In Memorian

María Rostworowski de Diez Canseco

(1915 - 2016)
 CHORNANCAP
“PALACE OF THE LEADER AND PRIESTESS OF THE LAMBAYEQUE CULTURE”

©MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF PERÚ Documentary Photography:

Executive Unit 005 Proyecto Chotuna Chornancap,
Special Project Naylamp-Lambayeque Marco Fernández Manayalle,
Pimentel Street N°165, Urb. Santa Victoria, Chiclayo Samuel Castillo Reyes,
Telephone: 074-499523, web: www.naylamp.gob.pe Fausto Saldaña Camacho
E-mail: uenaylamp@hotmail.com Carlos Wester La Torre.

EDITION: Drawing, arts and 3D:

©Ministry of Culture of Perú Alberto Gutiérrez Vásquez
Executive Unit 005 Naylamp Lambayeque Robert Gutiérrez Cachay
National Archaeological Brunning Museum Luis Chayan Ruiz
of Lambayeque. Amy Ñiquen Ortiz
Pimentel Street N°165, Urb. Santa Victoria, Chiclayo
Telephone: 074-499523, web: www.naylamp.gob.pe First edition
E-mail: uenaylamp@hotmail.com Year 2016

©CARLOS WESTER LA TORRE Printing:

E-mail: carloswesterlatorre2000@yahoo.es 300 copies
Brüning National Archaeological
Museum of Lambayeque All rights reserved. Partial or total reproduction of this
work by any means or process including computer
Translation processing is prohibited without the authorization of the
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the law.
Traslation Checking
George R. Shivers Printed in Peru
Macarena Wester P. This work was printed in the graphics workshops of
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Design and Layout: January 2016
Luis Torres Rojas
Alberto Atoche Roque ISBN: 978-612-47117-0-1
Josué Becerra Bustamante Legal Deposit at the National Library of Peru
N° 2016-00139
Professional Photography:
Aníbal Solimano Gutiérrez / Yutaka Yoshii
Diana Alvarez Calderón Gallo Dr. Haagen D. Klaus
Minister of Culture Physical Anthropologist

Juan Pablo de la Puente Brunke Dr. Mario Millones Figueroa

Vice minister of Cultural Patrimony and Cultural Industries Physical Anthropologist

Carlos Aguilar Calderón Dra. Catherine Gaither

Executive Unit 005 Naylamp Lambayeque Physical Anthropologist

Carlos Eduardo Wester La Torre Dr. Daniel Fairbanks

Brüning National Archaeological Museum of Lambayeque Forensic Anthropologist

Ing. Robert Gutierrez Cachay

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT CHOTUNA-CHORNANCAP Systems Engineer

Mg. Carlos Eduardo Wester La Torre Miguel Córdova Peña

Proyect Manager. Topographer and On site draw

Arql° Samuel Castillo Reyes Miguel Suclupe Chicoma

Resident Archaeologist Drawing

Arql° Fausto Saldaña Camacho Marco Seclén Fernández

Resident Archaeologist Conservator

Arql° Luis Sánchez Saavedra Segundo Gonzáles Rumiche

Resident Archaeologist Conservator

Arql° Denis Echeverría Chimú Alberto Gutierrez Vásquez

Resident Archaeologist Drawing

Arql° Jorge Álvarez Torrealva Marco Antonio Fernández Manayalle

Resident Archaeologist Chotuna Site Museum Director

Arql° Jaime Jiménez Saldaña Pobladores de Bodegones, Ranchería, San Carlos, El

Resident Archaeologist Guabo, Carrizo, Yencala león, San José, Lambayeque.
Assistant staff
Arql° Mariela Melendres Soto
Resident Archaeologist
 INITIAL WORD 13
CONTENT
PRESENTATION 15

PROLOGUE 19

COMMENT/REMARK 25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 28

INTRODUCTION 31

FIRST PART 37

SACRED SCENARIOS AND FUNERAL RITUALS 37

CHAPTER I 39

Architectural spaces as sacred scenarios. 39

Funerary rituals as an expression of power elite. 54

CHAPTER II 68

Lambayeque Culture: Territorial Definition. 68

Sociopolitical characterization of the Lambayeque. 69

SECOND PART 83

THE ARCHITECTURE 83

CAPÍTULO III 85

Location. 85

Huaca Chotuna. 87
Huaca Chornancap. 91 offerings and companions. 165

CHAPTER IV 95 The context of the Tomb 3. 167

The Throne in Chornancap. 95 Grave of the Chornancap Priestess. 168

The Throne: Final Phase. 95 Funerary Bundle. 182

The Throne: Intermediate Phase. 101 The Main Character. 244

The Throne: Early Stage. 103 Accompanying the Priestess. 246

The Patio of the paintings in Chornancap. 110 Bio-archeology of Chornancap 4 tomb: Approaches 252

The graffiti on the Facade of Murals. 116 The face of the Priestess 253

Elite Residence in Chornancap. 122 CHAPTER VI 257

Meaning of throne and Elite Residence. 135 Gender identification of the main character of

THIRD PART 157 Chornancap. 257

FUNERARY CONTEXTS IN CHORNANCAP 157 CHAPTER VII 267

CHAPTER V The character of spondylus: Sepulture and

Previous findings: Burial 1 and 2, content and ornaments. 267

offerings. 159 The Tomb 269

Sepulture of Elite Character in Tomb (3): The Companions. 280

FOURTH PART 287 CHAPTER XII 385

POWER, GENDER AND RELIGIOSITY IN Conclusions. 385

CHORNANCAP. 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY 391

CHAPTER VIII 289 IMAGE CREDITS 398

Ornaments and symbols at the Tomb of Chornancap. 289 CERAMIC DRAWINGS

Ornaments for political role. 292 TOMBS 4 AND 5 401

Ornaments for religious role. 305

Ornaments for semi – divine role. 316

Meaning and symbolic ornaments. 321

CHAPTER IX 323

Looking for the identity of Chornancap´s Character. 323

CHAPTER X 337

The Denver’s Vase and its relationship to the tomb of

Chornancap. 337

CHAPTER XI 363

Character roles: sovereign, priestess and mythical

ancestor. 363
PREFACE
Mg. Carlos M. Aguilar Calderón
Executive DirectorSpecial Project
Naylamp-Lambayeque Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture through its Executive Unit No. 005 Naylamp-
Lambayeque is pleased to present to the scientific community,
researchers, students and the general public the book “Chornancap:
Palace of a Ruler and Priestess of the Lambayeque Culture”, by
the archaeologist Carlos Wester La Torre, Director of Archaeological
Research of the Chotuna Chornancap complex from 2006 to the
present. With the public support and financing of the Ministry he
has been able to document and record one of the most significant
discoveries of recent times, the tomb of the female personage with
the highest power and prestige known in Lambayeque Culture, along
with her entourage in a complex burial inside the most elite structure.
It is part of one of the most significant funerary treasures of Andean
American archaeology.
Archaeological research has been one of the goals of the Executive
Unit No. 005 Naylamp-Lambayeque and the results obtained from
research on the archaeological monuments constitute the clearest
reflection of how the investment of the state in cultural heritage
generates an enduring response that contributes to the strengthening
of the identity of our people and the self-esteem of our nation as a
whole. The discovery of the tomb of Chornancap is a mystery that
can now be understood by the reading of this book, that guides us
through the process of the burial to an understanding of the meaning
of the objects, and the rituals involved to a clear understanding of the 13
roles and functions of this principal personage and of her conversion
into one of the most outstanding female deities known in the Andean
cultural world.
 The presentation of this work is also an outstanding opportunity to
highlight our institution’s publishing mission, which has emphasized
the important works by our archaeologists, who have made scientific
research a hallmark of the Ministry of Culture and have elicited the
recognition and admiration of the academic community.

At this time allow me to comment that our commitment to research,

restoration, and diffusion of our cultural heritage is a mission we will
continue to uphold with the cooperation of our talented experts who
are the main source and strength that we depend on. The work we
accomplish for the national and international community reveals
the good will of the Peruvian State and especially of the Ministry of
Culture to contribute to the recognition of our ancestral heritage and
its inclusion in the pubic consciousness that all Peruvians have a right
to enjoy.

In conclusion, I especially recognize the work of Carlos Wester

La Torre, his research team, and staff that made this book possible,
and above all the community that inhabits the area surrounding this
monument, who I am sure will receive this work as a gift for many
generations to come.

14
PRESENTATION
Dr. Luis Jaime Castillo Butters
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
(PUCP)
We are living in the era of the great archaeological discoveries
in the north of Peru. Although the time of the founders, Uhle, Tello
and Larco was when great cultures like Salinar, Virú, Mochica,
Lambayeque and Chimú were discovered and described, it was in
the last 30 years when the most relevant archaeological discoveries
in the history of Peruvian archaeology of the North coast took place,
that not only have caused astonishment, but also have permitted to
reconfigure the notions that we have about ancient societies of Peru.
This fortunate coincidence, that many findings have been made in
such short time, and that they have been in the hands of national
scientific teams, with the participation of some foreigners, is just a
recognition to the persevere, quality and stubbornness and tenacity
in numerous cases, of these teams and their leaders. It is necessary
to highlight the role that archaeologists like Walter Alva, Ruth Shady,
Bernarda Delgado, Santiago Uceda, Regulo Franco, Carlos Elera,
and of course Carlos Wester have had in this paradigmatic revolution,
just to name some of the researchers that have had to their charge
this momentous discoveries, every single one of them working with
groups of young archaeologists equally dedicated. It is important
to recognize the work and the contribution of this generation of
archaeologists, because of their unwavering curiosity and devotion
is that forever we owe the discoveries that today and in the future will
mark this time, our time.
15
 But it is known by all, and populates our folklore, that before this
noteworthy archaeologists, other people made fantastic discoveries.
Since the first Spanish settlers systematically decided to loot the
temples and graveyards of our ancestors, continuing in the Republic
with looters of any kind, even the most recent unscrupulous merchants
and dishonest collectors, all of them coveted to satisfy their curiosity
by excising from the depths of the land the treasures of the Indian
people with whom evidently never felt any relationship. If anything
distinguishes this generation of archaeologists is that they know that
their task has been to rescue our past, our history and our heritage,
that was squandered and vanished before our eyes as they were
destroying the sites and plundering the tombs. This rescue task
has become even more imperative and urgent in recent years, with
the overbearing advance of a new embodiment of grubbers, which
justified by the need of growth or moved by the mere profit, it has
managed to destroy in a single generation more than what 500 years
of colonial plunder and Republican indolence could not do. Before
this the notion of the public welfare rises, of the need to rescue for
the present and future society, the few remnants left, before another
‘’Caterpillar’’ backhoe passes over these archaeological sites. The
remains of the past, those who populate our museums and research
centres, those are public goods, they belong to all Peruvians and are
under the expert custody of these professionals. But they are also
16 goods of humanity, of the common memory of those who were and
are on this planet, of how we interact among us, of how we to respect
not only the environment around us but also the cultural heritage that
we receive.

The findings presented in this extraordinary volume, by the

Director of the National Brüning Museum of Lambayeque, the Mg.
Carlos Wester La Torre, are an example of how the efforts that
characterize the archaeology of this region should be led. I would
emphasize the silent, sustained and systematic nature of the work;
his lack of arrogance that is unfortunately very common among
archaeologists, and that leads us to believe that our findings are the
linchpin that was required to change the course of history. It is not the
case of the truly important excavations in Chornancap, the discovery
of the tomb of one of the richest and surely most powerful women in
the Ancient Peru. It is a discovery that may not appear in the front
pages of newspapers, but was the result of the accumulation of work
by a dedicated team that over the last ten years have been carrying
out responsibly and devotedly the mission that the fecundators drew
for the Brüning Museum, one of the tutelary institutions of this region.

This mission implies, to rescue, treasure, preserve and present

to the world the history and grandeur of ancient civilizations that
inhabited Lambayeque, again it translates into a program of scientific
research of one of its most important monuments in the region.
Brüning Museum’s archaeologists could have shielded themselves
behind laziness and chronic lack of resources, and wait for the arrival
of a research team to conduct the work. In fact both Huaca Chotuna
and Chornancap had already been excavated by an American team
so we could presume that everything about these monuments was 17
already known, including its mysterious relationship with the legend
of Ñaymlap, which explains the foundation of this region. But good
intentions are not enough without the resources required to carry out
the plans and programs and in this sense it is necessary to recognize
the fact that the golden age of Lambayeque’s Archeology it’s
undoubtedly related to the creation of a management unit, Naylamp-
Lambayeque Executing Unit N° 005, which has provided resources
and administrative support for programs such as the one flawlessly
 presented here.Beyond surprising us, the findings by Carlos Wester
and the team of the Brüning Museum will allow reconsidering some
of the most important aspects of the northern societies, such as the
configuration of their power systems, the rise of women as religious
leaders and surely policies of these societies, and the multiple
character of the political units that made up the mosaic of societies
that, collectively, we recognize as Lambayeque.

These are vital issues to understand how Lambayeque society

was constituted, to be able to assume that there were interaction
mechanisms that allowed different political units, independent in
politics, were integrated through common economic, social and
ideological systems. In these three points it is possible to see
consistency with the discoveries that have been made in other areas
of the north coast and the essential considerations of geopolitical
organization with which we now approach the study of these societies.

The findings presented here are just an introduction to what

awaits us if we continue with systematic and sustained research, if we
have public resources to expand the frontier of our knowledge, if we
can also attract private investment in this task that not only just gives
us pride but also contributes to the formation of our identity. Finally,
public or private resources, could not achieve anything by themselves
if we were not fortunate to have researchers like Carlos Wester,
18 Fausto Saldana, Samuel Castillo, Marco Fernandez, Juan Martinez
Fiestas, Manuel Curo, Julio Cesar Fernandez and many other young
archaeologists who have made possible that today
PROLOGUE
Archae. Alfredo Narvaez Vargas Overall Peruvian archaeology, especially the Northern and the
Lambayeque ones are jubilant, because the archaeologist Carlos
Wester La Torre delivers an excellent book dedicated to Chornancap,
monument in which a group of edifications, mural art and extraordinary
elite burials were discovered, thus contributing consistently with
Lambayeque’s Archaeology.

What is likely the most remembered thing about this recent

scientific project, is the discovery of the tomb of the now famous
Priestess of Chornancap, due to the quantity and quality of her
ornaments and the role that she should have played in a hierarchical
society. For the first time a woman in that time it’s discovered, forming
an important part of a select group within the power. However,
Chornancap should additionally be understood by the associations
between this extraordinary finding and architecture, as a result of
patient work in recent years, that with lots of perseverance allowed at
first to comprise essential aspects of the settlement, the details of the
architecture and their association; and later to relate the burial of the
character with a wide and remarkable context.

Doubtlessly, this book is one of the milestones in the knowledge of

Lambayeque’s Pre-Hispanic Past, understood as a small territory that
is part of a larger scenario, both geographically and temporally. For
this reason and in an orderly manner, the author begins his book with
a panoramic view of the coastal and northern territory, also including 19
the highland, drawing attention of scientific data related to the burials
of major elite characters, looking through them elements allowing an
argument about the female character who was called the Priestess
of Chornancap. The previous understanding of this scenario allows
him to then turn their eyes to the understanding of the Lambayeque
culture, including a definition of its territory in the light of current
knowledge, at least in the nuclear area.
 In this understanding, the author ratifies the identification of the
main character of this cultural tradition as Ñaymlap, this hero who
arrives to this zone on the north coast, from somewhere located in the
“supreme part”, as claimed by Cabello de Balboa’s version, collected
in 1586. This basic idea promoted by other authors (Kauffmann
1986), is assumed by Wester, confirming the idea of Ñaymlap, in the
introductory part of the book, as a deity that is expressed in different
ornaments, attributes or ritual acts, generalizing, also through the
famous “Huaco Rey”, prototypical vessel of this cultural tradition, from
its origins to the end of this regional process, prior to the arrival of the
Spaniards. In this section of the book it’s also confirmed the concept
of Ñaymlap as “God Ñaymlap” only deity and that according to the
author, can give solidity to the social and political structure of the
Lambayeque State.

However, in light of the detailed study of the materials associated

with the elite female burial in Chornancap, especially, the iconography
of the ceremonial objects associated, the author then proposes the
existence of a female deity, matching with previous proposals based
on the iconographic study of the famous ‘’Beaker of Denver’’ (Mackey
and Pillsbury 2013, Narvaez 2014), that we have considered as a
kind of “Genesis” of the complex Lambayeque mythology. Precisely,
materials from the elite burials of Chornancap, constitute an
20 extremely valuable source to continue the debate on the Northern
and Lambayeque’s mythology, aspects on which we will make some
additional comments later. A specific case is the image displayed in
the crown worn by the character of Chornancap, associated with two
important elements: an “X” shaped loom and a crescent half-moon.
For these and other iconographic associations, we considered it at the
time as a female deity,corroborating the proposal with a bipolar snake
headdress, attributes that the funerary bundle’s mask of the Priestess
of Chornancap displays, as the author of the book mentions.
 One of the most valuable aspects of this book that today we
prologue lies in the prolix spatial study of the architecture related to
the main building, done by other researchers in a rather limited way.
The methodological field approach, allowed the registration of an
articulated set of interrelated spaces whose complexity is accurately
interpreted as an elite inclosure, including spaces whose relationship
with concepts of ritualism and sacredness is consistent. Especially
we must mention the spaces related to the throne’s courtyard,
interconnected with structures whose symbolism is very deep, like
the modules sideways to the throne’s courtyard, located opposite
and symmetrically, looking like the most important element; the
curled up cat’s tail, emanating from a single band that behaves as a
lintel structure separating the tail of a lower space of greater vertical
extension, which gives a deeper idea. From our point of view, this
graphic expresses the role of the cat’s tail a connecting element of
opposite worlds, as we have stated before (Narvaez 2014). If this is
correct, the religious and ceremonial aspect, is additionally imbued
with deep symbolism in the mythical field.

The same could be said in the east area of the throne’s courtyard,
in which a polychrome frieze painted with complex scenes is shown,
and also another space architecturally expresses the relationship
between the staggered symbol and the wave, allowing the author
to suggest the existence of a ritual zone for the “transformation 21
journey” of the priest, because the narrow corridor formed by these
architectural symbols, allows the passage of one person at a time.
These architectural spaces have undergone several renovations over
time, however, they never lost their religious function.
 An equally important chapter is the detail in the description of
the record of the tombs of Chornancap, full details about the tomb of
the Priestess, including the funerary bundle, after the excavation of
several layers of notable findings: fine ceramics of different potteries,
large quantities of miniature vessels, known as the “crucibles”, painted
fabrics covered with metallic flaps and mud layers with the footprints
of the builders. These elements are very valuable because they
corroborate the presence of these painted textiles as final elements
in the burial of these characters. We can also say that this layer of
mud with footprints, testifies the work of some of those involved in the
funerary ceremony and expresses a little known fact that relates the
mud as a material part of the seal of the well in which the burial was
placed.

One of the most remarkable and certainly dramatic aspects of

this extraordinary discovery, was the verification of a metallic mask,
decorated with “lacrimones” (big tears) and a “bipolar” headdress,
corroborating the proposal of gender identity as female order
based on our work in Huaca Las Balsas and the introductory study
on Lambayeque’s mythology.Among the issues that caught our
attention was the notorious recurrence of vessels of various kinds
in association with the female character. These beakers and cups,
not only were made by eminent specialists, but used precious metals
22 adorned as iconographic elements that corroborate the complexity
of the mythological aspect of this northern civilization. This scientific
finding gives us a better idea for the understanding of such objects
in the possession of private collectors or museums, as a result of
clandestine looting of archaeological sites in this region.

This unique discovery, relates the female character along with a

set of female jewelry of very high quality, including objects of pearls
with golden and silver beads and the finding of exquisite works of
art, like the berh in miniature carved in seashells, metal ‘’piruros’’
(spindle whorls), copper ‘’tupu’’ (ornamental pin), miniature stone
statuettes, mortars and miniature pots, also, wooden staff of control,
associated with her feminine role in the shamanic field. This role is
clearly expressed also in the presence of earmuffs decorated with
flowers as part of the funeral trousseau. Aside from right or wrong
about the formal relationship of these flowers with the slices of San
Pedro, hallucinogen cactus of shamanic use, these are a unique and
fairly widespread element in the universal shamanic scenario. Thus we
see that various arguments favour the identification of the character
with the complex religious world and the social structure of the former
territory of Chornancap, role in which Wester adds political power and
of mythical ancestor after death, by the quality of the burial and its
relationship or association with the architectural ensemble. As Wester
argues, this scientific discovery, places us at the beginning of a long
journey in pursuit of the women’s role in pre-hispanic Lambayeque
society before the arrival of the Incas and then by the Spaniards.

This work also shows the results of an interdisciplinary intervention

with an interesting study in the field of bioarcheology, which has
revealed various physical traits of the character, but also, the use
of technology that allows a facial reconstruction, returning it to the
present. Without a doubt, a very powerful tool in the field of heritage
interpretation. 23
The discovery of an additional tomb, of the character known as
the Lord of the Spondylus, located below the tomb of the Priestess,
is an unprecedented event in regional archeology. His association
with a burial chamber, in supine position, following the old concept
of the Moche tradition, are really significant elements, to which a
Late Moche styled vessel adds, that the author considers as a relic,
an object of importance that accompanied him to the grave. The
 thoughts on the symbolic relationship of the burials of Chornancap
with groundwater, which hindered the excavation, make much sense,
because it can reiterate the previous case of the famous tombs from
Pómac archaeological site. Thus, the relationship of such important
characters with water can identify them as intermediaries with the
divine world.

Undoubtedly, Wester’s proposals as a result of the review of the

iconography reflected in the objects associated with funerary contexts
and architecture, are quite relevant. And is that the materials, several
of them very new do permit it. Its importance for understanding the
complex mythical world in the Pre-hispanic Lambayeque has been
focused in the light of the most recent iconographic studies we have
mentioned before, making interesting contributions. Among them,
the proposal to associate the architecture that the Beaker of Denver
shows with the architectural pattern of Huaca Chornancap, that we
should say, also seen in some of the buildings in Tucume and in the
site of Pómac.

Finally, we agree with the author about the socio-political

organization of Lambayeque’s settlements, because the role of elite
Chornancap characters, allows to discuss the existence of multiple
power centers, not just one. The current situation enables a different
scenario in which the political organization of Lambayeque’s society
24 did not have a single center of power that defines a highly centralized
and hierarchical status. Future studies in other monumental sites of
this time will be needed and will contribute to the debate of these
proposals at the time.

Congratulations to Carlos Wester on this important achievement

and through him to all the auxiliary, technical and professional team of
the Archaeological Project ‘’Chotuna-Chornancap’’ and of the Brüning
Museum of Lambayeque.
COMMENT
Dra. Joanne Pillsbury
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA
In the mid-twentieth century, if you wanted to know how women
lived in the Ancient Peru you had to resort to historical sources written
during the colonial era. In them we can find descriptions of the ‘’Acllas’’,
women chosen by the Inca, and ‘’Capullanas’’, aristocratic women of
the Tallán culture from the valleys of Piura and Chira. However, these
references were brief because women received far less attention than
elite men, partly because in these records, descriptions were not
related to the different roles that women played in the Andes. In the
1970s, anthropologists Patricia Lyon and Christopher Donnan, among
others, began to recognize that certain figures in pre-Columbian art
could represent women, powerful women and women intimately
associated with certain ritual practices. Iconographic studies then
began to enrich the image we had of historical sources. However,
it would take another 20 years for archaeologists to propose the
existence of high-ranking women thanks to physical evidence, being
comparable with the tomb of the Priest-Warrior of the Viru Valley or
the spectacular tombs of the Lord of Sipan, all belonging to the upper
echelons of Moche society.
In 1991, excavations at San José de Moro made by Christopher
Donnan and Luis Jaime Castillo, and subsequent excavations by
Castillo on the same site, changed that. For the first time, we had
evidence of women at the highest levels of Moche society, and that
enigmatically, are closely related to women represented in Moche 25
ceramics. These findings were followed by the discovery of the Lady
of Cao, a senior Moche women in Huaca Cao Viejo excavated by
Regulo Franco, Cesar Galvez and his team. Suddenly, we had plenty
and new information on women, which offers us a different perspective
on these that we did not have before.
 This incredible evidence continues to grow, especially now thanks
to the extraordinary work of archaeologist Carlos Wester La Torre
in Chornancap. This site has a strategic and symbolic location, it is
located on the Pacific coasts near the mouth of the river Lambayeque.
Thanks to meticulous and multidisciplinary study of Wester and his
team, we have an exceptional view of the life of senior women in
Lambayeque culture (850-1350 AD.). One of the major strengths
of this publication is its wide intellectual scope, as it is based on
various disciplines such as physical anthropology, ethno-history and
art history, this allows the author to understand the uniqueness of
Chornancap in the Andean Pre-history and the relationship between
this and other archaeological sites in the Peruvian northern coast.
One of the many contributions in Wester’s study is its focus on the
broader context of Chornancap, particularly in its relationship with the
real and sacred landscape.

Interestingly, in the study of Wester, the information obtained

from an area of research contributes to investigation questions that
belong to another area, leading to conclusions that would have been
impossible to reach if Wester had followed a simple line of research.
His excavations reveal new architectural forms or settlement
patterns,induces the return to the iconographic and historical
sources for further study, which also, determines the guidelines for
26 future research. Wester publication reveals one of the most striking
correspondences between the archaeological record and the visual
arts registered in the Ancient Peru.

