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above A 3D numbered model of the First and Second Precincts at Pachacamac. The buildings and excavated areas described in the text are marked red. The general design of the building suggests that access was carefully controlled, with the very narrow entrances only allowing one person to pass at a time. Although there are no explicit traces of activities, we found many foundation offerings. These objects, as well as the presence of benches in two courtyards, along with a possible altar and a slot for a central pole on the platform, reveal ritual use. Indeed, the complex recalls the words of Francisco de Jerez, one of the early conquistador visitors to Pachacamac, who stated that, ‘In all the streets of this city and the main gates, and around the temple of Pachacamac, there were many wooden idols and they venerated them as they did for their devil.’ Posts decorated with worked spondylus shell and metal inlays have been found at Pachacamac, though unfortunately out of context. Their dimensions could fit with the post slot we found in B3, though, so it is possible that this building served as a minor sanctuary for pilgrims during the era of the Inca Empire. East of this shrine lies building B15, which covers an area of ​ appr oximately 1,400 m² and is surrounded by a wall some 2.5m high, making the interior invisible from the outside. There was only one entrance, which was 1m wide and decorated with red paint. Within, a central building, also painted, comprises small rooms and narrow passages, creating a constricted, labyrinthine plan. It is clear that most of B15 was only accessible to a very small number of people. This building was undoubtedly dedicated to worship. It is difficult to define the nature of the cult, but it might have been related to the earliest phase of activity we discovered, in the Early Ychsma period (c. AD 1000), when mummies were interred in funerary chambers. The sanctuary itself developed in the Middle and Late Ychsma phase, before being transformed under the Incas (AD 1470-1533). Perhaps the presence of these ancestors, whose graves lay around and below the central sanctuary, influenced the rituals conducted there. A relationship with water can also be proposed, as a pit, basin, and duct were found in one of the rooms, while this theme is present in some mural iconography and artefacts, as well as the many spondylus shells that were found. In the ancient Andean world, the spondylus is symbolically associated with water, elites, and rituals. The presence of residues from all stages of manufacturing spondylus artefacts, as well as tools and an appropriate architectural configuration, suggest that part of B15 served as a workshop. Craft activity occurring in a religious complex is not surprising, as workshops and places of worship have been found together at other Andean sites. It is possible that patients were also treated in this complex, as hundreds of stones with magnetic properties were present among the LEFT A fragment of a khipu discovered in building E8. Such knotted cords served as inventories recording the quantities and categories of goods. 28 CurrentWorldArchaeology Issue 92
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PEru LEfT Project Director Peter Eeckhout (right), conservator Aline Huybrechts (centre) and a worker extract a jar from the floor in building B4. Only the necks of these vases intended to contain liquid were flush with the surface: the vases were buried deliberately to ensure better preservation of the contents. This structure was originally intended to accommodate pilgrims, but during the Early Colonial Period visitors of another form arrived. This horseshoe (BELoW) belongs to that period, and at the time of the Spanish conquest, the place seems to have served as a stable. offerings found there. Nowadays, such stones are used by traditional healers. Naturally, there may be other explanations for these objects, but it seems plausible that the occupants of B15 counted one or more healers among their number. This would be in keeping with Pachacamac acting as a kind of pre-Hispanic Lourdes, and flourishing as a popular pilgrimage site under Incan rule, primarily because of a god who cured diseases. Bringing together all of the archaeological evidence suggests that the building was primarily dedicated to ritual activity, which could involve communicating with venerated ancestors, praying for water and fertility, and even hoping to be cured of serious diseases. Abandonment of the complex during the Early Colonial Period (AD 1533-1572) was marked with a ceremony that involved scattering offerings through the rooms 66). and seeds; black stones from the highlands, some chosen because of their distinctive shapes; whole or worked shells from the equatorial region; and seeds; black stones from the highlands, some chosen because of their distinctive shapes; whole or worked shells from the equatorial region; worked shells from the equatorial region; and corridors (see CWA 66). These objects had been gathered from throughout the Andes: Amazonian parrot-feather ornaments and seeds; black stones from the highlands, some chosen because of their distinctive shapes; whole or worked shells from the equatorial region; cups inlaid with mother-of-pearl and spondylus in the style of Peru’s north coast, metals, and ceramics featuring Inca ornamentation. This remarkably rich assemblage highlights just how far pilgrims were travelling to Pachacamac during the Inca occupation. With the exception of the stones, all of the objects were deliberately destroyed, and their torn fragments scattered through the rooms and corridors. Afterwards, they were covered with rubble. It is possible that this reflects the size of the crowd attending the ceremony, with all of the people symbolically participating by leaving a stone, in line with a custom that is still very common in the Andes. It seems that we are touching here on very deep concepts related to the unique beliefs of these ancient populations. The behaviour we are seeing would fit with a sense that objects can intervene at different levels, such as in the human world, as well as the realms of the gods, the dead, the spirits, and so on. By this reading, the objects become animated during the manufacturing process and are only de-animated when they are destroyed or dismantled. This is, of course, particularly valid – but not unique – to artefacts adorned with magical imagery and/or made with special materials, like most of the B15 finds. It seems certain that these rituals played out at around the time of the Spanish invasion, as imported glass beads were LEfT Building B3, which may well have been a minor sanctuary, yielded numerous examples of foundation offerings, including this dog burial being carefully investigated by Archaeology PhD student Céline Erauw (ULB-FNRS). www.world-archaeology.com CurrentWorldArChAeology 29

