“…Indeed, the mortuary record demonstrates the religious and political integration of the hillside sites and San Jose de Moro and thus lends further support to the regional gendering of distinct ceremonial spaces. Unfired clay models of ramped ritual platforms, closely resembling known structures in the hinterland, were found interred in a number of elite tombs at the priestly center (Castillo et al 1997:124;McClelland 2010). Several of these maquetas are nearly identical in form and layout to ceremonial platforms mapped at Portachuelo de Charcape, San Ildefonso, and Huaca Colorada (Castillo et al 1997;McClelland 2010;Swenson 2006:121).…”
Section: The Gendered Political Landscape In Late Moche Jequetepeque:mentioning
confidence: 97%
“…Unfired clay models of ramped ritual platforms, closely resembling known structures in the hinterland, were found interred in a number of elite tombs at the priestly center (Castillo et al 1997:124;McClelland 2010). Several of these maquetas are nearly identical in form and layout to ceremonial platforms mapped at Portachuelo de Charcape, San Ildefonso, and Huaca Colorada (Castillo et al 1997;McClelland 2010;Swenson 2006:121). Therefore, the greater Jequetepeque region defies interpretation as a political landscape balkanized into independent high and low church variants of Moche religion.…”
Section: The Gendered Political Landscape In Late Moche Jequetepeque:mentioning
Archaeological data from the Jequetepeque Valley suggest that Late Moche warfare and religious sacrifice were embedded in a particular cosmological and gendered construction of the world. As a consequence, the pragmatic motives implicated in violent conflict were mediated by structures of practice specific to the Moche. An analysis of the archaeological record points to the existence of this cultural schema, the identification of which better explains the ascendancy of the famed priestess cult based at San José de Moro and the general decentralization of power in the Jequetepeque region. The evidence indicates that political relations in the valley were informed by a religious ideology that structured feasting, warfare, and sacrifice as specifically gendered but complementary domains. The spatial delimitation and sequential unfolding of ritual events were likely deemed essential for both socio-cosmic renewal and legitimate political advancement. This gendering of political and religious practices is reflected archaeologically in the division of centered and rural space and in the differential distribution of architectural forms, parochial feasting arenas, and iconographically charged artifacts. Ultimately, the archaeological record demonstrates that the political machinations of rural communities amplified this gendered sacrificial system within the context of the environmental upheavals of the Late Moche Period.
“…Indeed, the mortuary record demonstrates the religious and political integration of the hillside sites and San Jose de Moro and thus lends further support to the regional gendering of distinct ceremonial spaces. Unfired clay models of ramped ritual platforms, closely resembling known structures in the hinterland, were found interred in a number of elite tombs at the priestly center (Castillo et al 1997:124;McClelland 2010). Several of these maquetas are nearly identical in form and layout to ceremonial platforms mapped at Portachuelo de Charcape, San Ildefonso, and Huaca Colorada (Castillo et al 1997;McClelland 2010;Swenson 2006:121).…”
Section: The Gendered Political Landscape In Late Moche Jequetepeque:mentioning
confidence: 97%
“…Unfired clay models of ramped ritual platforms, closely resembling known structures in the hinterland, were found interred in a number of elite tombs at the priestly center (Castillo et al 1997:124;McClelland 2010). Several of these maquetas are nearly identical in form and layout to ceremonial platforms mapped at Portachuelo de Charcape, San Ildefonso, and Huaca Colorada (Castillo et al 1997;McClelland 2010;Swenson 2006:121). Therefore, the greater Jequetepeque region defies interpretation as a political landscape balkanized into independent high and low church variants of Moche religion.…”
Section: The Gendered Political Landscape In Late Moche Jequetepeque:mentioning
Archaeological data from the Jequetepeque Valley suggest that Late Moche warfare and religious sacrifice were embedded in a particular cosmological and gendered construction of the world. As a consequence, the pragmatic motives implicated in violent conflict were mediated by structures of practice specific to the Moche. An analysis of the archaeological record points to the existence of this cultural schema, the identification of which better explains the ascendancy of the famed priestess cult based at San José de Moro and the general decentralization of power in the Jequetepeque region. The evidence indicates that political relations in the valley were informed by a religious ideology that structured feasting, warfare, and sacrifice as specifically gendered but complementary domains. The spatial delimitation and sequential unfolding of ritual events were likely deemed essential for both socio-cosmic renewal and legitimate political advancement. This gendering of political and religious practices is reflected archaeologically in the division of centered and rural space and in the differential distribution of architectural forms, parochial feasting arenas, and iconographically charged artifacts. Ultimately, the archaeological record demonstrates that the political machinations of rural communities amplified this gendered sacrificial system within the context of the environmental upheavals of the Late Moche Period.
“…For instance, Maquette #13, found in the tomb of the First Priestess (Donnan and Castillo, 1992), represents a space similar to Patios E1 and E2 of Huaca La Capilla: a quadrangular patio decorated with small windows, a restrictive accessway, and an ascending ramp leading to an upper platform (see Figure 6). Maquette #14 from said burial (McClelland, 2010) also represents a structure decorated with niches similar to the ones decorating Plaza A of Huaca La Capilla. Whereas these mimetic relationships between the real world and represented architecture raise issues about scale and the ephemeral nature of matter-space in the Moche world (Castillo, 2020), the architectural models seem to be tempo-spatial articulators of the diverse planes of reality that came to life through the deathscape.…”
Section: Interpreting Huaca La Capilla: Function Design and Iconograp...mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The degree of disarticulation of many of these bodies indicates that they were in an advanced state of decomposition when placed in the fills. Evidence of rope around their necks and hands indicates that they were likely killed by strangulation, stored for a long period of time, and then dispatched in the construction fills.Figure 6.(above) Resemblances noted between plazas and patios of Huaca La Capilla and architectural models (McClelland, 2010) from elite burials of San José de Moro; (below) conch-shells recovered in chamber tomb MU1727; and, (right) sacrificed female individual (15–18 years-old) documented in the construction fill of Building A.…”
Section: Huaca La Capilla–san José De Moro: Buildings and Multiple Re...mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…(above) Resemblances noted between plazas and patios of Huaca La Capilla and architectural models (McClelland, 2010) from elite burials of San José de Moro; (below) conch-shells recovered in chamber tomb MU1727; and, (right) sacrificed female individual (15–18 years-old) documented in the construction fill of Building A.…”
Section: Huaca La Capilla–san José De Moro: Buildings and Multiple Re...mentioning
This article examines Huaca La Capilla in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, as a dynamic locus within a mythologized Moche mortuary landscape. Huaca La Capilla is a Late Moche (AD 650–740) monumental adobe construction located within the elite Moche cemetery of San José de Moro. This huaca was subject to constant architectural renovations and the intricate design of its interior plazas and patios suggests the orchestration of symbolic and collective social gatherings. The striking resemblances between this huaca’s enclosures and those depicted in the Moche iconographic scene of the Burial Theme are intriguing, suggesting that Huaca La Capilla was the locus of body-centered performances that preceded the burial of Moche elite individuals. This study draws on the notion of deathscape, incorporating a multi-scalar approach to the study of landscapes of death and their diverse spatial and material practices. It contributes to broader discussions of how mortuary landscapes and their monuments were involved in the (re)production of myths of ancestrality and particular notions of time, history, and construction of the being that gave political legitimacy to ruling groups in times of crisis.
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