In 2002, along with Carol Mackey we published an article about

two silver beakers that are currently in the collection of the Denver Art
Museum. Hélène Bernier produced an impressive drawing of one of
these, revealing an extraordinarily complex composition.
 In this beaker, a figure that is very similar to the image of the
Priestess in Moche iconography shows. When the article was
published in 2013, Wester had already dug the grave of an attired
woman that could have come straight from the beaker walking. Thanks
to his work and of his colleagues, Alfredo Narvaez and others, our
understanding about the beaker and the Chornancap site is enriched.
More importantly, the contextualization of the beaker and of the same
site in a broader context of Andean Pre-history has caused new
exceptionally important insights on the role of women, the structure
of ritual practice and the nature of palace life centuries before the rise
of the Incas.

Carlos Wester leaves us with an indelible image of Chornancap

and its place in the world. Reading these pages, one can imagine
how it would have been approaching to Chornancap and its magical
scenery, discover that regardless of the details of individual interactions
within these spaces, the objects exchanged within these precincts
were infinitely more valuable and sacred by their association with this
site. Now, thanks to the work of Carlos Wester, we will always have
Chornancap present, like those who had the privilege of knowing it in
antiquity.

27
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Archae. Carlos Wester La Torre When making a book, the author is immersed not only in time
but in space; in both cases it generates a series of relationships,
links and exchanges with colleagues, researchers, friends and study
partners, who in one way or another encourage the willingness to
investigate stimulate the discovery of new challenges, but above all
they contribute with their time when listening to our ideas.

Many people are involved in this text, some have names, others
have gone missing into my memory, but I firstly want to express my
undying gratitude to my parents Jorge Martin (†) and Irma Yolanda
who brought me into the world first, they looked after me with love
and I was raised with responsibility and unique sacrifice; also to my
children: Macarena, Ximena and Carlos Eduardo, who accompany me
with their affection and tenderness, giving meaning to my life. To my
teachers, colleagues and all of those who with a word and a gesture
put their trust in our investigations in Chotuna and Chornancap.

I am especially grateful to the institutions that have strongly

supported the implementation of the archaeological project: Chotuna -
Chornancap, as well as the printing of this book, the Ministry of Culture,
the Executive Unit Nº005 Naylamp-Lambayeque, the Brüning National
Archaeological Museum, the Chotuna Site Museum, the Provincial
Municipality of Lambayeque, the ‘’San José’’ Rural Community, the
Project’s staff, archaeologists, assistants, technicians, draftsmen and
28 worker staff of the villages: Rancheria, Bodegones, Yencala Leon,
San Carlos, El Guabo and El Carrizo.

Through the following lines, I express my particular appreciation

for the generous help provided by friends and colleagues, who in
some way or another have supported the archaeological research in
the Chotuna Chornancap Complex: Dr. Luis Jaime Castillo Butters,
 extraordinary teacher and dear friend who always had an honest
and fraternal expression and gesture of professional encouragement;
to Dr. Christopher B. Donnan a renowned researcher who through
his words stimulated my interest in Chotuna and Chornancap, to the
Archae. Luis Alfredo Narvaez, an outstanding scholar and researcher
whose reading of the text, having and exchanging ideas I have
reflected in this work, Dr. Joanne Pillsbury, for the opportunity to
address the research issue of on one of the existing silver beakers
of Lambayeque culture at the Denver Art Museum USA, Dr. Larry
Coben, Archae. Solsiré Cusicanqui, Engineer Armin Bülow and Dr.
Bernardo Schmelz, to them my sincere gratitude for your constant
encouragement and support.

To Dr. Santiago Uceda Castillo, distinguished professor, with

special recognition for their timely guidance and reading of the draft
that was enriched with his insightful comments, critics and suggestions,
as well as his friendship. Also to archaeologists Luis Coronado Tello
and Juan Castañeda Murga, for reviewing the text. I also express my
singular gratitude to Dr. Ricardo Morales Gamarra, acclaimed and
prestigious conservator who guided my beginnings in archaeology.
To Physical Anthropologists: Mario Millones, Catherine Gaither and
Haagen D. Klaus for his valuable professional contribution in the
analysis and study of the bones. I also thank Dr. Daniel Fairbanks
forensic anthropologist, who was in charge of the reconstruction of 29
the face of the Priestess of Chornancap. Students Callie Chapman,
Lauren Coontz, Derrick Nuesmeyer, Chanelle Nichols from the
University of Utah Valley and Jenna Hurtubise from the State
University of Lousiana USA, they dedicated their valuable time and
expertise in the study of human remains of the funerary contexts that
accompanied the character of Chornancap.

I state my eternal gratitude to the memory of Susana Meneses

 Castañeda (†), whose friendship and appreciation strengthened my
vocation. Likewise, Dr. Ruth Shady Solis, Dr. Walter Alva Alva, Dr.
Jeffrey Quilter, Dr. Terry. D’Altroy, Dr. Yuji Seki, Dr. Izumi Shimada,
Dr. Milosz Giersz, Archae. Regulo Franco Jordán, Archae. Bernarda
Delgado Elías, Archae. Ignacio Alva Meneses, Archae. Ulla Holmquist,
Archae. Isabel Collazos. To The Rafael Larco Herrera Archaeological
Museum in Lima, Denver Art Museum Denver-USA, Peabody
Museum of Harvard University-USA for giving us access to images of
their research and collections that illustrate the text.

The illustrations were realized with the collaboration and

professional qualities of the Systems Engineer Robert Francis
Gutiérrez Cachay and Alberto Gutiérrez Vásquez an experienced
artistic sketcher; Flor de María Wong Falla helped with the typing of
this text and Yutaka Yoshii did the professional photography illustrating
this work. I also express my singular appreciation to the Archae.
Fausto Saldaña Camacho and Archae. Samuel Castillo Reyes
responsible with the agreement of the archaeological excavation and
documentation of the funerary context, and Jorge Álvarez Torrealva,
Luis Alberto Sánchez Saavedra and Mariela Melendres Soto, for
his involvement in the excavations in Chotuna and Chornancap and
with singular esteem to: Marco Fernández Manayalle, Juan Martínez
Fiestas, Manuel Curo Chambergo, Julio Fernandez Alvarado, Quirino
30 Olivera Nuñez, Jorge Rosas Fernandez, Sam Ghavami and Gabriel
Prieto Burmester, colleagues and friends with whom over the years
we have tried, discussed and exchanged ideas about the Lambayeque
culture.

Finally, all the people who have made this publication possible
and that do not appear due to an unintentionally omission but who
live in my memory.
INTRODUCTION
Arql. Carlos Wester La Torre
1
Jorge Zevallos Quiñones (1993), argues that
the term is ‘’Chornancáp’’ and that in 1906 it
was written ‘’SEORNANCACUM’’, considered
the boundary huaca in the lands of the partiality
of ‘’CORÑAM’’ near Lambayeque (Victor
Rivadeneira File in Lambayeque 1736 AVRL).
2
Hans H. Brüning (1922), considers in his
studies that the term ‘’LAMBAYEQUE’’ comes
from the toponym Llampallec.
The following text called “Chornancap: Palace of a Ruler and
Priestess of the Lambayeque Culture” is part of the multidisciplinary
scientific excavations, developed in seasons 2011 and 2012 in Huaca
Chornancap1, to the north of San José district, in the province and
region Lambayeque, conducted under the direction of Wester and
a team composed of: Archaeologists, Physical Anthropologists,
Conservators, an Architect, a Civil Engineer, a Systems Engineer,
Draftsmen and the Work Crew from the environment of the
archaeological monument and the city of Lambayeque.
When the chroniclers Miguel Cabello de Balboa (1586) and
Justo Modesto Rubiños y Andrade (1782), recorded one of the most
momentous and significant oral traditions known in the Ancient Peru;
they narrated the arrival of a legendary character named Ñaymlap
to the beaches of the existing San José cove, who would have been
the symbolic founder of the dynasty of the ancient Kingdom of the
Lambayeque, culture developed in this region between the ninth
and fourteenth centuries A.D. This unique story contains valuable
information related to the customs of that people, such as navigation,
courtesan composition, method and process of colonization, dynastic
succession, names of the characters, scenarios, elite funerary
patterns, religious practices, marital traditions, etc.
The story of Ñaylamps’s arrival apparently describes the
rearrangement of the northern Moche people (Castillo and Donnan 31
1994) which would match with the reflection of the cultural irruption
of the south and the Cajamarca expression, which probably caused
the dacay or collapse of the Moche society in the northern coast of
Peru in the centuries seventh to eighth A.D. (Castillo 2003; Castillo
and Donnan op. cit.; Rucabado 2008 and Uceda and Mujica 2003).
It was both the prestige that Ñaymlap have reached, that his people
perpetuated and symbolized him in a variety of materials and
scenarios disseminated throughout the territory to which then the
Spaniards christened with the name of the idol that represented this
leader: Llampallec, known today as Lambayeque2.
 It is not the purpose in this publication, to discuss the meaning
of the Legend of Ñaymlap, neither its value nor the context of the
terminology derived therefrom or other proposals that have been
formulated on this matter. Our interest, firstly, is to present the results
of the sustained archaeological research, conducted in Huaca
Chornancap and its surroundings, which have allowed, to rescue
extraordinary information to reconstruct not only the history of the
site, but to understand the hierarchical socio-political organization
of the elite Lambayeque culture of Chornancap; and secondly, to
identify possible ceremonial activities, the protagonists of the rituals,
but above all the complex ideological system that makes this scenario
one of the main areas of concentration of power and religiosity known
in Lambayeque and is closely linked to the maritime ambit as sacred
geography (Elera 2008) and associated with the presence of an
important dignitary or priestess.

On the other hand, through continuous archaeological excavations

carried out in La Leche valley, Izumi Shimada (1985, 1995 and
2014b), has put in the background the historical value of the story of
Ñaymlap, developing an occupational sequence that runs from the
end of the Moche to the Lambayeque culture, including the change
of designation of the Lambayeque culture by the toponym Sicán3,
proposal that in our opinion and with the results that we have today,
32 must be rethought, but in any case would only apply to designate
the area and/or territory Pómac Forest Historical Sanctuary, in the
ambit of the ex-hacienda Batán Grande and not to involve the cultural
expression of all Lambayeque region under a new name whose cultural
and scenic unit is characterized and identified by a style whose identity
goes beyond the excavated elite tombs, whose materials have been
aptly described and studied by the Historian Jorge Zevallos Quiñonez
3
Izumi Shimada (1985) proposes the term
(1971 and 1989) and studies by Alva (1985), Kauffmann (1989 and
‘’SICAN’’ to name the Lambayeque culture.
1992 ), Donnan (1989 and 2012), Castillo (2003), Narvaez (2011 and
2014a and 2014b) among others.
 On the matter, we should point out that Chotuna-Chornancap is
an important and emblematic architectural complex, which was part
of the development of the Lambayeque culture in the northern Peru.
The main pyramid that sticks out imposing, corresponds to Huaca
Chotuna located 4 kilometres (2,4 miles) from the Pacific coast in
an intermediate zone, to which various frustum pyramidal buildings
are associated, separated by urban zones, public and domestic
areas, some buried by huge Aeolian sand dunes. Huaca Gloria
(Donnan 1989), called Huaca of the Friezes (Wester 2010), is located
northeast of Huaca Chotuna, is the building that was partially buried
and contains remains of painted reliefs depicting complex scenes that
allude to the sea, birds, felines, snakes; and having the rectangular
square in north south axis with indirect access located to the north.

To the North of Chotuna, it has been excavated and uncovered

a structure shaped like a platform, we called Huaca of the
“Anthropomorphic Wave” (Wester op. cit.), Which features polychrome
mural paintings and friezes, structure that was covered by a huge
sand dune; the represented images implicitly refer to two scenarios:
the sea (represented by the polychrome anthropomorphic wave) and
the moon (defined by the circular friezes). North Huaca, now known
as Huaca of the Sacrifices, extremely important by having excavated
33 burials, mostly female among adolescents and some adults, all
related to rituals of human sacrifices associated to the period Chimu- 33
Inca that relate with the growth of the building as a kind of symbolic
renewal ritual. Huaca Susy, east of Huaca Gloria, surrounded
of domestic structures to the north, where a vertical growth with
materials is evidenced suggesting an occupation of the site from the
Late Lambayeque, Chimú and Inca.
 Huaca Chornancap, located west of Chotuna is a building
strategically located between the sea and the mouth of the Lambayeque
River, which has reported one of the most important findings such as
the holy throne and elite residence where the extraordinary funerary
context of the so-called Ruler or High Priestess of Chornancap has
been documented, one of the most notable episodes and funerary
contexts of the Lambayeque culture, unique in its kind that contributes
to the debate on the presence of women on the scenario of power
and religion in the central Andes and their roles in history and semi-
divine connotation acquired in the memory of his people.

Under this important context was lying the tomb of an elite

character we have called The Character of the Spondylus, which
allows to demonstrate the intense public and ceremonial activity in this
monumental complex, and the existence of a socio-political structure
that controls this territory and that uses it to perpetuate its existence.

34
35
 FIRST PART
SACRED SCENARIOS AND FUNERARY RITUALS
 CHAPTER I
1.1 Architectural Spaces as Sacred
Scenarios.
The archeology of the Lambayeque culture is
associated to elements that allow to understand
and reconstruct their socio-political, economic and
ideological structure; we refer to aspects such as
territoriality, monumental architecture, commercial
relations, production of goods, political and religious
hierarchy, rituals and consequently the oral tradition
(Ñaymlap legend). Despite of those who discuss and
question the value of oral tradition about Ñaymlap
(Shimada 1995 and 2014A; Zuidema 1990), this
story has become a matter of debate (Zevallos 1989),
with archaeological evidence increasingly consistent
(Narváez 2011, 2014th and 2014b; Paredes 1987;
Rucabado 2008, Fernández 2012, Wester 2013).
However, to reflect on the regional and macro-regional
urban dynamics of this society and analyze the
architectural spaces as sacred scenarios, it is essential
to examinate the history of the Lambayeque culture
and search arguments in its past to understand this
society as the result and consequence of a continuity
and changes process.
In this context, the first scenario we evaluate is
the territory, a geographical area with regular surface,
mild contrasts, with valleys that run perpendicularly in
the region to ensure the stability of the water as the
basic component of agricultural productivity and life
in general. In parallel, the seaboard secured valuable
resources not only for subsistence but for ideological
and magical religious inspiration, as a connecting
element with ancestral deities and eventually the access
to the Andean area and evidently with that become
the most influential aspects that have generated the
consolidation of the Lambayeque culture.
As for the territory’s configuration and its
surroundings, this becomes a basic component on
which the man acts to transform and take advantage
of it; nevertheless there are weather conditions
or phenomena that exert strong influence on the
distribution of the territory; in the singular case of
the northern coast of Peru (Figure 1), constituent by
the Humboldt cold water marine currents and the El
Niño warm water marine current.Having made these
accuracies relative to the territory and geography of
the coast, it is necessary to examine the architectural
scene in the context of regional, macro regional history
and the influence that it has received throughout the
centuries. The evidence on the Archaic or Preceramic
period with agriculture (Lumbreras 1981), were initially
documented in northern Peru in Huaca Prieta in the 39
lower part of the Chicama’s valley and presented in
1948 by Junius Bird, the results showing his pioneering
work, certify the absence of ceramics and an evident
extractive activity in the Pacific ocean due to the
proximity with the littoral, as well as stone architecture
built by boulders and domestication of plants and
animals, associated with new forms of organization, a
process that has been called: Neolithization (Lumbreras
op. cit.).
40
41
 Subsequently, with Tom Dillehay research (1992),
on the site of Nanchoc located in the head of Zana’s
valley, where he recorded mounds with simple
structures probable for ritual use, associated with
groups of unskilled hunters and incipient horticulturists
of an antiquity from 8000 to 5000 years before
Fig. 1.
present (Dillehay op. cit.), are converted into valuable Coastal Landscape in Lambayeque.
evidence to certify the long-standing occupation in
the Lambayeque region, with a pattern of spreaded
settlements in the Late Archaic towards a more complex Fig. 2.
model of organization that has its maximum expression Mayor Main Building of the Sacred
in the Supe valley of the Caral site (Figure 2) belonging City of Caral.

to the initial Formative, and it is considered as the New

world’s oldest social physical setting for the emergence
and consolidation of the city and state (Shady 2003).