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above A 3D numbered model of the First and Second Precincts at Pachacamac. The buildings and excavated areas described in the text are marked red.

The general design of the building suggests that access was carefully controlled, with the very narrow entrances only allowing one person to pass at a time. Although there are no explicit traces of activities, we found many foundation offerings. These objects, as well as the presence of benches in two courtyards, along with a possible altar and a slot for a central pole on the platform, reveal ritual use. Indeed, the complex recalls the words of Francisco de Jerez, one of the early conquistador visitors to Pachacamac, who stated that, ‘In all the streets of this city and the main gates, and around the temple of Pachacamac, there were many wooden idols and they venerated them as they did for their devil.’ Posts decorated with worked spondylus shell and metal inlays have been found at Pachacamac, though unfortunately out of context. Their dimensions could fit with the post slot we found in B3, though, so it is possible that this building served as a minor sanctuary for pilgrims during the era of the Inca Empire.

East of this shrine lies building B15, which covers an area of ​ appr oximately 1,400 m² and is surrounded by a wall some 2.5m high, making the interior invisible from the outside. There was only one entrance,

which was 1m wide and decorated with red paint. Within, a central building, also painted, comprises small rooms and narrow passages, creating a constricted, labyrinthine plan. It is clear that most of B15 was only accessible to a very small number of people.

This building was undoubtedly dedicated to worship. It is difficult to define the nature of the cult, but it might have been related to the earliest phase of activity we discovered, in the Early Ychsma period (c. AD 1000), when mummies were interred in funerary chambers. The sanctuary itself developed in the Middle and Late Ychsma phase, before being transformed under the Incas (AD 1470-1533). Perhaps the presence of these ancestors, whose graves lay around and below the central sanctuary, influenced the rituals conducted there. A relationship with water can also be proposed, as a pit, basin, and duct were found in one of the rooms, while this theme is present in some mural iconography and artefacts, as well as the many spondylus shells that were found.

In the ancient Andean world, the spondylus is symbolically associated with water, elites, and rituals. The presence of residues from all stages of manufacturing spondylus artefacts, as well as tools and an appropriate architectural configuration,

suggest that part of B15 served as a workshop. Craft activity occurring in a religious complex is not surprising, as workshops and places of worship have been found together at other Andean sites. It is possible that patients were also treated in this complex, as hundreds of stones with magnetic properties were present among the

LEFT A fragment of a khipu discovered in building E8. Such knotted cords served as inventories recording the quantities and categories of goods.

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Issue 92

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