are confusing. On one
hand there are two dates, AD 530 :::: 90 and AD 570 :::: 40 associated with war-
riors in reed boats, and with Robles Moqo-like pottery from below floors, that
support Menzel's original contention that the ceramic offering tradition belongs
at the beginning of the Middle Horizon. But no Tiwanaku pottery in the 1942
style is associated with these early dates.
Instead, the pottery Menzel (1964) considered most like Tiwanaku stone
sculpture, the 1942 offering, is almost identical to our 1999A collection. It was
dated AD 850 :::: 60, and perhaps even AD 920 :::: 50. The 2001A offering urn,
also very similar to the 1942 and the 1999A offerings, lay on a floor with a burned
roof beam dating to AD 780 :::: 60. The abandonment of this space, and probably
smashing of the urn, could be mid-9th to early 10th century. The iconography
formerly considered to represent the original Tiwanaku impact may be several
centuries too late in time.
~...•.
~ .••.
275
Figure 9.22. Oversize urn from EA-98D.
Two radiocarbon dates for offerings 1999B and 20ooB, located only a few
meters from one another, are virtually identical: AD 680 ± 60, AD 680 ± 40.
Neither one contains Tiwanaku characteristics, although the markedly Tiwanaku
1977 offering was found only a few meters to the south, and a couple of 2000B
face-neck jar sherds were also found in this pit. In terms of structure, the 1977
iconography is probably most like the Tiwanaku sculpture on the Gate of the Sun.
All this suggests a new and different iconographic scenario. Perhaps the first
Conchopata offering pottery appeared in the Silva A Phase, between AD 550 and
600. It may have depicted local themes, especially warriors displaying fancy
clothing, a weapon, and a shield. Chakipampa icons probably continued through
Huisa times, when the first Tiwanaku themes appeared on face-neck jars. But
Tiwanaku icons that were much more accurate in details such as divided eyes,
headdresses, and other details of the kind that were painted on the 1942, 1999A,
2000D and 2001A offering vessels may not have appeared at Conchopata until
the Alarcon Phase, after AD 850.
Of course, there are problems with this alternative chronology of offering
styles. Warriors in reed boats associated with the date AD 570 ± 40 are also
associated with Tiwanaku-related Robles Moqo pottery in possible offering con-
text 2000D. And both Tiwanaku and non-Tiwanaku styles appear in the 1997-98
offering from the D-shaped building. Perhaps the explanation is that oversize
offering pottery was kept for decades and even centuries before it was broken in

dedicatory ritual. Or maybe Conchopata residents uncovered old offering pits
when they were constructing new buildings, and subsequently scattered the
antique fragments across surfaces that had charcoal from recent activities. The
new research certainly suggests the alternative Tiwanaku iconographic scenario,
but it is still impossible to refute the old interpretation.
POTTERY PRODUCTION AT CONCHOPATA

Almost every room we have excavated at Conchopata contains at least some
pottery making tools. This leaves little doubt that the site was an important cen-
ter for pottery production during its later occupation, from about AD 550 to 1000.
Earlier studies suggested places where pottery might have been made, dried, and
later fired but supporting data are scarce (Perez and Ochatoma 1998; Perez
1998a,b).
Other crafts were probably practiced as well but our analyses are only begin-
ning so information is incomplete. Earlier researchers found hints of metal work-
ing, while spinning and weaving are indicated by spindle whorls from domestic
and mortuary contexts (Isbell and Cook 1987). Numerous sherds worked into
roughly circular form, with a hole drilled in the center, may also be whorls in
manufacture. Preparation and serving of chicha (ritual and festive com beer) was
probably a female specialization at Conchopata, as it was in Inca and modem
times. The great number of ceramic vessels appropriate for brewing, together
with their large size may imply conspicuous over-consumption of food and drink,
a characteristic of Andean feasting. Also frequent at Conchopata are coarse ves-
sels that must have been used for preparing and serving daily meals.
At least four different classes of pottery are found at Conchopata. Most
common is everyday vernacular pottery. Second is mortuary or dedicatory pottery
destined for interment with individuals of high status, especially in burials of
Types 4 and 5. Third are ritual urns and jars decorated with mythical polychrome
iconography manufactured in a variety of sizes. Many oversize ritual vessels
eventually ended up in offerings of OCO Types 1 through 4. But there are also
miniature urns and jars from mortuary contexts, and even a pit kiln. Presumably,
these vessels were intended for feasts and social events (Cook 1979, 1987,2000;
Cook and Benco in press; Pozzi-Escot et al. 1998,2001). Fourth are figurines and
other less utilitarian ceramic objects such as whistles and flutes or ocarinas, prob-
ably also for ceremonial activities as well as amusement.
Was most of the pottery discovered at Conchopata also manufactured there?
Were the residents of Conchopata the principal consumers of their varied wares,
or were they traded abroad? Can we determine where potters worked, and how
the different kinds of ceramics were manufactured? How was the craft organized
and what were the reasons for producing such a large range of ceramic forms? If

potters were producing exclusively for their own household we would not expect
such variety, or such large and ostentatious vessels in the assemblage. On the
other hand, if they were producing for an elite, were individuals commissioned to
manufacture specific objects? Were there recognized master craftsmen? Did cer-
tain workshops produce only certain kinds of pottery, or particular parts of the
finished product? Was there a crafting quarter within the city? Many of these
questions cannot be addressed until more analyses have been completed, but we
can make at least some observations at this early date, based on the variety and
frequencies of tools recovered, and on evidence from pottery firing.
Many potters' tools of different kinds appeared in our excavations.
Unfortunately, they do not necessarily identify production areas for there has
been a lot of disturbance at Conchopata. During the ancient occupation huge
quantities of trash were dumped into vacant rooms, and subsequent rebuilding
caused greater dispersal of the material remains. Nonetheless, some concentra-
tions of manufacturing tools do seem to reveal places devoted to potting. The
most specialized potting tools are one- and two-piece molds that are found on
room floors, in pottery dumps, and in pottery manufacturing tool caches. Caches
of manufacturing tools were placed in pits cut through room floors as though they
were offerings. Most frequently they contain collections of molds as well as the
positive images of figurines and whistles that they produced.
There are molds for pressing human faces and animal effigies onto larger
vessels, but the walls of the big pots were modeled by hand. A tool used in this
kind of production was a large sherd reshaped into a flat discoidal form. Along
with similar disks of andesite or diatomaceous stone these artifacts were used as
work surfaces; today similar objects are called mesa (table) by modem potters.
Somewhat smaller and flatter objects made of recycled vessel bases were used as
potter's plates, called tomo or plato de alfarero by modem potters. Vessels were
manufactured on such plates by setting them on top of the larger table so the plate
could be turned as the potter formed the vessel. Paddles, called azadas, were
probably used to shape and thin vessel walls. These tools were chipped from
andesite and have a "T" or "L" shape. Perhaps they were mUlti-purpose tools also
used to extract, mix and prepare clay. Originally these tools were called agricul-
tural hoes but their edge-use wear, combined with clay particles still visible
on some surfaces when examined with a microscope, indicate that azadas were
involved in tasks related to clay and potting.
Some Conchopata artifacts that may have been used in several parts of the
pottery production process are broqueles, objects often mistakenly identified as
lids for pots. They are disk-shaped clay pieces with a looping strap handle on one
side of the disk. Similar objects have been found at Moche pottery production
sites. Experiments conducted by modem potters with ancient broqueles, as well
as examinations of wear suggest they were used as paddles and polishers (Pozzi
Escot 1998). However, Cook (Cook and Benco, in press) believes they were also

used as anvils, held against the inside of a vessel wall as the outside was beaten
with a stone azada, or a wooden mallet that would certainly have disappeared
from the archaeological record. Many objects of wood, gourd, leather, and cloth
have surely disappeared, along with feather brushes and other perishable tools of
the sort that abound in modem potters' tool kits.
Durable tools for scraping, smoothing and polishing were made of clay or
stone. Very common are scrapers made from a sherd, usually a triangle, rectangle
or trapezoid of fine-ware, with its edges abraded into smooth curves. Modem pot-
ters call identical objects alisadores (polishers). Raspadores (scrapers) are similar
but larger and longer. However, they are usually intentionally manufactured
instead of using a recycled sherd. Scrapers were used to abrade wet clay, elimi-
nating surface irregularities, reducing thickness, welding and obliterating joins,
and even producing some decoration. Polishing stones made of water-worn river
pebbles or pieces of basalt were used in final burnishing to obtain shiny vessel
surfaces.
Two different types of firing areas have been identified at Conchopata. First
is what is best called open room firing. This is evidenced by scorched areas and
great concentrations of ash. Second are firing ovens or pit kilns, although they are
not true kilns for the flame was kindled inside the enclosure, not in an external
box or container.
Open room firing areas are dispersed throughout the remaining portion of
Conchopata, and some correspond to rooms that appear to be parts of household
complexes. The chronology of Conchopata's architectural sub-sectors is in need
of further refinement, but preliminary evidence implies a long duration of open
room firing. Some households may have been involved in pottery production for
centuries.
Pit kilns have been identified at two locations in the northern portion of the
site. One in Zone A is reported by Perez and Ochatoma (1998: 80-81, figs. 3-6).
The second, excavated by our team in 2000 and 200 I, is located at the east end
of the North Ambit, where an incomplete circular and oval oven were labeled
EA-I06 and EA-115. The foundations of the EA-I06 and EA-115 pit kilns were
built on bedrock, and the bedrock floor of each oven reveals circular depressions
just about the right size to hold oversize offering vessels. Layers of diatomaceous
material were laid down for successive uses of EA-I06 and -liS and pit kilns of
both Zones A and B contained large quantities of ash and stratified firing debris.
At least the Zone B pit kilns seem to date rather early in the history of
Conchopata, probably belonging to the Silva Phase, or MH I.
The distribution of pottery producing artifacts at Conchopata is confusing.
Of course, further analysis will help determine what debris is primary refuse
in situ and what is dumped from elsewhere. In the meantime it appears that within
the portion of Conchopata that remains today, pottery production was not limited
to any single area. Rather, scraping and polishing tools occur all over, and even

mesas, tomos, and molds, are widely distributed. Fragments of shaped but unfired
vessels were found as far apart as EA-9, EA-31, EA-33T3, EA-44A. This cer-
tainly seems to document dispersed production.
Pit kilns seem to be few and localized while open room firing areas are more
common and broadly dispersed. It seems likely that the two represent pottery pro-
duction that was organized differently. Furthermore, the two pit kilns on the edge
of the North Ambit belong to the Silva Phase, and seem to have been damaged by
later construction in Huisa or Alarcon times. Leoni (2001) suggests that pit kilns
were in use at Conchopata only during the early Middle Horizon, a position sup-
ported by a radiocarbon date of AD 650 ± 40 from ash deep within EA-106.
Furthermore, he argues that the location of ovens close to palace compounds
implies that the potters using these larger firing facilities were probably profes-
sional potters working under the supervision of a centralized authority in accord
with models of the attached specialists servicing resident elites. There is little
doubt that the deep kilns were used for the production of fine oversize offering
pottery, but the offering tradition appears to have endured at Conchopata for most
of its history so perhaps the kilns were also used for many generations. A study
of the refuse from within the EA-I06 pit kiln may help resolve this. In the mean-
time, Cook and Benco (in press) argue that pottery production at Conchopata
does not obviously conform to any popular production models (e.g. Costin
1991: 8-9; Sinopoli 1990: 83-117). Among such models are "nucleated work-
shops" located within a single community producing for unrestricted commerce
beyond the manufacturing center (Costin 1991: 8-9), and large but segregated
workshop quarters of full-time crafts people employed by a centralized authority
or institution. But at Conchopata production seems to have occurred everywhere.
Perhaps the dispersal of open firing areas was associated with several ceramic
specializations. It might be that there were areas or workshops where molds were
employed to make figurines, whistles, and other small objects, while cooking pots
and similar wares were produced and fired in different workshops and areas.
Perhaps the pit kilns represent more highly controlled production of offering
wares. These ideas must be tested. Will analyses of the relative frequency of
ceramic articles in trash deposits support the idea that mold-made objects were
produced in different workshops from cooking vessel or mortuary pottery?
The ubiquity of pottery manufacture at Conchopata makes it impossible to
associate it with any particular architectural forms or compounds. Perhaps pottery
production was organized by independent, co-resident kin groups, but it may have
been administered by palace communities and elite households.
MORTUARY PRACTICES AT CONCHOPATA

Recent excavations at Conchopata provide valuable information about death
and mortuary behavior that helps us understand the people of the Middle Horizon.

Old and new infonnation combine to suggest seven classes of adult intennent [Note
5] that differed from the treatment of deceased infants and young children [Note 6].
Knowledge of burial practices in Huari and Huari-related Middle Horizon
communities is complicated by several factors that combine to create confusion.
First, but certainly not primary, is the fact that many highland soils are not good
for the preservation of human bone. Second, and definitely the most destructive, is
looting of burials, probably in both prehispanic and postconquest times. Searches
for gold and other valuables have devastated most Huari-period tombs. However,
it is also becoming increasingly clear that Conchopata and other Huari people
opened their tombs periodically, and we now know that additional cadavers were
placed in at least some tombs. Furthennore, at least some bones were removed,
and other aspects of the tomb interior may have been manipulated, including the
grave furnishings. Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish the effects of differ-
ent agents in order to detennine the original mortuary practices of Middle Horizon
people. When bones are missing from a poorly preserved burial it is unclear
whether they simply decomposed or whether they were deliberately removed, or
perhaps never even buried. When a burial has been disturbed by modem looters it
is almost impossible to detennine whether it was also opened and reorganized by
ancient community members. Discovery of well-preserved and unlooted burials
provide the best knowledge of ancient mortuary practices, but few burials discov-
ered at Conchopata and contemporary Ayacucho communities have not been
looted. This obliges us to struggle with comparisons among looted graves, espe-
cially examples less severely damaged, to infer their common properties and
intended conditions. Given these difficulties, growth of knowledge is slow.
Mortuary practices provide important infonnation about society, religion
and ideology. Status, social differentiation, and aspects of political organization
are often expressed in the treatment of the dead. In the case of Huari and the
Middle Horizon a debate has emerged regarding dead ancestors and political
organization. John and Theresa Topic (1992) as well as Gordon McEwan (1998)
argue that Huari peoples practiced ancestor worship very similar to that of the
later Incas, with principal ancestors' mummy bundles displayed in great niches in
the walls of official buildings that were the key locations of political rituals. The
Topics first described such "niched halls" for Marcahuamachuco and
Viracochapampa, in northern Peru. Subsequently, McEwan identified similar
buildings at Pikillacta in Cuzco. They assumed that niched halls were universal
Huari building types, and the primary locations of political ceremonies that, like
Inca government, focused on royal ancestor mummy bundles.
New infonnation from Conchopata contradicts these arguments. As our
review of architecture shows, there were no niched halls at Conchopata. Also dis-
claiming the analogy with Inca Cuzco and its royal mummies that remained
among the living, the archaeology of Conchopata reveals a rich record of tombs
and burial practices that appear to have accommodated all classes and statuses of
its citizens.

Conchopata Burial Type 1 (CB Type 1; Figure 9.23, Type 1). Simple indi-
vidual burial appears to be the minimal form of interment at Conchopata. A hole
was opened in the ground. The body was placed inside and covered up.
Sometimes the grave was capped with a stone, and some tombs were partially
lined with rock slabs. Alternatively, the body could be placed in a crevice in the
bedrock and sealed with a stone lid. It seems likely that Conchopata people pre-
ferred to avoid covering the deceased directly with dirt, choosing to cap graves
with rocks and stone lids when possible. Generally, there are few or no grave
offerings, except in early burials of this type from Mendosa Phase late Huarpa
culture.
Conchopata Burial Type 2 (CB Type 2; Figure 9.23, Type 2). Simple multi-
ple burial is very common at Conchopata. Two or more cadavers were placed in
an excavated hole or a crack in the rock, and covered with earth and/or stones. It
is possible that simple multiple interments began as individual interments, to
which other bodies were added by opening the grave. One multiple interment
contained four or five individuals in a hole that seemed too small for even one
person. Long bones of several bodies had been rearranged, perhaps to accommo-
date additional cadavers. However, some simple multiple interments seem to rep-
resent individuals buried at the same time. Simple multiple interment rarely
includes preserved grave furniture or offerings.
Conchopata Burial Type 3 (CB Type 3; Figure 9.23, Type 3). Cist burial is
best described as interment in a stone-lined opening or cist, that was capped or
sealed with a large stone slab or several smaller stones. Frequently a notch or cir-
cular hole about 10 cm across was cut in one edge of the capstone, or in its cen-
ter, forming a tiny passageway into the tomb. We refer to these tomb passageways
as "ttoco." When the ttoco was at the edge of the capstone it sometime aligned
with a groove or depression running down the side of the cist. Cists may contain
one or more individuals, and mayor may not include grave goods.
Few CB Type 3 burials have been preserved at Conchopata. Since most are
severely damaged we have relied on data from other Ayacucho Valley sites to
supplement this description. These data suggest that the range of variation in cist
burial tomb form will require expansion and elaboration.
Conchopata Burial Type 4 (CB Type 4; Figure 9.23, Type 4). Bedrock
cavity burial employed deep tombs excavated into the bedrock underlying
Conchopata. All are located under the floors of buildings, some apparently resi-
dential rooms. Bedrock cavity tombs have different forms, apparently because
shape was determined by fissures and cracks in the rock that made it easier to cut
away the stone. Most, but not all, had been looted. All bedrock cavity interments
appear to have contained the remains of more than one person, and they include
pottery and other offerings.
During 1999 a bedrock cavity tomb was discovered below room EA-31. To
construct the tomb, earth and then bedrock had been cut away to produce a broad
Type 1
Type 4
profile
~."
Type 6
[T1ype33-
.@
Type 7
Fi2ure 9.23. Conchopata Burial Type .

shaft-like entrance, with two chambers in the deepest northern part of the exca-
vation. A ttoco about 15 cm in diameter had been cut through the bedrock at the
northwest edge of the shaft.
Damage to the floor and disturbed fill in the opening of the tomb made it clear
that the tomb had been entered by looters. The northwest chamber was open and
contained many fragments of human bones as well as pieces of broken pottery. By
contrast, the northeast chamber was sealed with a rough stone wall. Either this sec-
ond grave was missed by the looters, or it represents reuse after both chambers
were looted. However, the ceramic furnishings in the sealed tomb are Middle
Horizon in date, so it is more likely that this tomb was missed by the looters.
The unlooted grave contained several individuals whose bones were con-
sumed by chemical action within the sealed environment of the grave. Except that
the individuals were flexed, osteological observations were impossible. The first
body was buried with several ceramic vessels as well as two pieces of tropical for-
est chonta wood, one from an archer's bow, the other perhaps also from a bow,
but possibly from some other artifact such as a shield. On the basis of the bow we
suspect that the burial was male, but this is not confirmed. The second burial had
several ceramic vessels as well as copper tupu (pins), suggesting that the individ-
ual was female. The pottery belongs to the Huamanga style as well as several
blackware vessels. In the rear of the grave we found traces of other human bones
in even poorer condition. Differences in the preservation of the human remains
make it likely that this grave was reopened so additional individuals could be
inserted, perhaps several times during the Middle Horizon. A radiocarbon sample
from bindings about one of the cadavers produced a date of AD 830 ::!:: 60.
The most impressive unlooted bedrock cavity interment was discovered dur-
ing the 2000 season. The grave opening was found partially covered by a bench-
like construction in room EA-I05, with two circular holes in the top, suggestive
of ttoco, except that they did not actually penetrate into the tomb. Small luxury
objects of turquoise and Spondylus were found in one of the holes.
The tomb had no lid but only earth and rocks in its mouth, as well as a small
plain pot with constricted opening. Below the roughly 80 cm-diameter tomb
mouth was a spherical cavity almost 2 m wide and about 1.5 m deep, excavated
into the bedrock. This grave yielded 27 ceramic vessels, including several minia-
ture pots that seem to imitate offering urns, small objects of green stone, numer-
ous copper tupus, and the remains of 15 individuals. Osteological examination
reveals 7 adult women (one pregnant), 3 infants, 1 child, 1 juvenile, and 2 fetuses
in jars, and a single adult male (Tung 2001). Isbell suspects that the tomb repre-
sents the burial of a nobleman, with his wives and children (although a servant or
retainer may also have been included).
The skeleton of the pregnant woman was found closest to the tomb opening.
It was completely articulated as though untouched since the body was placed into
the tomb. But other females immediately below were disturbed and partially

disarticulated. The degree of disturbance among these skeletons was consistent
with the intrusion of the final female body while the other bodies still had con-
nective tissue holding bones together, but when their remains were delicate
enough to permit parts of the skeleton to separate from one another. This is con-
vincing evidence for reopenings of the tomb to add individuals.
Conchopata Burial Type 5 (CB Type 5). We have decided to call CB Type 5
"mortuary room burial" because the interments occupy all or most of a room, and
it appears that mortuary rituals were the primary activities conducted in these
rooms. In some cases a second room, and possibly even a third, may have been
part of the mortuary complex. As a result of discoveries made in 2001 we
expanded CB Type 5 Burial to include a CB Type 5a (Figure 9.23, Type 5a) and
CB Type 5b (Figure 9.24).
A Conchopata mortuary room contains one or more circular or rectangular
stone-lined cist tombs with the skeletal remains of numerous individuals. At least
five examples are known, rooms EA-110 and 138, that may have constituted one
mortuary complex, EA-37 that was probably combined with EA-44, as well as
single rooms EA-38, EA-150, and an unnumbered room in the western part of
Conchopata (Figure 9.5). Mortuary rooms EA-37 and EA-150 are the best
preserved and provided much of the information for Burial CB Type 5a and CB
Type 5b, respectively.
Mortuary rooms of CB Type 5a appear to have contained several cist tombs
but one was probably the principal cist and it may also have been the first tomb in
the room (Figure 9.23, Type 5a). The principal cist, either circular or rectangular,
and perhaps even multi-chambered, was sealed with a heavy capstone pierced by a
ttoco. All examples probably contained several individuals, although none has been
discovered intact. Over the capstone a small offering house somewhat less than a
meter tall was built. It probably had a flat top and a small trapezoidal entrance in
one side. The floor of the offering house was the grave lid, with the ttoco providing
a tiny entrance into the tomb chamber. The offering house was constructed on the
heavy stone lid, so once the little house was in place it would have been impossible
to reopen the cist chamber without destroying the offering house. This may have
terminated the use of the principal cist, and initiated excavation of and burial in sec-
ondary cists within the room. However, it is possible that some multi-cist burial
rooms were not hierarchical or chronological in organization. Destruction has made
it difficult to determine the important details. It appears that additional cist tombs
were excavated through the floor anywhere possible in some mortuary rooms.
Sometimes partitions were constructed around a seeming secondary cist, or set of
cists, that may have been additional offering houses. In some cases the adjacent
room seems to have been part of the mortuary complex as well, with cist tombs
excavated into its floor, and walls that may have been parts of offering houses.
Mortuary room CB Type 5b represents an elaboration on CB Type 5a, that
could be entered and reentered, even after constructing the offering room, for it
Burial Room
Figure 9.24. Conchopata Burial Type 5b.