42
 Physical expression of buildings in Caral reveals
undeniably that this is one of the oldest cultural
landscapes of pre-Columbian America, whose
configuration allows to recognize the development of
ceremonial, commercial, productive activities, political
structure, development of art (music); that they express
to a highly organized society. This research opened
the doors to the understanding of what happened at
the end of the Archaic and start of the Formative in
the central Andes, especially in little explored scenario
as it is the monumental public and ceremonial
function architecture. The concentration of important
settlements between the coast and the middle valley
in places like Caral, Vichama, Bandurria, Végueta,
The Shicras, Áspero, etc., represent a clear indicator
of how this territory became the ideal scenario for
this development that finds in architecture and in its
environment the material expression of the sacred
landscape (Shady 2003).
When addressing this complex combination of
urban and ceremonial elements, it makes sense
to reflect in several aspects on the perspective of
architecture as a symbolic stage (Shimada 2014a:
53-54), that is when this reveals a message like the
subject of the puma’s shape to Cuzco (Shimada
2014a [Gasparini and Margolies 1980; Hyslop 1990;
Rowe 1968 and Zuidema 1983]), or as the symbol of
the mountain and the wave, so recurrently depicted in
Moche and Lambayeque art referring to the topic of
power and water (Bock 2003 and 2012). One aspect
that should be emphasized in the early architecture
of Lambayeque, is that it has been scientifically
documented a temple belonging to the initial Formative,
it is a unique ceremonial center whose construction is
located at the bottom of Ventarrón hill on the northern
margin of Reque river, the same corresponding to a
painted building of several phases, ith typical features
of public architecture and converted into a reflection of
the religious characteristics of that time (Alva Meneses
2012). The functioning of this extraordinary building,
was linked not only to ritual activities of high ideological
content, but people developed agriculture with
cotton, used products brought from the Amazon and
maintained a connection with the Pacific littoral, which
summed up reveal the existence of a symbolic center
with fire worshiping, polychrome murals architecture
with scenes of deer hunting -called mural of the captive
deer- (Alva Meneses op. cit.), which make it a religious
center of special value and unique in its gender in the
northern coast of Peru. This ceremonial center of the
initial Formative, associated to the valley and high
mountain as landscape, is the clearest and remote
evidence of the vigorous emergence of early urbanism
in Lambayeque, and shows how the great centers of
worship are inspired in harmony with the scenery.
Ceremonial centers of this magnitude, which
emerge in this region the next few years as: Purulén,
Corbacho, Guayaquil, Huaca el Toro (the Bull), El Búho
(The Owl), El Águila (The Eagle), Chumbenique, Poro
Poro and Udima in the Zaña valley; Morro Eten and
Collud in the Reque valley; Raca Rumi in Chongoyape,
Huaca Lucia in the La Leche valley and Boliches in
the Olmos valley, all of them as part of the explosive
heyday that takes religiosity and is expressed in
buildings and places that are centers of political power
and religious worship, sacred rituals scenarios during
the 1500 B.C. This time associated with a developed
agriculture, pottery techniques and sophisticated
goldsmiths works, as well as social hierarchies and a
strictly religious sociopolitical structure with theocratic
basis, traditionally associated with an ancient deity that
configures as the feline deity with snake, bird of prey
and human being attributes, known as ‘’Falcónida’’.
This image appears to be frequently and recurrently
represented in architecture as well as in material
production. 43
Fig. 3.
‘’Chavín de Huántar’’,
sacred scenario.
Fig. 4.
‘’Pacopampa Temple’’, Middle
Formative scenario.
 In the central Andes there are extraordinary
evidence to prove that the monumental architecture
becomes this epoch’s main public stage to ensure the
presence of the priestly elite transmitting the liturgy
and leading rituals. In the northern region of the Andes,
there are specific cases, such as ceremonial centers
like: Montegrande, Kuntur Wasi dug by the Japanese
team led by Yoshio Onuki (Onuki 1997), Pacopampa
investigated under the supervision of Yuji Seki (Seki
et. al . 2010 and Seki 2014), Poro Poro and Udima
excavated by Walter Alva and Susana Meneses
(Alva 1985), later in another oportunity by Walter
Alva and Emma Eyzaguirre (2012), Purulén (Alva
1985), El Rollo Temple on the Paltic river (Wester et.
al. 2000), La Congona excavated by Walter Alva and
Emma Eyzaguirre (2013), Morro Eten and Poemape
44
excavated by Carlos Elera (1993 and 1998). All of
these ceremonial centers conceived in a sacred space
linked to water, with an architectural model that reflects
the “U” shaped plant architecture, quadrangular frontal
square, accessed by a recessed stairway located in
the center of the main building (Figure 3).
When analyzing the configuration, emplacement
and distribution of these ceremonial centers from the
Formative period on the coast and northern highlands
of Peru, we must ponder whether each of these centers
were autonomous and served as socio-political and
religious centers of a social group (Burger and Salazar
2014:308 ), or is that they can be interpreted as
sacred sites or commemorative huacas of ancestors
and mythical and/or supernatural forces responsible
for the community prosperity (Burger and Salazar op.
cit.). Another element that is necessary to highlight,
especially in these Formative period buildings in the
northern highlands of Peru, is that the vast majority
are associated with a strategic location on a flat
mountainside, facing a landscape in which a river or a
creek bed are located, and these as well have within
the main monumental building a web of underground
channels (Onuki 1997, Seki et. al. 2010 and Seki 2014;
Alva 1985, Wester et. al. 2000), which articulate as a
weave that generates water circulation, in a magical
scene of water worshiping and agricultural fertility. This
web of underground channels gives the idea that the
building is a center that generates water, the same that
precipitates outward as part of the symbolic ritual to
water as a sacred element.
We can cite cases like: Kuntur Wasi, Pacopampa
(Figure 4), El Rollo and Udima to mention the best
known. This brief re-count of the great ceremonial
centers of the Formative period in the north (coast
and highlands), allows to demonstrate that the sacred
stage trait was not only marked by the monumentality
of the building, but these are associated to a geography
or sacred landscape. The most important religious
ceremonies were developed in these places where the
priestly elite transmited its speech with a liturgy that
is mixed with gestures, actions and ornaments which
contribute to legitimize the rituals, the power and the
sacred nature of these architectural spaces in which its
environment was part of the ceremonial sphere.
45
 Two elements complement this cogitation, the first
is that in this epoch a remarkable and peculiar style
of fine ceramics arises (Chavín and Cupisnique),
that becomes the space where the ritual speech is
transmitted by the priestly class to the population;
the second one is the impressive display to achieve
golden, silver and platinum goods which dazzle for
their technological quality but reveal a set of religious
images of extraordinary impact in their surface, proof
of this are the materials from Chongoyape, Corbacho,
Kuntur Wasi, El Rollo (Figure 5) and Pacopampa. No
doubt these materials certified the specialization and
high productivity, and these become the sign of prestige
of the complex sociopolitical structure that emerges in
this epoch and that will keep up with changes in the
next millennium.
46
Towards the early years of the Christian age, during
the period known as Early Regional Developments
or Early Intermediate Period (Lumbreras 1981 and
Rowe 1962), developed from 500 B.C. to 850 A.D.,
profound changes in the central Andes were produced,
which are the result of a process of deterioration,
extinction or declension of the political and religious
system established in the Formative period, also
due to population growth, the unexpected increase
of agricultural productivity, but above all is the rise of
regional political entities with legitimate aspirations for
independence and individual identity (Canziani 2012:
179). This epoch, fully characterized by noteworthy
artistic improvements, especially in ceramics, metals,
textiles and monumental architecture, of administrative
and residential character, is the true classical period
or also known as ‘’The Master Craftsmen Epoch’’
(Lumbreras 1969). An important element in this process
is undoubtedly the professional water management,
through systems of massive irrigation that incorporated
large extensions of fields that increased productivity
and transformed the economic basis of societies of that
time (Canziani op. Cit. ), and that noticeably altered the
coastal forest landscape.
As a result of this process, colossal constructions of
adobe and mud shaped like stepped frustum pyramidal
structures, tall buildings of inclined sides, with ramps
off access associated to large squares, some of
them have façades decorated with polychrome reliefs
including religious scenes where deities, leaders,
idols and ancestors preside over these façades as a
distinctive of the sacred and venerable character of
these monuments, where elites wielded power that
was reaffirmed and legitimated in rituals presided over
by priests and priestesses (Castillo 2000 and 2003)
and (Uceda 2000), which were part of a distinguished
class that has the privilege of using a set of goods for
their ceremonies and exclusive access to the finest
liturgy of the religiosity of this era. Another fundamental
aspect is the appearance of small armies in the
manner of a military elite, whose members are also
part of the ruling nobility. There is evidence that in the
environment of these ceremonial centers, the most
skilled craftspeople resided responsible of preparing
the finest and most valuable goods that the elites used
(Uceda 2000). A very important element that must be
emphasized, is that the drastic changes taking place at
this time have visible impact on the ideological scenery
where a new speech or script loaded with images and
scenes appears, in which major and minor deities star
and interact in solemn acts that have unique impact
on the life of society and become the most dynamic
vehicle for achieving submission and/or conviction of
Fig. 5.
‘El Rollo Temple’’, middle Formative
sacred scenario.
the population towards the elite which is on the cusp of
the hierarchical structure. A “new worldview” appears
(Canziani 2012), which marked with greater emphasis
the social differences between those who enjoy the
power and control resources under an institutionalized
system qualified as State (Castillo 2000, Uceda 2000,
Shimada 2014a, Canziani 2012 and Makowski appears
2008), versus those who are at the service of the ruling
class.
The grand buildings that were constructed,
especially on the north coast during the Moche period,
were the reflection of the power that the elites had
achieved, the control of productivity, the economic
solvency for the development of public works, but
above all the conviction that they had obtained in
adjacent communities. These constructions were
scenarios for large ceremonies established in a
ceremonial calendar, they were also room for massive
concentration of groups who witness and participate
in key ceremonies as human sacrifices (Bock 2012)
and cult to the dead. The adobe and mud platforms
were also sacred spaces for the burial of the lords
and their closest lineage, where they were buried with
their assets, plus their political and religious heritage
with which they arrive in the underworld; known cases
are the ones documented in the tombs of: Sipán (Alva
1994 and 1999), San José de Moro (Castillo 1993,
1996 and 2000), Huaca Cao (Franco 2008), Ucupe
Pueblo (Bourget 2008), Warrior Priest of the Virú Valley
(Strong and Evans 1952), La Mina (Narváez 1994),
just to cite the cases where there has been a scientific
archaeological excavation.
Monumental architecture on the north coast during 47
the Moche period, was expressed in prestigious
buildings like: Huaca del Sol y Huaca de la Luna,
Galindo, Huancaco, Pañamarca, Mocollope, Huaca
Cao, Dos cabezas, Pacatnamu, San José de Moro,
Ucupe Pueblo, Sipán, Pampa Grande (Figure 6),
Santa Rosa de Pucala, Huaca Bandera of Pacora,
among others, that mantain common characteristics
such as high buildings mostly with incined sides, large
access ramps, superimposed platforms, decorated
façades, roofed precincts, altars, thrones, stairs
 connecting underpass precincts; all these articulated
under a clearly defined design and a symmetrical
and volumetric concept. The general idea of these
monumental architectural spaces, is that they were
primarily intended for ritual activities that transmit the
power of the rulers, some of these ceremonies were
public and the others were either private or restricted.
Likewise, it is estimated that in some of these exclusive
residences for royalty were located, that is, they could
be of palaces or temple-residences. However, it is
important to note that in several cases it has been
archaeologically documented that these scenarios were
also destined for the burial of the priestly elite, which
means an extra function as temple-mausoleum and
space for these dignitaries to live forever, some of them
48 converted into remembered and revered ancestors.
An important basis and complement that justifies this
deployment in the construction of these edifications, it’s
in the Moche era the dissemination of known scenes
or themes, reflected in Moche art (Donnan 1975), in
which impressive ceremonies as La Presentación
(The Presentation), El Entierro (The Burial) stand
out (just to mention the most emblematic), they must
have demanded large scenarios and architectural
spaces, which became sacred places where religion
was reaffirmed and the power of the ruling class was
consolidated. We must highlight that architecture plays
a fundamental role in this iconographic composition
where it is depicted as a sacred stage.
In the vicinity of the large buildings it has been
documented for example in Huaca de La Luna
(The Moon) [Figure 7], elite residences in an area
denominated as urban core, these correspond to
complex planned settlements with different spaces
within which resides a character of privileged status
(Tello 1998) (Armas et. al. 2000), (Montoya et. al. 2000)
and (Uceda 2008).
In the Mochica territory, around the time called Late
Moche (Castillo and Donnan 1994), some changes
began to occur, which were the result of inner structural
weakening (Rucabado and Castillo 2003), that would
have matched with the effects of a grand Mega-Niño
(climatic phenomenon) [Shimada 2014a] and that these
changes occur with the presence of imported styles,
coming from the south and the northern highlands
(Wari and Cajamarca), this phase has been described
as the collapse of the Moche society (Proulx 1973,
Wilson 1988, Castle and Donnan 1994, Uceda and
Mujica 1994, Shimada 1994, Bawden 1996, Castillo
2001 and Castillo 2003). This phase is characterized
by the gradual decline of regional formations, and a
set of changes which affect the material sphere that
translates into the emergence of new patterns. This
is a gradual process defined from stratigraphical and
funeral studies and has it has been named as the
Transitional period, which runs approximately between
the years 750 to 900 A.D. (Rucabado and Castillo
2003). The evidences of Wari materials on the north
coast have been clearly defined in the San José de
Moro archaeological site (Castillo 2003, 2008, 2011)
and recently at the Castle on the River Huarmey (Giersz
2014 and Makowski 2014); both cases correspond to
indisputable Wari goods that have deepened the debate
on the nature and character of the Wari presence in the
northern and southern Mochica territory. Naturally, this
process has led to changes that have been defined for
the case of San José de Moro as the appearance of
Fig. 6.
‘’Pampa Grande’’ urban center
from the Late Moche period in
Lambayeque.
Fig. 7.
Polychromatic relief in ‘’Huaca
de la Luna’’, main center of the
Moche culture in La Libertad.
a Transitional period (Castillo op. cit), after which the
Chimú are formalized in the south (Mochica southern
territory) and Lambayeque in the north (Mochica
northern territory).
According to the evidence we have, everything
points out that the Transitional period consequently
brought the emergence of the Chimú and Lambayeque
that occurred between the years 950 to 1400 A.D. in
a time known as Late Regional States (Lumbreras
1981) or Late Intermediate Period (Rowe 1962),
corresponding to a period of resurgence of the regional
formations aspiring to their personal identity and the
recovering their political autonomy of territorial nature,
accompanied by the effects that caused the so called
collapse in the Moche area, with the presence of
imported material (Cajamarca and Wari). In the case 49
of the Chimú culture, it is known the changes that are
expressed in a new model and architectural design that
has Chan-Chan as the capital and main metropolis of
this society and highest expression of Late Urbanism in
the central Andes (Canziani 2012), which is associated
with a unique pottery style of stirrup handle vessels
generally of reductive cooking; with images related
to the sea, the moon and an ancestral deity called
‘’Taycanamo’’, the founder hero described in the oral
tradition of this time.
 Regarding to the Lambayeque culture, located
in the homonym territory comprised by the valleys of
Olmos, Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque and Zaña,
its chronology has been estimated between the years
850 to 1350 A.D. It shows an unmistakable style in the
classic form of the well known Huaco Rey, which rapidly
disseminated through the aforementioned valleys.
However, it is known today that its cultural influence
extended to the north in Piura, and to the soth in the
valleys of Chicama Jequetepeque (Mackey 2009);
(Franco and Gálvez 2014); (Narváez 2014th) and
(Prieto 2014), and to the east in the Cajamarca region
(Wester, Martinez and Tandaypan 2000). The oral
tradition defined by the Legend of Naymlap, generated
interest in the value of this legend and its relationship
with the archaeological evidence, the debate on the
validity remains in effect and there are mote arguments
with basis that consistently prove the close relationship
between there are the story and archaeological
50
evidence recovered. It is important to point out here
what Julio Rucabado states on this subject (2008:185),
in the sense that rather than a historical re-count of
reliable data saved in the memory, oral tradition on
Ñaymlap, would have had a political role to legitimize
the power of the existing social structures.
This proposal is interesting, to the point that
the discourse of the story becomes an argument
to legitimize an elite or a group of families who hold
power in this territory. However, it should be noted that
in this narrative is precisely where names of places,
people and scenarios in which facts and events that
happen in finding the value we find that some of them
correspond to reality are cited. But also no longer fret
the fact that in this story speaks of a temple to be
built (Chot), where a foundational fact which in turn
can be interpreted as an act of political nature but
also religious occurs; or the case of Naylamp’s death
that is contained in an enclosure where left to die and
sprout wings out of him to fly, or Ceterni’s for whom
Naylamp ordered to build his palace-temple in a place
so far that remains a matter of debate and whether it
could be Chornancap, as Zevallos argued (1993). It
is important that Tempellec or also called Fempellec
moved the idol from its original place thereupon he
receives a punishment and ends up “buried” in the
sea. These episodes are of interest to us to the extent
that the temples in the story have a sacred status and
become in the scenarios where the main eventslinked
to political and priestly elite occur.
Archaeological evidences in the territory of the
Lambayeque culture in architectural townscape, reveal
a process of continuity of the old ways of their ancestors:
the Moche; i.e., it is mantained the construction of
large buildings by way of overlapping platforms, with
direct and indirect access ramps, inclined sides,
stepped forms, associated with plazas delimited by
perimetric walls, with altars at the top, many with poles
that supported normal and gabled roofs, façades
with embossment decorative elements, polychrome
paintings with symbolic scenes that frequently alluded
to the sea and the lunar theme, but above these are
a reflection and consequence that the old Moche
models are still effctive even despite the profound
changes that occurred, especially in settlements by
way of large urban centers such as: Pómac, Túcume,
Apurlec, Pátapo, Luya, Collique, Úcupe, Chotuna -
Chornancap, La Pava, Los Perros, Solecape, Mirador,
Mocce, among others forming an urban setting closely
linked to the ideological and agricultural production
structures, i.e., these sites are the main valleys of the
Lambayeque region (Figures 8, 9 and 10).
Fig. 8.
Partial view of the Historic
Pómac Sanctuary.
Fig. 9.
Monumental Túcume Complex.
Fig. 10.
Huaca Chotuna.
What reaffirms the proposition that the main stages
in the nuclear and territorial scope of the Lambayeque
culture were articulated to the valleys and the sea as
a fundamental condition and that the monumental
and urban settings obeyed a decentralized state
sociopolitical structure, but articulated by a speech
or liturgy that unifies political and religious concepts
that are expressed in models, shapes, patterns and
architectural structures which maintain relationships
during a significant period of this society. Shimada
(2014a), argues that the political or civic center (Sicán)
personifies and/or materializes a sacred symbol that
becomes a trait disseminated in the Andean ceremonial
centers. He refers that the archaeological complex of
Pómac Forest could be configured taking the shape
of the silhouette of the “tumi” which symbolizes the
control over life. This proposal would lie in the fact that
the tumi as a material object used in sacrifice rituals
is not only a representative element, but is associated
with the human sacrifice rituals precipitating the cut
in the neck for the emanation of blood so it turns into
water and fertilizes the earth. Despite our obvious
disagreement with this proposal, we agree in the fact
that these scenarios are sacred architectural spaces,
because they constitute a territory where elites develop
their rituals and everyday activities, but when they die
are buried next to the main platforms which become
in temple-mausoleum and abode of the ancestors
(Shimada op. cit.). Another reason and argument
for these scenarios to have the sacred condition, are
the decorative elements that are placed on the main
façades, on the entrances to the ceremonial plazas in
the altars, among others and that concur in a speech 51
that reminds the content of the oral tradition on the
history of Ñaymlap and his offspring.
The case of Úcupe Complex is exceptional,
because it is a platform with a façade facing east, in
whose main front surface were excavated polychrome
murals which are one of the most important mural art
discoveries known on the Lambayeque culture (Alva
1984). The researcher has postulated the idea that this
temple or worship and/or pilgrimage center, could have
become a sacred scenario center of transcendental
 ritual activities precisely presided by those who appear
on the façades as characters of the highest status and
that these are part of a dynastic succession of lords who
incarnate the offspring of the mythical Ñaymlap (Alva
1984). Recent excavations in the same place (Alva and
Alva Meneses 2011) have ratified the sacred concept
of this archaeological site and the close relationship
with some elements that are formulated in the oral
52 tradition of Ñaymlap. This scenario is one of the few
buildings that in the territory of the Lambayeque region
are close to the Pacific coast and precisely emplaced
in the vicinity of the estuary of a river in the sea, in this
case at the mouth of the Saña river; similar to what
happens to Huaca El Taco which was located on the
south margin of the Reque River near its mouth on the
coast, and in the case of Chornancap located near
ts mouth on the coast, and the case of Chornancap
located near the coast and close to the mouth of the
Lambayeque River (formerly called Faquisllanga).
This location condition of an important temple
between the estuary of a river in the sea, not due to a
fortuitous event but probably a requirement of religious
nature and a territorial condition, this allows us to state
that the location of sacred sites obeys a preset pattern,
repeated in other locations, and which associates
important buildings with a space or landscape context
that is determined by the riverbed and its mouth on the
coast, cases like Úcupe, El Taco and Chornancap, are
a clear example of how the ruling Lambayeque elite
establishes that temples near the sea with access
to the east, should be close to the point of the mouth
of a river as if this site would remind the oral tradition
about the arrival of Ñaymlap and the construction of
the Chot temple, near the mouth of the Faquisllanga
river (Cabello de Balboa 1951:928 [1586]).
 The Túcume Complex, happens to be one of
the most iconic known for the Lambayeque culture,
because in this scenario next to a valley as La Leche
river, an important component appears as part of the
architectural landscape: the La Raya Hill, also called
Purgatorio Hilll, which it is at the center of architectural
urban space in the core of this monumental setting or
the “axis mundi” (Narváez 2011). Some of the platforms
of this monumental complex such as Huaca 1, Huaca
Larga, Huaca Las Balsas; show decorative elements of
extraordinary artistic and chromatic quality exhibiting
a repertoire where the maritime world, the celestial
space and terrestrial scenario converge and reveal
indisputably that these were sacred spaces transmitting
religious and Lambayeque mythology scenes in the
façades.The four phases identified in Huaca Las Balsas,
associated with surface embossements (Narváez
2011) reaffirm the relationship of the elements like
birds, the sea and supernatural beings which interact
in these sacred settings.
We must put special emphasis on the case of
Chotuna and Chornancap, whose landscape is
dominated by the agricultural environment but especially
by the proximity to the sea. The architectural volumes of
Huaca Chotuna, Huaca Susy, Huaca of the Sacrifices, 53
Huaca of the Anthropomorphic Wave and Chornancap
are also part of the architectural and formal concepts of
the splendorous urbanism in the Lambayeque period,
but these are a clear reflection of the consolidation
of power, administrative and productive capacity, and
relationships that elites stationed in this territory have
managed to develop. This is not about a set of families
 that depend on a central capital, we are before centers
which are strategically stationed at several valleys of
this region and share a religious tradition, as well as
political fundamentals architectural models.
Huaca Chotuna is a massive constructive volume
with a circumferential ramp facing west, an appendix
elongated to the north, and the top of the huaca for
ritual activities; it is a faithful reflection of Huaca El
Loro in Batán Grande that turns out to be a similar
model with the only variant that the ramp in Chotuna
has a west, north, east trajectory and it accesses
to the top of the huaca; in the case of Huaca Loro,
it starts in the west, goes to the south, and ascends
to the east reaching the top; this similarity of location,
orientation and constructive model follows a religious
principle where the lunar and solar axis converge
(east and west), where the north-south axis remains
opposed and the access comes from the west, i.e.,
from the direction of the sea where these men arrive. In
addition close to both buildings in the north-east side a
rectangular platform with a T-shaped plant is emplaced
whose ramp is oriented towards the east side; in the
case of Huaca Chotuna we have Huaca Susy and for
Huaca El Loro we Huaca The Engineer, this spatial
configuration is similar for Chotuna and Huaca El Loro,
54 and reveals the existence of models that obey religious
patterns turning them into spaces conceived as sacred
scenarios, which also have dual connotation.
Chornancap is located in the vicinity of the coast, it
presents not only in its architectural design the Tshaped
plant building model with a ramp to the east, but also
shows in its architecture associated to the building, the
dual concept, where the political scene determined by
the throne and the courtyard of polychrome paintings
is located north and the area of elite residence and
mausoleum of the Priestess is located south; opposite
yet complementary spaces which reveal the deep
religious meaning the saced scenarios acquire, that
shows a binomial between religiosity and landscape
since the beginning of the early Andean architecture.
1.2 Elite Funerary Rituals as a Power
Expression
Archaeological research in the past three
decades have opened a line of work mainly aimed in
understanding the study of death through the material
vestiges pertaining to the cultures of the Ancient
Peru (Kaulicke 2000). It seems that the funerary
contexts are one of the main sources of information
on rituals, political and religious hierarchies, socio-
economic status, macro regional relations, commerce,
production technology, mythology, religiosity and
sacrificial activities, among others. This whole set of
acts andactions were aimed in ratifying the historical
vocation of ancient societies to maintain in the world of
the living the cult of the dead.
In this regard it is important to reflect on the reasons
that lead a society to establish the funerary ritual as a key
activity, as well as what are the implications of the term
“culturization” of death (Kaulicke 2000). This consists
into making it into a series of continuous events, aimed
at the reintegration of the dead in society under new
forms and functions, in some cases under the name
of ancestry. (Kaulicke op. cit.). Death’s episode, has
been subject of special study, because it is beyond
its biological sense, it becomes a very dynamic social
element due to all activities that involves; apart from
the individual’s hierarchy death summons the presence
of human groups and generates an emotional, social,
political and religious reaction. Naturally, in the Andean
area, the cult of the dead paradoxically is one of the
most complex activities in the world of the living, even
more if the individual flaunted in life a status or political
and religious hierarchy that makes death’s episode a
transit vehicle traffic between the world of the living and
of the ancestors (Uceda 1996; Hocquenghem 1987,
Donnan 1978 and Bourget 1994). Evidences known
about elite funerary practices in Andean America reveal
not only the complexity of the rituals, but the wealth of
content where there appear objects that were placed
intentionally fulfilling a location order that someone
gave them for a specific purpose (Castillo 2000:104).
If we refer back to the elite tombs excavated in the
Cajamarca region, by the Japanese Mission in Kuntur
Wasi (Onuki 1997), we can ascertain not only the
impressive technological quality of the objects but the
repertoire of images carved in fine and sophisticated
golden goods that beyond the value of the precious
metal these are works of deep symbolic content that
allow documenting the identity and roles of those who
used them in life. These funerary contexts not only
contain a rich trousseau but are also located on the
main platform of the Kuntur Wasi temple associated
to the Cup (550-250 B.C.) and Kuntur Wasi (800-550
B.C.) phases, which acquires the connotation of sacred
place.
In the Pacopampa archaeological site located in
San Pedro de Pacopampa town, district of Querocoto,
province of Chota, department of Cajamarca, at an
altitude of 2500 m.a.s.l., in 2009 it was excavated
an important burial corresponding to a 25-39 years
old woman, belonging to the elite of the Formative
period in this area. (Seki 2014). This funerary context
corresponds to an elite Pacompampa female (Figure
11), it becomes an important antecedent in tombs of
women of high rank and hierarchy, which are buried
in sacred scenarios of their time (Pacopampa) and
reinforce the status of the building, but this also
generates the idea that the elite developed actions to
legitimize the presence of women in the socio-political
structure in the central Andes.
55
 It is appropriate to recall that between the sixties
and seventies of the last century, Terence Grieder
excavated an important untouched funerary context,
corresponding to an elite woman of the Recuay culture,
dated between the years 400 to 650 A.D. (Grieder
1978). The content of the tomb, corresponds to a female
character who was associated with tupus and piruros
among her main offerings which shows how certain
elements of the tomb emphasize the buried individual’s
condition, their role and naturally their status. In this
regard it should be reminded that tupus are goods that
stand out in the vestment of a woman in the prehispanic
times and that these are often an indicator element to
associate the gender of the buried character. Guamán
Poma de Ayala (1936 [1613]) in the document ‘’New
56 Chronicle and Good Government’’, it highlights in one
of its images a woman as the first Coya Mama Huaco
sitting on a throne with three women who accompany
her, two of them carry a tupu and Mama Huaco has
two tupus on her chest, this demonstrates the role and
relationship that had these goods with the status and
identity of the individuals.
There is no doubt that archaeological findings
about the Moche culture, revela a society with an
unexpected technological and artistic development that
emerged in the northern territory of Peru, between the
first to the ninth century A.D., these funerary contexts
from the various tombs in Sipán are unquestionable
(Alva 1994, 1999), the Tombs of the Priestesses in
San José de Moro (Castillo 2011), the findings in El
Brujo Complex with the so-called Lady of Cao (Franco
and Gálvez 2005), the astonishing works in Huaca El
Sol and Huaca de La Luna Complex (Uceda 2000),
the discovery of the Tomb of the Virú Priest Warrior
(Strong and Evans 1952), and the excavations in the
Úcupe Village complex with the Tomb of the Warrior
of Úcupe (Bourget 2008 ), all these archaeological
events have recovered the material and immaterial
version of the Moche, in addition have enabled to
build the understanding of the origin, development and
collapse of this society, but also generated a unique
opportunity to understand the meaning of the images
and representations which frequenlt appear with
recognized quality in the stirrup handle bottles painted
under the fine line technique.
When we approach the study of funeral rituals and
the contexts that shape it, we assume a burial is an
“intentional” process (Castillo 2000), whose starting
point is the character’s death to bury, the same who
apparently cannot decide on the type of burial, place,
escort, objects to be placed as offerings and burial
ritual, anyway the entire set of facts surrounding the
circumstance of the death and transforming it from an
inevitable event into a public ceremony. However, the
burial episode as a ceremonial cult of the dead, has
had in ancient societies of Andean America a special
emphasis particularly on the public stage in order to
perpetuate the memory of the character who goes
to meet the ancestors, and with the clear intention
of showing his people the power and religiosity of
these individuals beyond life. Apparently, death as
ceremonial process of ideological impact becomes an
“opportunity” that allows the leadership of elites which
transcend in the population, achieving greater religious
cohesion and above all depende to participate in these
acts and renew the faith in their deities (Castillo 2008).
If we examine the panorama of the funeral ritual,
we assume what Christopher Donnan points out
(1995), see also the work of Luis Jaime Castillo (2000),
that to understand the Moche burials it is essential to
analyze five basic aspects: first, the preparation of the
body; second, the funerary bundle; third, the funerary
structure; fourth, quantity and quality of the offerings; and
fifth, the location of the grave. These indicators should
be considered simultaneously and not in isolation to be
able to establish more rigorous social position or status
of the individuals (Donnan op. cit.). Obviously although
these conditions exist, there are decisions made at the
time of the death and after it, these are assumed by
those who carry out the ritual, which is a public act of
religious implications and unquestionable political and
social impact. (Castillo 2000:111)
The archaeology of the north coast, has achieved
over the last 30 years, to define more accurately the
burial models and the identities of buried characters,
obviously the more objects are placed in the grave,
the better are the chances to approach the function
of the character. For example, the tombs of Sipán
characters follow a certain pattern of burial type,
position, companions, types of offerings, styles,
among others (Alva 1994). Similar circumstances
presented in the tombs of the Priestesses of San José
de Moro (Castillo 2008), tomb of the Úcupe Character
(Bourget 2008), the Lady of Cao in El Brujo complex
(Franco and Galvez 2005), and the Priest Warrior in
Virú (Strong and Evans 1952). If there is something
in common in these tombs it’s the extraordinary
technological and informative quality of the associated
objects, which are part of contexts, as well as the
correlation of the characters with those in the Mochica
iconography. Other common elements are for example
the existence of wooden and cane coffins, the position
and orientation of the buried, niches on the sides of the
tomb, individuals as companions (eventually offered),
or perhaps retinues, tomb guardians, secondary
burials, offerings of camelids, dogs, snakes, carob tree
beam ceiling, among other components that help and
contribute to rebuild the funeral scene as well as the
developed ritual.
In the case of the elite tombs in the Moche era even
though there would have been certain “conventions”
on the shapes, patterns and structures of the elite
burials, there are significant differences which are
the reflection of the northern and southern Mochica
territories (Castillo 2000). However, one of the first elite
funeral episodes scientifically dug corresponds to the
untouched elite Mochica tomb of the so-called Virú
priest Warrior (Strong and Evans 1952), also known as
Owl Priest of Huaca de la Cruz (Mogrovejo 2008), that
for unknown reasons has been lost from the collective
memory of Peruvian archaeology. The physical
anthropology study on this tomb determined that the
main character was older than 60 years (Figure 12),
which exceeds the life expectancy of the time. The Lord
of Virú was then a very old man at the time, a record for
the Moche world, comparable only to the “Old Lord of 57
Sipán” (Mogrovejo 2008:296).
Fig. 11.
Lady of Pacopampa.
Fig. 12.
Tomb of the Virú Warrior.
Fig. 13.
Tomb of the Lord of Sipán.
 The elite tombs allow us to categorically state that
the burial of characters of the Moche elite status, not
only has the hierarchy by the amount and the glow of
the ornaments and goods accompanying his burial,
it is the event of the burial which is closely related to
an edification that upon receiving the burial becomes
a sacred mausoleum and stage for permanent life of
this individual who will become the mythical ancestor,
who would have received commemorative events in
his memory. However, it should be noted that the 80s
58
of the last century has been extremely extraordinary
for Peruvian archaeology because from 1987 a
series of successive discoveries and findings of elite
tombs at the archaeological site of Sipán, where
archaeologists from Brüning Museum led by Walter
Alva, Luis Chero and Susana Meneses (Alva 1994)
had the difficult responsibility to scientifically document
one of the most important funerary treasures that
Andean America would have known at that time
(Figure 13). The researcher, (Alva 1994), motivated
by the impressive archaeological artifacts recovered,
interprets the meaning of these goods, first under
the condition that they belong to a high dignitary who
played specific roles and which was a military, political
and religious authority; naturally leaving the possibility
to understand that the elite tombs with its extraordinary
content cannot only be a compendium of art and
technology, but allow to rebuild the lives of these
characters, their functions, the ceremonial activities in
which they participated as associated elements; it is
clear that anything was possible if the individual dead
in the grave with his assets but alive in the underworld
would not have had that authority, which allows him
to perform a certain action we call: Power. In addition
it is substantively strengthened when the character is
presented or appears in a determined public stage with
his assets and which can become the destination of
his burial. In the case of Sipán we can recognize in this
sanctuary that the platform where the elite characters
have been excavated, corresponds to what is called
Royal Mausoleum (Alva op. cit).
59
 The years after this discovery will be followed by
more findings such as the Tomb of the Priest, the Old
Lord of Sipán, the Noble Warrior, to the Tomb 16 of an
important Warlord confirming that this sacred scenario
called platform of Sipán, was once the place for the
burial of the highest military, political and religious
hierarchy of the Mochica period between the centuries
III and IV A.D. If we do a recount of the archaeological
excavations on funerary contexts made in the last 60
years, we find that 61 62 more than 50 elite tombs
have been documented, belonging to the Formative,
Regional Development, Wari, Kingdoms and Lordships
to Inca times. All these tombs are not only great for
the richness of content, but correspond to characters
vested with authority and recognized as lords, priests,
priestesses, warlords even some of them were young
but with the status probably acquired from the womb
and this reflects that this investiture was transmitted
as a hereditary dynasty from generation to generation.
However in 1989 another event shocked archaeology
in the northern coast of Peru, an important royal
chambered tomb of an elite character was violently
looted at the archaeological site La Mina, located on
the south margin of the lower part of the Jequetepeque
river, in La Mina archaeological site, located in La Mina
Hill, Jequetepeque district, province of Pacasmayo, La
Libertad region. The emergency intervention promoted
by the Brüning Museum of Lambayeque, the direction
of the National Institute of Culture of La Libertad
and the valuable contribution of Christopher Donnan
and Guillermo Cock, allowed the immediate start of
an emergency action, in charge of the archaeologist
60 Alfredo Narváez Vargas. The ransacked tomb had
the interior walls painted with a polychrome mural
with geometric and figurative design (Narváez 1994),
where apparently five individuals had been buried
among: a child (7-10 years), a young woman (17-
20 years) a young man (15-17 years), an adult man
(25-45 years) and an elderly over 50 years (Verano
1994:84); Likewise, an important set of gold and gilded
copper, as well as exquisite ceramic bottles. One of the
golden objects belonging to this tomb and recovered in
2006, corresponds to a large headdress shaped like a
large laminated gold frontal ornament, embossed and
trimmed with traces of paint, depicting the head of a
feline deity with jaws of spondylus, turquoise eyes and
surrounded by eight serpentiform tentacles ending in
the head of a representation of the famous “catfish”
(Donnan 1999, Sh. 123), and wherein one of the sides
of these tentacles presents a succession of openwork
triangles that create the impression of a supernatural
being.
In the 90’s an unexpected twist occurs in the
results offered by the archaeological research in
funerary contexts of elite Moche on the northern
coast, and is that the San José de Moro site located
in the homonym town center, province of Chepén, La
Libertad region; Luis Jaime Castillo and Christopher
Donnan documented in 1991 the first tomb of a female
character of the Moche elite associated with one of the
most conspicuous figures of the Moche iconography
(Castillo and Donnan 1994), (Castillo 2000, 2001 and
2008) and that is linked with the so-called: Character
“C” of the Presentation theme (Donnan 1975)
These tombs and unique repertoire of goods
obviously generated a new persepctive of the Moche
archaeology panorama, especially from the tombs
of elite characters, an unexpected component is
categorically incorporated which is the presence of
women starring in political and religious elite, with
power that allows them to mobilize resources for the
implementation of major rituals where they appear with
diversity of roles and identities, with which they are
buried in complex tombs, with companions and assets
of priceless artistic, technological and documentary
value. The tombs of San José de Moro (Figure 14) with
seven more Priestesses scientifically excavated and
belonging to the Moche and Transitional time, have
opened the debate on the gender issue in prehispanic
societies and the roles these women played, the same
that do not depend on their relationship with a man
(Castillo 2000), even though we still think the power
was centralized and monopolized on male characters,
the tombs of San José de Moro, show the duality of
power in life and in death, both by men and women
(Castillo op. cit).
 By 2004 the northern coastal archaeology is
substantially strengthened by the excavation of a
funerary context of a major young woman belonging to
the Mochica elite in El Brujo Archaeological Complex
or Huaca Cao (Figure 15), corresponding to the burial
of a lady linked to the oldest phases of the main
building and buried in a special ceremonial enclosure
at the top of the main pyramid (Franco 2008). The
discovery of the Lady of Cao with her companions and
extraordinary trousseau that surrounds this character
as goldeen objects, necklaces, earrings, earmuffs,
noserings, semi precious stones, among other sets of
exquisite goldsmith art goods, these are undoubtedly
a clear sign that the funerary contexts could no longer
be seen as spaces of rich assets content which dazzle
all and sundry, but as testimony to recognize the status
and hierarchy that these characters flaunted in life and
that in death is reaffirmed as signal of her power and
authority that is legitimized with great ceremonies in
burial rituals. This finding, also contributed to reaffirm
the important role played by women in political and
religious life of the Moche society in the northern coast
of Peru, but above all helped as the other funerary
contexts described to approach the complex world
of ceremonial burials processes of male and female
sovereigns, priests and priestesses, male and female
spiritual healers, who after their death are driven by a
set of ritual activities that make their death episode into
an “opportunity” for his descendants to represent and
legitimize their status with the population, the same
that assumes commitments in these rituals that are
equivalent to the encounter with ancestrality.
Towards mid-2008 Steve Bourget, dug in the north
eastern sector of the Huaca called ‘’Úcupe Pueblo’’
in the lower part of the southern margin of the Saña
valley, the Tomb of a Ruler belonging to the Moche elite,
apparently contemporary to the Lord of Sipán; in this
Tomb valuable pieces of gold, gilded copper ornaments
and ceramics offerings were found. The researcher 61
(Bourget 2008), argues that the central character
should correspond to a 30 years old individual wrapped
Fig. 14.
Priestess of San José de Moro
Fig. 15.
Lady of CaoIn
 in atunic fashioned dress adorned with plates of gilded
copper, his face was found covered with two funerary
masks, discs necklace and silver rattles, six crowns and
other “V” shaped headgear known under the name of
diadem. He was accompanied by two individuals one
male and an apparently pregnant woman, probably his
concubine, and that their bones do not show signs of
tampering for sacrificial reasons. This tomb reinforces
the hypothesis that each valley had an important lord
or high ranked local authority (Alva 1994) and that his
death was followed by a burial with certain parameters
and forms that are duly established and articulated
as a kind of funeral protocol that in the Moche era is
obeyed with certain strictness of style and form. That
is, we are in a society that has institutionalized and
62 formalized the funeral protocol of elite characters in
a vast territory as the north coast, to the extent that
the burial ritual is recorded in fine line painted stirrup
handle clasic bottles especially in that we know with
the theme of the burial (Donnan 1975).
In September of 2012, there was a significant and
surprising finding in the archaeological site known as
the Huarmey Castle, located in the province of Huarmey,
Ancash region and associated with the Middle Horizon
period (Giersz 2014). Investigations developed allowed
to document the discovery of an important tomb,
belonging to a multiple burial of more than 64 individuals
and 3 elite burials corresponding to female characters
of the highest aristocracy of Wari society, accompanied
by a priceless funerary trousseau which reveals the
presence of this civilization in the southern boundary
of the Mochica territory. The discovery of the Wari
Mausoleum in the Huarmey Castle (Figure 16), not
only is transcendental in its richness of content, and in
the complexity of the female nobility stratification, but
it incorporates arguments for the debate on the Wari
presence in the northern coast, that from this fantastic
funerary event shows a multiple burial that reveals how
power and status are reasserted from the death in an
unsuspected territory.
On the other hand the Lambayeque tombs
excavated in Batán Grande (Shimada 1995, 2014b),
appear as large chambers very deep below the surface,
as complex tombs with the main character who is not
inside a coffin, it appears sitting flexed facing west, in
a bundle or bale. There are few Lambayeque funerary
events scientifically excavated, what is know is that
these graves contain significant amounts of offerings
made of gold, silver, copper and various alloys, in
wich there is a symbolic repertoire wich is primarily
circumscribed to the winged eyes character, prominent
nose, who is known as God Ñaylamp.
63
 The east and west tombs documented at Huaca
Loro (Shimada 1995, 2014b), are indisputable proof
of the enormous power these characters wield beyond
death; They are buried in large chambers, wrapped in
bundles that keep all their ornaments, and also receive
exotic offerings, human sacrifices, significant amounts
of copper “cards”, which are regarded as a kind of way
of exchange or currency and are widely disseminated
during the Middle Sican period (Shimada op. cit.). Also,
spondylus shells, conus, pearls were recorded among
other exotic goods which reveal that these characters
in life exercised enormous power in society and an
influence relationship with contacts in a superior local
and regional sphere.
The content of both funerary contexts of
extraordinary informative quality associated with one
of the most important buildings of the ceremonial
Pómac complex identified as Huaca Loro (Figure
17), allows to cogitate on the huge deployment of
workforce, resources, goods, supplies to be invested in
an unprecedented ritual act, the burying of one of the
highest dignitaries of the Lambayeque elite. Of course,
the monumental architecture of Huaca Loro constitutes
the sacred space for the establishment of a temple
mausoleum, which demanded the mass deployment
of hundreds of people who attended these obsequies
which allows to suspect about the enormous power and
political and religious authority that these characters
flaunted even more so with the addition of human
groups as chaperones such as the West Tomb, where
burials of more than 20 individuals mainly related to
womens from major ethnicities in the Mochica group
64 and from the northern end of the coast, indicate the
prestige of the main character, the influence it exercises

Fig. 16.
Aerial view of the Wari Imperial Mausoleum in the
Huarmey Castle, Ancash, where 58 women of Wari
nobility were found.

Fig. 17.
East and West Tombs of Huaca El Loro.
65
 on a macro regional level and the possibility of being
a ruler associated to a unique and special symbology
such as ornitomorphic, maritime and lunar elements; in
these funerary contexts we must emphasize the huge
difference with the Moche tombs we have discussed;
in the elite tombs of Lambayeque from Pómac, new
elements concur: the tombs are deep, they are massive
in characters as well as in chaperones, retinues and/
or those sacrificed, they have large accumulations of
goods, gold, silver, copper and tombac with a new
symbolic repertoire, they contain large amounts of
offerings of spondylus and conus shells which are
an innovative symbolic element product of the fluid
commercial relationship with groups from Ecuador as
like as not central america; and especially the presence
of exotic materials like precious stones: amber, pearls
and amethyst . By 2006 the archaeological research
in Pómac by Carlos Elera allow documenting a new
and important funerary context which reffers to the
old woman buried in a sitting position with a golden
mask and a companion, thus as an important funerary
trousseau (Elera 2008:308).
Another archaeological excavation of unique value
was made on the site “El Arenal” of Illimo, by the Archae.
Juan Martínez Fiestas, who in an archaeological rescue
intervention commissioned by the Brüning Museum,
identified the tomb of an important elite character that
could correspond to what the author calls “The Warrior
of Illimo” (Martínez 2014), who was accompanied by
two young women, ceramics offerings among which
stand out the neck frustoconical bottles with side
handle, globular body, pedestal base belonging to the
66 Late Lambayeque stage, also golden, tombac and
silver objects (Figure 18a).
Archaeological research in Collud by the Archae.
Ignacio Alva Meneses, allowed recording an important
intrusive tomb belonging to the Late Lambayeque
era (Alva Meneses 2012) corresponding to an adult
woman who wore a mask and a copper knife, thus
as an extraordinary wooden scepter, whose image
depicts a deity holding discs and resembles with the
recognized representation of Ñaymlap, this sculpture
shows towards the back of the two-headed character
of stylized felines snakes. This finding of extraordinary
content and informative richness corresponds to an
important weaver woman, buried with a basket with
spinning artifacts and ceramics offerings Lambayeque
Late style, especially of double neck divergent bottles
connected by a bridge handle, this finding has a
trousseau that consisted of more than 214 using very
fine wood, 22 of which were with black and white
cotton thread, 6 cotton clews, 52 copper needles,
6 cayhuas (fruit), 7 copper neddle holders, spindle
whorls, mates (tea) and baskets containing cotton and
textile fragments, the woman who was sitting has as a
prestige trait a copper knife and a mask of the same
metal with applications in the eyes as well as a copper
ceremonial beaker and huaca chalks. This association
certifies the enormous value that had women who
dedicated themselves to the art of spinning and
textiler. Note that from this set of offerings ceramic the
most common type of Lambayeque ceramic in this
context corresponds to the double peaked divergent
bottle, with bridge handle, a flattened globular body, a
pedestal base, known as ‘’tacho’’ (Alva Meneses 2012)
(Figure 18b).
This brief re-count of the main funerary elite
contexts from the coast and northern highlands of
Peru, from the Formative period until the time of
Late Kingdoms and Lordships, reveal that death as a
biological circumstance is transformed into a cultural,
social, political and religious event, with a perspective
of impact and significance, which enables the purpose
of strengthening the higher hierarchical structure, it
helps to strengthen the liturgy and speech in thousands
of people which are subjected and/or convinced that
these rituals are indispensable and in which elites
Fig. 18a.
Tomb of the Íllimo Warrior.
Fig. 18b.
Surface view of Lambayeque
grave in Collud.
67
 should enjoy these privileges because the most
important people when traveling to the underworld
would intercede before the ancestors for his people,
i.e. death is sort of sacrifice in which the buried is
presented in a massive ritual in which his power and
authority increases.
Also, this brief re-count on the funerary contexts
in northern Peru, is a telling indicator of the enormous
power that the elites consolidated through the
accumulation of goods, the repertoire of ornaments and
symbols which identify and associate roles, hierarchies
and identities. In this regard (Geertz 2000) in his study
on the state-theater in the nineteenth century Baly,
Clifford incorporated the concept of “theatrical states”,
wherein the presentation of rituals, and ceremonies
of great magnitude contribute in maintaining coercion
as well as political and economic control (Geertz op.
cit.). This re-count allows us to cogitate on what Luis
Jaime Castillo argues (2000), that the more goods are
in the tomb, there are more arguments to reconstruct
the activities that the deceased accomplished in life,
but it is also important to note the location of the
burial, the setting and cultural landscape with which
it is associated, as well as the destination in terms
of architectural space, so that the tomb of an elite
68
character is not a mere ceremonial procedure, but is
the episode that elevates the status of the place where
he/she is buried and becomes into a sacred stage.
CHAPTER II
2.1 Lambayeque Culture: Territorial
Definition.
It is very likely that by the seventh to eighth century
A.D., the consequences and effects of a Meganiño4
have produced dramatic changes in Peru’s northern
coast, which generate a succession of “collapses” in
the political, religious and economic order of the Moche
society on the Late Middle Horizon (Rowe 1955; Uceda
and Mujica 2003; Castillo 2010; Shimada 2014a). This
circumstance originated by nature and sociopolitical
causes coincided with the stylistic presence of highland
cultures like Cajamarca and Wari which next to the
Moche produced the emergence of the Lambayeque
style that shows an unmistakable seal and personality,
in the classic form of the famous “Huaco Rey” (Figure
19), which disseminated rapidly through the valley of
Olmos, Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, Reque and
Zaña, approximately between the years 850 or 900
A.D. to 1400 A.D. However, it is known today that its
cultural influence extended across a much wider area,
up to Piura to the north, in the valleys of Jequetepeque
and Chicama to the south (Mackey 2009); (Franco and
Gálvez 2014); (Narváez 2014a) and eastward in the
Cajamarca region (Wester et. al. 2000).
4
Izumi Shimada (2014), states that there was a transformative era in which
important natural and cultural changes of broad and lasting impact occurred: a
severe and prolonged drought (562-594 A.D.), followed by a Meganiño at the
end of the sixth century and the early seventh century.
 The Lambayeque culture can be described as a
complex society, non-centralized state, comprised
of several households consisting as political entities
around large ceremonial and administrative centers
strategically located in the valleys (Zaña, Lambayeque,
La Leche and Motupe), whose cultural unity was
maintained by a common ideology, with a mythical
speech based on the belief of ancestral deities, inspired
mainly in the sea, the moon and the birds. Similarly, to the
sustained intervention and state control exercised over
the water, the agricultural production, manufacturing
and distribution of goods and ritual objects, as well as
the provisioning of exotic resources such as spondylus,
conus, pearls and gems of equatorial origin, which
unequivocally demonstrate the relationships between
groups located in the present Ecuador and the northern
Peru were accentuated and intensified during this time.
Proof of this, is the appearance of scenes of groups
of “spondylus pickers” (Figure 20) known as ‘’buzos’’5
in the official Lambayeque liturgy, which have a ritual
role at this time and which reveal a commercial setting
intensively exploited for productive and ritual activities.
In each valley we find colossal adobe buildings, in
the form of platforms or frustums, which differed from
one another and could be seen from afar by the local
population. Thence rulers, priests and priestesses have
played their roles; who claimed to be descendants of
the legendary Ñaymlap, founder of the Lambayeque
dynasty.
5 Narváez (2011), accurately points out that: ... << spondylus trading,
should not only be seen as a stricly economic matter, but it also contains
meaning and religious purpose, linked to the major gods. Otherwise this
resource would not have had such relevance and significance in the cultural
prehispanic peruvian traditions >> (2011:119)..
2.2 Sociopolitical Characterization of the
Lambayeque Culture.
The Lambayeque culture can also be understood,
as part of an ideological process that has a liturgical
support in the oral tradition which strengthens the
political and social elite power, and possesses unique
coherence in material production; i.e. the elements
of the oral tradition are represented on a frequent
basis especially in icons linked to the moon, sea and
birds. This would have allowed a solid sociopolitical
structure in a territory revealing a State that instead
of being centralized it is a multi-valley and macro-
regional expression, with local authorities which
maintain a link through the religious discourse that is
transmited accompanied by a proper management of
the hydrologic system that engages and incorporates
the population of high, medium and low valleys and the
coastal zone, a scenario which can be understood as a
sacred territory or space.
The Lambayeque culture, as described by Jorge
Zevallos (1971 and 1989), was ‘’Chimuizada’’, i.e.
all details concerning to the regional culture were
associated with an extension of Chimú, which was
defined by the style represented in the dazzling golden,
69
silver and copper eye winged masks (Figure 21) and
Tumi type knives associated as assets of the Chimú
culture.
Fig. 19.
Lambayeque Bottles, called
‘’Huaco Rey’’, Brüning Museum Collection (MAB).
70
71
72
 Even Max Uhle (1959) called the local style with
the toponym Éten6 (Shimada 1995 and 2014a),
however, Rafael Larco (1948) is whom proposes the
term Lambayeque to refer to the style of the homonym
region.
On the other hand, the image projected by the
oral tradition and defined by the Legend of Ñaymlap,
generated interest in some researchers in learning
the value of this story and its relationship with the
people. However, the debate on the validity of this oral
tradition continues and there are more arguments with
archaeological, linguistic and iconographic support
that consistently prove the close relationship between
this legend and the archaeological evidence recovered
there.
In the Lambayeque culture, we can define clearly
that there is a vast territory comprised by the valleys
of Olmos, Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque and Zaña,
which express a highly productive, hydrorological,
political, ideological and economic unit (Kosok 1965;
Shimada 1995), from whose valleys or stable rivers,
a complex and sophisticated of inter-valley irrigation
system was generated (Taymi channel, Ynalche
channel, Cucureque channel, among others), which
allowed to fertilize large agricultural areas turning them
6
Eten is the name of the current fishing harbor located to the south of
Lambayeque. Jorge Zevallos (1993) argues that in various documents It
appears as ETHEM, ETEM, ETIM.
into productive lands (Hayashida 1999 and 2014).
Some approaches made by Kosok (1959), argue that
on the Lambayeque heyday nearly two-thirds of the
available area were cultivated benefiting more than
150,000 people, then turning this region into an actual
pantry of the central Andes (Shimada 1995) .
This agricultural success, obviously generated
surpluses that should substantially contribute in the
planning and execution of large public works for religious
purposes, such as the pyramids in Pómac, Apurlec,
Túcume, Úcupe, Pátapo, Chotuna, Chornancap, La
Tina, La Pava, Los Perro, Solecape, Huaca de Barro, El
Mirador, Huacas of Mocce, Luya, Huaca Brava, Huaca
Miguelito, Huaca Teodora, Miraflores, El Taco, among
other dozens of buildings set in the valleys, and which
were gradually raised as the monumental expression of
the power and prestige that the Lambayeque elites had
accomplished which were installed in the territory and
were at the helm of this society. This strong investment
was naturally accompanied by an elaborated religious
discourse in the manner of a liturgy which differs from
the Mochica, because apparently it would have focused
on the image of the character from the mythical story:
Ñaymlap; whose figure is frequently represented in 73
most of the material produced at that time among
ceramics, metals, textiles, wood, bone and molluscs
carvings especially embossed and polychrome images
which decorated temples and buildings, as we can see
today at the archaeological excavations.
Fig. 20.
Spondylus Pickers in laminated gold.
(Brüning Museum Collection MB
00194).
74