had a separate entrance sealed by a flat stone (Figure 9.24). A large rectangular
burial chamber was constructed below the floor of the room, and capped with
stone slabs at about the same level as the floor. A ttoco was constructed between
the stone lintels at one end of the chamber, and an entrance that could be sealed
with a single stone slab was constructed at the other end. An offering house was
built over the ttoco, covering about 70% of the burial chamber, but leaving the
entrance exposed, except for a cover stone. This kind of mortuary unit could con-
tain several individuals, with an offering house and ttoco that remained intact in
spite of occasional entry into the burial chamber.
All the mortuary rooms discovered at Conchopata have been looted, but gold
artifacts were found in mortuary rooms EA-138 and EA-150. This is the only
gold so far reported for Conchopata so there seems to be no doubt that mortuary
rooms were the pinnacle of the interment hierarchy at Conchopata. They must
have been reserved for the most powerful and wealthy individuals. Study of the
skeletal remains from mortuary rooms has only begun, and, of course, all were
disturbed. However, preliminary evidence indicates a significant preponderance
of female skeletons. We believe that this represents polygyny among the elite,
suggesting that mortuary rooms contained the remains of a curaca or nobleman
with his numerous wives. Of course, it is possible that children were added, and
perhaps servants and retainers as well.
Conchopata Burial Type 6 (CB Type 6). This type of interment is burial in a
chamber cut out of, or attached to, a thick wall. We did not excavate any examples
during our fieldwork at Conchopata, but Lumbreras (1974: 180-181) reported
an example of this kind of burial, containing the remains of two individuals.
Similar burials are known at Huari and perhaps elsewhere during the Middle
Horizon, so although CB Type 6 burial does not seem to have been popular at
Conchopata, it was probably an important type of interment during the Middle
Horizon.
Conchopata Burial Type 7 (CB Type 7). Only one example is known, a
unique case of 5 young females covered by a stone mound or cairn. The interment
was discovered in 1977 about a meter northwest of an oversize ceramic offering
OCO Type 1A (Isbell and Cook 1987). We believe that the women were sacrifi-
cial victims, who participated in the same event in which the giant face-neck jars
were smashed and buried. The bodies had been flexed and arranged in a group
before being covered with stones and then earth.
Information about Conchopata burial practices documents great social dif-
ferentiation. While much remains to be learned, this is the first more or less com-
plete inventory of burial types for a Huari community. Very significantly, some of
these tombs suggest ancestor veneration or worship. We know that graves were
opened and additional individuals were inserted. Parts of some cadavers were
removed. In the case of CB Type 5, CB Type 4 and perhaps also CB Type 3, the
ttoco opening in the cist lid provided communication with the dead, even though

the bodies were sealed in a subterranean grave. In one cist it appeared that beads
and other luxury objects were concentrated on the floor below the ttoco, so they
may have been offerings after interment. Whatever the case, living people vener-
ated the dead.
CB Type 5 mortuary rooms best document the importance of making mate-
rial offerings to the deceased. Not only did the ttoeo provide access into the grave
but a room was built over the principal burial chamber. We have termed this an
"offering house" because we believe that items intended for the dead were placed
in the little buildings, with smaller objects pushed though the ttoco hole. The form
of the offering house makes it unlikely that the ttoco was intended for speaking
to the dead, for pouring chicha into the tomb, or other activity that would have
required unrestricted access to the ttoco. It could only be reached though a tiny
trapezoidal doorway.
Veneration of the dead at Conchopata seems to have been focused on
deceased elites, who were probably polygynous household heads. All members
seem to have been interred with the noble or royal husband. While ancestor wor-
ship may be indicated, Conchopata practice was not like Inca custom. There is no
evidence for mummy bundles, or mummies that participated in public events.
Conchopata ancestors apparently did receive offerings, but even the most impor-
tant dead remained hidden in splendid tombs, deep in the inner recesses of exten-
sive architectural complexes. If there were some more public presentation of the
deceased, these activities probably employed defleshed bones and/or skulls
removed from tombs after the body decomposed. These features distinguish
Conchopata practice from ancestor worship among the Incas.
An important dividend of the new discoveries at Conchopata is that they
offer insights for interpreting the cheqo wasi of Huan. The cheqo wasi are mega-
lithic stone chamber complexes, within rooms composed of rough-stone walls.
They appear to have been underground, or at least partially underground, with
two or even three levels, small and restricted entrances, and little holes or notches
cut in the stone lids and covers. We are convinced that Conchopata CB Type 5,
the mortuary room, and particularly CB Type 5b, offers a new model for under-
standing Huari's cheqo wasi, as well as less impressive mortuary remains. And
finally, Conchopata has an ample range of mortuary facilities but there is no hint
of niched halls. In fact, we have found no evidence for niches, and no evidence
for the display of mummy bundles in niches, or in other public contexts.
ARcmTECTURE AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

AT CONCHOPATA
As a result of airport construction in 1977, the old road was straightened and
paved, creating Avenida del Ejercito; this became an artery of development along

which homes and businesses were built. Only the 2.5 ha of the Conchopata
archaeological zone currently under investigation and perhaps some areas along
the airport runway were not obliterated by buildings. Some 18 to 38 ha of the site
are now built over and impossible to evaluate.
Excavations at Conchopata, east and west of Avenida del Ejercito, have
revealed much of the ancient built environment in an area of about 2.5 ha (Figures
9.4, 9.5). While this probably represents the most extensive excavations carried
out in any Huari settlement, a great deal of the old city was obliterated by mod-
em construction and our understandings of Conchopata must take this into
account.
The site extended for at least one kilometer along the edge of the Chakipampa
mesa, where it bordered the Quebrada de Totorilla, from the current excavations'
location to the military base (Figure 9.3). What we know least is the width of the
site, for the eastern portion was already destroyed by the airport runway. At a min-
imum the site averaged about 200 m wide for a total area of about 20 ha. However,
it could easily have been twice that wide, with an area of about 40 ha.
The 2.5 ha of remaining ruins appear to have been the civic center of
Conchopata, in spite of the fact that they are located at one end of the site instead
of its spatial center. We believe this because in 1942 Julio C. Tello visited
Conchopata and, after several days of careful observations, he selected this area
for his excavations. He found spectacular ceramic offerings that could only have
been associated with first order religious activities. Fortunately, the memory of
Tello's excavations promoted the protection of this part of Conchopata, even as
lesser parts were destroyed, and our excavations in the late 1990s and early 2oo0s
show that the entire area is full of stone walls, buildings, patios and courtyards.
Consequently, we are secure that we are excavating the zone where Conchopata's
principal institutions and high status activities were located. The remainder of
Conchopata was probably less densely occupied, with more suburban, dispersed
architecture, probably residential in nature. However, it is possible that the site
consisted of several densely built up architectural complexes, with more modest
occupation between. If this was the case we are studying only one of
Conchopata's civic centers. In this discussion, unless otherwise stated, when we
refer to Conchopata we mean the civic center or architectural core of 2.5 ha that
still remains today.
Prior to the late 1990s, information about architecture in Conchopata's civic
center suggested that it was an organic city, occupied primarily by part-time craft
specialists who manufactured pottery. These potter-farmers built residences and
residence-workshops in more or less haphazard rectangular additions leaving
only narrow streets for public access and traffic (Benavides 1965, 1984;
Lumbreras 1959, 1960a,b,c, 1974a,b, 1981, 1985; Perez 1998a,b, 1999, 2000;
Perez and Ochatoma 1998; Pozzi-Escott 1982, 1985, 1991; Pozzi-Escot and
Cardoza 1986; Pozzi-Escot and Cordova 1983; Pozzi-Escot, Alarcon and
290 William H. IsbeU and Anita G. Cook

Vivanco 1996, 1999). However, excavations of a larger area provide a new vision
of Conchopata. Many residents were certainly potters, but much of the architec-
ture was planned. And the civic center was dominated by distinctive circular and
D-shaped temples as well as rectangular compounds best interpreted as palaces
where wealthy elites lived and ruled.
The most surprising discovery at Conchopata was two square-cornered wall
sections, one in the northwest, and one in the southeast, that appear to have con-
stituted a perimeter wall around much of Conchopata's civic center (Figure 9.4).
Significantly, their orientation seems to have been almost exactly north-south and
east-west. Another long wall at the east edge of our excavations may be part of
another perimeter wall, although it is oriented 13 degrees east of north. In addi-
tion, Conchopata's architecture contains two orthogonal cellular compounds
(Isbell 1991a). One is a patio group surrounded by four narrow lateral rooms
whose central court was numbered EA-1l2. The other includes EA-98, with
its surrounding lateral rooms. However, the EA-98 patio group has a modem
house in the middle of the old building complex, obscuring much important
information.
Perimeter walls and orthogonal cellular patio groups are hallmarks of
planned Huari architecture (Isbell 1991 a), so Conchopata was not an organic city
that grew in response to the economic and residential demands of its occupants.
Powerful individuals were able to plan significant portions of the city, and prob-
ably also command corporate labor to construct monumental compounds.
Construction was more or less continuous in Conchopata's civic center dur-
ing many centuries. In some cases the walls of older buildings are preserved
below the floors of later constructions. But in most cases rebuilding did not
involve the interment of older remains, so the construction chronology is difficult
to determine. Occupation of Conchopata had probably begun by 240 :t 40 BC,
but no significant cultural debris remains in the civic center from this early time.
The first activities that left conspicuous remains are Huamani and Mendosa Phase
burials, associated with late Huarpa pottery, and a radiocarbon date of AD
400 :t 40. The burials were CB Type I, interred in holes in the bedrock, or sim-
ply covered with sandy earth. Perhaps the practice of subsequently adding bod-
ies, transforming CB Type I burials into CB Type 2, did not exist yet.
Soon the little cemetery became a public ceremonial area, with the addition
of thick layers of reddish sand, that we have named the Pink Plaza (Figure 9.5).
Several buildings were built around the Pink Plaza during the Silva Phase, includ-
ing a rather modest stone building that was either circular or D-shaped (EA-IOO,
Figure 9.5). During the late Silva or early Huisa Phase, several oversize ceramic
offerings were made in the Pink Plaza, or perhaps under the D-shaped building
that stood beside it, including 1977, 1999A, 2oo0A and 2000B. The 1942 offer-
ing was probably only a short distance away, so it also may have been associated
with activities in the Pink Plaza.
During the Silva Phase an orthogonal cellular patio group was built around
courtyard EA-112, probably fronting on the Pink Plaza, although an entrance into
this compound has not been located. This patio group was associated with smaller
buildings, probably residential in nature, to its east, but their walls were destroyed
or interred by later constructions that dominate the Conchopata map. The
EA-l12 patio group has been named the "old palace." Perhaps the procession of
elite men shown on the 1999B ceramic offering urns (Figures 9.14, 9.15) repre-
sents the dynasty of Conchopata kings who lived in this palace, or maybe the vas-
sals they commanded. The tongue so obviously projecting from the mouth of
each face probably signified "speaker" or "giver of commands," a reference to
authority in archaic as well as modem states.
East of the Pink Plaza were several large, circular to oval ceramic firing
ovens. Large depressions in their floors suggest that they were intended for over-
size vessels, perhaps the offering urns and jars discovered in pits below the Pink
Plaza. They seem to have been abandoned by the end of the Silva Phase, when
this area may have become an extension of the Pink Plaza, that we have named
the North Ambit.
Another important focus of Silva Phase construction is a circular temple,
EA-143, toward the south edge of the civic center. Little excavation has been
conducted about this building so its context is not well understood. It was semi-
subterranean, with two steps down to its floor. Niches do not occur in the pre-
served walls, but partitions separated the north end of the floor where the entrance
was, making the effective floor area D-shaped. At the center of the building was
a circular rock wall surrounding a group of elongated natural stones set on their
ends. To the south, several broken skulls lay on the floor, burned by a fire that
probably destroyed the building. They are still under study, but at least some had
holes drilled through the dome of the cranium, implying that they were once tro-
phy heads. We infer that these trophy heads were probably hanging from roof
beams when the temple burned, and came crashing to the floor as the ceiling col-
lapsed. In the northern area no human bones were found, only long bones of deer,
perhaps from wands or staffs made from the legs of that animal. All of these
remains confirm the original inference that the circular building was a temple.
While the circular temple EA-143 was still in use, a White Courtyard of
shiny plaster was laid down around it. This White Courtyard appears to have
extended far to the north, although not always at the same level, and its construc-
tion more or less marks the change from the Silva to the Huisa Phase.
Two new D-shaped buildings were associated with the White Courtyard,
one, numbered EA-33 was soon filled with trash and covered by Huisa and
Alarcon Phase residential buildings. But its floor contained two large hearths that
produced radiocarbon dates of AD 740 ± 60 and 770 ± 60. The second
D-shaped building EA-72, may have been built when the first was abandoned,
for its foundation cut through the plaster of the White Courtyard. This is the

D-shaped temple excavated by Ochatoma and Cabrera (this volume) so it is likely
that dates for the closing of EA-33 apply, more or less, to the construction of
EA-72. Of course, this was another D-shaped temple associated with oversize
ceramic offerings, like EA-lOO. It also had trophy heads on its floor, and a circle
with an elongated rock set on end in its center, like the EA-143 temple.
Ochatoma and Cabrera (this volume) interpreted this as a solar clock, but we
believe that the circle was some kind of altar, with the elongated stones repre-
senting mythical heroes or ancestors.
Between the Pink Patio and the White Courtyard, both probably ceremonial
spaces associated with circular and D-shaped temples, was the orthogonal cellu-
lar compound around EA-1l2. This was probably a palace, although it seems to
have been vacant during the Huisa and Alarcon phase occupations at Conchopata.
To its south are unexcavated spaces as well as residential areas, some dating late
in the history of Conchopata, probably to Alarcon times, that include residence-
workshops where pottery was produced. To the east are several large complexes
of residential patios and rooms, that also contain mortuary rooms EA-38 and 44,
EA-39, and EA-150. These must have been Huisa Phase elite residences. They
possess large patios and elite burials of CB Type 4 and CB Type 5 within the res-
idential complexes. And they seem to have been associated with a "late palace
compound," the orthogonal cellular patio group around EA-98.
Nothing is known about Huari palaces, so an effort to identify them in the
Middle Horizon must begin with analogies based on royal residences from later
Andean cultures. Inca palaces were best described by Martin de Mun1a (1987:
58-59) in 1605. Combining his colonial information with archaeological data
from well-preserved palaces such as the "Casa del Inca" at Huanuco Pampa
(Morris and Thompson 1985), it is possible to generate a list of diagnostic fea-
tures for Inca palaces (Isbell, in press). Of course, we cannot expect that a Huari
palace should duplicate Inca examples, but this approach permits us to test the
notion that orthogonal cellular patio groups EA-112 and EA-98 were the nuclei
of Conchopata royal palace compounds. The outlines of the old palace com-
pound, and particularly its residential buildings and plaza areas, were severely
modified by later construction, so we make a systematic comparison only for the
late palace compound, EA-98, and its associated buildings and spaces.
Palace diagnostic 1: enclosure of the palace complex within strong walls.
We have shown that Conchopata's civic center was probably enclosed within one
or several perimeter walls. Perhaps the civic center consisted of multiple com-
pounds, each with its own orientation and perimeter wall. Whatever the details,
Conchopata's orthogonal cellular patio group EA-98 was securely walled.
Palace diagnostic 2: an outer plaza and an inner patio that decline in size
as access became more restricted. Patio group EA-98 has a central patio about
13 X 17 m in size. Its entrance probably faced the west, but was destroyed by a
modem house. The "North Ambit," located to the west of the patio group, may

have been a larger vacant courtyard. Two more or less oval ceramic kilns in this
area belong to the earlier Silva phase. Farther west we have identified the Pink
Plaza. So, a greater open space may be represented, from the Pink Plaza across
the North Ambit to the patio group, with open courts declining in size as access
was increasingly controlled.
Palace diagnostic 3: imposing and defensible gateways, portals or passages
controlling access to each courtyard. No gateways are known at Conchopata that
might have been entrances into a palace. However, we do not really know what
the plan of a Conchopata or Huari gateway should look like. It is clear that gate-
ways to central coastal palaces were walled and baffled mazes, usually of adobe.
On the other hand, Inca gateways were characterized by megalithic masonry with
monumental lintels. We must learn more about Middle Horizon Ayacucho archi-
tecture before the issue of palatial gateways can be fully evaluated. Of course, the
gateway of EA-98 is probably covered by a modem house.
Palace diagnostic 4: various special-function buildings about the first plaza
and the second patio, where noble captains awaited commissions from the king,
and administrative business was conducted. If the North Ambit and/or Pink Plaza
constituted the larger plaza, and the patio group enclosed the smaller patio of the
palace, rooms bordered these spaces that may have served administrative func-
tions. Elongated rooms enclose the patio group, and other elongated structures
border the Pink Plaza and North Ambit along the south. Unfortunately, much of
the north side of this important area has been covered by modem construction.
More can be learned from future study, but it appears that the Conchopata palace
had buildings appropriate for the activities of state bordering its assembly spaces.
Palace diagnostic 5: a proliferation of elaborate and relatively private resi-
dential buildings associated with or beyond the second courtyard, probably
including a water source and a bath.
The number and size of private rooms or residential compounds associated
with patio group EA-98 is one of the features that most supports the inference
that this portion of Conchopata functioned as a royal palace. Two or three spa-
cious and interconnected residential complexes are attached to the south side of
the patio group. They include kitchens, patios with culinary artifacts and debris,
rooms with low benches-probably for sleeping-and other domestic spaces.
One patio, EA-2, has a nicely constructed canal entering it. Originally we
assumed that the canal functioned as a drain, but the gradient shows that it
brought water into the courtyard, not away from it. While we did not find the kind
of sunken chamber characteristic of many Inca baths, this feature could have
functioned as the bathing facility within a Conchopata palace.
Palace diagnostic 6: large halls in front of or as part of the entrance to
the palace. These buildings housed the palace guard and also furnished roofed
space for public ceremonies during rainy weather (Inca halls of this type are
called kallanka or carpawasi). No large halls have been identified in front of

Conchopata's possible palace, although their presence cannot be definitively
excluded. However, the great halls of the Incas may have been features more
properly associated with vastly powerful emperors, that would be unlikely in the
palace of a king ruling a polity numbering only in the tens of thousands.
Palace diagnostic 7: superior architecture as well as artifacts, especially
among the relatively private, residential rooms. None of the buildings at
Conchopata is impressive by cross-cultural standards, or even by comparison
with the great walled compounds of the neighboring Huari site. But if survival
into modem times is any indicator, the structures of Conchopata's architectural
core significantly exceeded the quality of buildings beyond the core, and at other
Huamanga basin sites. The patio group and residential compounds are well made,
sturdy, and spacious. Many of the walls were coated with clay and finished with
white plaster. Furthermore, many of the artifacts from these rooms, and especially
from their graves, are of high quality.
Palace diagnostic 8: space for a garden and zoo beyond the area of private
rooms, probably with its own water supply. Archaeological excavations have not
revealed a space associated with the patio group or its residential compounds that
would accommodate gardens and a zoo. However, an unoccupied area appears to
have existed immediately east of the patio group, and perhaps it included a gar-
den and a zoo. This issue must be examined in the future, but it may be that gar-
dens and zoos characterized only the palaces of the most powerful rulers in
ancient Peru. Many palace compounds of Peru's central coast appear not to have
had such facilities.
Palace diagnostic 9: after the death of each Inca king, his palace functioned
as a repository of his royal cadaver, and probably also the bodies of wives, con-
cubines, and important relatives. It is clear that Middle Horizon people kept
ancestor mummies in tombs under the floors of residential compounds. In the
probable palaces there were mortuary rooms full of cist tombs with offering
houses. But the Conchopata ancestors did not share space with the living, as
important mummies did among the Incas (see Isbell 1997b). At Conchopata the
most elaborate burial facilities, CB Type 5 mortuary rooms are located in build-
ings attached to the south and north sides of patio group EA-98, the core of the
late palace compound.
Review of Conchopata's architectural remains in terms of formal diagnostics
of later Andean palaces shows that it is at least probable that we have excavated
the remains of a royal residence, and, more probably, two of them. Of course, the
Conchopata palace is much more modest than Inca palaces. But, similar to Inca
palaces, it was occupied by more than the king. The palaces of archaic polities
had to include facilities for councils and administrative activities, as well as many
of the principal people involved in government. Most of these members of the
court were probably nobles closely related to the king. Along with the king, all
probably had elite wives, lower status concubines, and servants, to say nothing of

many children. So a royal palace had to have extensive residential quarters,
kitchens, and tombs for people of varying statuses. Of course, a palace also spon-
sored festivals and ceremonial events, so it required public space as well as places
where food and drink was prepared in sufficient quantity for celebratory occa-
sions, including kitchens, storage and serving facilities.
Rooms on the south side of the EA-98 patio were probably residential com-
pounds occupied by noble families. Individual household complexes seem to be
defined by its interconnected rooms, that focused around a domestic yard with
kitchen. EA-77 and EA-131 are two yards. They were littered with grinding
stones, culinary pottery, and other artifacts diagnostic of domestic activities. It is
possible the EA-2 and even EA-6 were other domestic yards, but EA-2 was
littered with oversize offering pottery, and EA-6 had almost no occupational
remains on its clean red floor.
The residential complex surrounding EA-77 is the most completely exca-
vated. It has a small kitchen that was labeled EA-63. Also connected are rooms
EA-93 and EA-64. Both of these rooms had benches that might have been used
for sleeping. Other possibly private sleeping rooms are EA-105, EA-60, and the
three segments ofEA-89. Narrow, elongated rooms EA-69 and EA-91 were most
probably for storage, and almost nothing was found on their floors. EA 77 has a
doorway into a large unexcavated space labeled EA-92. This area probably con-
sists of additional rooms belonging to the EA-77-focused residential compound,
although it may belong to another household complex with its own domestic yard.
To the west of the EA-77 residential compound is another domestic
complex focusing around EA-131. It appears to have a kitchen, sleeping rooms,
and other spaces, but it is less completely excavated, so the location of doorways
and the circulation of traffic is not adequately understood. Apparently the
EA-77-focused domestic compound was separated from the EA-13I-focused
group by closing some doorways, and probably by building additional rooms. So
we infer that the EA-131-focused complex was the first and the principal resi-
dential compound. It is possible that other large residential compounds were
located in the east beyond EA-I08 and EA-117, and perhaps also north of the
patio group, around EA-80, EA-94, EA-103, EA-llO, etc.
Rooms to the north of the patio group EA-98 also seem to have been part of
the palace, but we doubt they were functional equivalents of the residential com-
pounds. The southern compounds center around sizable domestic yards that
appear to have been lacking in the north. Similarly, this is the area where the
largest mortuary room complex, EA-110 and EA 138 was found, although it was
also the most severely damaged by looters. Apparently, the buildings attached to
the north side of the late palace represent special quarters of some sort, perhaps
administrative rooms rather than residential spaces.
Many contexts at Conchopata produced Alarcon Phase dates, including res-
idences that also functioned as ceramic workshops in the area around room EA-9,

to the west of D-shaped building EA-72. Dates associated with the 1999A over-
size ceramic offering, coming from rooms of the late palace compound also
belong to Alarcon times. So do dates on materials from a CB Type 4 and a CB
Type 5 burial in rooms EA-31 and EA-38 respectively. Does this mean that the
palace residential buildings and tombs continued in use through the Alarcon
Phase? Or were the tombs being reused while palace rooms were employed for
dumping, and the majority of the city's populace occupied more modest buildings
to the south and west of the former palaces? Was Alarcon a time when the resi-
dents of Conchopata were no longer fierce warriors and powerful curacas, but
potters who fulfilled the needs of elites residing at Huari and villa-like settlements
scattered about the Ayacucho Valley? Much remains to be resolved, but we are
inclined to this interpretation.
CONCLUSIONS
Although we have just begun analyses, already we have learned much from
the new excavations at Conchopata. It is already clear that many ideas about the
Middle Horizon that were considered firmly established must now be rethought
and reformulated. The magnitude of the revisions can only begin to be appreci-
ated. This discussion is limited to preliminary observations about oversize
ceramic offerings, pottery production, mortuary patterns, radiocarbon dates, and
architecture at Conchopata.
The most obvious and yet most problematic change in thinking about the
Middle Horizon regards the dating and chronology of the Conchopata offering
style, with its Tiwanaku art and iconography. This is essential for reevaluating the
spark that is believed to have initiated state expansionism and empire in the
Peruvian Central Andes. Is the Tiwanaku style really much later at Conchopata
than originally thought, belonging not to MH lA, but to a significantly later time?
If so, a new Tiwanaku religion could not have been the stimulus for the cultural
changes that inaugurated the Middle Horizon. In fact, Tiwanaku influence or
interaction must have occurred relatively late in the Middle Horizon, unless the
style was early and remained unchanged for centuries. Another possibility is that
there were other, earlier sources from which the distinctive iconography reached
Ayacucho. In this case, new iconography of the Middle Horizon may have
reached Tiwanaku and Conchopata/Huari at about the same time, each center
adopting slightly different expressions of the art from the beginning. In this case,
the greatest similarity between Tiwanaku and Conchopata iconography could
have been later in the Middle Horizon.
Whatever we learn about the sources of Conchopata/Huari iconography-
specifically, the front-face deity who grasps two staffs and the associated profile
figures who kneel and carry a single staff-ehronology within the Middle