Fig. 21.
Golden Mask from the Lambayeque culture,
Brüning Museum Collection MB-00003.
 The symbology that frequently appears in
Lambayeque materials permanently refers to God
Ñaymlap, its maritime origin and socio-political structure
of dynastic type. Therefore, there are two elements that
we propose as the strategy used by the Lambayeque
elites to achieve the consolidation and continuity in
power: The first is the management and “professional”
control of faith (understood as acceptance of the
population), through rituals, resulting in this linchpin
of all spheres of political, social and cultural life.
This control must have meant the existence of a
priestly elite who appears in public ceremonies with a
“performance” of high impact on the population. The
second is the efficient management of the hydrologic
and land systems, both means must be part of a
“property” that was controlled with a system installed
in strategic locations, and which had as complement
the implementation of festive activities and massive
rituals, designed to reiterate and renew the fertility cult,
ancestor worship, etc.
These strategic foundations helped to promote
that the ceremonial practices achieve the cohesion of
society to confront and raise productivity, which can
become in kind of a “commitment” of the population
with their deities; which it is reinforced through a strong
involvement in public works. These elements in our
judgment are the socioeconomic and political basis
for defining the nature of the State administration in
the Lambayeque civilization, due to economic stability
and that the main ideological foundation in the Andean
region has historically been linked to the strategic
balance between the relationship with water, land and
religiosity as ideological support which justifies and
legitimizes the power and authority of the ruling class.
Therefore, the establishment of the “new” society in the
post-Moche era, went through an inevitable process of
restructuring the political control through religion with the
addition of a renewed and complex pantheon of deities
which appear in costumes and gestures and which are
associated with scenarios like the moon, the sea and
the land, also, on the other hand, economic through
efficient and specialized water and land management,
as well as massification of workshops and production
areas. But above all exerting greater “public investment”
in constructing irrigation infrastructures (channels and
fields) or expanding the existing one, thus generating
a greater supply of products for the sustenance of
administrative groups which contributed to maximize
the production control. The ruling elites were apparently
“owners” of the water, but above all had the control and
management of the irrigation infrastructure (channels),
and the fields where production was guaranteed, for
the gods, the elite and the population.
This strategy also allowed that the surpluses of
production should guarantee the execution of big works
for the ceremonial activities. Water was transported 75
and channelized on great part of the Lambayeque
territory and managed under the form of a common
good of this resource, in order to achieve “wellness”
in the population who showed will and acceptance for
 the religious and priestly structure that was controlling
this system and that was offering these results. The
monumental centers of religious and urban-residential
character and what we might name as urban cores,
were supporting certain models and started being
constituted in the mid of the Middle Lambayeque
period (11th century A.D.), and beginnings of the Late
Lambayeque period (12th century A.D.), concrete
cases can be Pómac, Túcume, Cinto, Collique, Jotoro,
Chotuna and Chornancap, among others which
have nucleated groups of inhabitants around the
monuments, which also should be the reflection of the
demographic growth.
On the other hand, the oral tradition must be
part of a mechanism that justified and legitimized the
Lambayeque elite power (Rucabado 2008), which
sought to consolidate the cult through an image of a
charismatic leader, messianic (Shimada 1985), known
as God Ñaymlap, character who arrives or returns
to Lambayeque (Wester 2013), as a courageous
and talented man (Cabello de Balboa 1951)and who
reaches the status of a deity with his transformation
into a supernatural being with ornitomorphic attributes
(man-bird), that allows him to intercede in the
underworld to guarantee the stability of the population
and who is perpetuated in the various materials that
76
this society produced, in which the image of this deity
with his attributes and gestures is reiterated and largely
disseminated, but above all is object of permanent
ceremonial acts which seek to renew the commitment
with this ancestral deity, whose worshiping guarantees
success of society.
The elite tombs documented in the Pómac Reserve
(Shimada 1995) are a valuable argument, these are
associated to the cultural tradition denominated with
the toponym Sicán, referring to the Lambayeque
culture (Zevallos 1971 and 1989; Narváez 2011,
2014a and 2014b; Wester 2010 and 2014). What
these exceptional funerary contexts reveal, is the
presence of more valuable elements to consolidate the
existence of a solid politic and religious institutionality
at the head of society. The tombs of Huaca Loro,
show exquisite goods of technological and artistic
value made out of gold, slilver, copper, alloys, etc.,
vessels of ceramic, spondylus and conus offerings,
companions in the burials; multiple tombs with family
groups some of them according to bioarchaeological
studies are from the equatorial zone (Shimada 2014b)
and reveal a society with long distance contacts, where
strategically materialized alliances for goods trading
are consolidated, relationships of commercial nature
and probably marital bonds.
All this deployment, would be to supply the
pomposity of the buried people regarded as demigods.
Additionally, we can establish that they must demanded
for a sustained joint of production workshops dependent
of these people who stocked with their works the
handicrafts in metals, textiles and others defined and
unchanged over centuries by artistic canons, as is
the case for example of the vessel called ‘’huaco rey’’,
whose form shows a message that refers to the most
emblematic character of this civilization: Ñaymlap and
which is artistically expressed as a deity that appears in
all the valleys of Lambayeque. The workshops should
not only be considered as production centers, but as
places where was promoted dynamic and massive
diffusion of the essence of religiosity, expressed in
images of deities and symbols that were part of the
religious discourse.
The funerary pattern of elite tombs, is a format
defined with deep sepulchres, in axes that link the
characters to the east and west to relate concepts
of duality or bi-parting and cuatripartition; images
recorded and printed on the objects and funerary
trousseau contain recurring icons. Also, the offerings
of large sets of spondylus and conus shells which
reaffirm the access of the chracters to these assets
that are linked to the abundance of water and fertility
(Hocquenghem 2009) and which confirm the strong
relationship with equatorian societies. These burials
also reveal the institutionalization of rituals for the
dead and ancestor worship, which must be supplied
and object of veneration and remembrance through a
ceremonial calendar, in order to ensure productivity,
stability and order of the population.
The maritime field, was a sacred space, but also
a supplying scenario of resources to maintain the
satisfaction of the outlying communities, the sea was
incorporated as a forum for trade and communication
with groups from the north end, as well as provided
inspiration for images and icons like the famous
“anthropomorphic wave” “ornitomorphic wave” and
“geometric wave”, which along with the sun and
the moon are part of an iconographic complexity,
these appear in the so-called “Sicán Worldview”,
documented in 1991 at Huaca Las Ventanas (Shimada
1995). This element of marine origin (wave) became
an icon of identity and a gender emblem which reveals
and identifies one of the most important female
deities of religiosity during the time of Middle and Late
Lambayeque between the IX to XIII centuries A.D.,
which apparently contributes to unify society as part of
a speech that rules the destinies of the people. These
arguments are valuable to begin to understand what
kind of society was developed in this region at the end
of the Moche era.
Religiosity, c ommerce,administrative and political
properly articulated control, define as a whole
to an institutionalized, effective, efficient device
corresponding to a well-constituted State, expressed
in a territory, with a common tradition and a doctrine
which is diffused through a liturgy built with religious
images like the God Ñaymlap, anthropomorphic wave,
stepped symbol, geometric wave, Andean cross,
mythical or plummeting bird, showing an ideological
unity that apparently would focuson a single deity but
expressed with different ornaments, attributes, attitudes
or ritual gestures and also linked to the incorporation
of an unknown deity: the female deity that reveals the
77
introduction of the gender theme in the religiosity of the
Lambayeque culture.
 Consequently the Lambayeque society, achieved
by the mid X century A.D., the unity of all political
entities which constitute it or family groups that are
structured in elites emplaced in the valleys that share
a tradition which undoubtedly has its ancestors in the
Moche society, but showing a personality and personal
identity, which it was probably disseminated through
the legend of the arrival of Ñaymlap and of his court.
We must add contacts to the south developed by
the Lambayeque civilization with well documented
archaeological presence as in the case of: El Brujo
Complex (Franco 2003), Pacatnamú (Mackey 2009)
and San José de Moro (Castillo 2000 and 2003), in
this latter case this cultural tradition would have begun
to take shape from that time called Transitional period
(Castillo 2003) and which explains with concrete
evidence the process of change and continuity that are
developed in the transition from Moche to Lambayeque.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the
prehispanic monumental architecture in the northern
coast of Peru, during the first millennium A.D., was
basically expressed by massive adobe buildings,
which according to the time it varies in shape and
size. We generally assume that the buildings by its
magnitude, location, architectural design and finishes
have a hierarchy that clearly reveals the role that they
should have played in his time. However, archaeology
78 in recent times, has shown that changes in the function
is not always going to be defined by the magnitude of
the construction. Thus we have the case of the small
platform in Huaca Rajada Sipán, apparently a less
monumental construction, but nevertheless was once
the Royal Mausoleum, where in the last 28 years have
been scientifically documented remarkable funerary
contexts of the Moche elite (Alva 1994 and 1999),
showing the complex hierarchy of this society, whose
main characters were buried in funerary chambers
containing not only the physical presence of the Moche,
but fundamentally the expression of burial ritual (Alva
1994). The same configuration is documented in the
90s graves of San José de Moro (Donnan and Castillo
1994), corresponding to burial chambers of the Priestess
Mochica linked with the Character “C” of the theme of
The Presentation (Donnan 1975), the thereof having
similar characteristics and the funerary pattern of burial
chambers with companions and offerings, whose ritual
was performed after a momentous ceremony with the
monumental and landscape architectural environment
of San José de Moro as scenario.Another case that we
mentioned before are the burial chambers excavated in
Pómac (Shimada 1995 and 2014b), showing buildings
in whose vicinity these characters were buried and
turned them into sacred spaces of strictly ritual and
funerary use. About this regard Izumi Shimada (1995),
argues that the tombs called East and West located in
close proximity to Huaca Loro, would be part of a set
of burial chambers of characters from the Lambayeque
culture, which would have been buried on the perimeter
of the main building in whose center “apparently” would
rest the tomb of the character of he highest hierarchical
status, for this reason the idea of the space for the
mythical ancestor or forefather in each of the huacas
is a proposal of singular meaning (Elera 2008), but it
should be archaeologically proven.
On the other hand, when digging an important
temple of the Lambayeque culture Walter Alva
(1984), documented a façade where a succession
of important characters of the Lambayeque dynasty
which decorate with superb polychromy the main
surface of the temple which has been named as Úcupe On the other hand, and beyond the chronological
mural. Recent excavations in the same place (Alva and limits, in the Lambayeque region some architectural
Alva Meneses 2011), have allowed to demonstrate tradition that emerges reflecting the monumental
the scenographic and polychrome complexity of the concept is maintained. This is consistently developed
characters represented, whose vigorous color and since early times, by the Moche society and maintained
actions could set a speech of liturgical and festive cut by the Lambayeque elite. That is, for over 1200 years,
of Lambayeque religiosity, associated probably to the the monumental and religious architecture construction
theme of the mythical Ñaymlap or his descendants is configured as part of a speech that shows hierarchy,
(Figure 22), thus allowing to define a clear positioning power and ritualism, three concepts articulated
of the Lambayeque in the Zaña valley materialized together, this reflection allows us to emphasize that
in monuments such as: Úcupe, Theodora, Miguelito, the environment and operation of the huacas, the
Corbacho Hill, Guitarra Hill, La Otra Banda, Mata Indio, complementary architecture did not escaped nor was
Cerro Culpón, among others. unrelated to the prestige of the local authority, the
When we examine the ceremonial monumental power of the ruler priest or priestess and the activities
architecture of the north coast, we find it out that it they performed.
stands out due to several elements, such as the volume
of the constructed area, height, areas with which
it integrates (squares, courtyards, halls, corridors,
entrances, etc.), but mainly decorative elements that
express symbolism, religiosity, hierarchy, etc. These
reasons are indicators to propose that the environment
close to the architectural areas of monumental and
religious appearance were not considered any space,
on the other hand these are scenarios of power and/or
sacred spaces, where they develop and commemorate
the most important ritual activities and which also is
inhabited by the ancestors so buildings that were realized
in their environment have the status of establishing the 79
hierarchy of the space, and to reiterate the power and
authority message of officials and/or priests who have
access to these spaces and finally the need to maintain
a balance between the monumental architecture, the
area of ancestor worship and the spaces where the
characters develop activities inherent to their political
and religious role.

Fig. 22.
The Lambayeque Character represented on the Úcupe mural.
SECOND PART
THE ARCHITECTURE
 CHAPTER III

3.1 Location.

The Chotuna - Chornancap archaeological location of some households on the boundaries of

complex, located 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) west of the the intangible area, especially on the south and east
city of Lambayeque, and 4.5 kilometers (2.7 miles) sides of Huaca Chotuna, archaeological exploration
from the Pacific coast in the area of the San José conducted in 2007 and 2008 enabled documenting
District; politically it is located in the District, Province more than a hundred mounds with clear evidence of
and Region Lambayeque, bounded on the north by the occupation dating from Virú (Gallinazo) Middle Moche,
Rural Community of Mórrope (Mórrope District); by the Late Moche, Lambayeque, Chimu, Inca and Colonial
south with the San José Rural Community (San José periods (Wester 2010).
District); on the east by fields and on the west by crop
fields and the Pacific Ocean (Districts of San José and
Mórrope) (Figure 23). It is set on formations of sandy Fig. 23.
meanders, covering an area of approximately 95 Location map of the
hectares for Chotuna and 17 hectares for Chornancap. Chotuna Chornancap
Complex
The surface is formed by the presence of stable
dunes, some of which are partially burying important
architectural structures; others have possibly entirely
covered buildings or minor architectural features. Fig. 24.
Huaca Chotuna.
In the examinations conducted, it is found in the 85
periphery the presence of dozens of mounds with
possible areas of housing, domestic activity and
evidence of ceramic fragments scattered on the
surface. The monumental area is comprised of large
buildings such as: Huaca Chotuna, Huaca of the
Friezes, Huaca Susy, Huaca of the Sacrifices, Huaca of
the Anthropomorphic Wave and Huaca Chornancap7.

Its enviroment is defined by crop fields, dedicated 7

Christopher Donnan (1989), uses the denomination Huaca Chotuna, Huaca
to sowingrice and cotton; however, among these lands, Gloria (now of the Friezes), Huaca Susy (in memorial of Susana Meneses),
Huaca North (now of the Sacrifices), Huaca of the Antropomorphic Wave (Did
small archaeological mounds are seen, showing the not record it) and Huaca Chornancap.
86
3.2 Huaca Chotuna.
Defined by an imposing monumental structure,
frustum shaped with sloping sides; built with flat convex
adobe, attached with mortared mud. On the west face
of the pyramid it begins the course of a long ramp with
indirect access which passes by the west, north and
east sides of the body of this building reaching the
top of it. The height of this pyramid is approximately
40 meters plus 80 meters in the base (Figure 24). In
the top two precincts arer, seen to the north and south
respectively which are articulated through a corridor in
east - west axis, leading to a ramp on the same axis
which generates the access to an elongated platform
located on the western front, giving the impression
of a main altar. This part was dated with the following
results: Bonn 1958 (1360 ± 60 A.D.) and Bonn 1957
(1280 ± 50 A.D.) (Donnan 1989 and 2012).
To the West (at the bottom), near the
ramp,architectural remains of what was a large
rectangular precintct with access to the north, where
there havebeen evidence which indicate that this space
was dedicated to develop various artisanal (Figure 25 a
and b) and specialization activities, possibly workshops, 87
these were dated with the carbon-14 analysis, with
the following results: room 10 UCR1477 (1225 ± 55
AD); room 3 UCR 1478 (1280 ± 20 A.D.) and room
28 UCR 1479 (1275 ± 20 A.D.), (Donnan 1989 and
2012). To the southwest, south and southeast sides
of the monument great walled rectangular spaces are
located, built with regular sized adobes, which define
a space that formed the large main square for ritual
and administrative activities, which allowed massive
concentrations of people.
 A B

Towards the north front of the body of the pyramid Fig. 25a y b. Fig. 26.
an elongated perpendicular structure, where they have Craftsmen North front of Huaca
Quadrangle in Huaca Chotuna, with an
documented evidence of stores and finely finished
Chotuna. exclusive deposits
“exclusive” deposits that had an inclined roof towards área de depósitos y
the rear and were articulated to a ritual space certifying ritual scenario.
administrative and ceremonial activities in this area
(Figure 26). To the Northeast and northwest of this
complex, are also seen other buildings of smaller Fig. 27.
88 volume than the main pyramid, known by the names Circular friezes
of Huaca of the Friezes, Huaca Susy, Huaca of the and polychrome
Sacrifices and Huaca of the Anthropomorphic Wave paintings with the
antropomorphic wave
(Figure 27) in each of them it can be seen intense
scene recorded to
activity of changes and renovations (Wester 2010), the north of Chotuna.
which had to obey the demands of ritual and policies
of the time, but they reveal that this complex had a
long period of occupation in which the monumental
architecture was the sign of the sacred status of those
who represented this territory.
89
90
3.3 Huaca Chornancap.
It is located 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) west of
Huaca Chotuna and 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the
Pacific coast. This is an superimposed rectangular
platform in north - south axis with a ramp facing east
which gives the idea of a structure with ‘’T’’ shaped
plant, determined by a central ramp that links three
overlapping platforms. From the main façade, the
different levels are seen more detailed, the first of them
at the height of the current surface, the second with
a height of 10 meters and the third with 15 meters,
approximately (Figure 28). To the north of Chornancap,
there is a corridor defined by the sloping facing of the
huaca and a southern wall delimiting the area called
throne and courtyard of polychrome paintings located
to 6.50 meters north of Chornancap, which determine
a corridor in east-west axis of 7 meters of depth, in
relation to the current surface.
Fig. 28. Fig. 29.
Aerial View of Huaca Partial View of the
Chornancap. polychrome murals of
Chornancap.
Product of the carrying wind, the sand has covered
an important large area with architecture, some visible
in the surface that were partially excavated in the
1980s. It has a Carbon-14 dating coming from the
northwest angle of the main building, whose results
are: UCR 1476 (1100 ± 70 A.D.), (Donnan 1989 and
2012). The current excavations, reported that the final
constructions, correspond to successive phases of
occupation and remodeling, especially a courtyard
with elaborated polychrome paintings, made on the
upper decorated with “valances”, reflecting a well-
developed artistic and chromatic tradition with images
and compositions which show a parade ritual of
characters carrying decapitated heads (Figure 29). To
the south is appreciated an alluvial channel that has
cut the connection with the surrounding area, showing
a small mound of sand.
91
92
93
94
 CHAPTER IV
4.1 The Throne in Chornancap.
In 1982, Christopher Donnan partially documented
the so-called courtyard with polychrome murals, located
in the northeast front of the main building of the Temple
of Chornancap (Donnan 1989, 2012), for this reason
in 2009, We started archaeological excavations in this
space with the reopening of the polychrome murals,
because we strongly suspected that this extraordinary
evidence might be articulated to an architecture of
greater complexity, which would help to understand the
reason for the scenes on the polychrome mural and
its relationship with the architectural and ceremonial
context of the Lambayeque culture.
4.1.1 The Throne: Final Phase.
The excavation was scheduled in an area of 20 by
20 meters west of the courtyard of polychrome murals
and allowed us to identify and document an area of
unique and exceptional architectural and symbolic
quality, which has an extraordinary narrative power
that allows us to understand the constructive nature,
its function and hierarchical status (Figure 30).
This area shows in the center a small courtyard
8
Susan E. Ramírez (2008: 234) argues that … << When the Lords sitted on
their ‘Duo’ or ‘Tiana’ at moment of assuming the power, they were considered
as sacred >>. In this quote she alludes to the denominations that the THRONE
had and their meaning.
of trapezoidal rectangular floor, 10 meters long and 8
meters wide, located in north-south axis, with access to
the north through a central span of 1.20 meters which
allows access through a small ramp that also leads to a
low platform with two side benches emplaced east and
west respectively, in front of the benches on the floor
level there are some small quadrangular deposits or
cubicles of low height plastered in mud, and distributed
symmetrically in a number 17 on each side. Towards
the main front of this platform, there is an altar that
looks like a longitudinal bench on east-west axis, in
whose center a unique ‘’L’’ shaped structure of finely
plastered mud is seen giving the impression of a seat
or throne8, with its respective backing attached to the
south wall of the courtyard (Figures 31 and 32).
The altar of the throne shows towards the front
side a small deposit and/or cubicle and to the sides
appear 4 holes originally used for pilars that must have
supported the ceiling, built exclusively for this privileged
scenario. Sideways of the throne, there are two spans
that connect to an external corridor of the square, one
east and the other west, leading to the main entrance 95
located north. These corridors, constitute the exclusive
and restricted access to the area’s throne.
96

Fig. 30.
Courtyard with throne in Chornancap.
Fig. 31. Fig. 32. 97
Detail of the throne in Plant of the throne in
Chornancap. Chornancap.

Fig. 33. Fig. 34.

East pedestal, located in the interior West pedestal, located in the interior of
courtyard of the throne. courtyard of the throne.
 Along the main access there are on each side (east
and west), two small structures in the form of altars
and/or pedestals (Figures 33 and 34), consisting of two
overlapping platforms, with a small side ramp, which
are articulated to a low wall whose plant is shaped
like a half ‘’chacana’’ (Inca Cross) with a frontal central
circle, this element is a unique chracteristic, that makes
that the throne’s precinct, acquires a connotation of
high religious content, due to the deep symbolism that
architecture represents this element gives the idea of
a space differentiated into two halves as a bipartite or
dual stage.
98
To the southeast side of the throne, a rectangular
structure is emplaced as a small precinct that for its
meaning and proximity that has with the courtyard
of the throne, we call worship area or “vestry”. This
has two internal environments connected by a span,
the access to worship area is located to the north
through a tiered system of three steps, to the left of
the entrance on the east wall a small altar or inverted
kneeler is located (Figure 35 and 36), in whose main
wall shows a vertical rectangular structure, that in the
inside presents relief fragments whose representation
we suspect that is anupright feline with his head
down; in the tail and hind legs there are circles as a
decorative element (Figures 37 and 38), currently all
that is left are part of the tail and the lower extremities,
we believe that this design may represent the image of
the lunar or mythical feline, important icon present in
the Lambayeque art, which is also represented in fine
line Moche vessels, and appears in Recuay ceramics
(Mackey and Vogel 2003).
This element is the most representative icon of the
throne’s stage for being also found in the polychrome
murals in Chornancap, in which a feline being lying
on a low rectangular platform appears, this is the
symbol to where all beings participating in the parade
are directed, those characters who carry guns and
decapitated heads; these can be seen in the segment
of the mural northbound to south (Figure 39).
 99

Fig. 35. Fig. 36.

Access to the area called worship Altar with a frieze on the upper side.
precinct, note the altar.

Fig. 37. Fig. 38.

Detail on the frieze in the worship 3D image of the Altar with a
precinct. frieze in the worship precinct in
Chornancap.
 The worship precinct is divided into two spaces,
the first is the one close to the access including the
altar with the feline relief, it has two seats with backing
that served for only two individuals at a time; the other
space, to the back of the precinct through a span,
where it can be seen a certain smaller area determined
Fig. 39. Fig. 40.
by a “mud table”, in whose southern wall there can be
Characters carrying Low platform located
decapitated heads, in the to the north outside the seen three carob tree columns circularly plastered,
polychromatic mural of worship precinct in the and painted red, these undoubtedly had to support the
Chornancap. throne’s courtyard of roof of the space we call the worship precinct.
100
Chornancap.

On the outside of this precinct, to the north a

small low quadrangular mud platform can be seen,
with circular imprints, one large and the other smaller
(Figure 40), which should have formed as a result of
the installation of two ceramic vessels . On this platform
probably were developed activities related to any metal
object finishing, due to the evidence of burning and a
nozzle (device for melting metals), which has been
identified “in situ”.
4.1.2 The Throne: Intermediate Phase.

In order to have a better idea of the constructive

evolution and the changes that the throne’s stage
had, by the height from the surface of the courtyard
of polychrome paintings we suspect, that the throne
area has gone through some previous phases, but,
maintaining the same function. For this reason we
excavated the center of the throne’s courtyard near
the benches, getting to identify a small ramp before
the throne defining a phase prior to the identified, in
which the configuration of the courtyard maintains its
shape, but the lateral benches and the small cubicles
disappear, leaving only the one located in front of the
throne, as well as the pedestals located along the main
access (Figure 41).
The connection of the throne with the worship
precinct (in this stage) was internal, and is projected to
the east through an access in the precinct wall, which
connects the altar and the throne area with the space
called worship precinct through a narrow span and
three stairs which was closed in the final phase (Figure
42). At this intermediate phase, as in the final phase 101
the courtyard of polychrome paintings is associated.
102
4.1.3 The Throne: Early Stage.

When deepening the excavation on the west side,

Fig. 41.
below the intermediate phase, we identified an early Drawing of the
stage, which is associated with walls painted bright intermediate
yellow, delimiting a deeper quadrangular space. The phase plant in the
throne’s courtyard in
southern front of this phase is determined by a thin
Chornancap.
wall, painted yellow with two symmetrically arranged
openings on the ends, at the top of this wall, a
decorative element is seen by way of geometric Fig. 42.
3D Animation of the 103
valances, with designs of “stepped triangles” in the
intermediate phase
shape of a “crenellated” wall made in white, arranged throne’s courtyard in
along the southern wall and possibly on the east , west Chornancap.
and north sides probably. These decorative elements
resemble the architectural evidence, registered in the
80s by Christopher Donnan, on the northeast end of
sector 2, about 100 meters away from the main area of
the throne, in the zone called “K” sector (Donnan 2012).
This stepped triangle, corresponds to a geometric
shape that presents the stepped feature on the right
side and it is straight on the left.
 Fig. 43. Fig. 44. In the early phase identified by the yellow, we
Detail on the early 3D animation of the suspect that it had to exist an altar with a roofed throne,
phase wall in the early phase.
104 obviously this is a hypothetical projection, following the
throne’s courtyard in
Chornancap. pattern defined in the intermediate and final phase;
also the worship precinct does not appear at this
deeper stage (Figures 43 and 44). At the southern
end of the courtyard of the murals, the excavations
conducted by Christopher Donnan, revealed a phase
prior to the polychrome murals, conformed by an wall
oriented east to west. This wall is 4.90 meters long and
0.45 meters wide, whose north facing is characterized
by relief decoration with big circles (in relief), enclosed phase of the “Anthropomorphic Wave” Huaca (Figure
within a quadrangular frame, which measures 70 46), located north of Huaca Chotuna. On the southern
centimeters wide by 78 centimetes high (Figure wall, following the line of the circular reliefs, circles and 105
45), which are partially destroyed by some pluvial horizontal parallel stripes are seen as if they represent
phenomenon and by men. These elements are located symbolically the Moon and the Sea (Figure 47).
in the front of the wall, where the polychrome paintings
are, which means that in the early phase of the throne
with yellow walls,both inside and outside of these,
were articulated with a courtyard to the east where
the decorative valances were large framed circles,
similar to those that will be documented in the final
106

Fig. 45.
Circular friezes corresponding to the
early phase in the throne’s courtyard in
Chornancap.
 107

Fig. 46. Fig. 47.

Circular friezes 3D image of the
and polychromatic early phase in the
paintings with the throne’s courtyard
antropomorphic in Chornancap, with
wave to the north of a façade of circular
Chotuna. friezes.
108
109
 4.2 The Courtyard of the Paintings in
Chornancap.
The polychrome murals were painted on the upper
side of an open quadrangular courtyard intentionally
to the east, with dimensions of 21 meters north-south
and 20 meters east-west. In the central part of the east
facing of the main wall there is a vertical slit or closed
span which divides the wall into two segments, which
also generates the change of polychromatic scenery
displayed (Figure 48). Under the polychromatic valance,
at a height of 2.70 meters the floor of the courtyard of
the murals is located, the entire west wall is plastered
by a white layer and this plaster covers some segments
which apparently were painted black, indicating that
under this white layer, there probably was a surface
painted with designs which are now covered by white
plaster (Figure 49).
The northern facing of the perimetral southern wall
of the courtyard of the murals, keeps in a segment
110
the continuity of polychrome scenes, dramatically
interrupting itself as a result of the destruction caused
by some alluvial phenomenon and also intentionally by
men. Unlike the west wall, this does not have the layer
of white plaster, it seems that the white plaster is used
only in the east facing of the main wall, giving the idea
that such representation would be related to the sea
and the moon.
Overall, the images captured in the mural designs,
show a surprising colorful product of the harmonious
combination of colors like red, yellow, dark green, light
green, black and white which are derive from minerals
(Donnan 1989 and 2012) . To develop the murals it’s
not clear if the artists did a preliminary sketch on the
wall before painting the mural; there is no evidence
of incised lines or traces that would indicate this type
of preliminary work. However, it is possible that they
used coal, and that is why there were no remains of
sketch lines (Donnan 1989). All murals appear to
have been painted in the same way, with the same
pigments applied in the same sequence. Also, the style
is consistent throughout, suggesting that the tracing
was made to form a unit. However, there is a clear
distinction between the objects, characters and actions
painted on the south and west walls.
Although the scenes, for conservation reasons,
are incomplete, the characters and elements can be
clearly identified which maintain a sense or direction
that gives movement to the action, i.e. these 2D
characters are in sense from north to south, alternately
interrupting themselves by a high-status character
facing forward; this unlike the others appears recurrently
and is ornamented with a lunate crown, earmuffs, a
breastplate, sticks in his hands and a belt that falls on
both sides of his waist in a trapezoid shape.
The characters complementing the scene, seem
to be warriors with weapons, attending to a parade of
prisoners tied with ropes around their necks, and in
some cases carrying decapitated heads in their hand
as a trophy. The point of convergence of these parades,
turns out to be a low elongated platform where a deity
of feline appearance is resting, which we suspect could
be the Lambayeque version of the Lunar or mythical
feline (Figure 50a), similar to the one in the reliefs of
Huaca Las Balsas, on Phase 3 called The Complex
Scene of the Rite and the Sacrifices (Narváez 2011:97)
(Figure 50b).
Fig. 48.
Scene of the polychrome paintings in
Chornancap.
111
 Also, during the 2013 excavations on the south
of Chornancap close to the tomb of the Priestess, a
mud structure was documented it was shaped as a
low rectangular platform with the same characteristics
as the one in the polychrome mural (Figure 50c).
For the moment is complex to make a detailed and
thorough description of each of the characters and
participants of this scene (antropomorphic beings,
ortnitomorphicbeings, etc.); however, we can certify
that it is an important ritual developed in the area, and
has its climax in the precinct of the polychrome murals
and the sacred throne. However, we’ve projected the
approximate reconstruction of the scene (Figure 50d),
using photos provided by Christopher Donnan and
other images of Lambayeque iconography. On the
other hand, on the evaluation of the mural art on the
north coast, it can be specified that exists a technique/
tradition which is maintained for a long time in the area,
where the color red is used as background or base
color, on which polychrome designs are made. Proof
of this are the stylistic similarities with the murals of
Úcupe (Alva and Meneses, 1984), the mural of Huaca
Loro (Florian, 1951) and (Shimada 1995), the mural
of Huaca Blanca in Pacora (Curo 2014), the mural of
112 Huaca Pintada in Illimo (Narváez 2011) and the mural
of the Anthropomorphic Wave in Chotuna (Wester
2010).
Fig. 49.
3D animation of the
Courtyard of the
polychrome paintings in
Chornancap.
113
 Fig. 50a.
Lambayeque ceramics with the feline deity.

114
 Fig. 50b. Fig. 50c.
Frieze with the Lambayeque feline deity Rectangular mud platform found in an elite residence of Chornancap,
in Huaca las Balsas on Túcume. next to the Priestess tomb.

Fig. 50d.
Reconstruction of a scene of the polychrome murals in Chornancap,
indicating the identity of the character lying in a low platform.

115
 4.3 Graffiti on the Façade of the Murals.

In the west wall of the courtyard of the murals,

partially excavated by Donnan in the 80s, when Fig. 51.
deepening our excavations to the floor to which this Graffiti found on the façade
precinct is associated, we have identified in the southern where the polychrome paintings
of Chornancap are located.
segment of the so-called slit, four major graffiti which
are associated with the time of abandonment of the
primary role of the courtyard which corresponds to the
mural paintings and the final phase of the platform and
throne’s altar. Other graffiti were identified in the same
area by Donnan in 1982. Due to its characteristics, Fig. 52a y b.
the images depicted were stylistically associated Graffito found on the façade
where the polychrome paintings
with the Lambayeque period (Figure 51); however it
of Chornancap are located, and
should be noted that there is a background on graffiti drawing.
representations from very early times and are related
to the end of use or abandonment of structures or
architectural spaces. For methodological reasons and
for descriptive purposes, we have assigned to graffiti in
Chornancap an arabic number.

116
 Graffito 1: Corresponds to a high status character,
seen from the front with a crown and a semilunar
headdress, with ornaments (apparently weapons)
placed in the upper extremities; likewise a breastplate
and all the typical Lambayeque vestment, for example
a trapezoidal shirt; apparently it would be the same
character depicted in the polychrome paintings of the
courtyard of the murals of Chornancap (Figure 52 a
and b).

Graffito 2: Character in side face in a right to left

sense with an ornament (weapon) in his right hand, a
crown and a semilunar headdress, a meaningful detail
of the face of this character, shows a side face in both
sides. The Graffito 1 and the Graffito 2, have common
elements such as headdresses and weapons, which
are outfits that indicate the status and identity of the
character, so they might be high rank characters
(Figure 53 a and b) .

117
 Graffito 3: Corresponds to what might be a late
version of the “Beheader or Sacrificer” of the Mochica
time, or probably is a female character who wears a
“bipolar” headdress, on the sides of the face in the
top right or left there are decorative appendages not
defined, each hand carrying a head sketched in a
triangle, each of the heads are being carried from the
hair, and this could be one of the characters depicted
in the polychrome paintings located on the valances of
the courtyard of the murals (Figure 54 a and b).
Graffito 4: This is the schematic image of a typical
Lambayeque temple, with the classical allegory on
top of the body of the plummeting bird or also called
“peak rectangle peak” (Zevallos 1989), in the center
of the structure there’s a span access indicating
that we are in the representation of the façade of a
classical Lambayeque temple (Figure 55).The graffiti
environment is determined by geometric symbols such
as: stepped triangles and circles similar to those found
in the early phase of the throne of Chornancap. The
118
search for comparative elements has enabled us to
associate it with a renowned vessel belonging to the
collection of the Museum of the Central Reserve Bank
of Lima code ACE: 1914, in which appears a similar
façade with central span, and decorative elements
such as: reliefs of circles, waves and stepped triangles
(Figure 56).
After making the graffiti, probably as part of the
closing ritual or covering of the wall with the paintings
and graffiti, a side wall with outer east facing that buries
and seals the phase of the decorative elements was
built (Figure 57), closing the so-called slit (Donnan
1989 and 2012).
Fig. 53a y b.
Graffito 2 in situ, and drawing.
 119

Fig. 54a y b.
Graffito 3 in situ, and
drawing.
120
 121

Fig. 55.
Grafito 4 in situ

Fig. 56.
Lambayeque Bottle
(Museum Collection BCR).
 fromeast to west, and area of about one hectare.
4.4. The Elite Residence in Chornancap. The surface of the mound was covered by a shrubby
vegetation and carob trees, also by a thick and dense
Excavations in 2009 on the north of Chornancap, layer of sand that covered the entire area where were
resulted in the discovery of the courtyard with the very few clandestine excavations (looter wells) on the
throne, the worship precinct and the whole architectural surface, giving the impression of an intact mound and
complex that articulated to the polychrome paintings of a dune stabilized by vegetation (Figure 58).
undoubtedly generate a reading of the scenario that
results in the space where should appear the most
122 representative characters of the socio-political and
religious structure of the Lambayeque culture, which
perform their duties in Chornancap and make it into
the power scenario. Therefore, in 2011 we continued
the excavations to the south side of Chornancap in a Fig. 57. Fig. 58.
Wall that buries the Begining of the
mound that was previously identified in the works of
polychrome paintings excavations south of
Archaeological Exploration conducted in 2007 (Wester phase. Chornancap.
2010).
The mound is located 93 meters south of
Chornancap and is an irregular elevation with an
average height of 8 meters, its dimensions are 100 Fig. 59.
Archaeologic material remains belonging to Tomb
meters long from north to south by 80 meters wide
1, found south of Chornancap.
123
124

Fig. 60. Fig. 61.

Thomb 2 found south of Chornancap. Drawing of the individual in
Tomb 2.
125
 When starting to work in this mound, it was drawn
a central exploratory trench of 30 meters long from
north to south by 2 meters wide, whose purpose was
to record architectural evidence, findings or discard this
possibility. When cleaning the few looting wells, it could
be detected in one of them, the presence of material
remains, consisting of fragments of pottery, ceramic
piruros also called spindle whorls, which are used for
the work of spinning, huaca chalks, nacre beads that
were part of necklaces, a copper piruro, spondylus
beads and osseous remains that were originally part of
a ransacked burial, which we call Tomb 1 (Figure 59),
this evidence constituted the first signs of occupation
in this mound. The Profiling of this excavation left
exposed in the east profile a new evidence, it was a
corresponding to intact burial of a child we call Tomb
2. When digging the context it was evident that this
infant was about 8 to 10 years old with ceramic offering
corresponding to a black Chimú-Inca style stirrup bottle,
which was deposited extended supine positioned in a
south to north axis, on a thick layer of fine sand (Figure
60 and 61).
126
9
Krzysztof Makowski says: ... “that may function complexes
predominated palatial courtyards, altars, mausoleum and walled enclosures,
intended to gather crowds in various rituals and ceremonies. Since the middle
horizon, the hypothetical palatial residences became the place of burial and
the funeral cult of sovereign after his death “
(Makowski 2014: 192).
With this evidence it was conducted a detailed
topographic representation of the mound with contour
plowing lines every 25 centimeters, and the axes of
gridding were made in areas of 10 x 10 meters, which
were gradually and systematically excavated (Figure
62), and which allowed when removing the dense layer
of sand to reveal the presence of a complex architectural
ensemble made of flat, convex and properly articulated
adobe, in conservation status. This set, which initially
we called The Palace9, understanding this category
as the official residence of a sovereign or supreme
religious leader (Pillsbury and Toby 2004), however,
after analyzing the components we chose to call it The
elite residence (Figure 63 ).
Fig. 62.
Topographic map of Chornancap.
Fig. 63.
Overview of the elite
residence at south of
Chornancap.
127
128
129
 This unique architectural structure is a complex towards the north side a small courtyard with a square
built with adobe which occupies most of the mound, floor with which is connected through a central ramp,
and which could be defined it into two main sectors: whose sides have small banquettes; on the center of
the ritual and residential sector to the north and the the square, there are two dividing walls and a small
domestic sector to the south, both separated by a 3 pedestal or little altar at the northeast corner of the
meters wide wall located on the axis east-west, as same courtyard which has the same characteristics as
if it was a high perimeter wall separating two large the pedestals found in the courtyard of the throne.
130 spaces with different but complementary roles and
which generate the idea that Huaca Chornancap was
originally delimited by a perimeter wall which defined
its main and core area distinguishing it from periphery.
In the northern area of the perimeter wall, in the center,
an altar consisting of some sort of an elevated stepped
stool, with a back wall facing south and 8 columns of
carob tree coated with mud and with flat sides, which Fig. 64.
originally supported the ceiling that for the column layout Deposits area in Chornancap Elite
we say it was gabled; This major or main altar presents Residence of Chornancap.
 Towards the east and west sides of the main
altar there are structures with limited access, which
depend on the courtyard and the main altar; on one
hand, to the west there are four adjacent precincts with
rectangular base forming a group of spaces by way of
deposits; one of them stands out for having four small
cubicles next to its entrace which present marks on
the ceilings, surely in these goods of singular value
and other products were deposited (Figure 64). On the
east side, there is a small platform or secondary altar
with 6 carob tree circular columns coated with mud,
which allowed the installation of a gabled roof, this
structure or the minor altar has a small central ramp,
and is delimited by a wall with and inverted “L” shape.
Through a narrow corridor that stars in the small altar
and in north axis, it is located the chambers area,
consisting of two precincts, one of them with a wide
banquette used as a bed, likewise, the corridor leads
narrowly to the northern access of the main courtyard.
To the East of the precinct three spaces have been
documented, these apparently were large room in
which further evidence is not appreciated, and the floor
is quite eroded (Figure 65). 131
Fig. 65.
Chambers and altar are
in the Elite Residence of
Chornancap.
 Unquestionably this area, given its special
characteristics and configuration, is a ritual space for an
elite character. Between both the main and secondary
altars there’s an extraordinary and unprecedented
architectural component, that connects to both altars,
the one with the circular columns and the other one
with the flat ones, the element to which we refer, is
a ritual composition of dual nature, defined by an
architectural trace in the form of an adobe wall, which
describes a geometric or greek wave, which articulates
132 to a stepped symbol, and generates a ritual journey, as
if it was a ceremonial journey or transformation space,
that must have generated the change of the symbolic
character who walks and accesses in this way, as a prior
and unavoidable step to his presentation in the main
altar. This symbolic element is composed of two parts,
the one representing the sea located west (geometric
wave) and the other representing the mountain located
east (stepped symbol).All this complexity of precincts,
altars, chambers, courtyards, altogether reveal an
intense ceremonial activity of limited and select
audience, as if it was a sacred building that expresses
a common dual concept throughout the Andean area
(Bock 2003), which with the symbol of the geometric
wave articulated to the stepped element (Figure
66), find their greatest ritual expression, and convert
this space into a highly religious area with restricted
access, and complementary to the functions that must
have been developed on the north side of Chornancap
which we call the Throne.
The geometric element identified in the elite
residence (mountain wave), has been frequently
documented in the symbology of the Andean area
and is part of a more representative dual composition
known in the history of the new world, and has been
interpreted as the symbol of water and land, water
and mountains, the element of fertility (Willey 1971,
Bock and Zuidema 1991, Bock 1988 and 2003),
a series of explanations which attributing to it a
magical and religious meaning, making it the most
connoted and representative emblem of the ancient
Peru. Additionally, we should point out that the axis
of this symbolic journey is east-west turning the east
orientation into the destination from where the rivers
Fig. 66. Fig. 67.
View of the altars and the ritual path or space 3D image of the Elite Residence
defined by a wave and ladder symbol. in Chornancap, north side.

133
134

Fig. 68.
Image of the Elite Residence in
Chornancap, south side.
originated in the mountains disembogue their channel
at sea, which is located west. Obviously this dual
element that connects and articulates the ritual spaces
in the elite residence, permits to characterize this place
as a sacred scenario of high symbolic content and high
influence on personality, roles and religious identity of
who utilizes it in ceremonial activities (Figure 67).
On the other hand, to the south of the delimiting or
perimeter wall, the conditions of architecture changes
when defining an open area with a wall perpendicular
to the perimeter which forms an ‘’L” shaped platform,
with a front banquette that generates the restricted
and indirect access to a set of six quadrangular
enclosures, which are articulated as parallel rooms
with near entrances, in which the main activity seems
to be linked to the storage of products and fast moving
consumer goods such as food and beverages. Probably
the area in question, is associated with the enclosure
where activities of massive participation might have
been developed such as feasts or concentrations of
people dedicated to work mainly in textile production,
which are maintained in these areas where they were
provided with food and supplies for the development of
their craft functions (Figure 68).
4.5. Meaning of the Throne and the Elite
Residence.
Excavations at Chornancap during the years 2009,
2010 and 2011 have been extremely important and
the results allow us to understand the significance of
the archaeological monument and religious activities
that have been developed, as well as how to document
scenarios and spaces that have an invaluable narrative
power, to reconstruct the history of the site and the
political and ideological mechanisms that were
developed and the type of material that is associated
with these. The excavation of the architecture in the
courtyard of the throne located north of Chornancap,
placed us in a unique dimension, where the existence
of architectural spaces reveal activities that took place
there, and permits from these building, decorative
elements and religious symbols represented, to
approach to the human presence in the monument,
and to the nature of each of these spaces around the
main building.
135
 The throne of Chornancap was once, a privileged
space and intended for the utilization of an important
authority of the highest hierarchical status. Physically
the structure is associated with the functioning of the
Chornancap temple, and evidently the platform with
the throne, the worship precinct and the decorative
elements, not only are articulated structurally, but
symbolize a space and/or religious group, which is
determined by the Huaca, as the main area for the
ancestor, the throne as the stage for the highest
political and religious authority exercising and flaunting
the power, with this power fundamental symbols
appear as associated, these expressed in pedestals or
altars that are shaped like the half of a Chacana with
the circle in the center; the located east represents the
solar element, the earth, and masculinity; and the one
located west represents the lunar element, the sea
and femininity. These half Chacanas together, form the
complete picture of the Andean cross, which articulates
spaces, dimensions, territories, seasonal cycles and
time; translating a major ideological concept in Andean
America, that we call duality and complementarity.
136 From the review of various themes which appear
in the Moche art (Donnan 1975; Hocquenghem 1987),
represented in stirrup bottles of fine line and other
materials that symbolize ritual scenes, ceremonies, and
activities that we believe are not only history, but they
must have maintained the continuity in the Lambayeque
tradition, as a result of the apparent transmission of
traits, mores and habits that are inherited from one
civilization to another, especially if they were part
of common geographic and landscape conditions
as in the north coast. In this regard, the throne of
Chornancap suggests the hypothesis, on one hand, of
explaining their spatial configuration and architectural
structure from the perspective of the shape, design and
construction (techniques and materials). On the other
hand, it brings us closer to propose explanations on the
use and function, beyond the mere fact of identifying
the space for the main character where he/she was
emplaced, we want to know what kind of activities the
character presided, transmitting political and religious
authority. In the pursuit for explanations on the
functionality and meaning of this sacred space, we find
a subject that in the Moche art is referred to the ritual
of delivering offerings of spondylus and conus shell,
which are transported on camels, and brought from the
north to be presented before the altar of the lord as
testimony to the worship of water and the power that
this character has. Also, groups of spondylus pickers
in Lambayeque times provided with this precious
resource to be used in rituals and ceremonies as an
element of purification, as an offering in the burials, as
raw material for making breastplates, but above all as a
magical symbol of the abundance of water (Figure 69).
Fig. 69.
Recreation of the throne’s
courtyard in Chornancap
supposedly with a scene of
spondylus presentation to a
high status character.
137
 We make this association because during the
excavation in the courtyard area of the throne, it was
found on the architecture, an astonishing object made in
balsa wood, this might be the body of a circular earmuff
of 6 cm of diameter with a delicate embossment and
with fretwork in low relief, that in one of its flat sides
shows an extraordinary scene where two opposing
characters are sitting on a rectangular raft, holding two
divers with ropes who are immersed in the deepness
of the sea, collecting spondylus to be placed on the
raft (Figures 70a and 70b). This scene is the classic
representation of the known image of the spondylus
pickers, commonly known as divers, revealing the
close relationship between the Lambayeque groups
and those from the Ecuador coasts, who extracted
this precious product, which was then moved to
Lambayeque in “industrial” quantities.
138
As we know spondylus is a spiny shell of warm
water considered as a good of prestige of high religious
and symbolic value (Hocquenghem 2009 and Narváez
2011), exploited since early times and it acquires during
the Lambayeque period a large ceremonial value for
burial rituals, and it is also usedto be poured out as
dust on the path where the most important characters
walk. Let’s recall that in the legend of Ñaymlap (Cabello
de Balboa 1951 [1586]), one of the servers called
Fongasigde, who was in charge of shedding milled shell
on the ground where the Lord steps, which heightens
the value these molluscs had, that they were used to
purify the area where the highest authority passed. This
object, with the representation of spondylus pickers,
allows us to infer possible rituals activities linked with
the obtainment of this precious mollusk and that would
relate to some of the roles it plays, and the activities that
presided the one who was found sitting on the throne of
Chornancap (Figure 71).
Fig. 70a.
Wooden object with
a representation of
spondylus collectors.
Fig. 70b.
Divers scene displayed in
figure 70a.
139
 Another element of comparison, is based on the
classic representation in Moche art, of a priestess with
a bipolar headdress and a scarf ending in snake heads,
who delivers with her left hand a cup containing the
blood of a previously sacrificed prisioner, and which
is elevated to the main character sitting in a structure
that gives the idea of being a throne, who receives
this offering as testimony to the reassertion of power
and authority, not only for the investiture, but for the
scenario that he occupies and grants him the privilege
of deciding about life and death (Figure 72). Let us
recall that in the courtyard of the polychrome murals
of Chornancap the main scene depicted, shows the
parade of characters carrying a prisoner with a rope,
others carrying weapons and decapitated human
heads which will appear before a space, an altar or
throne where lies a deity with antropozoomorphic
attributes (man-feline), which would keep similarity
with the image of the character C shown in Phase 3 of
Huaca Las Balsas in Túcume (Narváez 2011:97).
A third element used to relate the meaning of the
throne, it’s one of the tumis or ceremonial golden knife
belonging to the Lambayeque culture, whose lower
laminated blade ends in a semilunar shape, and at the
upper end which is the handle, it appears the sculptural
image of a semi-divine character with ornimorphic
features, winged eyes, prominent nose, known as the
God Ñaymlap (Kauffmann Doig 1989, 1992), richly
140 attired, wearing a lunate headdress, an ornament
shaped as wings on the shoulders height, earmuffs and
a breastplate. This deity is sitting crosslegged, resting
on what would be a throne; it has on its right hand a
sphere, and on its left a ceremonial knife Tumi type, this

Fig. 71.
3D recreation of a
character sitting on
the throne of
Chornancap.
141
 Fig. 72.
Moche Iconography in which the
high status character sitting on
142 the throne receives a cup from
the Priestess.
 is a classical repersentation which symbolically refers
to the status and supreme hierarchy of this character,
and the relationship with the elements it carries on its
hands, that apparently would be linked to the power
and the moon, the case of this knife is actually in one of
the most important elements that presides the religious
life of men (Figure 73). In this object is worth noting
two facts, on one hand, the ornamentation that the
character has and which already flaunts a high level
in the ancestral world, and secondly, the fact that this
“mythical” image is sitting on what would be a throne
which reaffirms its condition and high status.
In the architecture of the final phase of the throne,
the structure as such is defined, where was located
the religious authority which we believe presided
and controlled a set of rituals that occurred at a time,
while at the bottom, where banquettes and pedestals
appear with the representation of a half chacana
with center circle, is where the message of duality is
symbolically reiterated, that is: land and sea, day and
night, sun and moon, male and female, all within a
sacred space, therefore, the preliminary conclusion on
this sacred scenario, is that the Lambayeque authority
emplaced on the throne presided rituals of worship to
the ancestor which is the Huaca Chornancap through
a ceremonial calendar, that demanded a symbolic
environment which allows to reiterate the power
and status of the person who occupies it, and the
hierarchy of the scenario. (Figure 74) It’s very likely
that the courtyard with the valance where polychrome
paintings are located, was the scene where took
place the ritual presentation of human sacrifice and
delivery of decapitated heads which are carried in a 143
procession to the throne; formulating this interpretation,
therefore it was additionally recorded to the west of
the Chornancap throne, a set of human skeletons of
sacrificed presenting deep cuts in the cervical 2, right
and left clavicle, sternum and even some of these
bodies have their heads totally detached from the
brainstem (Figure 75).

Fig. 73. Fig. 74.

Ceremonial golden knife, Lambayeque culture, Overview of the courtyard
character sitting on a throne. with the throne in
Chornancap.
144
145
146

Fig. 75.
Set of human skeletons dramatically
sacrificed, found west on the area of
the throne in Chornancap.
 147

Fig. 76. Fig. 77. Fig. 78.

Moche iconography, Lambayeque style Lambayeque style ceramic
representing a parade of pottery shard, found sculpture, found in Huaca
naked and sacrificed in the area of the Casimira east of
prisoners before the Chornancap throne. Chornancap.
character in altar and
throne.
 Although these contexts are from later times, it
is undoubtedly a clear indicator of the continuity of
this sacrificial activity that has been developed in this
monument, whose rituals can be recognized in the
Moche art in which the naked prisoners are carried
in hammocks before an altar where a main character
sitting on a throne decides his sacrifice (Figure 76). The
architectural elements and stylistic features, as well as
some materials such as a pottery shard found in the
area of the throne and which has the representation of
a Lambayeque character with a semilunar headdress
that frequently appears in double peaked divergent
bottles linked by stirrup, known as tachos (Figure 77)
and a ceramic sculpture with the representation of a
Lambayeque character with bird attributes (Figure 78),
these materials bring us closer to locate the scenario in
the Late Lambayeque time of the XII and XIV centuries
A.D.
On the other hand, it deserves a special
commentthe final phase of the throne where one of
the two parallel banquettes located on the corridor
which links the so-called sacristy and courtyard of the
paintings, it was documented the burial of a young
individual apparently an adult female carrying a
spondylus a shell in her hand and in flexed position,
indicating the sacralisation of the scenario with human
offerings (Figures 79a and 79b). On the platform of the
throne they must have received and installed a specific
group of personalities and officiants guests who were
high ranked, and which took part in a ritual presided by
the main character installed on the throne as it’s shown
in the recreation (Figure 80) and which suggests that
148 the stage attended the highest political and religious
hierarchy of the territory. The corridor where the flexed
burial was found, is connected with a recessed ramp
with a zig-zag path in west-east axis with a very narrow
span that reduces the entry and restricts the movement
and connects both to the top part and to the bottom
part (Figure 81). This setting categorically defines the
ritual categorically condition of this area where the
throne and the courtyard of polychrome paintings are
part of an area of high political and religious content.
With regard to Chornancap elite residence
located in the southern part of the monument, the
character of the building is given to activities that
involve the development of rituals, linked to the areas
of production, supply of resources, and space that
functions as a chamber. Within the ritual activity it
highlights the existence of what we call the ceremonial
route or transformation space, which is determined by
the existing architecture between the altars where an
element of mud halfway up (like a maze), consisting of
a shape shown determining a geometric or fret wave,
which a phased symbol that generates a journey that
should lead to the transformation or change of character
(priest or priestess), which exclusively accessed by this
element, crossing it from east to west is articulated,
space Moon to the Sea, as inevitable submission to the
main altar, where it reaches converted Moon goddess
of the Sea deity step; It is on this tour where the main
character will have certain attributes and characteristics
of deity. This element describes the highest religious
role of officiant who facilitates the meeting of water and
land to ensure agricultural fertility.
This icon, as frequently documented in almost all
materials (ceramics, textiles, metals, wood, bone, etc.),
and for all ages in the symbolism of Andean America
is part of one of the most representative symbols
known in the history of the New World and has been
interpreted as the symbol of water and land, as the
element of fertility, particularly as the distinctive feature
149
 Fig. 79a.
Burial in the throne’s
150 architecture.

Fig. 79b.
Drawing of the burial
in the throne’s
architecture.

Fig. 80.
3D recreation of the
officiants and main
character in
Chornancap throne.
of the water and the mountains (Bock 1988 and 2003;
Bock and Zuidema 1991). Nevertheless, we think that
this element beyond its significance as a symbol of the
Andean transcendental fertility express our opinion in
the case of Chornancap elite residence, a signal or
symbolic indicator of the existence of elements that
are buried under this representation and that refer to
an express will of the religious structure to keep these
concepts in art not only in materials but in architecture
as in this case and that these are linked with possible
contexts of high religious content whose recall to
through architecture generates a permanent worship.
With the discovery of the tomb of the priestess named,
documented in Chornancap (Wester 2012 and 2014),
and other contexts excavated in the elite residence
(graves 3 and 5) this scenario acquires a new condition
or status, which is that this used Space life for ritual,
ceremonial and as a residence activities, also serves
as an area for burial or mausoleum, sacred scenario
that allows access to the world of the dead, inhabited
by their ancestors, even if archaeologically it has been
shown in this burial that under the character named
Priestess the tomb of a character who was found call:
character of spondylus (tomb 5), leaving the idea of the
meeting between the Priestess with one of his closest
ancestors become ancestor, making us suspect the
possibility of a meeting of dynastic character. These
archaeologically documented, as the throne and
elite Chornancap residence (Figure 82), architectural 151
elements we are insurance are the major arguments
for understanding the ritual configuration of the spaces
around the main monument acquires the connotation of
temple and / or palace, as the setting for the dynamics
of power and religion in the Lambayeque culture10.
10
Izumi Shimada (2014), presents the results of the excavations in POMAC,
especially east and west tombs, graves Elite considered and are spread around
the temple Huaca Loro which means the building has a sacred environment.
152

Fig. 81.
3D reconstruction, recessed ramp with a zig-zag route which
connects the throne and the courtyard of the polychrome paintings
in Chornancap.
 153

Fig. 82.
Chornancap Temple (2), to the north is the throne’s
courtyard and polychrome paintings (1), to the south is
the elite residence (3).
154

1 ELITE RESIDENCE AND MAUSOLEUM

2 TEMPLE CHORNANCAP
3 PATIO THRONE
155
 THIRD PART
FUNERARY CONTEXTS IN CHORNANCAP
 CHAPTER V
5.1 Previous Findings: Burials 1 and 2,
Content and Offerings.