Horizon requires rethinking. Perhaps stylistic variation in pottery, on which seri-
ation and chronology have been based, expresses other axes of variation not
related to time, such as military orders, political units, and power differences.
These issues must be investigated.
One chronological insight that appears indisputable is the longer occupation
of Conchopata, enduring several centuries more than formerly believed. Our new
data show that Conchopata was not abandoned with the rise of Huari to its full
power at the beginning of MH 2. Rather, Conchopata continued to be an important
residential center throughout Epoch 2. The radiocarbon dates go on to show that
the settlement was occupied during MH 3 and 4, with no significant change in
ceramic styles apparent on the basis of field observations. This is a great surprise.
Formerly in Ayacucho archaeology, the absence of pottery with simplified
and degenerate Tiwanakoid religious themes, of the kind scholars have assigned
to MH 3 and 4 on the coast, promoted the conclusion that Huari was abandoned
quite suddenly. Menzel (1968, 1977) and others believe that after MH 2 the power
of Huari crumbled. The capital city was depopulated, centralized power disinte-
grated and the empire collapsed. The belief was that the entire Ayacucho Valley
seemed to have been empty, becoming a vacuum into which barbarian cultures
with coarse brown pottery could spill, to eventually become the ethnohistorical
"Chancas." However, if Conchopata continued to be occupied, with no apparent
decadence in pottery, we must also suspect that Huari was occupied. Perhaps our
expectations about ceramic chronology have produced a false illusion of aban-
donment and collapse in Ayacucho.
Oversize ceramic offerings discovered at Conchopata during the 1990s
reveal an exciting new set of iconographic themes. The most astonishing may be
the warriors kneeling in reed boats. Archaeologists have puzzled for decades
about the nature of Tiwanaku-Huari interaction, speculating that people from the
Ayacucho Valley made pilgrimages to Tiwanaku, learned a new religion, and rev-
erently brought it home where it became the stimulus for profound cultural
changes. However, if the images painted by Conchopata artists are literal, and if
reed boats represent Lake Titicaca, then Ayacucho travelers to Tiwanaku were not
reverent pilgrims. They were bellicose warriors, exhibiting their arms in a man-
ner suggesting powerful raiders. In addition to an impressive variety of warriors
in Conchopata art that suggest military orders, we see seven elite men who may
represent a dynasty of Conchopata kings, or the set of vassals commanded by
Conchopata's supreme curacao Apparently, the men depicted on the 1999B over-
size urns were "speakers" who commanded lesser soldiers and civilians.
When Conchopata began to build new temple buildings, they appear to have
been associated with Tiwanaku-related religious icons. However, these new tem-
ples were D-shaped buildings, as well as circular, semisubterranean structures.
Since D-shaped buildings do not exist in Tiwanaku architecture, and even circu-
lar semisubterranean buildings seem foreign to the altiplano, the new religious

movements taking place in Ayacucho at the beginning of the Middle Horizon
seem to have important non-Tiwanaku antecedents. Furthermore, D-shaped and
circular temples are not part of the architectural tradition of north highland
Huamachuco. Conchopata's new temple architecture looks local in origin (Cook
2001; Isbell 1991; Meddens and Cook 2001).
Craft production at Conchopata was highly developed, although there is still
much to be learned. Technological innovation seems to have taken place in the
tools as well as the firing of ceramics, and potters could produce enormous ves-
sels of excellent quality. There also seems to have been an emphasis on large
quantities of pottery, especially smaller items like whistles, face-neck jars, and
bowls with effigy figures, that were manufactured with the aid of molds. But
Conchopata's ceramic craftsmen seem not to have been independent artisans who
supplemented their livelihood from the production of commodities. They were
attached to palaces and elite residential compounds. Could they have been the
secondary wives of noblemen and curacas who practiced polygyny?
Conchopata mortuary behavior presents a rich inventory of burial practices.
There is no hint of niched halls, and there is no evidence for mummy bundles in
public contexts, a feature well documented for Inca religious and political events.
Conchopata burial reveals significant difference in wealth and power, with nobles
and lords receiving CB Type 4 and CB Type 5 treatments. Skeletal remains indi-
cate polygynous households, in which elite males had numerous wives and con-
cubines whose bodies accompanied them in death.
Conchopata mortuary patterns may provide a key for understanding burial
activity at the Huari capital that included even more elaborate and complex inter-
ments. As a preliminary point, it seems apparent that Conchopata and Huari peo-
ple venerated their ancestors, and may even have practiced ancestor worship. But
the Conchopata information reveals a form of ancestor veneration that differed
significantly from Inca practices.
Architectural remains indicate that the Conchopata civic center was much
more elite-dominated and more highly planned than formerly realized. In fact,
much of the architecture may be explained as palaces, perhaps sequentially occu-
pied, that were the residences and ceremonial foci for Conchopata's kings or
curacas. Certainly, the identification of kings at Conchopata will help us under-
stand political organization in the Huari Empire, helping to reveal its nodes,
whether hierarchical, heterarchical, or something else. These and other important
issues call for more analysis and research at Conchopata as we rethink the nature,
origins, and chronology of Huari and the Andean Middle Horizon.
Acknowledgments
Authors William H. Isbell and Anita G. Cook wish to thank the sponsors of
the Conchopata Archaeological Project, which they co-direct with Jose Ochatoma

and Martha Cabrera. The National Geographic Society provided grants in Fall
1998, Summer 1999, Spring 2000, Summer 2000 and Summer 2001 (to Isbell).
Dumbarton Oaks provided excavation grants in 1999 and 2000 (to Cook). The
Curtiss T. & Mary G. Brennan Foundation awarded financial assistance for the
2000 and 2001 field seasons (to Isbell), as did the Heinz Foundation in 2001 (to
Cook). Sponsored Research of The Catholic University of America provided
funds in 1999,2000 and 2001 for computer and field equipment and a Research
Assistantship (to Cook).
Jose Ochatoma and/or Martha Cabrera served as co-investigators in each of
the field seasons. They also excavated independently (Ochatoma and Cabrera,
this volume) in 1997-98, financed by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Alberto
Carbajal administered most of the program and we thank him for making it pos-
sible for us to devote ourselves to archaeology. We thank the conservators who
gave outstanding services, archaeology students, fieldworkers, and others who
are too numerous to name. Also deserving special recognition are the Universidad
Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga, Peru's Instituto Nacional de Cultura, as
well as the State University of New York-Binghamton, and the Catholic
University of America. Permission to excavate was issued by the Peruvian
Instituto Nacional de Cultura.
This paper was drafted by Isbell, commented on several times by Cook-
who drafted the section on pottery production-and finally re-edited by Isbell. As
a consequence, the discussion expresses more of Isbell's thinking, and especially
the interpretation of Conchopata's patio groups as palaces, and the predominance
of females in mortuary contexts as polygany. In other cases where Isbell and
Cook are in interpretive disagreement we have attempted to indicate this. Judy
Siggins read and commented on all versions of this manuscript and edited the bib-
liography. Her invaluable help is gratefully acknowledged.
Notes
I. Tiwanaku is the currently popular spelling for the name of the site and culture. Earlier literature
used Tihuanacu or Tiahuanaco.
2. Huari is also spelled Wari.
3. We have chosen not to calibrate our C 14 dates for this discussion. Most of the radiocarbon assays
on which the absolute chronology of the Middle Horizon was constructed were made before radio-
carbon dates were calibrated. Consequently, the current Middle Horizon chronology is in radio-
carbon years. Until we calibrate and reevaluate all the Middle Horizon dates it seems wisest to
employ and critique the chronology as it has been formulated and used, in radiocarbon years.
4. Layers of pottery in a ceramic offering pit is reminiscent of the Epoch 2A ceramic offering exca-
vated at Ayapata by Rogger Ravines (1968, 1977).
5. Mortuary behavior at Conchopata was almost certainly part of a larger domain of Huari burial
practices during the Middle Horizon. A definitive Huari mortuary discussion must consider infor-
mation from the Huari capital and other Huari settlements. However, such a comprehensive study
cannot be undertaken until information from many individual sites is available for comparison.

Consequently, this study describes only Conchopata burial patterns, although it is intended to lay
a solid foundation for the comprehensive description of Huari mortuary practices during the
Middle Horizon.
6. Special burial practices were reserved for infants and small children at Conchopata. Limitations on
the length of this article prevent us from discussing these burials.
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Chapter 10
The Correlation Between
Geoglyphs and Subterranean
Water Resources in the Rio
Grande de Nazca Drainage
DAVID W. JOHNSON, DONALD A. PROULX, AND
STEPHEN B. MABEE
INTRODUCTION
The giant markings etched onto the Pampa de San Jose near Nazca are one of the
most enduring archaeological mysteries of ancient Peru. These geoglyphs consist
of geometric forms (triangles, trapezoids, quadrangles, single and parallel lines)
and biomorphic figures (birds, plants, animals, sea creatures). In addition, other
geoglyphs are located throughout the drainage. The majority of geoglyphs can be
attributed to the Nasca culture (ca. AD 1-700) on stylistic grounds (the biomor-
phic figures are iconographically similar to images painted on Nasca pottery), and
by the presence of broken fragments of Nasca pottery scattered on the surface of
the geoglyphs (see, e.g., Silverman 1990). However, Clarkson (1990) has argued
convincingly that some of the lineal geoglyphs date to the Middle Horizon
(AD 600-900) and Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1476). This suggests that
geoglyph-making was a long, local tradition on the south coast of Peru.
First discovered in 1927 by Toribio Mejia Xesspe (1940), who thought they
were ancient roads, the geoglyphs received only sporadic attention until the 1940s
when American geographer and historian Paul Kosok (1965) visited the Pampa
de San Jose and happened to observe the sun setting over the end of one line on
307
308 David W. Johnson et al.

the day of the winter solstice. He concluded that the geoglyphs had served as an
ancient calendar and that the lines marked the position of the sun at different
times of the year or pointed to various stars or constellations. His disciple, Maria
Reiche, spent more than forty years of her life recording the geoglyphs and
expanding on Kosok's astronomical theory (Reiche 1968, 1974 inter alia). Today
this theory has been largely discounted as a result of the independent investiga-
tions of two astronomers, Gerald Hawkins (1969), who was then at the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Anthony Aveni (1990) in the
Departments of Anthropology and Astronomy at Colgate University.
In addition to the astronomical hypothesis, over the years many other expla-
nations have been proposed for the function of the geoglyphs. These theories
range from fantastic to speculative to seriously grounded in Andean realities.
Von Daniken (1971) argued that the lines served as landing strips for visits
by ancient astronauts. Rossel Castro (1977) proposed that they were remnants of
cultivated fields. Henri Stierlin (1983) suggested that the cleared areas served as
giant textile workshops.
A group of scholars has relied on ethnographic analogy to argue that the lines
were used as ritual pathways leading to sacred locations (Aveni 1996; Morrison
1978; Silverman 1990). This model, which has its origin in Mejia Xesspe's (1940)
original thesis, includes arguments pointing out the similarity between the Inca
"ceque lines" (a series of invisible lines radiating out from the center of the capital
city of Cuzco connecting shrines as well as delineating social or kin-related space)
and radiating lines (line centers) on the Pampa de San Jose (Aveni 1986, 1990).
Finally, there are theories that involve the correlation of the geoglyphs with
water in some manner. Mejia Xesspe (1940) was one of the first to imply a sim-
ilarity between the linearity of the geoglyphs and the Nazca Valley's system of
water-table tapping channels (known as huncolpi, filtration galleries, infiltration
galleries, acueductos, and puquios in the literature; see description and terminol-
ogy in Rossel Castro 1977 and Schreiber and Lancho Rojas 1995; here we call
them filtration galleries following Rossel Castro and Schreiber and Lancho
Rojas). Rossel Castro (1977: 209-216) argued that just as the aquifers and
tunnels formed an irrigation network underground, the geometrical figures delin-
eated a pattern of ancient fields and irrigation systems on the surface. Aveni (1990)
has published a study indicating that the orientations of the triangles and trape-
zoids are statistically correlated with the flow of surface water and that, taken as a
whole, the lines are most likely associated with "a ritual scheme involving water,
irrigation and planting" (Aveni 1986: 39). Using ethnographic and ethnohistorical
data, Reinhard (1996: 56) has argued that a strong relationship exists in Andean
tradition for a connection between water, fertility, and mountain worship. He sug-
gested that "some lines, especially the large triangles and rectangles, may well
have served as symbolic connectors with water sources (rivers, mountains, the
ocean) and were sacred areas where fertility rites were carried out."
The Correlation between Geoglyphs and Subterranean Water Resources 309

In this chapter we present a new hypothesis about the geoglyphs. Though
still relating them to water, we propose that the geoglyphs functioned in a very
different way than previously argued. Earlier models emphasized the location
and flow of suiface water. Johnson's hypothesis recognizes the importance of
subsuiface water flow and the role of the structural geology and hydrology in
understanding the mechanism of water's transmission. Preliminary fieldwork by
the authors suggests that there is a strong correlation between archaeological
sites, geological faults, fresh water aquifers, and geoglyphs. Here we provide a
brief summary of how the hypothesis was formulated, a description of the sites
where it was tested, a brief statement of the methods used, and a synopsis of our
findings.
THE NEW HYPOTHESIS

Johnson (1998, 1999) argues that some of the geoglyphs mark the paths of
aquifers which carry water through geological faults. This is not an unreasonable
explanation given the geologic setting. This area of Peru is located in one of the
most active seismic zones of the world. Faults are common. These faults are an
integrated and interconnected network that can collect water in one part of the
region and conduct it across the valleys to locations where it can be reached by
digging wells, or to locations where the water table is high enough for springs
[Note 1] or seepage to be present on the surface. Johnson hypothesizes that due
to insufficient surface water in the river system, the ancient inhabitants of the
drainage settled in locations adjacent to geological faults which provided water
from the aquifers. He argues that the precolumbian inhabitants of the drainage,
through familiarity with and a basic understanding of their environment, marked
the location and flow of the aquifers with geoglyphs.
Development of the Hypothesis

The hypothesis proposed by Johnson evolved over four years of fieldwork.
During the summer of 1996, Johnson began to study the water resources of the
Nazca Valley in order to help the local people find new sources of water to
augment existing supplies. Up to this point, the prevailing thought in Nazca and
among academics concerning groundwater availability was that most of the
region's groundwater in local wells and filtration galleries was derived from water
flowing in the gravels of the river valley a few meters below the ground surface
(e.g., Schreiber and Lancho Rojas 1995). Schreiber and Lancho (1995) argued
that this water was moving down valley, parallel to the rivers, in an east-west
direction. They proposed that the promontories of many of the hills adjacent to
the valleys, which jut out into valleys in the subsurface, consist of impermeable
310 David W. Johnson et a1.

bedrock causing the subterranean water moving in the gravels beneath the rivers
to be become ponded or temporarily redirected. Schreiber and Lancho Rojas
contended that the ancients took advantage of this natural damming effect by
constructing aqueducts at these locations, thereby creating infiltration galleries to
capture some of this ponded groundwater.
The fact that much of the groundwater moves parallel to the river in the grav-
els is reasonable. However, Johnson found some inconsistencies that could not be
explained by the Schreiber-Lancho Rojas model. For example, the filtration gal-
leries, which are located throughout the Nazca Valley, always flow continuously
even when other wells which tap the subterranean water in the river gravels have
long since failed. Why would the filtration galleries continue to flow unless they
were tapping an independent source of water?
Johnson began mapping the location of all filtration galleries and the
position of all high yield wells in the area. He found a strong spatial correlation:
where there were filtration galleries there were clusters of high-yield wells that
were reliable sources of water throughout the year. Wells having very low yields
or that dried up periodically were not associated with the filtration galleries. This
led Johnson to speculate that there must be an alternative source of groundwater
entering the river valleys other than the subterranean water moving down the val-
ley in the river gravels. Water levels in high yield wells located near the valley
walls were substantially higher than the water levels in wells constructed near the
river. This suggested that groundwater was moving north-south or perpendicular
to the river rather than east-west or parallel to the river and indicated that some
of the water entering the valley may be discharging from the north or south
through the bedrock.
The only way groundwater could be entering the valley from the bedrock is
through a fault or discontinuity that exhibits a high degree of permeability and
transmits water. Faults or fractures are often very transmissive and can supply
large quantities of fresh water to local inhabitants. Fieldwork in the foothills adja-
cent to the valleys indicated evidence of fault activity including striated fault
plane surfaces, fractured rock and extensive mineralization. The faults traversed
the foothills in a north-south direction until they intersected the river valleys. For
example, one fault was observed extending from the Socos river valley, across the
Aja and Tierras Blancas river valleys to Cerro Blanco (see Figure 10.1 for loca-
tions). At Coyungo water was observed discharging from a fault into a filtration
gallery cut into the valley wall. So a second pattern emerged: where there were
filtration galleries and reliable high-yield wells, there were faults entering the val-
ley at those locations.
Soon another correlation began to emerge. Johnson noted a drainage-wide
juxtaposition of ancient habitation sites in proximity to geoglyphs, geologic
faults, aquifers, filtration galleries and high yield wells. He observed trapezoids
lying directly over the trace of faults and, according to him, the width of the
Udluymarca
...
SaodacoiCbuquimarin
RIo Grud. dtl'luca

Droloq.
~=-_\oMo
, 10
Figure 10.1. Regional map of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage showing the major tributaries, modern
cities, and the location of important archaeological
sites. Sites described in this paper are labeled within a box (Modified from Silverman 1993).

trapezoids defined the width of the fault zone capable of transmitting ground-
water as concentrated flow. Numerous examples of geoglyphs over the path of
faults and subterranean water can be found in the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage
including at Cantalloc, Aja, Orcona, Vista Alegre, Usaca, and Cerro Colorado to
mention a few (Figure 10.1). Johnson argued that triangles, which he calls point-
ers, pointed to areas where the faults crossed the ridges or hilltops. Examination
of the bedrock exposures at these locations usually revealed evidence of faulting.
All this suggested to Johnson one unifying hypothesis: at least some of the geo-
glyphs marked the location and path of subterranean water and were a veritable,
full-size map made by the ancient inhabitants of the region.
TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS

Johnson recruited Stephen Mabee, a geologist specializing in hydrogeology,
and Donald Proulx, an archaeologist specializing in Nasca culture, to put his
ideas to rigorous scientific testing. The purpose of assembling this team was to
apply standard hydrogeological, geological, and geophysical techniques in con-
cert with archaeological methods and gather evidence that would either support
or refute the hypothesis proposed by Johnson. In order to fulfill this test Proulx
has conducted an archaeological survey in the lower Nazca and Grande valleys
while Johnson and Mabee have examined the geology of the subterranean hydro-
logic systems using a combination of geologic mapping, shallow subsurface geo-
physical techniques, surveying and water quality analysis.
Study Areas
The association among geoglyphs, subterranean water, and archaeological
sites can be demonstrated by examining the results obtained from four sites.
These sites are Cerro Aja, Orcona, Usaca and Cerro Colorado (Figure 10.1).
Cerro Aja is a mountainous ridge separating the Aja Valley from the
Socos Valley to the north and is located immediately north of the city of Nazca
(Figure 10.2). The archaeological site of Aja is situated on the southern slopes of
the hills, facing the city. It is primarily a Nasca culture site. A geoglyph system
characteristic of the upper Grande drainage is located across the hills to the north
and there are four filtration galleries paralleling the river between the Aja River
and the hills.
Orcona is located 5 kIn east of Nazca along the north side of the Aja River
directly across from Orcona filtration gallery (Figure 10.3). Orcona consists of a
north-northwest trending alluvial fill valley that enters the Aja River from the
north. There are numerous geoglyphs, a cemetery, and terraced hillsides here.
Figure 10.2. Aerial photograph of Cerro Aja showing the location of the Aja Fault, geoglyphs, habi-
tation sites, cemeteries and filtration galleries (heavy solid lines). The small arrows with the numbers
indicate the locations of the electromagnetic induction surveys conducted across the Aja Fault. Results
are shown in Figure 10.8.
Usaca is the name of a small settlement found at the head of a quebrada with
the same name (Figure 10.4). It is situated at the confluence of the Trancas and
Chauchilla rivers at a location where a natural spring seeps water into a pool. More
than thirteen archaeological sites are situated along the Quebrada Usaca, including
a huge multi-occupational cemetery covering almost 2.5 sq lan. There is surface
water only where faults cross the river valleys. There is a geoglyph system here.
314
170 >-./
. ..-"': '0 •
{
C6~
l~ -'IV •
_iii _,.- •
'-~-~ .
o "" ~. --.._~.......
... 000
David W. Johnson et al.
28'1
Figure 10.3. Map of Orcona showing the location of the faults. spring. geoglyphs, cemeteries and
filtration gallery. Solid triangles are pointers, thin lines are linear geoglyphs (lines). Double headed
line southeast of the spring is the continuation of the Orcona Lineament across the peninsula into the
Tierras Blancas River valley.
Cerro Colorado is a rocky promontory located at the confluence of the Nazca

and Grande rivers (Figure 10.5). A large urban center, dating primarily to the Late
Intermediate Period, is situated on both sides of the ridge and there are several
Nasca and Late Intermediate Period cemeteries within the area. Recent investiga-
tions by Tonya Panion and Josue Lancho Rojas suggest that an earlier Nasca occu-
pation may lay beneath part of the Late Intermediate Period urban center. A large
regional flexure (fold) with several springs discharging from the feature crosses
the promontory upgradient of the urban center. Some of the geoglyphs at this site
represent a different configuration (i.e., large stone circles) than those found fur-
ther upgradient in the drainage (trapezoids and triangular "pointers") suggesting
Figure 10.4. Aerial photograph of Usaca showing the location of the Atarco and Nazca faults, water
sources, geoglyphs, and habitation sites and cemeteries. The trapezoid marking the location of the
Atarco Fault is actually located further east off the figure. The line soulh of the Alarco Fault is a geo
glyph marking the limit of the Atarco Fault/aquifer system. Ovals are cochas, the circle is a spring,
and the hexagon is the geoglyph system marking the position of the Nazca Fault. Habitation sites and
cemeteries are indicated by the numbered boxes.
that more than one archaeological culture contributed to the construction of the
geoglyphs (see Figure 10.6).
Methodology
The hypothesis being tested argues that some of the geoglyphs mark the path
of subterranean aquifers that carry water through geological faults and structures.
In order to test this hypothesis five questions must be addressed: (1) do the faults
exist; (2) do the faults intersect the valleys; (3) is there evidence that the faults
transmit water; (4) are the faults marked by geoglyphs; and, (5) are there habita
tion sites associated with the faults? These questions have been answered by
employing standard geological and hydrogeological techniques in conjunction
with customary archaeological methods. A brief outline of the methods is
described below. Fieldwork was conducted in July 1998 and September 1999.
Figure 10.5. Aerial photograph of Cerro Colorado showing the location of the regional
flexure (fold) and springs. Springs are indicated by circles.
Geologic Mapping
Faults are discontinuities in the bedrock that arise from tectonic forces caus
ing the rocks in the earth's crust to shear and move, displacing one side of the
fault relative to the other. Once the rocks have been broken, the fault plane
becomes a permanent zone of weakness that often enhances the permeability of
the rock by providing a natural conduit through which water can move.
Depending on the type of rock involved and the nature of the fluids moving along
the fault plane, some faults can become mineralized and act as a barrier to flow
forcing groundwater to seep out at the ground surface whereas other faults remain
open allowing water to flow freely along the fault plane. Faults can be a few
millimeters to several kilometers in width and range from a single fault plane to
a wide zone of highly fractured rock that contains an anastomosing, interwoven
network of permeable, interconnected fractures.
There are several clues that provide evidence for faulting in the field. These
include offset between rock types on opposite sides of the fault plane, folding of
the host rock due to drag along the fault, brecciated rock within the fault zone and
,,
\, ,
~'
Stone Piles 4,,,, ",,,
, L'-- _
Figure 10.6. Detail of aerial photograph showing the configuration of the geoglyph system and
habitation site/cemetery at Cerro Colorado.
striated fault plane surfaces, highly fractured rock adjacent to the fault, and exten-
sive mineralization suggesting past or recent fluid movement.
For this study, the geology of each of the four sites was examined three
ways. First, all published geologic maps were gathered for the region and stud-
ied. Second, satellite images and aerial photographs were acquired to look for
evidence of faulting. Because faults represent weaknesses in the rock, they are
more prone to weathering. As such, they can be more easily eroded than the
surrounding country rock and, therefore, often appear as topographic depressions
or linear scars across the landscape. These features can often be detected on
topographic maps, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery particularly in arid
to semi-arid environments where vegetative cover is sparse. These features are
referred to as lineaments and very often represent faults. As a final step, traverses
were made at each site by geologists to verify the published geologic maps and
to confirm faults observed on the satellite images and aerial photographs. At each
site, the location of faults was mapped and characterized.
Archaeological Analysis
Over the course of four years, a systematic survey of archaeological sites has
been conducted in the vicinity of the city of Nazca and from Usaca on the Trancas
River, down the Nazca River to its confluence with the Grande River, and then

down the Grande River, past Coyungo, to the oasis of Maijo Grande (Figure 10.1).
Over 128 archaeological sites were recorded, many of which were at or adjacent
to natural springs emanating from faults high above the valley floor. The most
important of these were at Usaca, Coyungo and along the lower Nazca Valley near
Agua Dulce.
The age and cultural affiliation of each site was determined by means of dif-
ferences in the associated pottery, textiles, tomb styles and architectural patterns.
The function of the component parts of each site was determined by artifact clus-
tering and by differences in the size, composition and distribution of the archi-
tectural features (see Proulx 1999). Published archaeological reports on the Rio
Grande de Nazca drainage were examined as well as unpublished documents. The
archaeological research also included an examination of the geoglyphs in an
attempt to date each of them to a specific cultural period. Maps were prepared for
each site, including the location of the nearest water sources, faults, aquifers and
culturally affiliated geoglyphs.
Geophysical Analysis
In order to verify that the faults observed in bedrock exposures and on satellite
imagery intersect the major river drainages and lie beneath the surficial materials
deposited within the valley, geophysical tools were employed, where feasible, to
locate the faults in the subsurface. In addition to locating faults, geophysical tools
were also utilized to determine the depth to bedrock below the unconsolidated sur-
ficial deposits and the depth to the water table. Several geophysical methods have
been successfully used over the last two years of fieldwork. These include: (1) seis-
mic refraction to locate the depth to bedrock beneath the surficial soil material and
to determine the depth to the water table and, (2) electromagnetic induction (EM-34)
to map the position of buried faults. Future work will include additional geophysical
methods including seismic reflection and ground penetrating radar. Both of these
techniques provide high resolution images of the subsurface stratigraphy including
the water table, depth to bedrock and bedrock discontinuities (faults).
Surveying
A field map was made at each site using a total station surveying system. The
maps include the location of any faults identified by the geologist and by the geo-
physical surveys, the position of any affiliated geoglyphs, the position of archaeo-
logical sites, and the location of wells, springs, or seeps. These maps provide the
basis for establishing any correlations between the geoglyphs and groundwater
resources. The total station was also used to su;:vey the water elevations of wells.
Water level data provided information on the direction of groundwater flow in the
valley and, at some of the sites, was used to estimate the source of the groundwater.

Water Quality Sampling Program
Water samples were collected from springs, seeps, and wells, where feasi-
ble, and analyzed for major inorganic constituents and hydrogen and oxygen
isotopes. The chemistry of groundwater inherits properties of the material through
which it travels and will vary depending on the flow path and length of time the
water has resided in the ground (Yuretich and Batchelder 1988). Accordingly,
inferences can often be made about the source of the groundwater from a close
examination of the geochemistry of the water. In this study, temperature, conduc-
tivity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were measured in the field. The remaining sam-
ples were collected, preserved, refrigerated and shipped back to the United States
for analysis of other constituents (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium,
copper, iron, manganese, mercury, bromide, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, chloride,
sulfate, total nitrogen, and hydrogen and oxygen isotopes).
RESULTS
Preliminary results concerning the correlation between the geoglyphs and
water resources are described below for each of the four sites. Although data are
still being gathered and analyzed, evidence exists supporting the hypothesis. The
results that follow are characteristic of the evidence obtained at other sites
throughout the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage including La Mufia in the Palpa
Valley in the north, around Hacienda Taruga in the south, and Monte Grande in
the lower Grande Valley to the west.
CerroAja
Three faults were identified at Cerro Aja, one of which can be traced on the
ground for three kilometers into the Socos Valley to the north (Figure 10.2). The
largest fault, herein named the Aja Fault, is clearly marked by geoglyphs. Field
evidence for the faults included the presence of fault gouge, fault breccia, recrys-
tallized and strained rock along the fault plane, slickensides, and drag folds
(Figure 10.7). There is also extensive mineralization indicating fluid movement
along the faults in the past. Five geophysical transects were made across the
Aja Fault using the EM-34. Results show distinct subsurface anomalies and
were observed exactly where geologic mapping predicted the fault should be
(Figure 10.8). Accordingly, there is convincing field evidence and geophysical
data suggesting that the Aja Fault exists and can be traced into the valley.
In addition, groundwater levels from nineteen wells and three puquios were
surveyed at Cerro Aja near the intersection of the Aja Fault with the valley. Results
of the water level data collected in September 1999 indicate that groundwater flow
Figure 10.7. The fault at Cerro Aja. Note the white area of brecciated rock along the fault plane just
below the field notebook. The fault zone is approximately 2 to 3m wide. Field book is 20cm high.
... .~"".
Transect 1
~.
._.~.. "
Transect 4
Transect 2
.d.\--Vr-.-'
Transect 3
~~
\-./,.
TransectS
Observed Data
-- Modeled Data
Figure 10.8. Results of electromagnetic induction surveys (EM-34) across the Aja Fault. Note the
anomalies (downward depression in the observed data) indicating the presence of a discontinuity in
the subsurface.
is moving from the valley side walls toward the southwest. In other words, a por-
tion of the groundwater flow is entering the valley from the sides and, as it
approaches the river, the flow turns to the west and becomes part of the ground-
water flow regime beneath the river (Figure 10.9). The water elevations in wells
Figure 10.9. Aerial photograph mapping the groundwater flow at Cerro Aja. Small numbers in bold
are well locations. Large numbers are groundwater contour labels indicating the elevation of the
groundwater in meters above mean sea level. The bold lines with arrows indicate the direction of
groundwater flow with respect to the Aja Fault. Note the general direction of groundwater flow is
northeast to southwest indicating a contribution of water to the river from the valley sides.
closest to the valley side walls are at least 10m higher than the water levels in the
filtration gallery closest to the Aja River. This groundwater configuration signi-
fies a "gaining" stream scenario where groundwater from the sides of the valley
is contributing water to the main trunk of the stream. Similar results are obtained
when water level data from July 1998 are plotted; the pattern is consistent over
two successive years. These results suggest that some of the groundwater in the
river valleys is derived from bedrock.
Although all of the analyses performed on the water samples collected during
the September 1999 field trip have not been completed, we can report on the results
of the field parameters (temperature, specific conductivity and pH). Water from
wells located closest to the valley side walls are slightly warmer (26.8 degrees vs.
24.2 degrees Centigrade), exhibit higher conductivity (106 vs. 75 /-LS/cm), and have
higher pH (7.1 vs. 6.6) than the groundwater in wells adjacent to or in the bed of the
river. Although preliminary, these data suggest water from two different pathways.
Geoglyphs and archaeological sites are associated with the Aja Fault. In
1926 Julio C. Tello and Alfred L. Kroeber discovered several sites in the Aja area
(Kroeber and Collier 1998: 33, 66-fJ7). All of these were cemeteries, the largest
(Aja B) dating to Nasca Phase 3. A large Nasca and Late Intermediate Period
Figure 10.10. Aerial photograph showing the position of the large trapezoid that marks the location
of the Aja Fault. A pointer (not visible on photograph) points to the ridge in the background exactly
where the Aja Fault crosses into the Socos Valley (location marked by solid line). The geologists at
the base of the trapezoid are conducting an EM survey across the fault. The results of this survey are
shown in Transect I on Figure 10.8.
habitation site (not identifiable from Kroeber's notes and perhaps not recorded by
him in 1926) extends along the south slope of Cerro Aja (Figure 10.2), and there
is a broad agricultural zone between the river and the hills. Along the trace of the
Aja Fault there is a trapezoid with a narrow triangle extending from the trapezoid
to a line center (Figure 10.10). The trapezoid maps the trend of the fault contain-
ing the aquifer, the triangle points to the next ridge where the fault crosses into
the Socos Valley and the line center, located on a small hill, provides a vantage
point for observing the geoglyph system. Where the trace of the fault turns east-
ward into the Nazca Valley, the bend is marked by a curved trapezoid and trian-
gle with a large stone circle (Figure 10.2). Large circles have been found
throughout the drainage where aquifers tum into the valley as in this case.
Orcona
Orcona consists of a north-northwest trending alluvial fill valley that
appears on aerial photographs as a major topographic lineament extending from
the Socos Valley, across the Aja and Tierras Blancas river valleys into Cerro
Blanco (the lineament follows the valley marked Fault 3 on Figure 10.3). This
feature parallels a major thrust fault that has been mapped several kilometers to

the east. This feature will be referred to as the Orcona Lineament. There are three
northwest trending faults that cut through the bedrock forming deep clefts high in
the valley wall (Figure 10.3). These features can be clearly observed on the satel-
lite imagery and are referred to as Faults 1,2 and 3. To verify that these features
were indeed faults, an ascent was made to the southwestern most cleft (Fault l)
to look for evidence of faulting. High on the valley wall there is a 3m-wide brec-
ciated and fractured fault zone. The host rock shows evidence of slickensides
(striations in the rock where two rock masses slide by one another), which also
suggests fault activity. The trend of the fault is 307 degrees (northwest) with a dip
of 85 degrees. Thus, there is field and remote sensing evidence that faults exist in
this region. We believe these faults provide some water to the alluvial fill valley
at Orcona.
Recent flooding in the Aja Valley eroded away the toe of the alluvial fan
emanating from the Orcona Valley leaving a 10 to 12-m high escarpment above
the Aja River. At the base of the escarpment there is a spring flowing out of the
alluvium on top of the bedrock at an elevation of 662 m above sea level. Iron
oxide staining in the gravels 3 to 5 m above the spring further suggests that water
has been flowing through the gravels in this region at higher levels in the past.
Projection of the three northwest trending faults and the Orcona Lineament shows
that these features will intersect very near the location of the spring. In addition,
seismic refraction data collected along the road on the top of the escarpment
indicates a water table depth of approximately 5m. This places the water table at
this site at approximately 695 m, which is at least 6 m above the elevation of the
Aja River. These observations indicate that at least a portion of the water enter-
ing the Aja River is contributed from sources outside the Aja Valley.
The Orcona filtration gallery is strategically located to capture the ground
water emanating from the alluvial gravels in the Orcona Valley. It extends diago-
nally from the hill at the base of Orcona Valley across the Aja River to Pueblo
Orcona. Like other ancient filtration galleries located throughout the region, it
captures groundwater emanating from the valley sides and channels it westward
downgradient to the Nazca Valley. This filtration gallery maintains a steady flow
rate throughout the year. Currently, the Nazca Water Department is considering a
plan to divert half the water supplied by Orcona to Nazca since collection gal-
leries constructed across the Aja River 2.5 km up gradient from Orcona have
failed to provide a reliable year-round source of water.
There are numerous geoglyphs throughout the Orcona Valley charting the
course of the Orcona Lineament, the three northwest trending faults and the allu-
vial aquifer along the Orcona Valley (Figure 10.3). The hill at the base of the val-
ley along the western boundary is a line center from which geoglyphs in the
Orcona Valley can be observed. There is a pointer immediately above the road
that marks the path of the Orcona Lineament. It is 60 m long and the southern end
is 14 m wide with a central azimuth of 345 degrees. A small trapezoid is centrally

located in the valley approximately 200 m north of the road and marks the
location of the aquifer in the alluvial fill. From this trapezoid, three lines can
be observed extending to the northwest at 328 degrees, 320 degrees and 300
degrees. Each line points to one of the three northwest trending faults described
earlier.
In addition, Fault 1 is marked by a small, very narrow trapezoid and has a
2m-wide cleared stone circle at its base. Although large stone circles that are
cleared of debris in the center often indicate a turn in the flow of groundwater,
in this case, we believe the small stone circle indicates where groundwater dis-
charging from the fault enters the alluvium and turns down valley in response to
the natural gradient. Unfortunately, this geoglyph was destroyed during EI Nino
rains in February of 1998.
Fault 2 is located further up the valley and has a large copper mine on the
upper slope (Figure 10.3). From this mine several geoglyphs can be observed.
There is a line extending to the fault from a trapezoid on the east side of the val-
ley and there is a small curved trapezoid where the fault intersects the alluvium.
Again, the curved trapezoid is interpreted as indicating the location where
groundwater emerges from the fault and curves into the alluvium of the valley.
Fault 3, located further up valley, parallels the Orcona Lineament and is marked
by a small pointer where the fault intersects the valley alluvium. A clear stone
circle lies below the pointer to the north.
In terms of archaeological evidence, there is a cemetery on top of a small
point extending from the western wall of the Orcona Valley. Several pot sherds
from different cultures were found including Nasca and Middle Horizon. At
the base of the line center there were additional small cemeteries, however no
artifacts were found.
Usaca
Two large faults cross at Usaca that are not indicated on the geological map
of the quadrangle. However, they are clearly evident on the aerial photographs
(Figure lOA) and satellite imagery and also are visible on the ground. For the pur-
poses of this chapter, they will be referred to as the Atarco and Nazca faults. The
Atarco Fault is a large unmapped fault system that crosses normal to the Trancas
River in an east-west direction. The fault enters the Quebrada Atarco (east of
Usaca) and follows it for two to three kilometers before crossing the ridge sepa-
rating the Chauchilla River and Quebrada Atarco. The fault can be seen in out-
crops on both sides of the Quebrada Atarco. It exhibits 1.5 m or more of apparent
offset in fossiliferous sandstone beds exposed in the valley walls. There is also
evidence of fault breccia within the fault plane. The Atarco fault trends 265
degrees and has a near vertical dip. Further up the Atarco Valley are fossiliferous
chalk beds that also show the same apparent offset of approximately 1.5 m.

In Usaca, the Atarco Fault is clearly visible as it passes through the outcrop
on the west side of the Trancas Valley. Beneath the sand dunes there is a gap in
the sedimentary bedding approximately 150m wide where huarango trees are
growing up the slope (Figure lOA). On both sides of the V-shaped gap, fault brec-
cia and drag folds can be observed along with a noticeable offset in the bedding
of a meter or more. We were unable to examine the Atarco Fault beyond this point
because the fault is covered by large sand dunes. The satellite imagery indicates
these sand dunes obscure the surface of the pampa for approximately 3.5 Ion
before the bedrock is exposed again. Beyond the dunes the Atarco Fault is barely
visible on the satellite imagery as it crosses the pampa to its intersection with the
Grande River. An air and ground survey of this area is proposed in future work.
The Nazca Fault crosses the Trancas River approximately 500m north
(downgradient) of the Atarco Fault (Figure lOA). Here the valley narrows and the
Nazca Fault is exposed on both sides of the valley. There are fossiliferous sand-
stone beds showing apparent offsets of 2 m or more. The fault zone also contains
breccia. The trend of the fault is 248 degrees and can be traced on the satellite
image to the northeast and southwest of the valley.
The Nazca Fault appears on the satellite image as a major lineament that can
be traced for many tens of kilometers across the pampa. This lineament is one of
the most striking features on the image and can be traced southwesterly from the
foothills of the Andes immediately northeast of Nazca to the ocean. This linea-
ment crosses the Nazca River near Estaqueria and continues across the tributaries
of the Nazca River, eventually passing through Usaca before reaching the ocean.
We believe the Nazca Fault and this lineament are the same feature. The only
other evidence available at this time to support the notion that the Nazca Fault
is pervasive across the region comes from the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that
occurred in this area on November 11, 1996. Local residents reported that during
the earthquake rifts opened along the Nazca Fault and a great volume of water
flowed from the rifts for two days. The same phenomenon occurred where the
fault crosses near Estaqueria. However, additional ground surveys will be needed
to link the fault between Estaqueria and Usaca and will require crossing several
kilometers of barren pampa.
The availability of water in the vicinity of Usaca is greatly influenced by
the Atarco and Nazca faults. Both are important aquifers for the region. Where
the Atarco fault enters the Chauchilla River at Usaca there is a large permanent
fresh water pond that maintains a reliable supply of water even in the dry season
(Figure lOA). Closer inspection indicates that the source of this water is the fault.
Water can be observed discharging directly from the fault plane. At this location
the fault behaves as an aquifer providing a reliable source of groundwater to the
valley throughout the year. From this point the fault continues to the southwest,
crossing the Trancas River and passes beneath the sand dunes where huarango
trees, which are also an indication of groundwater availability, are growing up the

slope along the trace of the fault (Figure lOA). Surface water can also be
observed where the fault intersects the eastern bank of the Trancas River. In 1998,
a small but steady current was observed flowing out of the bank. The water
flowed into the river and then turned downstream before disappearing below the
surface of the riverbed. Trees can also be seen scribing the trace of the fault and
water up the eastern slope of the valley.
The Nazca and Atarco faults appear to control the availability of water in the
river. For example, immediately upstream of the Atarco Fault, seismic refraction
data indicate a depth to the water table in the stream bed of 3.5 to 5 m. When
the river passes the Atarco Fault water is discharged from the fault into the river
raising the groundwater elevations. Thus, in the stream reach extending from the
Atarco Fault to the Nazca Fault water is flowing on the surface of the riverbed.
However, immediately downstream from the Nazca Fault the flow of water in
the river ceases and it becomes dry again. Seismic refraction data collected in
the riverbed downstream of the Nazca Fault did not indicate the presence of a sat
urated layer in the survey. These observations suggest that the Nazca Fault is
acting as a sink, causing the stream to lose water at this location. Thus, some of
the faults we have observed during the fieldwork (i.e., Atarco Fault) may be
discharging water to the surface, whereas others (i.e., Nazca Fault) are being
recharged by the surfac~ water system and are acting as groundwater sinks.
This phenomenon is also supported by observations from the local inhabitants.
They report that when the Trancas River floods in late January or early February,
there is a noticeable decrease in the volume of water once the floodwaters cross the
Nazca Fault. This same observation has been reported by local farmers in the Nazca
Valley at Estaqueria.
Both the Atarco and Nazca faults and their associated aquifers are clearly
marked by geoglyphs. Immediately east of Usaca on the plateau above the
Chauchilla River, a large trapezoid and other geoglyphs mark the course of the
Atarco Fault. In addition, lines crossing Site 13 (Figure lOA) parallel the bound
ary of the fault/aquifer system. In the Quebrada Atarco, east of Usaca (not shown
in Figure lOA), the fault is marked by a large trapezoid.
On the west side of the Trancas Valley, any geoglyphs that may have marked
the location of the Nazca Fault are obscured by sand dunes. However, on the east
side of the Trancas Valley, geoglyphs delineating the Nazca Fault were observed
on the top of the ridge but could not be documented in detail due to time con
straints (Figure lOA). A broad line could be observed trending 248 degrees; this
is the same trend as the Nazca Fault.
Archaeological evidence in the vicinity of Usaca indicates a substantial
population flourished here for hundreds of years. Archaeological surveys by
Proulx (1999) in the Quebrada Usaca recorded 13 distinct sites dating primarily
to the Nasca culture along with several which were occupied during the Late
Intermediate Period. Six were habitation sites and the remainder cemeteries. The

majority of the Nasca sites date to Phase 5, a time of upheaval in the valley
due to a prolonged drought (in the 6th century AD: see Thompson et at. 1985),
however occupations during Phases 3, 6, 7 and 8 are also present. On each of the
ridges surrounding Usaca there are both habitation sites and cemeteries. Where
the Atarco Fault and aquifer system passes in the Chauchilla tributary there is a
large cemetery I km long and 500 m wide on the south ridge (Site 13, Figure lOA).
On the east side of the Quebrada Usaca there are two cemeteries evident (Sites 3
and 4). Site 4 is located adjacent to the Nazca Fault and situated on the fIrst ter-
race above the present floodplain. Here Nasca 5 pottery was found as well as rem-
nants of foundation walls. Along the west side of Quebrada Usaca there are two
more sites in close proximity to the faults (Sites 11 and 12).
During the previous three years of fIeldwork, more than 150 geoglyph
systems have been examined in the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage. In 95% of
the cases, a habitation site and/or cemetery is associated with the geoglyphs.
Usaca is no exception. Frequently, the geoglyphs were located just beyond the
perimeter of the archaeological site. In addition, it appears the geoglyphs were
intentionally placed off site to prevent damage from burial excavations and
construction.
Finding water where faults and aquifers crossed or entered the valleys was
the key to survival in the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage. There are numerous
examples of fIltration galleries and cochas (reservoirs or water-retaining trenches)
that were constructed by ancient people. Two ponds are found at Usaca that we
believe are most likely the remnants of ancient cochas that are still used by local
residents today (Figure lOA). Another cocha is located one kilometer down-
stream from Usaca (not shown on Figure lOA). In each case, the cochas were
situated where the faults crossed the valleys. We believe the cochas were con-
structed at these locations because the groundwater discharging from the faults
was the only reliable source of water during drought conditions, such as those
affecting Nasca 5 society.
Cerro Colorado
A major regional flexure in the bedrock, extending for more than 10 km,
crosses the narrow peninsula separating the Nazca and Grande rivers at Cerro
Colorado (Figure 10.5). The bedding planes of the sedimentary rocks change
from a nearly horizontal attitude to steeply dipping along the axis of the fold. This
geologic feature also appears on the geologic map of the region. Along the fold
several springs are observed which exhibit continuous flow (Figure 10.5). Many
of these springs are 10 to more than 25 m above the riverbed. One spring, Agua
Dulce, is located 20m above the Nazca River floodplain and is situated between
the Nazca and Grande rivers on a narrow spit of land less than 1.5 km wide.
The spring flows at a continuous rate of 57 liters/min. A simple water budget
328 David W. Johnson et aI.

calculation indicates that the contributory watershed on the peninsula upgradient
of the spring is too small and the amount of recharge (rainfall is less than 50 mm
per year) is too low to support this rate of flow. Furthermore, the flow from these
springs can not be derived from the river because of the sharp elevation change
between the river and the springs. The only reasonable explanation for such a
flow is from a deep-seated regional source that utilizes the existing fault passing
through the site to facilitate groundwater discharge.
The notion that the major fold at Cerro Colorado is the source of the ground-
water observed in Aqua Dulce as well as other springs is supported by the results
of the water quality testing program. The temperature of the water at Agua Dulce
is quite high, 31 degrees Centigrade, and is 6.6 degrees Centigrade warmer than
the river water. In fact, all the springs at Cerro Colorado are warmer than the river
water. In addition, the pH of the water discharging from the springs is also higher
ranging from 8.0 to 8.3 compared to the pH of the river water which ranges from
7.4 to 7.6. These results suggest a very different flow path for the water emanating
from the springs compared to the water flowing in the gravels beneath the river.
A large geoglyph system extends for 3kIn to the northeast along the crest of
the ridge separating the Nazca and Grande rivers (Figure 10.6). It consists of geo-
glyphs characteristic of those found in the upper drainage. However, a system of
large stone circles is superimposed on them suggesting that at least two different
cultures were involved in the construction of the geoglyphs at this location. The
stone circles have diameters of 30 to 40 m and are parallel with the fault and the
springs located on both sides of the ridge. A large urban center, dating primarily to
the Late Intermediate Period, is situated on both sides of the ridge. The site con-
sists of rectangular structures constructed of fieldstone and river cobbles set in a
mud mortar which were built on terraces ascending the steep slopes of the promon-
tory. The Cerro Colorado site is strategically located at the confluence of two rivers
and close to natural springs emanating from the axis of the fold (Figure 10.6).
It was one of the largest population centers in this part of the drainage.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL TO EXPLAIN HYPOTHESIS

The mechanism needed to explain the relationship between groundwater,
faulting and archaeology can be demonstrated with a simple model. This region
of Peru is on a plate boundary that is tectonically very active and numerous inter-
connected faults exist throughout the region. In many instances the faults are vis-
ible to the eye and are discernable on the ground for several kilometers. Any
individual with some familiarity of their environment can "see" the faults on the
ground.
Groundwater is recharged in the Andes to the east where there is a plentiful
source of water and sufficient elevation change to produce topography-driven

groundwater flow through the fault network towards the valleys to the west.
Occasionally, one of these transmissive faults intersects a valley and either dis-
charges groundwater directly into the alluvial deposits or expels the water in
springs along the wall of the valley. Examples of the latter are observed at Usaca.
The groundwater flowing from these faults spreads laterally through the more
permeable alluvium in the valley and then turns downgradient becoming part of
the river-groundwater flow system. This pattern is observed in the groundwater
flow maps constructed at Cerro Aja. In addition, because the groundwater dis-
charging from the faults has a long travel path and has traveled at great depth, the
water inherits a different geochemical signature than the water flowing in the
river-groundwater system. Finally, because the climate was so dry, by necessity
the people of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage settled in close proximity to
these faults because there was a reliable water supply. Accordingly, the pre-
columbian inhabitants had familiarity with their environment and an interest in
identifying the sources of their water supplies. They marked the location and flow
of the aquifers with geoglyphs.
Evidence of the influence of faulting on the occurrence and distribution of
groundwater is reported in several recent studies (Antonellini and Aydin 1994;
Barroll and Reiter 1990; Barton et al. 1995; Person and Garvin 1994; Mailloux
et al. 1999). The notion that groundwater can flow great distances and at consid-
erable depth through the bedrock and sediments is demonstrated in a study of the
Rio Grande rift basin in New Mexico (Mailloux et al. 1999). In that study, results
indicated that groundwater infiltrated to depths of 2.8 km and traveled more than
20 km from its source area in the Magdalena Mountains. In addition, Thyne et al.
(1999) use hydrogeologic and geochemical evidence to show that groundwater
recharged from the Kern Plateau in California crosses topographic divides via
fractures and faults in crystalline rock and may travel distances exceeding 20 km.
Results indicate that groundwater flow is not constrained by topography in a
faulted and fractured bedrock environment.
CONCLUSION
Each of the sites we have examined exhibits all the elements predicted by the
hypothesis. Major faults and structures, many of which extend for several kilo-
meters, can be observed entering the valleys. The faults are not only observed on
the ground but, in some cases, such as Cerro Aja, their existence is supported by
geophysical evidence. Where the faults enter the valleys, groundwater can be
observed discharging directly from the faults or, in the case of Cerro Aja, ground-
water flow directions determined from water level data indicate a flow gradient
from the valley side walls towards the river. All of these observations clearly indi-
cate that a portion of the water in the river valleys has its source from faults in the
330 David w. Johnson et aI.

bedrock. In addition, field parameters, specifically temperature, conductivity and
pH, indicate that the water discharging from the faults may have a different
geochemical signature than the water in or beneath the river beds. Furthermore,
several filtration galleries and cochas have their origin where the faults enter the
valleys because historically the water supply at these locations has been reliable.
Filtration galleries and cochas were strategically located at these locations and
this influenced settlement patterns in the valleys. Habitation sites and/or ceme-
teries are almost always found in close proximity to the faults. Finally, the faults
are also marked by geoglyphs. Trapezoids chart the path of the faults, triangles
indicate where the faults cross adjacent ridges. Additional testing of this hypoth-
esis is needed.
As a more in depth understanding of the geoglyphs unfolds, we will be able
to comprehend with greater insight the decision-making and patterns of cognition
of those ancient people who constructed them. The geoglyphs indicate these
people had an astute understanding of their environment that is only now being
rediscovered with the assistance of modem scientific equipment.
The results of this project are significant because they provide support for an
exciting new explanation for the function of the geoglyphs in the Rio Grande de
Nazca drainage. Furthermore, this is the first time that a coherent scientific
approach founded in basic geological and hydrogeological principles is being
applied to examine one of the world's great archaeological riddles. Archaeological
interpretations will be revolutionized ifit can be shown that some of the geoglyphs
did indeed delineate sources of water. In addition, the inhabitants of this region
today are poor and lack water. At a minimum, this fieldwork will provide addi-
tional understanding of the region's hydrology, thereby supplementing their exist-
ing water resources and improving the quality of their lives. If the ancients were
indeed able to locate and map potable water supplies, why not use the geoglyphs
as a guide for groundwater resource development today.
Acknowledgements
Our field research in Peru was supported in part by a Research Grant (6229-
98) from the National Geographic Society, by the H. John Heinz III Fund Grant
Program for Latin American Archaeology, by a Healey Endowment Grant (1-
60246) from the University of Massachusetts, and by Rotary International. We
wish to thank each of these sponsors for their funding of our work and their faith
in our projects.
Notes
I. Springs are places where water naturally discharges from the bedrock or sediments that are not
necessarily part of a manmade underground structure.

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In Nasca: Geheimnisvolle Zeichen im Alten Peru, edited by Judith Rickenbach, pp. 157-164.
Museum Rietberg, Zurich.
Kosok, Paul, 1965, Land, Life and Water in Ancient Peru. Long Island University Press, New York.
Kroeber, Alfred L. and Donald Collier, 1998, The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca. Peru. Altamira
Press, Walnut Creek.
Mailloux, B.1., M. Person, S. Kelley, N. Dunbar, S. Cather, L. Strayer, and P. Hudleston, 1999,
Tectonic controls on the hydrogeology of the Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico. Water Resources
Research 35 (9): 2641-2659.
Mejia Xesspe, Toribio, 1940, Acueductos y caminos de la hoya del Rio Grande de Nazca. Aetas
y Trabajos Cientificos del XXVII Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, 1939, volume I,
pp. 559-569. Lima.
Morrison, Tony, 1978, Pathways to the Gods. The Mystery of the Nasca Lines. Harper and Row,
New York.
Person, M. and G. Garvin, 1994, A sensitivity study of the driving forces on fluid flow during
continental-rift basin evolution. Geological Society ofAmerica Bulletin 106: 461-475.
Proulx, Donald A., 1999, Settlement Patterns and Society in South Coastal Peru: Report on a Survey
of the Lower Rio Nazca and Rio Grande, 1998. Unpublished manuscript.
Reiche, Maria, 1968, Mystery on the Desert. Heinrich Fink Gmb., Stuttgart.
Reiche, Maria, 1974, Peruvian Ground Drawings. Kunstraum Munchen E.V., Munich.
Reinhard, Johan, 1996, The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on Their Origin and Meaning. Sixth edi-
tion. Editorial Los Pinos, Lima.
Rossel Castro, Alberto, 1977, Arqueologia Sur del Peru. Editorial Universo, Lima.
Schreiber, Katharina J. and Josue Lancho Rojas, 1995, The puquios of Nasca. Latin American
Antiquity 6 (3): 229-254.
Silverman, Helaine, 1990, Beyond the pampa: the geoglyphs in the valleys of Nazca. National
Geographic Research 6 (4): 435--456.
Stierlin, Henri, 1983, La CM du Mysrere. Albin Michel, Paris.
Thompson, L. G., E. Mosley-Thompson, J. E Bolzan, and B. R. Koci, 1985, A 1500-year record of
tropical precipitation in ice cores from the Quelccaya ice cap, Peru. Science 229 (4717):
971-973.

Thyne, G.D., J.M. Gillespie, and l.R. Ostdick, 1999, Evidence for interbasin flow through bedrock in
the southeastern Sierra Nevada. Geological Society ofAmerica Bulletin III (II): 1600-1616.
von Daniken, Erich, 1971, Chariots ofthe Gods? Bantam, New York.
Yuretich, R.E and G.L. Batchelder, 1988, Hydrochemical cycling and chemical denudation in the Fort
River watershed, central Massachusetts: an appraisal of mass-balance studies. Water Resources
Research 24 (\): 105-114.
Chapter 11
Rock Art, Historical Memory,
and Ethnic Boundaries
A Study from the Northern Andean Highlands
TAMARA L. BRAY
As a specific and widespread fonn of cultural production, rock art has been studied
from a variety of perspectives including evolutionary (Biesele 1983; Kirkland and
Newcomb 1967), functional-adaptive (Ellis 1975; Heizer and Baumhoff 1959;
Olson 1977; Thomas 1976), fonnal art historical (Castleton and Madsen 1981;
Grant 1967), and semiotic (Berenguer and Martinez 1989; Lewis-Williams 1980,
1982, 1983, 1995; Llamazares 1989). In this chapter, I adopt the latter framework
to examine the performative and connotative aspects of a set of late prehistoric
period petroglyphs from the Pimampiro district of northern highland Ecuador.
Given the importance of context to the interpretation of meaning, I first situate
these petroglyphs within a specific cultural, geographic, and historical frame-
work. I then analyze the imagery found on the stones with respect to literal
content, internal coherence, external linkages, and symbolic associations. Relying
on ethnohistoric and archaeological data as well as local myth to establish a
referential context of social action (after Hodder 1982), I suggest that these
petroglyphs articulate aspects of territoriality, boundary maintenance, and ethnic
identity in this region of the northern Andes.
GEOGRAPmCAL AND mSTORICAL CONTEXT

The Pimampiro district of northern highland Ecuador (Figures ILl, 11.2) is
located near one of a limited number of natural passes through the eastern range
of the Andean cordillera. Early ethnohistoric sources describe Pimampiro as a
333
334
t
Tamara L. Bray
.....
i.· .....
i
Pimillmpiro '._
lborr.:'if ('
~),.~
W:J
Figure 11.1. Map of the Chota-Mira river valley delineating the approximate boundaries of the
Pimampiro district.
gateway to the Oriente (the term commonly used to refer to the eastern flanks and
foothills of the equatorial Andes) and an important multi-ethnic trade center
(Borja 1965; Ordonez de Cevallos 1960). Other early sources indicate that ties
between the northern Ecuadorian highlands and the Oriente comprised a com-
plexity of political, commercial, and ideological elements. Oberem (1974: 347),
for instance, citing a 16th century document, notes various instances of interzonal
marriage and comments on the political implications of such practice. Borja
(1965) discusses the various modes of tribute and exchange in this region,
highlighting the commercial aspects of the regional economic system. Ideological
linkages between the two zones are underscored in references to the use of
tropical forest paraphernalia as insignia of status (Caillavet 1983: 17) and the
Rock Art, Historical Memory, and Ethnic Boundaries 335
Escala 1,50,000
CurvlS de Nivel con Intervalos de 100 metros
41) Sitios Arqueol6gicos

fill] Pueblos ACluales
Figure 11.2. Map of the Pimampiro district showing location of various archaeological sites includ-
ing Shanshipampa in the southernmost part of study area and La Mesa, located above the Mataqui
River approximately 8 km to the northeast.
general respect accorded lowland healers and their medicinal herbs (Oberem
1974: 351).
The Pimampiro district lies at the extreme eastern end of the semi-arid
Chota-Mira river valley. This river is one of the few in Ecuador that breach the
western cordillera to empty into the sea. The warm, dry climate of this low-lying
336 Tamara L. Bray

valley, situated at 1600m above sea level, has made it a resource zone of special
importance since precolumbian times. Populated today by the descendants of
escaped African slaves, the valley presents a striking contrast with the hills above
both ecologically and culturally. With irrigation, the Chota-Mira acquires a sub-
tropical character that allows for the production of a range of crops that today
include sugar cane, citrus, and grapes. During the late prehistoric period, it was
dedicated to the production of coca, cotton, indigo, and aji, and constituted an
area of considerable economic importance (Coronel 1991; Landazuri 1990).
As one of few trans-sierran valleys in Ecuador, the Chota-Mira was an
important conduit of east-west interzonal exchange and interaction. This is
evidenced archaeologically by finds of exotic materials such as obsidian, polished
greenstone celts, marine shell, gold, and non-local ceramics at various sites
throughout the valley (Athens 1980; Berenguer 1984; Echeverria et al. 1995;
Echeverria and Uribe 1981; Jaramillo 1968; Rodriguez 1992). Documentary
sources also indicate that the Pimampiro district was a center of mindala activity
(Salomon 1986: 105). Mindalaes were a class of specialized long-distance traders
that trafficked in goods of high prestige and unit value in the northern Andes
(Salomon 1978, 1986).
The Chota-Mira valley historically formed the boundary between the indige-
nous Caranqui of Imbabura province, and the ethnic Pasto who inhabited the
province of Carchi in northern Ecuador and the Department of Narifio in southern
Colombia. The Caranqui polity comprised a number of semi-urbanized centers
that were organized hierarchically at the regional level. The highly stratified nature
of Caranqui society found its material expression in the construction of large trun-
cated pyramidal mounds, or tolas (Athens 1980; Lumbreras 1990; Oberem 1981).
The Pasto, to the north, shared a separate ethnic identity but do not appear to have
been as politically cohesive as the Caranqui. Aboriginal Pasto villages consisted of
numerous low circular dwellings known as bohios (Uribe 1977-78, 1986a).
According to ethnohistoric interpretations, the level of sociopolitical organization
among the Pasto, unlike that of the Caranqui, was not of sufficient degree to war-
rant classification as a chiefdom (Larrain 1980; Uribe 1986b).
The principal source of ethnohistoric information on Pimampiro is the text
of Antonio Borja (1965), parish priest for this district during the later part of
the 16th century. This document, which is rich in ethnographic detail, offers a
glimpse of what local economic organization may have looked like prior to the
Spanish invasion. The passages on regional exchange relations, coca production,
and multi-ethnic enclaves provided the point of departure for the Pimampiro
archaeological project (see Bray 1994, 1995a).
Besides the town of Pimampiro, which was the center of local power during
the late prehispanic period, the only other settlement of interest, according to
Borja, was that of Chapi. Borja (1965: 248) describes Chapi as a multi-ethnic set-
tlement located "two leagues [about 11 km] up [from Pimampiro], at the base of

the Cordillera of the Quijos." The Quijos were a distinct ethnic group occupying
the zone below and immediately adjacent to the densely forested ceja de montana
sector of the eastern Andean flanks (Oberem 1980). Borja states that nearly half
of the inhabitants of Chapi were "people of the montana" who were born and
raised in that zone, maintained fields there, travelled back and forth to harvest
timber, and spoke a language similar to that of the Quijos (Borja 1965: 248, 252).
These "montaiieses" were recognized as ethnically distinct from the other resi-
dents of Chapi, who were identified as affiliates of the highland Caranqui,
Cayambe, and Otavalo chiefdoms (Borja 1965: 248).
According to the documentary evidence, Chapi was an important center of
trade in the late 16th century. Indians from the western Amazonian foothills,
specifically Coronados, would reportedly bring items such as slaves, dyes, par-
rots, monkeys, and medicinal herbs to trade for highland products such as salt,
dogs, and woven shawls (Borja 1965: 248-249). In short, both the regional geog-
raphy and the ethnohistoric data support the idea that Chapi functioned as a
center of exchange for highland and tropical lowland traders in the late prehistoric
period. Due to the Spanish program of consolidating local populations, however,
the site was abandoned at some point in the 17th century and memory of its orig-
inallocation was lost to local residents.
DESCRIPTION OF PETROGLVPHS
In 1996, two large petroglyphs displaying carved images of tropical lowland
fauna (Figures 11.3, 11.4) were discovered above the modem village of
Shanshipampa in the southernmost sector of the Pimampiro district. Found in the
same general area as the stones are numerous small hemispherical mounds
(tolas), terraces of varying widths, and long linear mounds. These features occupy
an area of nearly one square kilometer above the modem community of
Shanshipampa (Figure 11.2). On the basis of the archaeological remains, clues
from the ethnohistoric record, the site's geographical location, and local infor-
mant input, this locality has tentatively been identified as the late prehistoric
period site of Chapi (Bray n.d.a.).
Building upon previous survey work conducted in the Pimampiro district
(Bray 1994, 1995a), a program of mapping and archaeological excavation was
initiated at the site of Shanshipampa by the author in 1997. During this season,
six additional petroglyphs were documented in the vicinity of Shanshipampa
though these do not manifest as complex of iconography as registered on the first
two examples (Bray 1998). Over the course of the next three years, a variety of
surface features, including tolas, burial caves, terraces, and linear mounds, were
mapped and tested by the Pimampiro Archaeological Project.
Figure 11.3. A carved stone from Shanshipampa, still in situ, which displays various curly-tailed
quadrupeds.
Figure 11.4. Line drawings of imagery found on the two largest petroglyphs from Shanshipampa.
The largest of the carved stone monuments (A: approximately 180 X 100 cm as drawn; B: approxi-
mately 150 X 75 cm as drawn) exhibits a relatively complex iconographic program. Note the presence
of the mammalian curly-tailed quadruped figure on both stones, interpreted as a simian-form, and the
pair of bicephalic creatures that occupies the center position on the larger stone.
Preliminary analyses suggest that these features are variously associated
with domestic, agricultural, mortuary, and possibly metal-working activities.
Radiocarbon dates obtained from several different contexts suggest a period of
occupation for the site dating from approximately AD 900 (cal) to the early
Colonial period (Bray n.d.a., n.d.b.). The petroglyphs distributed about the site
are generally associated with these various archaeological features and earth-
works. The eight stones recorded display a range of motifs. On most, the imagery
consists of simple geometric forms including spirals (Figure 11.5), lines, and
circles. As noted above, however, the two largest monuments carry more complex
iconography (Figures 11.3, 11.4).
The compositions on the two larger stones are dominated by two principal
motifs (Figure 1104). The first figure, which is common to both monuments, is a
mammal. I interpret this figure as a simian-form based on its physical features
(prehensile tail, flexed extremities), comparisons with other zoomorphic repre-
sentations in the Carchi-Nariiio region of northern Ecuador and southern
Colombia (Duncan 1992; Echeverria 1988; Labbe 1986: 132-149; Plazas and
Echeverri 1995; Rodriguez 1992: 7-81), and ethnographic information
(Rappaport 1992: 210). Even though the figure has a somewhat beak-shaped face
on the larger stone (Figure llAa, around perimeter), there are depictions of
monkeys with extremely prognathic jaws approximating this same beak-shaped
Figure 11.5. Example of a petroglyph in the vicinity of the Shanshipampa site exhibiting a simpler
spiral motif.
340 Tamara L. Bray