When registering and documenting the elite

residence located south of Chornancap, it was
identified in front of the main altar a set of intrusions
(five intrusions including the tombs 3 and 4), which were
systematically excavated (Figure 83). In the intrusions
1, 2 and 3, concentrations of offerings were recorded,
these consisted in miniature ceramic vessels, known as
crucibles, accumulated in small groupings of offerings
placed on top of large potsherds commonly known as
urns, giving the idea of containers; the total number of
these miniature vessels it’s 2,101 placed as massive
offerings, as if they represented the symbolic presence
of human groups, communities of people who massively
participate in commemorative rituals or celebrations,
and whichoffer these objects as symbolic elements of
rapid elaboration and rustic finishing (Costin 1999:85),
but that materially represent family groups (Figure
84). On these small containers or miniature vessels;
Gabriela Cervantes (2014), has studied through the 159
analysis of starch grains, the collections of crucibles
from Pómac burials (Huaca Loro), finding inside them
scraps of corn and probably chili pepper (Cervantes Fig. 83.
2014: 229), suggesting that these miniature vessels Graphic map of the elite residence in
have been symbolically filled with varieties of food and Chornancap, with intrusion locations.
beverages.
160
161
 Along with these offerings, they were found ceramic Fig. 84.
cooking pots, stirrup bottles, copper ornaments like an Sets of offerings at the elite
residence, around tomb 3.
embossed cooper disc with a repousse representation
162 of scrollwork in a concentric circular band and the
openworked image of four spondylus, also they were
found small objects made of cut shell with silhouette
of a character seen from side face in miniature
(Figures 85 and 86) and a set of small objects of gilded
copper among which a crown or cylindrical diadem
with semicircular appendages to the sides, a knife
and a copper spoon, a small elongated scepter-knife
in whose upper part appears in ellipsoidal shape, a
laminated image which defines the silhouette of the
representation of the Lambayeque deity known as God
Ñaymlap (Figure 87).
 Fig. 85.
Ceramic and metal offerings.

Fig. 86.
Detail on the copper offerings.

163
 Fig. 87.
Offerings of objects of copper
Also, standing out in these intrusions (Intrusion 1, 2 and gilded copper.
and 3) there are the presence of two strongly removed
164 and incomplete secondary burials, probably of male
adult individuals, which reveal the transfer of bodies
that are removed from their graves and brought to this
scenario as commemorative offerings which are part of
a recognized funerary tradition. These elements were
an indisputable indicator of the possible existence
of other more complex and of higher status funerary
contexts .
 5.2 Sepulchre of the Elite Character
(Tomb 3): Offerings and Companions.

Within intrusion 4, it was located at the bottom of

it, at a depth of 3.50 meters a nicely finished and very
consistent floor in which it was evidenced a rectangular
section of a burial we call Tomb 3. This sepulchre
corresponds to the tomb of a young male individual in
lateral supine position on east-west axis, facing west.
The analysis of the bones results to an approximate
of 18 years old at the time of death (Klaus 2014), also
it has been identified that part of the left upper limb
was removed noticing that the humerus is slightly out of
place, and that the ulna and the radio overlap towards
the middle of the humerus, indicating a probable
secondary burial or that the individual spent some
weeks outlasting outdoors before the burial, and at the
time of this manipulation occurs on the body originating
this alteration. The character was accompanied by a
male individual of indeterminate age, but apparently he
was an adult, whose position in the grave is strongly 165
bent, placed on the right side of his body, and located
near the lower left limb of the main character of the
Tomb 3 (Figure 88).
166

Fig. 88.
Tomb 3 in situ.
5.3 The Context of Tomb 3.

The main character of tomb 3 is an individual

placed in a rectangular burial in east-west axis that cuts
the second floor of the mound south of Chornancap.
The individual has a vestment that from the hips to the
knees it is covered with circular copper plates sewn to
the vestment, he presents on the lower limbs a large
copper knife Tumi type folded into two parts, this fact
suggests the idea that the objects are also sacrificed
in order to cancel their function (Figure 89). They were
found in this context a pair of copper discs, a copper
feather headdress over his right shoulder, a small
copper stick to the right and finally a small copper knife.
They were also found a fragment of a thick ceramic
bowl, containing a group of miniature ceramic pots
called crucibles. (Figure 89)

The fact that this character has assets in his grave

as offerings, which is found accompanied by another
individual, suggests that it is a personage of status that
has a specially crafted burial, offerings like prestige
goods and a companion. Besides the set of offerings
which appear in intrusions 1, 2 and 3; these are made
in commemoration of this elite character we call tomb
3. Obviously, this burial confirmed the suspicion of the
existence of more tombs in this ritual area of the elite
residence of Chornancap.

167

Fig. 89.
Reconstruction of Tomb 3 in the elite resi-
dence.
 5.4 Tomb 4: The Priestess of Chornancap.

When digging the intrusion five on the so-called elite

residence, located on the mound south of Chornancap,
next to the main altar in an area of approximately 10 Fig. 90.
square meters (Figure 90), the first signs of a set of View of the main intrusion in the
elite residence of Chornancap.
significant offerings were defined. On the west and
east side of this intrusion, 60 centimeters deep, the
first group of fragmented vessels were found, which Fig. 91.
were placed on a layer of dirt that had compacted as First level of offerings placed on a
a result of water percolation. These offerings are part mud layer on top of the sand.
of a commemorative ritual act, consisting in the partial
reopening of the intrusion with the purpose of placing
vessels of Chimú and Chimú-Inca filiation (Figures 91 Slide 2.
and 92, Sheet 2). Drawinf of the floor with the first
level offerings

168
169
 At lower levels, they appear on the west side, a
grouping of 35 ceramic vessels of the finest artistic and
technological quality, associated with the Cajamarca
style, characterized by elaborating ceramic with a clay
known as kaolin, but above all shows an indisputable
170
color stamp, finish and unique decoration. These pottery
offerings, represented by sets of plates, bowls, rattle-
glasses and fine jars, painted both inside and outside
and which reveal at a glance the extraordinary beauty
and unmistakable Cajamarca identity, defined from
the unique images painted, which would correspond
to what is known as Cajamarca coastal style (Figures
93 and 94). On the same level and east of the tomb,
a set of 38 ceramic offerings were defined they were
black and gray with the classic representation of
stirrup bottles, double body bottles spondylus shaped,
Fig. 92.
Chimú-Inca ceramic offerings
placed on a mud layer.
double neck divergent stirrup vessel and sculptural
vessels with obvious cultural affiliation with the Late
Lambayeque period(1100-1350 AD); these were next
to a secondary burial which was roughly removed
belonging to an adult individual of indeterminate sex,
whose skeleton was removed from its initial burial to
be placed as an offering in this important funerary
context, as part of a commemorative ritual act. (Figure
95). These ritual acts of burial transfering to a “new”
location or to its final destiny, demonstrates the high
hierarchy and importance that the character to whom
they do these offerings has.
Fig. 93. Fig. 94.
First intact vessels of Cajamarca Intact vessels of Cajamarca coastal
coastal style. style placed on a layer of painted
fabrics.

171
 These traces are a clear indicator to confirm the
hypothesis on the existence of the tomb of a high- Fig. 95.
ranking figure with symbolically differentiated offerings Lambayeque ceramic offerings
and secondary burial placed east
in his grave. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the of the tomb.
location of the Lambayeque ceramics (Figure 96), can
be understood by the area where it is, but the vessels
of Cajamarca coastal style (Figure 97), could be Fig. 96.
Late Lambayeque ceramics,
interpreted as the strengthening of links and ties which
associated with the secondary
172 the character buried in the tomb would have sustained burial.
life, with Cajamarca region. If there is any link, they
could be considered as family reasons (marriages), Fig. 97.
territorial relationships or likely as circumstances of Cajamarca Coastal ceramics
products and resources exchange(commerce); these placed on tomb 4.
reasons confirm a close and historical relationship
between these two contemporary ethnic groups
(Lambayeque and Cajamarca), reaffirming their ties
not only in life but in death and which appear as groups
developing an intense relationship that had already
been documented in the excavations of the Program
San José de Moro (Castillo 2003).
173
 Additionally, we have analyzed the possibility that
the presence of this important and fine set of foreign
style ceramics, is part of the consolidation of a deeper
bond which in our view would have to do with the
issue of water, a resource that generates fertility to
land, this for the reason that the water that reaches
the territory of Lambayeque has its origin in the upper
part of the Andean watersheds of Cajamarca, flowing
and discharging this hydric resource through the rivers
which form the valleys of the Lambayeque region.
Therefore, the water of vital importance, was historically
and even today the generous support from Cajamarca
to the fields of Lambayeque for them to be successfully
Fig. 98.
Lambayeque Valleys which
originate on the Cajamarca
region.
174
fertilized, Fig. 98. Lambayeque Valleys which originate
on the Cajamarca region. leading to a relationship that
consolidates and strengthens at a political, religious
and productive level, but that originates from the
exploitation of the explicit will of nature. In return, the
Cajamarca groups had received from the Lambayeque
lots of exotic resources such as spondylus, conus
shell, agricultural products, textiles among others, as
well as access to the Lambayeque territory, especially
the sea which not only appears as a sacred space but
became into a common territory both to Cajamarca
and to Lambayeque (Figure 98).
 When removing ceramic objects, they were
found remains of a vegetable fiber fabric, which
had been placed to cover two major offerings found
underneath. When th vegetable fiber was removed, two
extraordinary mantles or painted fabrics were found Fig. 99.
(Figure 99 and Sheet 3 and 4), one extended eastward Layer of Fabrics painted with
(mantle 1) and the other folded into three parts and a polychrome perimeter and a
located west of the tomb (mantle 2) . The first has a metallic center..
rectangular shape of 5 square meters and presents
a significant and colorful symbology that identifies an 175
emblematic and recurring theme in the iconography
of Lambayeque culture, known as the symbol of the
“anthropomorphic wave”, associated to 90 laminated
copper discs of 12.5 centimeters of diameter, arranged
in neat lines of 9 by 10, which have four holes to be
sewn or attached to the fabric. The second mantle, has
the same characteristics but this is bent or folded. The
recovery of these unique offerings meant a challenge,
but above all an opportunity to document in detail all
the elements that are part of this ornament (Figure
100).
176
Fig. 100.
Detail on the painted fabric with
antropomorphic design.

Sheet 3.
Drawing of the painted textiles
layer.
177

Sheet 4.
Reconstruction of the painted
textiles found in the tomb of
Chornancap.
 The iconographic thematic which both mantles
have, allude to a classical and allegorical composition:
the Moon and the Sea, two important stages in the
ritual of the Lambayeque society, and on which the
buried character would have had access as part of
the ideological elements which identify his condition
and semi-divine hierarchy or perhaps as a reflection
of the duality that is part of the character identity. It is
important to note that mantles like these would serve
as a sign, mark or notice of the existence of complex
funerary contexts in Lambayeque times, as was
recorded in Huaca Las Ventanas, (Shimada 1994 and
2014), the painted mantle of El Chorro archaeological
site in Pomalca (Bracamonte 2015), as well as what
happened in our case.
When the painted mantles were picked, and
overcoming a layer of sand of 20 cm. thick, it was
identified a mud structure looking like a well or a
modeled construction, which formed a configuration
ovoid perimeter of 4.25 meters long oriented from west
to east by 3.30 meters wide from north to south, and
25 to 30 cm. deep. This construction contained a flat
surface of mud (plaster), as an irregular floor with human
footprints which correspond to 3 or 4 people (Sheet 5),
which roamed the central part oriented east-west, also
around the structure where mud had been ‘’prepared’’,
as if this act was a ritual of burial closing, as a kind of
“dance” which is an unusual event in funerary contexts
178
(Figure 101), but indicates the complexity of the burial
ritual of the inground individual, in which a series of
events happen. This circumstance, is innovative and
reveals that the burial is a process in which each of
the details and decisions made, leave evidence like
the case of the footprints that are clearly intentional.
This unprecedented episode confirms the idea that the
burial is a process of material and symbolic actions
as in this case where it is associated with the issue
of water as a mean of access for the inground to the
world of the ancestors. This metaphorical message
would indicate the relationship of water on the funerary
bundle in the depth of the grave which reaffirms the
issue of fertility. It is possible that the water in this
kind of pond has represented the liquid offering par
excellence dedicated to the deceased highest status
buried in the grave and which have an obvious
connection with the cult of fertility.Following with the
registration of this evidence, 60 centimeters deep a set
of Lambayeque and coastal Cajamarca ceramic was
found, placed side by side to the east side of the tomb
(Figure 102), it should be noticed that in this case both
Lambayeque and Cajamarca styles appear in a single
set unlike the higher levels where each group has its
own space within the context. Next, it was identified
a plain native-cotton brown fabric which was in very
poor conditions and which extended in east-west axis
covering the entire surface of intrusion.
Slide 5.
Drawing of footprints on the floor of
the tomb.
Fig. 101.
Closing of the tomb scene with a
symbolic dance on the water well..
179
180

Fig. 102.
Concetration of Lambayeque and Cajamarca coastal ceramic
offerings east of the funerary context.
 181

Fig. 103.
First picture of the funerary bundle (tomb 4) in Chornancap.
 5.5 The Funerary Bundle.

When removing the flat brown, surprisingly an
unflappable metallic face emerged, caused by the
extraordinary and classic face-mask which identifies
the Lambayeque culture, with winged eyes and the
application of small copper additions, representing
tears that fall from its eyes and which would express
the “whimper” of a deified face, that shows a revealing
and metaphorical message in the grave in its way to
the afterlife. As if these tears, symbolized the water that
fertilizes the land where the bundle turned into seed
generates a new life in the world of the ancestors11.
This symbolism embodied in the Lambayeque masks
is undoubtedly one of the most characteristic features
of this society. Additionally, it is seen at the height
of the mask nose an elongated element, holding
collars that adorned the mask, and which constitute
the complement to the symbolic composition (Figure
103). At the top of the mask a fragile cylindrical crown
of silvered copper, in which a headdress appears in
the form of metallic feathers, falling on opposite sides
and ends in heads of stylized felines, this ornament
announced the undisputed status of the character
buried, and reminded us of the representation of female
characters that in Lambayeque art have the same
type of ornament called “bipolar” headdress, such as
Character B from Phase 3 of the reliefs in Huaca Las
Balsas at Túcume archaeological complex (Narváez
2011:97). Marking the boundary of the funerary
bundle, they were foun three black ceramic vessels of
everted edge, with zoomorphic sculptural features with
182
the representation of the body and head of a monkey
eating a pacay which appears between the neck and
upper body of the vessel (Figure 104). On the bundle
it also lays a necklace of 21 flattened or cylindrical
copper discs. In addition, the bundle was defined by
a set of laminated and embossed circular concentric
copper discs which might have been attached or
sewn to a thin fabric (Sheet 6 and Figure 105). These
objects on the funerary bundle give the volumetric
configuration to the mythical image of the buried
individual, when reviewing the edge of the copper discs
which delimit the bundle, it was identified that these
present embossed decoration, with the image of the
“anthropomorphic wave”, similar to the theme defined
in the painted fabrics, i.e. the symbolism alluding to
the Sea and the Moon was reiterated. Unquestionably
this reassertion is a clear evidence and indicator of the
close relationship of the buried character with these
scenarios which revealed its mythical identity and the
power he had exercised in life on behalf of these.
Fig. 104.
Ceramic representation
of an ape eating a pacay,
offering of the tomb..
Slide 6.
Funerary bundle of
the Priestess in its first
excavation level.

11
Dr. Federico Kauffmann Doig, sent me a picture of Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala (1980 [1615]), where a group of women who implored rain to the Moon
appeared, shedding tears appear in supplication saying: “Oh, oh, oh we cry, Oh, oh, oh we grieve. Your children are in pain, your poor children are achy. Only our
tears we offer to you. In exchange of your rains in exchange of your waters, send us your poor, poor people ... “. This could be analogous to the tears that were
placed in the mascs of the elite Lambayeque tombs which symbolically express the request for water for agricultural fertility.
183
 In this tomb the coffin notion is absent, a fact that
confirms the Lambayeque tradition of burying their
characters wrapped in bundles, as a funeral practice
that marks a significant change in the burial habits.
It would seem that the idea of the bundle seeks that
the individual with its possessions and covered with a
bundle wearing a crown and a mask, resembles with
life, as if it was a living witness at the time of its burial.
A copper object also appears looking like an elongated
rod, in whose upper end a rhomboid silhouette is
seen, associated with a circle, giving the impression
184
of a very characteristic horn frequent in Lambayeque
iconography. Also it’s recorded on the right side of the
bundle a small ellipsoidal copper rod, in whose upper
side a laminated, cut and embossed image of the known
and legendary mythical character Ñaymlap appears
(Figure 106), very similar to that one found in the set of
metal offerings located very close to the Tomb 3. This
ornament relates the individual buried with one of the
most frequent images in the Lambayeque religiosity
and protagonist of the oral tradition.
Fig. 105.
Funerary bundle defined by a set of
laminated copper embossed circular
concentric discs which were sewn on a thin
fabric.
 The main character inside the bundle was sitting,
facing east and one of the first ornaments to appear
was a breastplate of white shell (Conus), covering all
the main region of the individual’s chest, this ornament
is made with cut conus assembled in gradient (Figures
107 and 108), with small circular metallic objects,
which shape alludes to the moon. When starting the
excavation of the funerary bundle and removing the
mask, it was recorded an extraordinary openworked
cylindrical crown of laminated gold, in whose upper
bordering of the skull an extraordinary complex scene
is shown, in which a supernatural woman in left side
face rests sitting on a crescent moon, whose upper
and lower limbs end in the form of stylized feline heads,
she also has a cross-shaped loom; This scene is inside
a classic Lambayeque palace defined by a double
roof with the known shape of the silhouette of the
Fig. 106. Fig. 107.
Small ellipsoidal copper center, on top Conus shell
of which the image is laminated, cut and breastplate in situ.
pierced mythical Ñaylamp.
mythical bird, or plummeting bird. This image appears
to be associated with the moon, which appears in
the Andean area from very early times (Mackey and
Vogel 2003; Narváez 2011).The representation of
the female image in the crown puts us in the special
condition of first identifying the high status of who used
this ornament, second the possible mythical identity of
the buried character, as well as its possible links with
the complex ceremonial world of the Lambayeque
culture, the weaver woman depicted as the deity or
supernatural being on the power stage, she is sitting on
the crescent Moon with which she associates and has
elements of the lunar feline, allowing to argue that this
icon would constitute the religious, and also mythical
identity of the character, who was representing the
lunar deity or goddess of the Moon, divinity that we did
not archaeologically know for the Lambayeque culture.
Fig. 108. Fig. 109.
Conus shell breastplate. Golden Crown.
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
 In the same manner, they were found three a female character, the Moche heritage in the grave
dazzling pairs of golden eramuffs: the first with the dug never ceases to amaze and reaffirms the concept
representation of a character seen from the front with of continuity. presence of objects which serve for the
sticks on each hand and a large semilunar headdress same function, made of gold and silver also reveals
and cylindrical crown decorated with small circles, the message of duality and complementarity, known
accompanied on each side by two creatures on side philosophical concepts which show the structure of the
face; another pair of earmuffs with a central circle and on Lambayeque religiosity. Other pairs of earmuffs in silver
the edge an embossed design of the “anthropomorphic and gilded copper (Figure 117 and 118); were part of
wave”; the third pair of gold earrings, has a circular the complex trousseau that the character had inside
design, and on the edge it has the embossed image the tomb and which reveal that this person kept in life
of the cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi), known as appreciable assets for its public presentations and also
San Pedro, an hallucinogenic often used in quackery accompanying this individual towards the encounter
sessions (Figures 111, 112, 113 and 114 ). Other pairs with the ancestors.
of silver earmuffs, also reveal a complex symbolism;
among these it stands out a pair of silver earmuffs
Fig. 110. Fig. 113.
with a head on character with a stick on each hand
Detail of the image Golden earmuffs with
alike the golden one (Figure 115); and another with the represented in the the antropormorphic
known representation of the “lunar feline”, surrounded golden crown. wave.
by stepped or crenellated symbols on the contour
(Figure 116); his pair of earmuffs reminds us of the Fig. 111. Fig. 114.
polychromatic image painted on one of the façades on Golden earmuffs in situ. Golden earmuffs with
San Pedro cactus
the precinct of the burial of the Lady of Cao (Franco
representation.
and Gálvez 2005). The aforementioned character, Fig. 112.
has a striking resemblance both in its formal aspect Golden earmuffs with
as in its association linked to the funerary context of main character.

193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
Fig. 115. Fig. 116.
Silver earmuff with the main character. Silver earmuffs with feline image.

201

Fig. 117.
Silver earmuff.

Fig. 118.
Gilded copper earmuff.
202
203
 In the upper right limb of the main character, an
elongated rattle beaker was found, made of plated
copper, this becomes the ornament that also fulfilled
the role of rattle (Figures 119 and 120), and which
allows us to identify and link the individual buried with
other representations in Lambayeque art, but above all
realating it to the ritual functions where beakers play a
crucial role in the ceremonies, both to offer sacred or
symbolic drinks, as well as on ritual libations (Carcedo
2014). A large Tumi type copper kinfe appears
towards the center of the bundle (Sheet 7 and Figure
121), along with 44 Lambayeque ceramic bottles, 18
Cajamarca Coastal ceramic vessels and 96 miniature Fig. 119.
clay crucibles, which complement the content of the Elongated rattle beaker, made in
complex ritual paraphernalia (Figures 122 a and b; 123 plated copperIn
a and b).

204
 205

Slide 7.
Excavation level with the
silver beaker on the right
side.
206
Fig. 120.
Large Tumi type copper knife which appears
towards the center of the bundle.

Fig. 121.
Rattle Beaker of plated copper, found on the
right hand of the main character.

Fig. 122a.
Cajamarca Coastal Ceramic next to the
funerary bundle.

Fig. 122b.
Cajamarca Coastal Ceramic next to the
funerary bundle.

Fig. 123a.
Lambayeque Ceramic next to the funerary
bundle.

Fig. 123b.
Lambayeque Ceramic next to the funerary
bundle.

207
208
209
 An ornament of extraordinary artistic quality, made
in laminated gold appeared towards the upper left part
of the main character (on the left hand), which clearly
revolutionized the funerary context and indisputably
ratified the high status of the individual who used it
in life. It is a small ceremonial staff or power scepter,
made in gold, approximately 23 cm long with an
elongated laminated end and with the representation
of a classic Lambayeque character, shown standing on
a rectangular podium with a ritual gesture and its arms
up (Figure 124), in that known attitude of “mochar” or
kissing the air (Martínez Cerceda 1995). The image
displayed has fine and delicate embossed lines which
suprisingly define his face; up to his neck a band is
seen as if it was a scarf or shawl in which ends sprout
stylized feline heads (also known as dragons). On his
head he wears a small crown which is shaped like the
body of a plummeting bird, as complement there’s
a gabled roof of a precinct or a Lambayeque sacred
temple, with the classic representation of the body of
a plummeting bird, named by Jorge Zevallos Quiñones
(1971 and 1989) as the’’peak rectangle peak’’ icon, or
also as “wings and tail” (Narváez 2015). In this roof it is
also seen an embossed symbol of a sea wave or volute
which decorates both fronts of the temple’s ceiling, to
which they have been added hanging movable parts
which create a striking visual effect (Figure 125). This
ornament expresses a divine image of limited diffusion
in Lambayeque art, which probably would correspond
to a female deity, appearing with the same gesture, but
associated to different elements in the territory of the
north coast.
210

Fig. 124.
Ceremonial scepter or Power
staff, made of gold.