form in other examples from the precolumbian corpus of zoomorphic imagery
from the northern highlands (e.g. Plazas and Echeverri 1995: fig 7.22; Rodriguez
1992: 75; Valdez and Veintimilla 1992: 186). Besides the northern highlands,
similar such representations have been found on the coast in association with
Manteno phase materials, where they have also been interpreted as monkeys
(Wilbert 1974: 79-81), and in the central sierra, where these figures are still
utilized in the modem weavings of the ethnic Salasaca who also identify them as
such (Hoffmeyer 1985: 345).
It is also possible that this figure represents a composite bird-monkey form,
as seen in several examples of gold ornaments from the Popayan region of
Colombia immediately to the north of the study area (Lunardi 1935: 91-101;
Perez de Barradas 1965: 133-147). Composite creatures incorporating the salient
traits of different animals are common in precolumbian art (e.g., Benson 1992;
Cooke 1984; Paul 1990). Even if the figure in question is a composite creature, I
would argue that the simian attributes still form the dominant characteristics of
the image.
The second figure, which is central to the composition on the larger monu-
ment (Figure 11.4a), is a bicephalic creature with a zig-zag shaped body lacking
extremities. In the arrangement observed on this stone, a pair of double-headed
creatures is surrounded by, and intimately connected to, the simian-like forms
that alternate in their upside-down/rightside-up positioning around the perimeter
of the stone. The bicephalic creature has a triangular-shaped head with lateral
volutes and large eyes. Unlike the simian-form, the bicephalic creature is not a
common element of the regional iconography. In fact, only one other example of
this image has been documented in the northern highlands.
The images of two creatures essentially identical to those observed on the
largest of the petroglyphs at Shanshipampa were recorded at the nearby site of La
Mesa (see Figure 11.2) in the early 1970s (Porras 1972). La Mesa, located
approximately eight kilometers to the northeast of Shanshipampa, was discovered
by huaqueros. The most important feature at this site was a large rectangular stone
pavement measuring 31 x 6 m in size (Figure 11.6). The stone floor was com-
prised of 11 rows of carefully prepared flagstones, several of which had been
sculpted in bas-relief (Figure 11.7).
Based on the drawings published by Porras (1972: 227, 231), who was able
to conduct salvage excavations at the site, it is apparent that the figures repre-
sented on the flagstone pavement at La Mesa replicate precisely those noted on
the Shanshipampa petroglyph. The sculpted images, as much as the stone floor
itself, suggested to Porras close ties with the eastern lowlands, where he report-
edly had observed similar such features (1972: 216-222). The ceramic assem-
blage recovered at La Mesa, which included Panzaleo vessels (see Bray 1995b)
as well as forms common to the eastern lowland regions of the Napo and
Aguarico Rivers, provide additional support for his hypothesis.
Figure 11.6. Flagstone pavement at the site of La Mesa as it appeared when exposed by huaqueros
in the early 19705.
REGIONAL ICONOGRAPHY
The animal world is a natural source of visual metaphors for symbolizing
human relations and cultural knowledge (Helms 1995; Linares 1977; Morphy 1989;
Urton 1985; Willis 1990). The precolumbian art of the Carchi-Narifio region is par-
ticularly rich in representations of fauna. The zoomorphic forms in the iconography
of this region are generally portrayed quite naturalistically and are often identifi-
able, sometimes to the level of genus and species (Rodriguez 1992). A review of the
precolumbian imagery from the Carchi-Narifio region as evidenced in various
media, including pottery, rock art, and goldwork, indicates that stylized simians
were an extremely important component of the regional iconography.
In the ceramic medium, monkeys constituted a common decorative element of
Piartal materials (Figure 11.8). Piartal pottery, which combines a resist technique
with a red over-paint to produce a distinctive tri-chrome ware, dates from approxi-
mately AD 750 to AD 1250 and is associated with the proto-Pasto inhabitants of
342 Tamara L. Bray
Figure 11.7. Examples of the flagstones sculpted in bas-relief that display the bicephalic creature
and the simian-like quadruped (photos courtesy of Dr. Albert Meyers).
the Carchi-Narifio region (Labbe 1986: 132-149; Uribe 1977-78, 1992, 1995).
While less frequently portrayed in the subsequent Tuza stylistic phase
(AD 1250-1500) that is associated with the proto-historic Pasto, monkeys are still
present in the regional iconography (e.g. Labbe 1986: 168; Valdez and Veintimilla
1992: 180). Besides their appearance in Piartal and Tuza pottery, simian-forms
are also frequently portrayed in the goldwork from both of these periods
(see Plazas and Echeverri 1995: figs. 2,3; Valdez and Veintimilla 1992).
Figure 11.8. Drawings of the interior designs found on three Piartal bowls with annular ring bases
depicting images of monkeys. Stippling indicates areas of red over-paint on resist-created negative
space; white zones indicate areas of negative resist-created designs; black indicates designs created
through reduction during firing. Top: El Angel, Saville Collection, National Museum of the American
Indian, Cat. no. 3/280, diameter: 20cm. Left: EI Angel, Saville Collection, National Museum of the
American Indian, Cat. no. 3/282, diameter: 18.5 cm. Right: Provenience unknown, Museum of the
Central Bank of Ecuador, Cuenca, Cat. no. 22-1-78d, diameter: 18 cm.
Monkeys are also a common decorative element of Capuli style pottery from
the region, where they are rendered as small modelled figures on the rims of ves-
sels (e.g. Labbe 1986: 146). The Capuli style is found throughout the same sector
of the Carchi-Narifio zone and pertains to approximately the same time period as
the Piartal and Tuza phases, dating from ca. AD 800 to AD 1500 (Duncan 1992;
Uribe 1977-78, 1992). The most pronounced similarities between Capuli motifs
and the imagery of the Shanshipampa petroglyphs is found in the goldwork attrib-
uted to this phase (e.g. Plazas and Echeverri 1995: fig.7; Rodriguez 1992: 75-78;
Valdez and Veintimilla 1992: 184-187). Comparing this imagery across various
media, it is clear that there are marked similarities between the simian-forms noted
on the pottery and goldwork from the region and the images carved on the petro-
glyphs at Shanshipampa, specifically in terms of their representation in profile and
the treatment of the extremities, i.e., the head, the flexed legs, and the long tail.
344 Tamara L. Bray

In an analysis of precolumbian imagery from this region, Rodriguez (1992: 94)
determined that monkeys were the most commonly represented creature in the
entire zoomorphic pantheon of the Carchi-Narifio area. This is an intriguing obser-
vation given that the normal habitat of these animals is the tropical forest. Monkeys
are not found naturally in the highlands today, nor are they mentioned as having
inhabited this region in the historical past (An6nimo 1965; paz Ponce de Leon
1965; Rodriguez 1992: 101-103). The widespread geographical distribution of this
figure, its representation across various media, the frequency of its occurrence, and
the degree of standardization employed in its depiction suggest that monkeys occu-
pied an important place in a shared cultural belief system that apparantly encom-
passed the tropical forest zone of the eastern montana as well as the sierra.
The other principal image on the Shanshipampa petroglyph, the bicephalic
creature, is not a common element of the iconography of the Carchi-Narifio
region, the only other explicit representation of this figure being the one found on
the flagstones at La Mesa. I know of only two other images that might be con-
sidered related. The first is found on a gold pectoral in the Museum of the Central
Bank of Ecuador in Quito, which, interestingly, is provenienced to Pimampiro
(Figure 11.9). In this example, we see that the head of the central figure, possibly
a toad, is nearly identical to that of the bicephalic creature. The second potentially
related representation is seen in the headgear of the painted figures that decorate
the interior of a Tuza bowl from Tulcan (Figure 11.10). The figures depicted on
the bowl are particularly interesting insofar as they seem to fuse anthropomorphic
Figure 11.9. Gold pectoral with decoration in repousse note the shape of the central figure's head
(Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Quito; Cat. no. 3-7-59; diameter: 16cm).
Rock Art, Historical Memory, and Ethnic Boundaries 34S

elements with references to the double-headed creature, as seen in the headdress,
and monkeys, as seen in the flexed extremities and orientation of the body.
Porras (1972: 220) interpreted the bicephalic creature sculpted on the flag-
stones at La Mesa as a snake. He specifically suggested that it was a representation
of the species Comuta found in the tropical Amazonian lowlands that has "horns"
similar to those depicted on the carved image. To date, I have not been able to locate
this species in the scientific literature pertaining to tropical ophidians.
Though perhaps not identifiable taxonomically, the image of the double-
headed serpent, if we adopt this interpretation, is widespread and has deep
historical roots throughout much of Central and South America. Bicephalic
serpentiforme creatures appear, for example, in the Formative period imagery of
the Early Horizon Chavfn style (Burger 1992: 174-175, figs. 175, 176), the
Pucara materials from the Titicaca basin (Chavez and Mohr Chavez 1970; Rowe
1958), and llama wares from western Colombia (Cardale-Schrimpff 1989). They
are found in Moche art of coastal Peru (Donnan 1978; Stierlin 1984: 96), in the
Pacheco style of the Middle Horizon (Menzel 1968: 53, 71), and at Late
Intermediate Period Chimu sites (Stierlin 1984: 153). Double-headed serpents are
also a common element in Code pottery from Panama, dating circa AD 400 to
AD 1100 (Bray 1992; Cooke and Bray 1985; Helms 1995), and are rendered in
highly stylized form on ceramic vessels from the Napo region of the Amazonian
lowlands of Ecuador (Evans and Meggers 1968, frontispiece). The prevalence of
this figure is similarly well documented for Mesoamerica (Carlson 1982;
Mundkur 1984: 462-465; Quiriarte 1981). I note the widespread occurrence of
this image not to imply any kind of direct contact between these cultures nor to
Figure 11.10. Interior of a Tuza style footed bowl in the private collection of Mr. Humberto Rosero of
Tulcan. Note the headdresses of the painted anthropomorphic figures (drawing after a photo published
in Martinez 1977: 85).
346 Tamara L. Bray

suggest that this symbol would have sustained the same ideological meaning
across these temporally and spatially disparate societies. Rather, I draw attention
to the prevalence of this image in precolumbian art and its deep historical roots
to indicate the great symbolic potency it generally seems to have had for
Amerindian cultures, apart from its particular locally constructed meaning.
Returning to the Pimampiro district and Borja's (1965: 250) observations on
local customs and beliefs, there is a particularly interesting passage where he states
that: "In this valley, ... there was in former times a demon in the form of a snake
that the Indians said had very large eyes and a crown like a friar ... Any person who
looked into the eyes of the snake could not escape from its gaze and would break
into a death sweat and expire." The priest goes on to say that he himself buried
more than twenty Indians who had been victims of this beast (Borja 1965: 251).
It is interesting to compare Borja's description of the demon snake with the
bicephalic creature found on the carved stones at La Mesa and Shanshipampa.
Some correspondence is suggested in the reference to the snake's large eyes,
where its power seems to have been concentrated, and the emphasis given the
eyes of the double-headed creatures on the stones. It is not precisely clear what
Borja intended to communicate in his description of the snake as having a "crown
like a monk." If, perhaps, he was referring to the cowl of the traditional monastic
robe, it might be possible to suggest some correspondence with the pointed crown
of the creature's head.
While the bicephalic creature on the stone monuments in the Pimampiro dis-
trict may have been intended to reference the double-headed serpent, there seem
to be other metaphors operating here as well. Rather than trying to read this image
directly, it may be more appropriate to approach it on a symbolic level. From a
semiotic perspective, there is an important difference between icons, which com-
municate their object directly, and symbols, which communicate the meaning of
their object through associations and ideas that are culturally mediated and con-
trolled. Given its fantastic nature, the bicephalic creature was most likely
intended to signify through associations of ideas rather than by likeness or simi-
larity. It is also important to note that symbols are not chosen arbitrarily. Rather,
they are selected for the particular reactions and connotations they evoke within
specific social and cultural contexts. To better understand the significance of the
bicephalic creature, it will be useful to look at how it figures in or relates to other
forms of cultural expression in the northern Andean region.
MYTH, IMAGE, AND MATERIAL SYMBOLIZATION

As various scholars have pointed out, rock art is produced within a referen-
tial context of social action and is linked with other forms of symbolic cultural
expression such as ritual and myth (Berenguer and Martinez 1989; Conkey 1997;
lWck Art, Historical Memory, and Ethnic Boundaries 347

l+wis-Williams 1983, 1995; Rosenfeld 1997). We know from elsewhere in the
Andean world that visual communication systems were often associated with myth-
ical subjects (Berenguer and Martinez 1986; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1967; Whitten and
Whitten 1988). It follows from this that it might be productive to explore the poten-
tial of local myth and cosmological concepts to aid in the interpretation of the rock
art from the late precolumbian period in the Pimampiro district.
At present, there is little direct information available on the significance of
simians in the cosmological thought of highland peoples of the Carchi-Nariiio
r~gion, with the exception of one piece of anecdotal evidence suggesting a con-
nection between monkeys and foreign places recorded by the Colombian histo-
t1f)D-ethnographer Ortiz (1934: 315). It is interesting to note, however, that the
Cpmbales, an indigenous ethnic group in southern Colombia, recently created a
cO;lt of arms that incorporates a pair of monkeys. The image of the two monkeys
wa~ taken directly from a local petroglyph of special significance to the Cumbales
(Rappaport 1994: 91). The paired monkeys were explicitly interpreted by local
leaQ~rs as "symbols of fertility, progenitors of the living people, and totemic gods
[th'lt ;rrel worshiped at sacred places" (Rappaport 1992: 210).
ADlQng the Quijos and Canelos Quichua, native groups of the tropical mon-
tana ume immediately to the east of the Pimampiro district, monkeys clearly
played '»l important role in local belief systems. According to one ethnographer,
the Can§lps believed that all monkeys had human souls, and that all foreigners
had Hw am,ient souls of monkeys (Whitten 1976: 41). In traditional hunting prac-
tice, t)le Canelos reportedly hunt for souls as much as they hunt for meat and in
this pursuit, monkeys often substitute metaphorically for the capture of foreign
enemies (Whitten 1976: 80). Other Amazonian groups, such as the Barasana of
southeastern Colombia (Hugh-Jones 1979: 122-124) and the Machiguenga of the
Peruvian selva (Baer et a1. 1984), make similar associations as well. These wide-
spread notions imply an underlying structural connection between monkeys,
humans, foreigners, and traditional hunting practices.
Among contemporary indigenous peoples of Colombian Amazonia, there is
a mythical creature known as the "cotomachaco" that is described as a boa con-
strictor with two heads (Villa Posse 1993: 250-251). According to local lore, the
cotomachaco would position itself with one head in the trees, in order to catch
monkeys, and the other on the ground, to eat whatever else walked by. Within the
spirit pantheon of the Quijos and Canelos Quichua of the northern Ecuadorian
montana zone, there exists a similar creature known as the "juri-juri," which is
described as a small though dangerous furry brown monster with two faces. The
juri-juri is understood by the Quichua to be a spirit of the land, or of the local
place. As in the case of the cotomachaco, the juri-juri is noted as having a special
relationship with monkeys (Whitten 1976: 41).
Whitten (1976: 41), who has worked among the Canelos Quichua for nearly
three decades, explains that "Some say that the juri-juri is the Master of monkeys;
348 Tamara L. Bray

others disagree. Some say it always lives nearby, under all the hills; others place it
at a distance, on hilltops that are dangerous because they abut with other territo-
ries. Everyone agrees, though, that it has two faces, and that each face is both male
and female. It eats monkeys with its front face, and people with the one in back."
He notes, too, that when the Canelos go off to hunt monkeys in special territories,
they are always gravely concerned about the possibility of juri-juri attacks.
According to Whitten, the juri-juri is considered both a link between different
ethnic territories and a representation of the dangers that such linkages entail. The
juri-juri figures prominently in the conquest of new hunting territories and the even-
tual conversion of these into residential zones. The opening of new territories was a
task that traditionally fell only to the most powerful of shamans. It involved the
subjugation of the local spirits of the foreign land, the resident juri-juris, and was
undertaken with the aid of hallucinogenic drugs. New territories thus established
became sacred to community members and were often delineated by large stones
which served as boundary markers (Whitten 1976: 152,238). Many such stones evi-
denced depressions in which the shamans were said to have mixed the hallucino-
genic drugs used in their battle with the juri-juris (Whitten 1976: 43). Such stones
served both as territorial markers and as the embodiment of local historical memory
for the Quichua. The same phenomenon with regard to the use of carved stones to
demarcate ethnic boundaries is seen among other Amazonian groups such as the
Piro and the Campa of the Upper Ucayali as well (Alvarez Lobo 1984: 33-34).
There are various indications that the use of carved stone monuments as
sociopolitical boundary markers was also a common practice in the Carchi-
Narifio region. Rappaport (1988: 96-97) reports that a petroglyph found on Cerro
de Maquines probably formed part of a boundary between the districts of Cumbal
and Cuaspud in the Colonial era. As she and others (Groot and Hooykas 1991: 83;
Rodriguez 1992: 81) have noted, the petroglyph on Cerro de Maquines contains
images quite similar to those found on Tuza pottery from this region. Archival
research in southern Colombia suggests that important frontiers in the Pasto
region were often marked by stone monuments, some of which had names
and others which exhibited carved imagery (Rappaport 1988: 97). Colonial era
caciques, or local lords, regularly referenced these markers in legal documents
asserting or defending the traditional limits of their authority and influence, a
practice that was probably precolumbian in origin (Rappaport 1992: 223).
CONCLUSION
The mythic traditions of the native peoples of the northern Andean region
offer some insight into the symbolic significance of the imagery observed on the
late prehistoric period petroglyphs from the Pirnampiro district. The stories
describe a fearsome double-faced or double-headed creature, explicitly snake-like

in one manifestation, which is intimately linked to both monkeys and humans. In
particular, the juri-juri appears to symbolize both linkages between different eth-
nic territories and the danger that such connections with foreign "Others" entail
(Whitten 1976: 41). Embedded in the oral traditions surrounding the
cotomachaco and juri-juri are concerns about territorial conquest and defense,
oppositions between locals and foreigners, and ethnic boundary maintenance.
The correspondence between the oral traditions of ethnic groups occupying
the slopes and lowlands immediately east of the Carchi-Narifio region and the
iconography of the Shanshipampa petroglyphs suggests that the indigenous
peoples of these two macro-zones maintained close if equivocal connections. The
representation of a bicephalic creature in association with monkeys on stone
monuments in the Pimampiro district suggests that these landscape features were
an important node in a regional system of visual communication that may have
articulated shared understandings about territoriality, ethnic difference, and social
identity. Both the content of the imagery and the context of its representation on
stone monuments convey a sense of ambivalence that perhaps reflected concerns
about the simultaneous necessity and danger of contact with foreign "Others."
Given the specific local and historical significance of Pimampiro as a purported
center of interregional exchange and zone of ethnic convergence during the late
prehistoric period, the imagery on these monuments and the stones themselves
may have served to materially represent both the bonds and the boundaries
between the different ethnic groups that converged upon this space.
As a form of material symbolization, rock art necessarily participates in a
wider system of cultural expression that is locally and historically situated (Soffer
and Conkey 1997). Once executed, rock art transforms the natural landscape into
a social one. From the point of its creation forward, these features continuously
reconstitute the landscape as a social one through the acts of observation, recog-
nition, and acknowledgement (Rosenfeld 1997). In this study, I have suggested
that there are systematic relations that link the images portrayed on the
Shanshipampa petroglyphs, the stones themselves, their locality, and certain local
oral traditions into a signifying set associated with beliefs about territoriality,
boundaries, ethnicity, identity, and notions of the foreign. Within the referential
context of social action that I have attempted to elucidate here, the production of
these petroglyphs may be understood as a specific form of material practice
intended to visually represent, physically commemorate, and actively maintain a
social memory of local history and inter-ethnic relations.
Acknowledgements
The Pirnampiro Archaeological Project has received financial support from
the National Science Foundation (Grant No. SB-9810477), the Wenner-
Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and Wayne State University.
350 Tamara L. Bray

The support of these institutions is gratefully acknowledged. Many Ecuadorian
people and institutions have also made this research possible. In particular I
would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of the Director of the
Department of Archaeology and other members of the Instituto Nacional de
Patrirnonio Cultural: Monica Bolanos, Marco Vargas, Rita Diaz and Cesar
Toapanta. The owner of the property on which much of the site of Shanshipampa
is located, Dona Yolanda Ceballos, her husband Don German Herrera and brother
Rodrigo Ceballos, have graciously permitted us to work on their land and also
have been generous supporters and facilitators of our investigations. I also would
like to thank the residents of Shanshipampa who have been extremely gracious
about accepting the small horde of archaeologists that has descended upon their
community for the past several years. In particular I wish to acknowledge the
friendship and assistance of the President of the community, Don Anibel Mera
and his family, and comuneros Don Pepe Chasiguano and his wife Gloria, Don
Reynaldo Frias and Dona Rosario Herrera, Dona Marcela Frias, Don Segundo
Diaz, and Don Mariano Cuasqui. Additionally, I would like to thank Cesar
Toapanta for his assistance in obtaining a photo of the gold pectoral from the
Central Bank and Frances-Marie Casevitz-Renard for providing me with infor-
mation on petroglyphs in the Amazonian region.
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Part IV
Conclusion
Chapter 12
Issues of Cultural Production
and Reproduction
This collection of essays examines a wide range of topics from a broad sample of
prehispanic Andean societies. Each essay reflects the reality of a state of knowl-
edge in archaeological research, as well as greater goals in anthropology and art
history. All share a concern with the materialization of culture, and what ques-
tions can and must be asked of the material remains available for study. Each
essay represents another step in increasing understandings of the Andean past,
supporting one another in an ever expanding dialogue of knowledge production.
Each reader will likely focus on different issues discussed by the essays, perceiv-
ing disparate questions that may now be addressed more cogently.
The chapters on Pucara (Chavez), Tiwanaku (Protzen and Nair) and Huari
(Ochatoma and Cabrera; Isbell and Cook) reveal multiple and important parts of
a great southern highland cultural tradition, out of which Inca culture eventually
arose. They mutually reinforce one another, making it possible to ask and at least
begin to answer new questions. If early Pucara culture was dominated by a bal-
anced female/male opposition in iconography, religion, and world view, as
Chavez's research implies, what does this mean for our understanding of the
Pucara-derived religious iconography that was shared by Tiwanaku and Huari?
Especially, what can now be suggested about the staff god, and the popular iden-
tification of this prominent Middle Horizon figure with the Inca creator god
Viracocha? And how does the description of Conchopata mortuary practices pro-
vide for a better understanding of the meaning of death and ancestors in
Tiwanaku and earlier Pucara society? Our new knowledge about the Middle
Horizon helps resolve questions about Inca ancestor worship and the antiquity
and meaning of founder mummies.
357
358 Helaine Silverman and William H. IsbeU

The papers on Paracas and Nasca (Silvennan; Johnson, Proulx, and Mabee)
provide new infonnation about and analyses of a south coastal tradition with pro-
found implications. Who were the creators of the mythical themes so carefully
depicted in certain Paracas textiles and Nasca pots? Why were different media
employed at different times; was it really an issue of labor? Could such religious
images travel between cultural groups and, ifso, what does this tell us about culture,
cultural identity, and social boundaries? What role did mythical iconography and the
existence of subterranean water flows play in world view? These questions now can
be asked, and partially answered, because south coast archaeology has advanced
significantly from its traditional seriational concerns of only a few decades ago.
Moche has been the Andean culture most thoroughly investigated and pub-
lished in the past decade or two. Given the attention paid by others to Moche pot-
tery, it is exciting to now have such a novel and unanticipated interpretation of an
almost unnoticed aspect of Moche art as in Margaret Jackson's study. Jackson
demonstrates that representational art was an essential component of Moche daily
life. Craftspeople, apparently working as retainers of palace royalty, employed
codified cultural concepts in abbreviated representations approaching writing.
But there was no stimulus for taking the final step to writing in a world where the
fonnal concepts communicated by art represented dramatizations that sanctioned
status and social differ~nce.
This volume's coverage is taken by von Hagen to the lush eastern slopes
of the Andes, an area whose residents were engaged with yet very different
from those of the Central Andean core, as usually conceived. Late prehispanic
Chachapoya art has traces of Moche in it, and it may eventually provide a bridge
between ethnohistoric descriptions and early graphic representations of Moche,
Vicus, Recuay, and other northern cultures. In the meantime, von Hagen's
description of a virtually unknown Chachapoya iconography and style is tremen-
dously important and raises many questions such as how this art relates to
mummies and ancestors. As studies of other material remains from Laguna de los
C6ndores are completed (e.g., Urton 2001), an integrated understanding of
multiple domains of art and artifacts will provide a vastly more satisfying picture
of the ancient Chachapoya societies.
Research in Ecuador, in the north Andes, is presented in Bray's study of
Pimampiro rock art and Grieder et a1.'s discussion of ceramic variation at
Challuabamba. Both refer to human universals: Grieder et a1. to symbols, Bray to
boundary creation and boundary marking. The authors raise exciting issues with
relevance for many other cultures and times, Andean and non-Andean. Bray
reveals iconography that shares curious features with many other Andean images,
something yet to be explained. Grieder et al. address the issue of social difference
and how material culture enhances importance and power, another issue of broad
concern. Did dualistic, universal symbols, manipulated in quotidian objects such
as pottery, really playa key role in producing social difference?
Issues of Cultural Production and Reproduction

Materiality and the Production and Reproduction of
Culture and Society
359
Today, archaeologists and art historians alike emphasize the importance of

the material in the production and reproduction of culture and society. Correctly,
they are dissatisfied with old classificatory approaches that, for instance, traced
Moche culture by the geographical distribution of bichrome painting and mold-
made stirrup-spout bottles, and Nasca culture by the geographical distribution of
slip painted polychrome double-spout-and-bridge bottles.
From an art historical perspective, Kubler (1985: 387) has cautioned that
"repetitive simulations, as by works of art in the same class, induce a spatializa-
tion, or illusion of coherent surface, which some of us call style." Style is an
analysis that imposes order by favoring the synchronic over the diachronic and
density over variation. This view obscures the dynamics of human culture-how
structure, agency, practice, and materialization relate to stability and change in
culture and society. Kubler (1985: 388) cautions that: "I. Similar actions by the
same agent cannot occupy the same time.... 2. No one agent can perform the
same action more than once without ageing. 3. Actions can only be similar but
not identical, being different as to agent, or as to time, or as to location [and, we
would add, or as to actual performance, see 4]. 4. Actions repeatedly undergo
change. 5. The agent changes with each repeated action." Moreover, with regard
to the last point, as Kubler (1985: 388) recognizes, there is no such thing as a
single agent for not only does an individual have multiple identities but, we would
add, agents as people always exist in a social world of relations (see Varela and
Harre 1996 for a general theoretical statement on the inherent social quality of
human agency).
Archaeological cultures should be thought of as the dynamic social creations
of the people who made and used the material remains that we, the archaeolo-
gists, have made diagnostic. Archaeological cultures should be understood as tra-
ditions in a situation of negotiated balance (see Pauketat 2001: 12). Adapting
Kubler's (1985: 389) view of style, we regard archaeological societies as histori-
cal configurations that "are neither perpetual nor in random change. Being in
change, however, their identity is in doubt at every instant." They are always in
the process of becoming. The dynamic concept of historical configuration is a
recognition of contingency, the fact that a society "drags" into the present its his-
tory of prior events that also, to some degree, shape the potential for future action.
The conceptualization of societies as historical configurations is especially potent
for discussions of how societies become complex because it underscores their
lability and constant (whether slow or fast) change. It is this intersection of con-
tingency and potential in the long term and practical stability or doxaJorthodoxy
in the short term (Pauketat 2001) that is most relevant to our present discussion.
What archaeologists perceive and construct as traditions (or archaeological

cultures) are the materialized outcomes of socially and experientially sanctioned
daily practice over time in multiple domains and scales.
Tradition necessarily implicates issues of identity. To recognize identity (or
to create it) in the archaeological record, the archaeologist imposes a homogene-
ity or standardization on the ancient society that did not exist in the past, most
especially not in complex societies. Flow, historical contingency, change, multi-
ple and shifting identities, and continuous transformations are the conditions of
all human and social life, animated by the agency and practice of the members of
society. These processes may be fast or slow over time and, indeed, may be hap-
pening simultaneously at differential rates and in geographically, socially, ritu-
ally, and economically differentiated space. As Lightfoot (2001: 239) indicates,
the study of culture change is really one of continuous flow rather than punctu-
ated equilibria, and one of the most important tasks facing archaeologists is
"accounting for persistent culture practices and not taking them for granted."
Understanding ancient societies as dynamic processes of negotiation and
materialization is an important goal for Andeanists, but this knowledge proceeds
gradually and is the result of many smaller contributions. For instance, intentional
variation in representing Pucara religious ideology could not be recognized by
archaeologists until the important iconic themes and motifs were defined, and
normative expectations determined. We could not begin to recognize the creative
negotiation of status difference during the Middle Horizon using mortuary prac-
tice before the traditional patterns were defined. We will not be able to make
inferences about the dynamics and materializations of cultural boundary produc-
tion and transgression in the Nazca-lea-Paracas interaction sphere until the prove-
nience of key artifacts is resolved.
The Materiality of Memory, Marking, and Meaning
Max Uhle firmly established the temporal and spatial order of Peru's pre-
history using pottery as the diagnostic building block because of its stylistic (for-
mal, iconographic) variability. But, we must ask why pottery was so elaborated in
so many ancient Peruvian societies. Why did pottery-a cheap medium compared
to textiles and metals-become a prominent vehicle of ethnic, class, and ritual dis-
play? For instance, citing other studies of pottery making in sub-Saharan Africa
and his own ethnographic work among the Dowayo, Gosselain (1999: 205) notes
the "symbolic prominence of pottery" and questions "why African people specif-
ically chose pottery making as a way to act upon/explain the world and why the
activity is connected to specific realms of the human experience ... becoming the
locus of a symbolic discourse." While we cannot achieve an ethnographic answer,
as Gosselain has, it is nevertheless important to problematize pottery's materiality.
Thus, Pauketat (2001: 6) argues that "a pot and its symbolism are themselves
negotiations. As put into practice, they are the process of cultural construction."
Issues of Cultural Production and Reproduction 361

Similarly, many scholars have emphasized the importance of textiles in the
ancient Andean world as markers of ethnic identity and as signs of elite status
owing to their conspicuous consumption of human labor and their reiterative
embroidered or woven symbols of the control of this human labor and of the
supernatural forces legitimating that control (e.g., Murra 1989; Paul 1990). Also,
through the very cha/line operatoire of textile manufacture, beliefs about cos-
mology, social organization, kinship, and gender and age roles were expressed
and created (Cereceda 1978; Conklin 1997; Medlin 1984; Zorn 1984). It is not an
exaggeration to say that in some archaeological and traditional societies, social
life was woven and worn into existence (Hendrickson 1995). That women were
(probably) the primary producers of textiles is a matter still requiring study.
Memory is the basis of history. In nonliterate societies, such as those of the
Andes, history must be materialized in objects and landscape, performed
mnemonically with and upon them. Pots, textiles, and other sumptuary craft
goods ultimately conform to Connerton's (1989: 87) description of memory-
bearing, action-enabling symbolic capital. That which is possessed "cannot be
managed by leading a life independently of the specific demands of what is
possessed ... and ... is not independent of the past context in which it was
acquired." The imagery on iconographically elaborated objects-unless utterly
original (as with foreign exotica)-must have deliberately evoked memories of
the human and supernatural past while being physically and symbolically manip-
ulated in the present for the future. Multivocal, multivalent objects were vital in
cultural production and reproduction, even when laid to rest in burials (for at the
grave site rites of commemoration as well as religious rituals surely occurred).
Landscapes and built environments create community, identity, and memory
(Gow 1995; Isbell 2000; Joyce 2000; Lawrence and Low 1990). Inca Cuzco is an
extreme example with its legendary Chanca war and virtually every other "historic"
event mapped into stones, springs, and hills about the city, and celebrated each year
according to a rigid ritual calendar (Bauer 1998; Rowe 1946, 1967, 1985; Zuidema
1964, 1986, 1993). Huari cities had different but equally distinctive designs (Isbell
1991). We can only speculate about the memory materialized in the spectacular
gateways of Tiwanaku. Although we will never be fully informed observers, thick
description takes us step-by-step closer, providing formal details, number of gate-
ways, precision of workmanship, and preliminary hints about location, associated
forms, and original iconographic compositions. Powerful memories and meaning
were being created with the Conchopata D-shape, duplicated in iconography and
architecture. But this form must have been in negotiation for it was associated with
the new Tiwanakoid iconography, new depictions of elite warriors, and other
changes taking place in Conchopata and Huari society. Other precolumbian Andean
societies, as well, created characteristic architectural forms (Moore 1996a,b).
The landscape was inscribed with memory and meaning and it was produced
through embodied performance, representation, and re-presentation. Andean

peoples' territoriality was a "mental map of social groups attached to place-
deities and localized ancestors ... Immense huaca-studded spaces of canyons
and high tundra, fields and trails, embodied an Andean world view" (Salomon
1991: 23). But it is important to recognize that "different social segments, each
with a different past, will have different memories attached to the different men-
tal landmarks characteristic of the group in question" (Connerton 1989: 37). The
experience of place was not uniform, nor were meanings unambiguously associ-
ated with symbols. While creating identity and meaning, the materializations of
memory also were resources for action. Indeed, the very existence of factions,
communities, and other kinds of social groups may explain the apparently driving
human need to mark the landscape.
In the Andes the visible world was alive with supernatural beings, sacralized
mountains, lakes, springs, irrigation canals, boulders and caves, numina-lodging
objects, and anthropomorphized forces of nature. This world of huacas was gen-
dered and based on social relations. It also was temporalized, with time and
space/place being inseparably bound as pacha (see Salomon 1991: 14). It was an
integrated world with a well articulated body of philosophical principles and val-
ues that ordered and was ordered by "a continuous attempt to maintain balance,
harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of commu-
nity life" (Urton 1997). With many visible markers-natural and manmade-the
Andean landscape was a macro-scale text. To borrow Lynch's (1988) concept,
the Andean textualization of space created a legible landscape for informed
occupants.
This collection of essays on art and landscape provides a new source of
information for understanding the dynamics of culture, cultural production, and
culture change in the Andean past. The essays offer contributions and break-
throughs for Andean archaeology and art history whose full value will only
become apparent when they are incorporated into general discourse about the
Andean past. We hope that this volume will stimulate many new field projects and
foment theoretical advances in thinking about and investigating the materializa-
tion of ancient Andean cultures, for a new vision of archaeological culture is
emerging.
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Index
Aja Fault, 321, 322

Aja River, 321
Akapana Gateway, 201, 202, 203
Alarcon Phase dates
Conchopata, Middle Horizon, 295-296
Alphabetic writing
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru), 129-130
American Formative way of life, 174
Andean art, generally
early interest in, 5-8
material culture approach, 10
recent approaches, 8-I2
Andean art and society
Chachapoya iconography, 29-30, 137-155
introduction, 23-34
Moche pottery, 107-135
Paracas Necropolis, 71-105
Pucara ceramic art, 26-27, 35-69
Angrand, Leonce, 193
Gateway of the Moon, 216
"Little Pumapunku," 210, 2ll, 213, 218, 220
Anticephaloid architraves, 207-208
Anuje,149
Architecture
Architraves
anticephaloid,207-208
curved, 205, 207
Archives, compilation of, 25
Arqueologia del Valle de Casma (Tello), 7

Arte y Tesoros del Peru (Banco de Credito del
Peru), 8, 24
Atarco Fault, 315, 325-326
Aveni, Anthony, 308
Avenida del Ejercito
Ayacucho Valley, 185, 239, 249, 252, 297
Azadas, 278
Azuay Province, 157
Bamboo containers
Chachapoyaiconography, 145,146,149
Banco de Credito del Peru
Arte y Tesoros del Peru, 8, 24
Bat, head
Challuabamba pottery, 166
Bellinger, Louisa, 74, 92
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 193
Bird
attendant, floating, 266
Guanaco and Bird Motif
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 55-56,
57
realistic, 266
Bird, Junius, 74, 92
Bird-monkey forms, 340
Bird Priest, 3
Birth bowl, Moche pottery, 121,122
365
366
Blind miniature gateways, Tiwanaku, 193, 209
Block Color style
Brooklyn Museum Textile, 84-85
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum Textile, 87
Paracas Necropolis textiles, 28, 75, 83, 87-
88, 97
BMT: see Brooklyn Museum Textile
Borja, Antonio, 336
Bottles, Moche
painted vessel assemblages, /25
pictorial notations, mold inscriptions, 121,
/24
Bray, Tamara L., 186, 333-354
Brown agouti, 149, 153n. 4
Buck, Fritz, 218
Burial: see Mortuary practices
Burnished Black pottery, 159, 161, 163, /65,
166, /67, 172-174
Cabildo Gravelot, 93-98

Cabrera Romero, Martha, 184,225-247, 258,
261,263
Cahuachi, Nasca textiles, 76, 97
California, University of at Los Angeles
Fowler Museum of Culture History, 25
Callej6n de Huaylas, 150
Camelid burial
D-shaped temple, Conchopata, 229
Camelid woman, Pucara ceramic art
Camelid Motif, 44, 48
economic aspect, 64
face markings, 44
feline-headed snakes, 56
flowering or non-flowering state, plant motif,
47
generally, 39
geometric designs, 62
heads, 43, 44
iconology, 60-67
identification of, 40, 41-48
necklace, 46
Owl Motif, 45, 49, 63
pedestal-base bowls, 4/-44
plant motif, 47
portrayal of personage, 63
Rayed Head Motif, 44, 48-49
related motifs and designs, 48-50
theme, 4/, 42
Capulf style, 343
Index
Carchi-Nariiio region, 342, 344, 347, 349

Carrillo, Antonio, 157-177
Carri6n Cachot, Rebeca, 7
Castelnau, Francis de, 216
Castillo, Luis Jaime, 9
Castro, Rossel, 308
Central Andes
art styles, 29
Formative Period pottery, 30-31
Ceramic iconography, Conchopata D-shaped
temple, 238-244; See also Pottery
anthropomorphic themes, 242
conical base jar, 235, 236
feline heads, 239, 24/
Front Face Staff God, 239, 246
gods and mythological beings, 239-240
Nasca-like motifs, 243-244
oversize urns, decorations on rims, 242
standing warriors, 232
warriors, 240-243
warriors kneeling in reed boats, 23/, 297
winged attendants, 240
Cerro Aja, 312, 3/3, 319-322, 329
fault, 319,320
groundwater flow, 32/
Cerro Colorado, 313, 316, 317, 327-328
Cerro Mayal, Peru
location of, 109
emergent writing, 129-130
mold inscriptions, 111-127
mold technology, 110-111
occupational literacy, 127-129
overview, 108-110
Chachapoya iconography, 29-30, 137-155
bamboo containers, 145, /46, 149
burial sites, 141-143
circular stone houses, 139
entradas, 135
feline iconography, 144-145, /46
gourds, 144, 145, /46, 148, 149
Inca conquest, 140-141
interiors, 139-140
Laguna de los C6ndores, Peru, 29-30, 137-
155, 358
chullpas, 141-143, /44, 150
feathered headdress, /5/
Llaqtacocha, 142
map of cultural area, /36
mortuary practices, burial sites, 141-143
Index
Chachapoya iconography (cont.)
pyroengraved profile feline on hollow
bamboo container, 146
related imagery, 145-149
rollout of pyroengraved gourd from
Chullpal, 144
settlements, 139-140
tombs, 142
unku, 145-148, 147, 148
Chakipampa mesa
Conchopata, Middle Horizon, 289
Challuabamba, 157-177
pottery, 159-163, 358
bat, head, 166
chief's house, 167-172
content, 172-175
cosmological symbolism, 164-167
Cuts I, 2 and 3, 169
Cut 4, /70, 171
Cut 5,171
effigy jar, 167
firing practices, 164
medium, 172-175
oxidized wares, 165
percentages of each type by level, 163
periods and types, 162
political ideology, 172-175
rims, number of, 163
stamps, seals, and ceramic cup sherds, 168
radiocarbon samples, 161
trench wall, 160
Chapi, 336-337
Chauchilla River, 324, 325
Chavez, Karen Mohr, 24, 35-36, 66-67, 357
Chavez, Sergio J., 24
Pucara ceramic art, themes, 26-27, 35-69
Chavez Ball6n, Manual, 35-36
Chavin, 149, 345
Pucara ceramic art, 37
Chav[n (Tello), 7
Chief's house
Challuabamba pottery, 167-172
Chota-Mira river, 334, 335-336
Chullpas
Laguna de los C6ndores, Peru, 141-143, 144,
150
Cieza de Leon, Pedro, 217, 221
Civic center
Conchopata, Middle Horizon, 254, 289-290
Cleveland Museum of Art Textile, 92-93
367
CMAT: see Cleveland Museum of Art Textile

Cobo, Bernabe, 217
Colgate University, Departments of
Anthropology and Astronomy, 308
Composite blind miniature gateways,
Tiwanaku, 208, 209, 210
Conchopata
airport, 257
archaeological zone, 255
D-shaped temple, 184, 225-247, 361
ceramic iconography, 238-244
ceremonial building, 228-238
Sector B, archaeological research, 226-228
Huari, development of, 184-185
location of, 226
map of, 253
oversize ceramic offering, 255
perimeter walls, 254
Middle Horizon, 249-305
Alarcon Phase dates, 295-296
architecture, 288-296
Avenida del Ejercito, 288-289
Chakipampa mesa, 289
chronology for, 256
civic center, 254, 289-290
history of investigations, 256-259
mortuary practices, 280-288, 298
oversize ceramic offering tradition, 259-
277
palace compounds, 292-295
Pink Plaza, 291-292
pottery production, 277-280
Robles Moqo Style, 251, 256
spatial organization, 288-296
White Courtyard, 291-292
oversize ceramic offering, 259-277
bird, realistic, 266
decorated urn, 274
excavation of room EA-36, 270
face-neck jars, 259, 26/, 264, 271-273
face urn, 268
floating bird attendant, 266
floating feline attendant, 265
front-face diety, 265
map showing, 255
1977 OCO Type IB, 261, 263, 264
1997/98 OCO Type 2, 263
1999A OCO Type 2, 263, 265, 266
1999B OCO Type lA, 264, 267, 267, 268,
269
368
Conchopata (cont.)
oversize ceramic offering (cont.)
1999C OCO Type 4, 267
1942 oeD Type lA, 255, 262-263
OCO Type I, 260
OCO Type 2, 260, 261
OCO Type 3, 262
OCO Type 4, 262
2000A OCO Type IB, 267-268
2000B OeD Type IB, 268-269, 272, 273
2000C OCO Type 3, 269, 274
2000D OCO Type 3, 269-270, 275
200IA OCO Type 3, 270-271, 276
200IB OCO Type 3, 271-277
types of, 259, 260
urns, 259, 261
warriors in boats, 275
woman nursing spotted feline, 267
perimeter walls, 254
Conchopata Style, 251
Conklin, William 1., 93-94, 182, 192,207-208
Cook, Anita G., 184-185,239,240,249-305
Cordy-Collins, Alana, 9
Corporate styles, 10
Cotomachaco,347
Courty, Georges, 217
Crequi-Montfort, Georges de, 217
Crucifixion theme, 40
Cultural production and reproduction, 357-364
materiality, 359-362
Dawson, Lawrence, 85
D'Orbigny, Alcide Dessalines, 215
Desena people of Colombia, 152n. 2
Doig, Kauffmann, 8
Domingo Canepa of Pisco, 83
Donnan, Christopher B., 9, 10,25
Moche style, 28
Double chambered rattle, Moche pottery, 118,
119
Double-faced embroidery, 74
Drum, Nasca 2 pottery, 76
D-shaped temple, Conchopata, 184, 225-247,
361
ceramic iconography, 238-244
anthropomorphic themes, 242
feline heads, 239, 241
Front Face Staff God, 239, 246
gods and mythological beings, 239-240
Nasca-like motifs, 243-244
Index
D-shaped temple, Conchopata (cont.)

ceramic iconography (cont.)
oversize urns, decorations on rims, 242
warriors, 240-243
winged attendants, 240
ceremonial building, 228-238
architecture evidence, 238
camelid burial, 229
conical base jar, 235, 236
Front Face Deity heads, 230
human crania, 235
ritual camelid burial, 229
sample pottery, 236
solar clock, 234-235
standing warriors, pottery, 232
stratum C and D, 229
textile designs, 233
warriors kneeling in reed boats, pottery,
231,297
features 1-16, ceremonial building, 228-
237
Front Face Deity heads, 230
location of Conchopata, 226
Pink Patio, 292
Sector B, archaeological research, 226-228
burials, 227
residential unit, 227
White Courtyard, 292
Early Horizon, Pucara ceramic art, 37

Early Intermediate Period, 150
Early Nasca textiles: see Nasca textiles
Ecuadorian Highlands: see Northern Andean
Highlands
Effigy bowls
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 50-52
Effigy jar
Challuabamba pottery, 167
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art
male-headed effigy jar and bowls, 46
Electronic databases for art and artifacts, 26
Elite, Moche, 29
Emergent writing, Moche pottery (Cerro
Mayal, Peru), 129-130
Equatorial Andes, noble houses, 157-177; see
also Challuabamba
sites, 158
Escalante, Javier, 218
Escritono type stones, 2/1
Ethics, display of looted art, 25-26
Index
Face markings
Camelid woman, Pucara ceramic art, 44
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 51, 52
Face-neck jars, Conchopata, 259, 261, 271-273
Face urn, Conchopata, 268
Fanged Lizard, Moche pottery, 115
Farmer, James D., 157-177
Faults: see also specific fault
subterranean water resources, Rio Grande de
Nazca drainage, 315, 316, 319,320, 321,
322, 325-326
Feathered headdress, 151
Feline, spotted
oversize ceramic offering tradition,
Conchopata, 267
Feline attendant, floating
Conchopata, 265
Feline-headed snakes, 50, 54, 56
Feline heads
D-shaped temple, Conchopata, 239, 241
Feline iconography, Chachapoya, 144-145,146
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art
ceremonial/mythical component, 65-66
cream color for face, 52-53
effigy bowls, 50-52
face markings, 51, 52
facial hair, 51, 53
feline-headed snakes, 50, 54, 56
feline man pose, 64
feline motif, 56, 58, 60, 61
garments, 54
geometric designs, 59
goatee beard, 53
Guanaco and Bird Motif, 55-56, 57
hair, 51
iconology,60-67
identification of, 40, 50-54
male-headed effigy jar and bowls, 46
motifs and designs, 54-60
moustache, 53
mouth/lips, 51, 52
nose and protruding chin, 51
outflaring bowl, 47, 55
pedestal-base bowl, 47-49
political aspect, 64-65
profile, 53
related motifs and designs, 50-60
Severed Head Motif, 53, 54-55, 55-56, 61,
65,66
369
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art (cont.)

Winged Man Motif, 59, 62
zigzagging staff, 53
Feline motifs, female-related, 56, 57, 58, 58-
59
Floating bird attendant
Conchopata, 266
Floating feline attendant
Conchopata, 265
Flores, Benedicto, 256
Forrnative Period pottery, 30-31
Fowler Museum of Culture History, UCLA, 25
Frog Mold, Moche pottery, 117
Front Face Deity heads
Front Face Diety
Conchopata, 265
Front Face Staff God
Full-sized gateways, Tiwanaku, 193-208
miniature gateways compared, 213-215
Funerals: see Mortuary practices
Gateway of the Moon, Tiwanaku, 191, 193,

204-205
location of, 216-217
Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, 191, 193, 195,
196-201,203-204,221
Gateways, Tiwanaku
anticephaloid architraves, 207-208
comparison, 203-204
curved architraves, 205, 207
full-sized gateways, 193-208
miniature gateways, compared, 208-213
Gateway I (Pumapunku), 195, 196, 197, 203
Gateway II (Pumapunku), 194, 195-196,197
Gateway III, 204, 214
Gateway III (Pumapunku), 194, 204, 206,
214
Gateway IV (Pumapunku), 196
Gateway A, 210-213, 214
Gateway of the Moon, 191, 193, 204-205
Gateway of the Sun, 191, 193, 195, 196-201,
203-204, 221
370
Gateways, Tiwanaku (cont.)
Gateway of the Sun (cont.)
half-scale gateways, 218
miniature gateways, 208-213
full-sized gateways, compared, 208-213
Pumapunku, 189, 193, 195-196,219
Sandstone Gateway, 205
signific".nce of, 191-193
Gateway~,of Pumapunku, 189, 193, 195-196,219
GEM: see Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
GEMT: see Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
Textile
Geoglyphs and subterranean water resources,
Rio Grande de Nazca drainage, 307-
332, 312, 314, 322-324
archaeological analysis, 317-318
Cerro Aja, 312, 313, 319-322, 329
Cerro Colorado, 313, 316, 317, 327-328
faults, 315, 316, 319,320, 321, 322, 325-326
geological mapping, 316-317
geophysical analysis, 318
hypothesis, new, 309-312
conceptual model to explain, 328-329
development of, 309-312
methodology, 315-319
regional map of drainage, 311
results, 319-328
Schreiber-Lancho Rojas model, 310
study areas, 312-315
surveying, 318
testing hypothesis, 312-319
water sampling program, 319
surveying, 318
Usaca, 313, 324-327
Geometric Snake motif, /24
Gold
Conchopata, artifacts, 287
ornaments, Popayan region of Colombia,
340
Gold pectoral, 344
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
other textile, 90, 91
Index
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum Textile, 86-

89
Gourds, Chachapoya iconography, 144, 145,
146, 148, 149
Gran Pajaten, 150
Grieder, Terence, 30-31, 157-177,358
Groundwater: see Subterranean water
resources, Rio Grande de Nazca
drainage
Guanaco and Bird Motif
feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 55-56, 57
Haeberli Panpipe, 75, 85, 90

Haenke, Thaddaus, 215
Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 35
Hawkins, Gerald, 307
Helsinki Panpipe, 81, 81-82, 85
Hill, David w., 159
Huaca de la Luna
massacre, 3
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru), 128
Huachalla, Marcelino, 216
Huamanga Basin, 252
Huari,4
Middle Horizon
chronology, 251
map of spheres, 250
mortuary practices, 281
Huayna Capac, 186
Iconography: see Ceramic iconography,
Conchopata D-shaped temple;
Chachapoya iconography
Illegal antiquities, publication of, 25-26
Inca conquest of Chachapoya, 140-141
Isbell, William H., 3-20, 23-34, 181-188,239,
249-305, 258, 357-364
Jackson, Margaret A., 4, 107-135, 358

Moche art, 29
Jequetepeque drainage, 149
Jequetepeque Valley, 3
Johnson, David w., 307-332
Jones, Bradford M., 157-177
Juri-juri, 347-348
Kantatayita, 216
Kaulicke, Peter, 9
Kidder, Alfred II, 26
Kosok, Paul, 307
Index
Kroeber, A. L., 72
Kubler, George, 23
Kuntur Wasi, 149
Laguna de los C6ndores, Peru

Chachapoya iconography, 29-30, 137-155,
358
chullpas, 141-143,144, 150
feathered headdress, 151
Lake Titicaca, 189, 249
Lake Titicaca Basin, map of, 36
Lambayeque Valley, 3
La Mesa, 340, 341, 345, 346
Landscapes
Conchopata
D-shaped temple, 225-247
Middle Horizon, 249-305
introduction, 181-188
materiality, 361-362
Northern Andean Highlands, 186, 333-354
Rio Grande de Nazca drainage, geoglyphs
and subterranean water resources, 307-
332
Tiwanaku, 183, 189-223
Late Horizon, Gran Pajaten, 150
Leon, Carlos Williams, 182
"Little Pumapunku," 210, 2Il, 213, 218, 220
L1aqtacocha, 142
Looted art, 93-94
Conchopata, tombs, 284
ethical issues in display and publication, 25-
26
Los Dioses del Antiguo Peru, 9
Lukurmata, 249
Lumbreras, Luis G., 257
Mabee, Stephen B., 307-332

Maijo Grande, 3Il, 318
Makowski, Krzysztof, 8-9
Marking
face markings
materiality and, 360-362
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru)
mold inscriptions, register marks, 116-117
Massacre at Huaca de la Luna, 3
Materiality, cultural production and
reproduction, 10, 359-362
McClelland, Donna, 9, 10
371
McEwan, Gordon, 182

Mejia Xesspe, Toribio, 307, 308
Menzel, Dorothy, 251, 256, 262, 274
Middendorf, Ernst w., 216
Middle Formative Period, 174
Middle Grande Valley, Nasca 2 textiles, 95, 96
Middle Horizon
archives, 25
Conchopata, 249-305; see also Conchopata
Miniature gateways, Tiwanaku, 208-213
Angrand, Leonce, 210
blind miniature gateways, 193, 209
composite blind miniature gateways, 208,
209,210
context of, 212-213
Escritono type stones, 2/1
full-sized gateways compared, 213-215
Gateway A, 210-212
monolithic miniature gateways, 210-212
niche icons, 212
open composite miniature gateways, 210
Miranda, Gregorio Cordero, 207
Mission Scientifique Fran~aise 11 Tiahunacao,
217
Moche graves, 3
Moche painters, 10
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru), 107-135
emergent writing, 129-130
hand modeling, 107
imagery, 11 0
mold inscriptions, 111-127
Fanged Lizard, Il5
Frog Mold, Il7
interior imagery, 112, Il3
pictorial alignments, 111-116
pictorial notations, 117-127
register marks, 116-117
Snarling Fox, /15
Wrinkle-Face Whistler mold, 112, Il4
mold technology, 1I0-111
occupational literacy, 127-129
pictorial alignments, mold inscriptions, 111-
116
pictorial notations, mold inscriptions, 117-
127, 126, 126-127
birth bowl, 121, 122
bottle production, 121, 124
bottles with painted vessel assemblages,
125
double chambered rattle, 118, /19
372
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru) (cont.)
pictorial notations, mold inscriptions (cont.)
face stamp molds, 126, 126-127
Geometric Snake motif, 124
rattle inscription, 123
rattle player, 118, JI9-120
register marks, mold inscriptions, 116-117
Moche style, 28-29
Moche war clubs, 128
Mold inscriptions, Moche pottery: see Moche
pottery
Monkeys, rock art, 340, 347-348
bird-monkey forms, 340
Piartal pottery, 341-344, 343
Monolithic miniature gateways, Tiwanaku,
210-212
Mortuary practices
camelid burial, D-shaped temple,
Conchopata, 229
Chachapoya iconography, burial sites, 141-
143
Conchopata, Middle Horizon, 280-288, 298
burial type 1,282,283
burial type 2, 282, 283
burial type 4, 282, 283, 284-285
burial type 5, 283, 285-287
burial type 5b, 285-287, 286
burial type 7, 283, 287-288
gold artifacts, 287
niched halls, 281
pregnant woman skeleton, 284
Moseley, Michael E., 10
Mummy Bundle, 38
Nasca 2 textiles, 83, 85
Mummy Bundle 89
Paracas Necropolis textiles, 82
Museo Nacional de Antropologia y
Arqueologia, 262
Museum fur VOkerkunde, 6
Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador in
Quito, 344
Nair, Stella, 183-184, 189-223

Nasca pottery
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum Textile,
similarities, 88
Nasca I, 74
Helsinki Panpipe, 81, 81-82, 85
Index
Nasca pottery (cont.)

Nasca (cont.)
Paracas Necropolis textiles, comparison,
78,80-83
Nasca 1-3, similarities with Goteborgs
Etnografiska Museum Textile, 88
Nasca 2
drum, 76
Haeberli Panpipe, 75, 85, 90
Nasca 3, 101
Nasca society, 25
Nasca textiles, 358
Cahuachi,76
double-faced embroidery, 74
early Nasca textile tradition, 98-100
embroidered textiles, 99
flounces and borders, 99
similarities, 88
Nasca 2, 83-98
Cabildo Gravelot, 93-98
Mummy Bundle 38, 83, 85
painted cotton ceremonial cloth, 93
sites with Nasca 2 occupations in Middle
Grande Valley, 95, 96
Nasca 3, 73, 98, 101
painted cotton textiles, 99
Paracas Necropolis, differentiating, 71-105
Nativity theme, 40
Nazca Fault, 315, 325-326
Nazca River, 327
Nazca Valley, 322
NOble houses, Equatorial Andes, 157-177; see
also Challuabamba
Northern Andean Highlands, rock art, 186,
333-354, 358
ethnohistory, 333-337
geographical context, 333-337
historical contest, 333-337
myths and, 346-348
petroglyphs, 337-341
Pimampiro district, 333-334, 335, 346, 349,
358
regional iconography, 341-346
Obsidian, Pucara ceramic art, 37

Occupational literacy
Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal, Peru), 127-
129
Ocelot, 149, 153n. 6
Index
Ochatoma Paravicino, Jose, 184, 225-247,
258, 261, 263
Open composite miniature gateways,
Tiwanaku, 210
Orcona, 312, 314, 322-324
Orcona Lineament, 323-324
Oriente, 334
Oversize ceramic offering tradition,
Conchopata, 259-277
bird, realistic, 266
decorated urn, 274
excavation of room EA-36, 270
face-neck jars, 259, 261, 264, 271-273
face urn, 268
floating bird attendant, 266
floating feline attendant, 265
front-face diety, 265
map, 255
1977 OCO Type IB, 261, 263, 264
1997/98 OCO Type 2, 263
1999A OCO Type 2, 263, 265, 266
1mB aco Type IA, 264, 267, 267, 268, 269
1999C aco Type 4, 267
1942 aco Type lA, 255, 262-263
OCO Type I, 260
aco Type 2, 260, 261
OCO Type 3, 262
aco Type 4, 262
2000A OCO Type lB, 267-268
2000B OCO Type lB, 268-269, 272, 273
2000c oeo Type 3, 269, 274
2000D aco Type 3, 269-270, 275
200iA aco Type 3, 270-271, 276
200lB aco Type 3, 271-277
types of, 259, 260
urns, 259, 261
warriors in boats, 275
woman nursing spotted feline, 267
Oversize urns, decorations on rims
Owl Motif
Camelid woman, Pucara ceramic art, 45, 49, 63
Painted cotton ceremonial cloth

Nasca 2 textile, 93
Palace compounds
Pampa de San Jose, markings: see Geoglyphs
and subterranean water resources, RIO
Grande de Nazca drainage
373
Panion, Tonya, 314

Paracas. Primera Parte (Tello), 7
Paracas altar cloth, 92
Paracas Fabrics and Nazca Needlework (Bird
and Bellinger), 74
Paracas Necropolis textiles, 28, 71-105, 358
Block Color style, 28, 75, 83, 87-88, 97
Brooklyn Museum Textile, similarity
between border imagery, 85
differentiating from early Nasca, 71-105
similarities, 87
Mummy Bundle 89, 82
Nasca 1 pottery, comparison, 78, 80-83
Paracas Peninsula, 89
Paracas studies, 27
Paste groups, Pucara ceramic art, 38
Peabody Museum, Harvard, 35
Pefia de Ocucaje, 80
Perez, Ismael, 258
Peruvian School, 6-7
Petroglyphs, Northern Andean Highlands, 337-
341
Phoenicopterus chilensis
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 64
Piartal pottery, monkeys, 341-344, 343
Pictorial alignments, mold inscriptions
Pictorial notations, mold inscriptions
birth bowl, 121, 122
bottle production, 121, 124
bottles with painted vessel assemblages,
125
double chambered rattle, 118, 119
face stamp molds, 126, 126-127
rattle inscription, /23
rattle player, 118, 119-120
Pimampiro Archaeological Project
petroglyphs, 337
Pimampiro district, 186, 333-334, 335, 346,
349, 358
Pink Plaza
Pit kilns
Plant motif
Polygamy, 185
374
Pontificia Universidad Cat61ica del Peru, 8-9
Posnansky, Arthur
full-sized gateways, 193
"Little Pumapunku," 210, 211, 213, 218, 220
Pumapunku, 196, 217
Pottery
Burnished Black, 159, 161, 163, 165, 166,
167, 172-174
Challuabamba, 159-163, 358
bat, head, 166
chief's house, 167-172
content, 172-175
cosmological symbolism, 164-167
Cuts I, 2 and 3, 169
Cut 4, 170, 171
Cut 5,171
effigy jar, 167
firing practices, 164
medium, 172-175
oxidized wares, 165
percentages of each type by level, 163
periods and types, 162
political ideology, 172-175
rims, number of, 163
stamps, seals, and ceramic cup sherds, 168
firing areas, 279
pit kilns, 279-280
D-shaped temple, Conchopata: see D-shaped
temple, Conchopata
Formative Period, 30-31
Moche: see Moche pottery (Cerro Mayal,
Peru)
Nasca I pottery, 74, 78, 80-83
Piartal, monkeys, 341-344, 343
Pucara: see Pucara ceramic art
Red-and-Black, 159, 161, 163, 172
Red-on-Cream, 159, 161, 163, 164
Pozzi-Escot, Denise, 258
Proto-writing, Moche pottery, 107-135
Proulx, Donald A., 307-332
Prozten, Jean-Pierre, 182, 183-184, 189-223
analysis, 38-40
Camelid woman: see Camelid woman,
Pucara ceramic art
Chavin,37
classification, 38-40
design, defined, 39
documentation, 38-40
Index
Pucara ceramic art (COni.)

element, defined, 39
Feline man: see Feline man, Pucara ceramic art
female, 39
iconography, 38
interpretation, 38-40
interpretive goals, 40
Lake Titicaca Basin, 36-37
map of, 36
male, 39
motif, 38-39
obsidian, 37
paste groups, 38
personage, 39
spatial contexts, 40
surface finish, 38
theme, defined, 39
vessel shapes, 38
Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition, 36-38, 66-
67
Pucara iconography, 24, 26
Pumapunku: see Gateways of Pumapunku
Pyroengraved profile feline on hollow bamboo
container, 146
Quebrada Atarco, 324

Quebrada Usaca, 313, 326
Rattle inscription, Moche pottery, 123

Rattle player, Moche pottery, 118, 119-120
Rayed Head Motif
Camelid woman, Pucara ceramic art, 44,
48-49
Real Alto, Valdivia site, 171, 172
Red-and-Black pottery, 159, 161, 163, 172
Red-on-Cream pottery, 159, 161, 163, 164
Register marks, mold inscriptions
Religious art, Conchopata, 249-305
Rio Abiseo National Park, 150
Rio Grande de Nazca drainage, 28, 73, 79
geoglyphs and subterranean water resources,
307-332; see also Subterranean water
resources, Rio Grande de Nazca
drainage
regional map, 311
Robles Moqo Style, 251, 256
Rock art, Northern Andean Highlands, 186,
333-354
ethnohistory, 333-337
Index
Rock art, Northern Andean Highlands (cant.)

geographical context, 333-337
historical contest, 333-337
myths and, 346-348
petroglyphs, 337-341
Pimampiro district, 333-334, 335, 346, 349,
358
regional iconography, 341-346
Rojas, Josue Lancho, 314
Room EA-36, excavation
Conchopata, 270
Rosero, Humberto, 345
Sandoval, Abelardo, 239

Sawyer, Alan R., 27-28, 79
Nasca 2 Cabildo Gravelot, 93-98
Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, 129-130
Semasiographic systems, 107
Senechal de la Grange, E., 217
Severed Head Motif
Feline man, Pucara ceramic art, 53, 54-55,
55-56, 61, 65, 66
Shanshipampa, 337, 338-339, 340, 344, 346,
349
Silva A Phase, 276
Silva Phase, 291
Silverman, Helaine, 3-20, 23-34, 181-188,
357-364
Siona people, 174
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 308
Snakes
feline-headed snakes, Pucara ceramic art, 50,
54, 56
Northern Andean Highlands, pottery, 345
Snarling Fox, Moche pottery, 115
Socos Valley, 322
Solar clock
D-shaped temple, Conchopata, 234-235
Spatial organization
Spatial patterning, 183
Standing warriors
Stierlin, Henri, 308
Stone-Miller, Rebecca, 182
Stiibel, Alphons
Gateway of the Sun, 198
"Little Pumapunku," 210, 211, 213, 218, 220
375
Stiibel, Alphons (cant.)

Museum fUr Vokerkunde, 6
Pumapunku, 193, 195-196
significance of gateways, 192
Subterranean water resources, Rio Grande de
Nazca drainage, 307-332, 312, 314,
322-324
Cerro Aja, 312, 313, 319-322, 329
Cerro Colorado, 313, 316, 317, 327-328
faults, 315, 316, 319, 320, 321, 322, 325-326
hypothesis, new, 309-312
conceptual model to explain, 328-329
development of, 309-312
methodology, 315-319
regional map of drainage, 311
results, 319-328
Schreiber-Lancho Rojas model, 310
study areas, 312-315
surveying, 318
testing hypothesis, 312-319
surveying, 318
Usaca, 313, 324-327
Sucre, Marshal Jose Antonio, 215
Tello, Julio C.
Aja Fault, 321
Arqueologfa del Valle de Casma, 7
Chavfn, 7
co-evolution, on, 9
Conchopata, 251, 256-257
civic center, 289
oversize ceramic offering tradition, 262
Paracas. Primera Parte, 7
Paracas treasures, 24, 71
Peruvian School, 6-7
Pucara ceramic art, 36
textiles excavated, 27
Textiles, 27-28
Cleveland Museum of Art Textile, 92-93
D-shaped temple, Conchopata
offering sherds, 233
376
Textiles (cont.)
Goteborgs Etnografiska Museum
other textile, 90, 91
86-89
looted, 93-94
Nasca, 71-105; see also Nasca textiles
Paracas Necropolis, 28
differentiating from early Nasca, 71-105
Tiwanaku, 183, 189-223
anticephaloid architraves, 207-208
curved architraves, 205, 207
full-sized gateways, 193-208
miniature gateways compared, 213-215
Gateway I (Pumapunku), 195, 196, 197
Gateway II (Pumapunku), 194, 195-196, 197,
203
Gateway III, 204, 214
Gateway III (Pumapunku), 194, 204, 206,
214
Gateway IV (Pumapunku), 196
Gateway A, 210-212
Gateway of the Moon, 191, 193, 204-205
Gateway of the Sun, 191, 193, 195, 196-201,
203-204, 221
gateways, significance of, 191-193
Gateways of Pumapunku, 189, 193, 195-196
half-scale gateways, 218
introduction, 189-191
location of gateways, 215-218
map, 190
map of spheres, 250
miniature gateways, 208-213
full-sized gateways compared, 213-215
Index
Trancas River, 326

Tuza style footed bowl, 345
Uhle, Max, 157

Gateway of the Sun, 198
Museum fiir V<ikerkunde, 6
Pumapunku, 193, 195-196
significance of gateways, 192
Unku
Chachapoya iconography, 145-146,147,
148
Urns, oversize, Conchopata, 259, 261
D-shaped temple, decorations on rims, 242
Usaca, 313,315,324-327
Valdivia site, 171, 172

von Daniken, Erich, 308
von Hagen, Adriana, 29-30, 137-155, 358
Warrior Priest, 3
Warriors kneeling in reed boats, pottery
Conchopata, 275
White Courtyard
Winged Man Motif
Woman nursing spotted feline
Conchopata, 267
Wrinkle-Face Whistler mold
Moche pottery, 112, 114
Xesspe, Mejia, 71
Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition


Silverman, Isbell - Andean Archaeology II - Art, Landscape, and Society-Springer US (2002)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-1-4613-5150-4 ISBN 978-1-4615-0597-6 (eBook)

AII rights reserved

In honor of our colleague, amauta Tom Zuidema, a pachacuti in Andean studies.

Tamara L. Bray • Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University,

Central Andean archaeology is at last reaching maturity and, as part of that

PART II. ANDEAN ART AND SOCIETY

PART III. LANDSCAPES OF POWER

From Art to Material Culture 5

EARLY INTEREST IN ANCIENT ANDEAN ART

6 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

From Art to Material Culture 7

8 Helaine Silverman and William H. IsbeD

RECENT APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ANDEAN ART

From Art to Material Culture 9

10 Helaine Silverman and William H. IsbeD

From Art to Material Culture 11

12 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

From Art to Material Culture 13

14 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

From Art to Material Culture 15

16 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

From Art to Material Culture 17

18 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

From Art to Material Culture 19

20 Helaine Silverman and William H. IsbeD

24 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

26 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

Andean Art and Society 27

28 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

Andean Art and Society 29

30 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

Andean Art and Society 31

32 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

Andean Art and Society 33

34 Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell

_)~-' __" , Pucara

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 37

METHODS OF ANALYSIS, CLASSIFICATION,

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 39

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man

The interpretation of the main personage as female is based primarily on

elaborated ones on the camelid woman; 7) presence of a narrow band

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 43

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 47

MOTIFS AND DESIGNS DERIVED AND/OR RELATED

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man

IDENTIFICATION OF THE FELINE MAN THEME AND HIS

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 51

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 53

MOTIFS AND DESIGNS DERIVED AND/OR RELATED TO THE

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 55

G-shaped appendages carried by some feline men is present (Figures 2.8b,

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 57

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 59

association can be established and contrasted to those which are female-related.

CONCLUSIONS: ICONOLOGY OF THE CAMELID WOMAN

Identification of the Camelid Woman and Feline Man 61

incorporated to generate images of power. Even the geometric designs associated