Fig. 125.
Detail of the uper part of the
golden Power scepter.
211
212
 This ornament located on the neck of the character
of the golden scepter, reminds us of a Wari character
depicted in ceramics, such as the Pachacamac style
bottle from the Museum of Art in Cleveland USA,
(Katharina Schreiber 2012: 34, fig. 20), which carries
the same kind of ornament on the neck (Figure 126)
and could be a clear indicator of the influence of some
Wari elements which transcend to the Lambayeque
period. The Lambayeque textiles (Figures 127, 128 a
and b) show the same ornament located on the neck.
This object certifies the political and religious authority
of the buried character, and shows the female deity in
the precinct of power represented under the form of a
scepter, rarely made in this kind of ornaments that are
known in the Lambayeque culture.
The goldsmith art of this society has seldom
shown explicitly the representation of a deity located in
the architectural scenario, let’s remember the copper
scepter found in the ransacked tomb of Sipán (Alva
1994), in which apperas a small power precinct or
Mochica little temple as well as the golden and silver
scepter that the Lord of Sipán carries in his right
hand, and which has the shape of an inverted pyramid
in whose sides battle scenes are shown. Likewise,
the textile documented by Christopher Donnan in
Pacatnamu (Donnan 1986), showing a character sitting
on a throne with a roof with the symbol of the mythical
bird, similar to the one shown in the gold scepter of
Chornancap. Besides these ornaments there is no
record in Peruvian archaeology of the Northern Coast,
of an object that unequivocally is associated to a deified
character in the sacred scenario, which should have
appeared in the most important events of its complex 213
ritual obligations. It is important to highlight that this
character who carries the golden scepter reaffirms in
its grave the functions and roles developed by him both
on the political and priestly scene, as well as allowing
to recognize an archaeologically unidentified deity and
which on the crown and now on the golden scepter
shows its religious and political leadership as well as
its divine nature.
 Fig. 126. Fig. 127.
Wari Bottle with chracter with a ‘’scarf’’ and Lambayeque style textile with a
discs on its body. character holding a ‘’scarf’’ which ends
214 have stylized snake heads.
 Fig. 128a y b.
Lambayeque style Textile with character carrying
a ‘’scarf’’ with stylized snake heads on the ends,
from Pacatnamú. 215
 An object that by its superb artistry has dazzled in the
burial, is a small silver bowl found on the left hand of the
character which presents complex embossed scenes
on the outer surface, and displays a deep religious
content and symbology that includes elements like the
sea, birds, felines, snakes and beings that altogether,
express part of the ceremonial universe of this society,
from which we had no suspicion, undoubtedly this bowl,
which might be named as the “Lambayeque Chalice”,
“Lambayeque Ceremonial Beaker” or “ Sacred Beaker
“, is also part of the content of the bundle, and is one
of the most precious assets of the priestly role of the
216
buried character (Figures 129 and 130a).The enormous
narrative power of the scenes depicted in this unique
object, refers to the complex ceremonial world of the
Lambayeque culture (Figure 130b), whose symbols
were unknown, but that in these scenes they open up
new possibilities for understanding the religious and
symbolic structure of Lambayeque (Figures 131 and
132).
Fig. 129.
Silver Bowl at the time of the
discovery.
Fig. 130a.
Silver Bowl after cleaning and
maintenance.

Fig. 130b.
Embossed image in the Silver Bowl.

217
218
 219

Fig. 131.
Silver Bowl with a fine exterior embossment.
220
 221

Fig. 132.
Complex scene finely repoussed on the exterior
of the Silver Bowl.
222
 Another bimetallic cup (gold and silver), also found
by the left hand of the main character presents an
embossed scene on the silver surface, composed by
patterns of rhombs and triangle as well as waves or
volutes, in whose interior there’s a female character on
left side face, holding some sort of rope, alternated by
a feline with a semilunar headdress, also on side face
but in opposite position to that of the woman depicted
in this same scene (Figures 133 and 134).
This last one would be equivalent to the mythical
image or to its symbolic corresponding of the women
represented; in the upper and lower triangular spaces
appear two birds in opposite position, at the top of
this scene there are waves or volutes which close the
representation. The rhomboid structure used to display
the representation of the women and the lunar feline
with headdress, reminds us of the same design that
appears on the main façade with polychrome reliefs of
one of the phases of Huaca de la Luna in La Libertad,
where precisely the rhomboid and triangular concept
serves as a framework to represent deities (Uceda
2000), which means that this dual geometric concept
as support of artistic elements of religious content,
either could be a clear sign of how the old canons of
the Moche art keep continuity and effectiveness in the
Lambayeque period. Once again the main character
ornaments remind us of symbols and images that
allude directly to her feminine personality, where the
protagonist of the scenes is constituded.
They were also recorded square copper and Fig. 133.
silver oval sheets originally attached to a fabric which Bimetallic beaker (gold and silver).
should have embellished the clothes of the character.
They appeared complex breastplates of hundreds and 223
Fig. 134.
thousands of beads of spondylus, calcifer shells, white Embossment detail in the bimetallic beaker.
and red princep shells, turquoise, as well as conus and
strombus which must contain unique compositions
Fig. 135.
whose recovery was a huge challenge; due to the Breastplates of spondylus, calcifer and princeps beads
character being seated and flexed, all the ornaments in white and red, beads of turquoise, as well as conus
have moved when this individual began to lose his and strombus shells.
body tissue, creating disorder amongst them (Figures
135, 136, 137 and 138).
A pair of bimetallic cups of gold and silver in an
unprecedented way reaffirm the unquestionable
message of the presence of duality in this funerary
context.
224
225
226
Fig. 136. Fig. 138.
Breastplate with beads of cut shell. Breastplate with beads of spondylus
shell.

Fig. 137. 227

Breastplate with beads of cut shell.
228
These sui generis assets reveal the intense Fig. 139.
religious activity of the main character who has several Set of bowls and beakers for various
rituals.
sets of containers for various rituals (Figures 139,
140 and Sheet 8). Embossed sheets with designs of
characters, placed in the burial, and a pair of necklaces
with little golden idols (Figure 141) and another in
silver, these reinforce the status of the character, and
reaffirmed the dual message.
 229

Sheet 8.
Level of the bimetallic cups.

Fig. 140.
Gold and silver cups in a unique shape.
 Also they appear silver beakers with complex Fig. 141.
images (Figures 142 and 143) and a rattle composed Necklace with golden little
idols.
of four spherical golden beads which were originally
attached by a vegetable fiber, these were found in a Fig. 142.
metal container in whose interior appear residues of Silver Beaker (repousse).
cinnabar (Figures 144 and 145). When retiring the
objects of the funerary bundle it was clearly defined the Fig. 143.
skeleton of the central character who wore bracelets Silver Beaker (repousse).
of gold and silver spheres, as well as another pair
made in white, red and turquoise shell beads which
have zoomorphic designs, the fingers of his hands
were adorned with gold, silver and pearl beads (Figure
232 146, 147 and 148). Also, within the bundle there was
a set of sheets and cuts of spondylus associated with
small anthropomorphic sculptures that when rebuilding
the parts suddenly showed the miniature scene of a
character in a berth carried by four individuals (Figure
149). The berth presents the typical form with brackets
that end in stylized feline heads known as “dragons”;
this composition symbolically shows the status of the
buried character who has the privilege of being moved
in a berth not only in life but in the journey to the
underworld.
 Fig. 141.
Collar de idolillos de oro.

Fig. 144.
Four golden spherical beads, found in a
bowl with cinnabar residues. 233

Fig. 145.
Golden spherical beads

Fig. 146.
Silver bracelet and another one elaborated
with white, red and turquoise shell beads,
placed with the main character.
234
235
236
237
238
Fig. 147. Fig. 148. Fig. 149.
Bracelets made of gold spheres. Rings made of gold, silver and pearl Miniature of a litter madeof shell with
spheres on both hands. turquoise appliques.

239
240
241
 Of special significance in the grave is the
presence of well-crafted objects like miniatures in
242 different material that are intended to introduce into
the message of the funeral ritual the symbolic value
of each one, which apparently in the form of small
representations demonstrate the implicit function
that they had in the life of the person. For example,
a small, elongated wooden scepter is recorded. It
was connected to the individual’s political authority
(Figure 150) and accompanies him in his journey to
the underworld. This object complements the function
of the principal scepter, made of gold, in which if the
divinity is represented, which signifies the difference
between the objects that while they symbolically fill
the same role, are present in the tomb in a different
material and dimension, as if they are trying to transmit
the dual theme.
A special significance is found in the miniature
of a finely crafted granite mortar in the base of which
is a hollow the result of use and the hand in a small
elongated stone. These were found next to a group of
two pots used in healing sessions (Figure 151). This
object, which originally must have corresponded to a
much larger mortar, is present in the tomb with special
symbolism and associated with other treasures.
Finally, a metal object, which although small, contains
a profound metaphoric meaning. It is in the form of
a bird with a long beak, concentric eye, cylindrical
base with a disk like a flap of skin, probably of marine
origin (Figure 152) made of gilded copper and silver, Fig. 150.
which might refer to the orthomorphic characteristic Miniature wooden scepter.
243
of the dynasty to which the priestess of Chornancap
would have belonged. These treasures of appreciable
Fig. 151.
symbolic value certify that the burial procedures for Stone mortar and miniature vessels.
personages of an elevated political and religious status
have a particular preparation that begins during the
Fig. 152.
person’s lifetime, because not only are the goods in
Ornament representing a bird made of
their natural roles as jewelry and emblems incorporated silver and gilded copper.
into the funerary objects, but also representational and
miniaturized goods that show the value that they have
in their function and their dimensions.
 5.6 The Main Character.
Removing a fine and fragile silver-plated copper
sheet that formed part of a second masque that
mysteriously covered the front of the person’s cranium,
made it possible to appreciate the cranium in its true
magnitude, which after the evaluations carried out by
the physical anthropologists, Mario Millones (Peru),
Haagen D. Klaus (USA.) and Catherine Gaither (USA)
(Figure 153), certified that the person was female and
approximately 45 or 50 years old at the time of her
death, her skeletal remains were not well preserved,
yet the cranium presented a better state of conservation
which made it possible to analyze some details of her
life.
244
The report of the physical anthropologists indicates
that there are no signs of infection, trauma or metabolic
diseases; her oral health was also normal and she had
lost several teeth before her death. They also observed
some degenerative changes (osteoarthritis) in her
cervical vertebrae, and additionally some of the anterior
surfaces of the phalanges of her hand showed medial
and lateral bone exotosis. The individual shows artificial
deformation of the cranium in the frontal occipital area
typical of members of the elite, as recorded for Mochica
society. Exotosis in has also been identified in some of
her fingers in the extensor tendon, possibly consistent
with physical activities during her life, including weaving
(Klaus 2014). The result of the anthropometric analysis had access to political and religious power, except
is sustained in the longitudinal measurements of the for the evidence of priestesses excavated during the
femur ad the humerus, as well as the diameter of 90s at the archeological site of San Jose de Moro de
the latter and observation of the mastoid apophysis. Chepén (Castillo 2000) and la Lady of Cao (Franco
Analysis was also carried out of the discriminating and Gálvez 2005).
functions, beginning with Hotelling’s T2 test, which was
statistically significant for allocation within the female
group; in this case it is the dimensions of the head of
the humerus which carried the most weight in the test
results (Millones 2011). This identification produced an
unusual change in interpretive perspective regarding
the individual and Lambayeque society in its entirety, Fig. 153.
Physical Anthropologists: Dr. Haagen D. Klaus (USA), Dr.
because erroneously it was understood that only men Mario Millones (Peru) and Doctor Catherine Gaither (USA).

245
 5.7 The Companions.
The priestess was accompanied in her grave by 8
individuals and a young camelid. All were found around
the principal personage in the four cardinal directions,
two to the north, three to the east, two to the south and
one to the west. Each of the companions is described
below. The analysis was carried out in June of 2013, by
a team under the direction of Physical Anthropologist
Haagen Klaus and the results are summarized in the
present section (Klaus 2014).
Companion 1 (South)
Skeletal remains were very poorly preserved. This
was probably an individual more than 15 years old.
A canine tooth shows hypoplasia of the enamel; at
least six teeth were affected by dental decay. It wasn’t
possible to determine the sex, but nevertheless it is
believed to be female.
Companion 2 (South)
The skeletal remains were very poorly preserved.
This was probably a person more than 15 years old. No
other observations are possible.

246

Fig. 154. Fig. 155.

Miniature stone sculpture. Companion 3 offerings of personage of
ChornancapCompanion
Companion 3 (North)
The skeletal remains were poorly preserved. Apart
from the fact that there were human bone fragments,
no other observations can be made. This companion
has as offerings two small stone sculptures that we
believe are of a material brought from Ecuador (Figure
154). These materials imply the hypothesis that this
companion is from the northern area (Ecuador). This
individual, whose sex is impossible to determine,
presents material associated as two copper Tupus
(shawl pins), 15 centimeters long and 50 copper beads,
Fig. 156.
Metal piruros and copper tupu.
conical in shape, 19 quartz beads, 4 copper pins and
metal “piruros” (Figures 155 and 156). This leads us to
suppose that this was a weaver or probably received
these goods as offerings that give a weaver’s prestige
or status in the grave. In that regard, one must note
that Tupos (beads) constitute a personal implement
associated exclusively with feminine contexts o
considered to be an ancestral symbol of feminine
identity (Vetter and Carcedo 2009).
247
248
 A clear example is the image of Felipe Guamán
Poma de Ayala (1980[1613]), in which the first Coya
Mama Huaco appears seated on a throne surrounded
by three women who accompany her as if they were her
servants. Two of them are wearing Tupus and Mama
Huaco is wearing two tupus on her breast (Figure
157). Another version on the denomination of the tupu
is referenced when only one of them is being used to
fasten the “manta” (shawl) or “lliclla” (small shawl) in
which case it is called “tipqui.”
Companion 4 (North)
The skeletal remains of this individual were very
fragmented, but in a better state of preservation. It was
probably a young woman between 12 and 18 years
of age at the time of death. There was no evidence
of trauma, bone infection or metabolic pathology.
Most of her teeth were recovered. At least three teeth
were affected by decay, and tooth 25 was affected by
deposits of dental calculus.
Companion 6 (East)
These skeletal remains were very poorly preserved.
It was probably a person more than 15 years old. Only
four teeth were documented and it’s difficult to make
observations about the oral health of this person. No
other observations could be made.
Companion 7 (East)
The skeletal remains were very poorly preserved.
This was probably a person more than 15 years old. No
other observations could be made.
Companion 8 (East)
This is only the decapitated cranium of an individual
probably of female gender no older than 15. It appears
as a symbol of a sacrifice victim or probably as part of
a secondary burial, whose cranium has been ritually
removed from her tomb and taken to this funerary site.

Companion 5 (West)
The skeletal remains were poorly preserved. This
was probably a person older than 15 years of age.
Less than half of the teeth were recovered and those
found seemed healthy. No other observations could
be made. When the cranium was examined 13 gold
Fig. 157.
nuggets and a small, irregular silver ingot were found
The first Coya Mama Huaco seated on a throne
inside the mouth (Figure 158), which reveals the status accompanied by three women.
of the individual.Fig. 157. The first Coya Mama Huaco
seated on a throne accompanied by three women.
This woman was associated with a young camelid Fig. 158.
next to her. This position of this accompaniment near Gold nuggets and silver ingot. 249
the Priestess’s back might reveal the maternal condition
of the principal personage, because an ancestral
tradition exists that women carry their children tied on
their backs with a blanket, which was a characteristic
of their maternal identity.
250
251
 5.8 Bioarchaeology of Tomb 4:
approaches.12

All indications, based on the ages of the
companions of the Priestess of Chornancap, are that
the 8 individuals that are part of this burial are young
people no older than 20 and no younger than 15.
They make up a kind of “retinue” of young women who
accompany the personage in her journey to meet her
ancestors.
In the second place they are all seated and
posed gazing at the central personage and placed
symbolically in a certain order, in specific directions.
There are limited offerings above all related to textiles
that accompany these individuals, with the exception of
companion 3 who has textile goods and companion 5
who has small offerings of gold and silver in her mouth,
which distinguishes her from the others. The goods that
accompany the other individuals are minimal.
From the perspective of bioarchaeology this
funerary event is interesting in spite of the fact that
the aquifer with its high salt content has affected the
surrounding area and has generated the intrusion of
the fine roots through different parts of the skeletal
remains. With the exception of the case of companion
8, the rest of the companions show no evidence of
trauma as a cause of their death in a dramatic and
intentional way. The remains of marginal osteophytes
on some of the finger bones of the Priestess may be
related with her advanced age, but might also represent
the hypertrophy of the bone due to the long duration
and the repeated extension of her fingers in some kind
of physical activity (probably weaving). Oral health
is good in general terms in almost all the individuals
in this tomb. Dental caries, tooth loss before death,
abscesses, periodontal disease are very infrequent or
absent. These data are very important because they
reveal a diet that contains a certain grade of food with
starches and carbohydrates. The central personage in
the tomb at Chornancap showed some of the worst
states of dental health, with a high level of tooth loss
before death. This pathological condition is in some
way caused by advanced dental caries, but Is also a
result of the wear on the teeth due to advanced age.
These general biological patterns are very similar
to those documented in other high status funerary
contexts in the Lambayeque region, such as Sipán and
Sicán (Klaus 2014).
Fig. 159.
Cranium of the principal personage
at Chornancap.

252

12
The present chapter is a brief summary of the Theoretical Report presented
by Haggen Klaus (2014).
 5.9 The face of the Priestess
With the archaeological excavation of the Tomb of
the Priestess of Chornancap and her eight companions
completed and the extraordinary ornaments and
offerings that made up part of the funerary goods
recovered, we had the opportunity to count on the
professional opinions of three distinguished Physical
Anthropologists to identify information about the bio
archaeological conditions, approximate age at the time
of death and determination of gender in the skeletal
remains of the Priestess. The opinion of the Physical
Anthropologists: Mario Millones (Peru), Haagen Klaus
(USA), Catherine Gaither (USA) were conclusive in
the sense of agreeing that she was an adult woman
between 45-50 years of age at the time of her burial.
Evidently this information generated at the time and up
to the present an extraordinary opportunity to recognize
one of the most conspicuous female personages that
we know of in Lambayeque culture, and she reveals
through her goods and material culture enormous
power and a leading role on the highest political and
religious level during her time (Figure 159).
253
 With his visit the esteemed Forensic Anthropologist,
Dr. Daniel Fairbanks, of the Utah Valley University –
USA proposed carrying out the reconstruction of the
face of the Priestess Lambayeque of Chornancap.
The work began with the visit of the specialist to our
research camp in Chotuna, Chornancap in June of
2012, in order to evaluate “in situ” the conditions of
preservation of the cranial bones and the possibility
of getting a successful reconstruction. Applying
forensic techniques, the specialist worked with three
primary bones: the frontal bone of the cranium, the left
maxillary and zygomatic bone and the right half of the
mandible. Based on those bones, he created a replica
of the cranium in polymeric clay byusing an instrument
that allowed him to duplicate the bones with pinpoint
accuracy as if it were a kind of “pantograph” of a high
degree of precision (Figure 160). As a result of that
254
he carried out the reconstruction of the cranium in
white clay duplicating the bones in accordance with
conventional forms of the anatomy of the cranium. The
next step was the placing of prosthetic eyes made of
acrylic resin, placed exactly in the orbits. Then the depth
marks were placed identifying the distances between
the surface of the cranial bone and the surface of the
skin at various places on the cranium.
Once the depth marks had been placed, the
facial muscles were progressively added, in this
case beginning with the temporal muscle and then
successively the facial muscles (Figure 161). A very
special characteristic of this cranium, with others of
the Muchik ethnic group, is a marked protuberance
extending very much forward from the exterior of the
ocular orbits, which becomes a frequent and well-
documented characteristic.
Fig. 160.
Daniel Fairbanks in the process of
reconstructing the face.
Fig. 161. Fig. 162.
Process of reconstructing The final reconstruction of the face of the
the face. Priestess of Chornancap, done by Daniel
Fairbanks.
A determinant factor in this process of
reconstruction of the face and one which constitutes a
small blunder, was achieving directly from the cranium
the form of the nose and the lips. This situation was
overcome because the photographic archives of Hans
Heinrich Brüning were used. He was able to document
the women of the town of Muchik with his camera at
the end of the 19th century. This became a first-hand
source to suppose that the nose and lips would have
the same form in the case of the Priestess. With these
characteristics the final clay reconstruction of the face
was completed. Later a silicone mold and then one of
polyester which made possible a form based on the
singular and unique mold, and from this it was possible
to perfect the eyes and add details like the eye brows
and eye lashes, color the lips and place the cranium,
now with a face, on a torso that makes possible a kind
of bust of the personage, to which hair was added
and styled, part of the clothing came next, a pectoral
of spondylus shell from the collection of the Brüning
Museum, replicas on a natural scale of earrings with
an anthropomorphic design, a replica on a 1/1 scale
of the gold crown placed on a background of native
cotton fabric, a robe that flows from her head down both
sides allowing us to identify the personage with her
femeninepersonality and with the primary ornaments
of her leading role as Priestess.
The final result of this process was presented
publically in the Brüning Museum, Lambayeque, in
December of 2012 with a massive concurrence of
journalists, thereby offering a brilliant opportunity to
approach the extraordinary discovery of a woman just
as she appeared in life. This also signifies an approach
to the physiognomic identity of the personage beyond
the value, brilliance and the meaning of the objects
found in the tomb (Figure 162). As a result of the
forensic recreation of the face of the Priestess of
Chornancap, completed by Daniel Fairbanks with the
valuable support of Haagen Klaus, today many women
255
feel themselves represented by this face that comes
from our history and they may assume the leadership
and the role that she had in the Lambayeque culture,
which today more than ever becomes an opportunity
to open the debate on gender equality in the ancient
cultures of Andean America. The face of the Priestess
of Chornancap also forms part of the personality of
this woman who from the grave with her goods and
companions reveals the mystery of a society like the
Lambayeque culture that we must reconstruct in the
present for the benefit of future generations.
256
 CHAPTER VI
6.1 Gender Identification of the Main
Character of Chornancap.

The confirmation of the female gender of the

main character places us in a singularly extraordinary
interpretive position, having the opportunity to
scientifically document one of the first elite female
characters in the Lambayeque culture who, judging by
the goods in her tomb, must have, for the most part,
carried out governing functions, sovereign of her time
and priestess. The revelation of the sex of the main
character, accompanied by the totality of offerings that
have been found and the individuals (companions) that
are part of her funerary cortege within her complex
tomb, allows us to know the possible ceremonial
activities that she carried out and her relationship
with the population in the hierarchical landscape, but
above all the ties that she could maintain with nearby
areas such as Cajamarca, La Libertad, and especially
Ecuador, generating a very complex sphere of power,
and also longer distance relationships that offer access
to resources and exotic goods (Figure 163).
257

Fig. 163.
The area of macro-regional influence of the
main character buried at Chornancap
 The fact that this tomb is possibly part of a group
of graves of members of the Lambayeque elite is
important. It makes Chornancap one of the religious
sites of singular ceremonial value since it is close
to the sea, this being considered to be the territory
of the legendary Ñaymlap. We now know based on
scientific authority that the ancient societies of our
country, especially Lambayeque (like their ancestors,
the Mochica), incorporated women into the sphere of
power and the management of religiosity. This implies
that the area of the north coast of Peru during long
periods has had the presence of women working
in the public sphere with the highest political and
religious authority that existed in their society. This
case also has singular importance because it reveals
an element that we must submit to debate such as the
consideration that gender equality in society’s political
and religious life not only forms part of an inevitable
formal process, but would also reveal the expression
of a concept of the masculine and the feminine that
implies that this concept incorporates these binary
elements as a relationship of unity of opposites but of
complementarity. The evidence that we have to date
should not lead us to believe only that the entry of
women into history must be seen from the angle of
258 her necessary presence as a part of this philosophic
equilibrium. We can also determine from the tomb of
the Priestess of Chornancap that the preference of
accompanying her by women only constitutes a clear
message that excludes the male sex from this type of
practices perhaps for reason of religious identity or
probably because these women carried out the role of
the highest functions in the religious cult related to the
sea and the moon.
The context of Chornancap without a doubt
illustrates the complex stratification of the female
aristocracy in that their status did not necessarily have
to be inferior to that of men and that apparently within
their own gender (female) there are levels or hierarchies
that go from women who are mothers, field workers,
weavers, chicha makers, intermediate functionaries,
virgins, concubines, healers, priestesses, supreme
priestess, female deity and mythic female ancestor.
In that regard Maria Rostworowski (2006) points out
that the role of the “coyas” or Inca queens owning their
own property and many “llanos” or servants had a lot
of prestige and power, which made it possible for her
to underscore that in the Andean world power did not
constitute male privilege since there were dominions
governed by women chiefs, just as Don Francisco de
Toledo, Count of Oropeso, Viceroy of Peru between
1569 and 1581, correctly describes it. He maintains:
“The people of the cost and the plains that were
called “yungas” were weak. In most of the region the
women governed and gave orders and were called
Tallaponas and in other areas “Capullanas”. They
were highly respected, although there were also chiefs
who were highly esteemed. They were in charge of
the fields and other labors, but were generally servile
and followed the instructions of the “Capullanas” or
“Tallaponas”.This tradition was maintained by law in
all the coastal flatlands, and the “Capullanas” were the
most responsible women.” (Francisco de Toledo, Conde
de Oropesa, Viceroy of Peru from 1569 to 1581).
In the same way Friar Reginaldo de Lizárraga
(1545-1615) wrote in his brief description of all the land
of Peru, Tucumán Río de la Plata and Chile. Library of
Spanish Authors, Vol. 216. Madrid 1960-1602:
“On the banks of the Motape River I found towns
governed by women whom the Spaniards called
“Capullanas,” because of their clothing which was made
of a long piece of cloth, a “capuza” that covered their
head. These “Capullanas,” who were women in their
infidelity, married to their own satisfaction, because if
her husband was not satisfactory, she discarded him
and married another. On the wedding day the chosen
man was seated beside the “Capullana” and there was
a huge, drunken festival. The discarded husband was
also there in a corner, sitting on the floor, lamenting his
disgrace. No one dared give him even water to satisfy
his thirst. The bride and the groom joyfully made fun of
him.” Friar Reginaldo de Lizárraga (1545-1615).
Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala (1980 [1615])
illustrates in his drawings the presence of a Inca female
chief elegantly dressed with “uso” in her hand and
“tupu” in her “lliclla” as a sign of status. In equal manner
we are acquainted in remembering the Inca State with
mythic women like Mama Ocllo, the subordinate wife,
and Mama Huaco, the brave woman warrior. In the
funerary context that we are analyzing in the present
study, the female personage in the tomb of Chornancap,
was seated with her legs bent looking to the east of the
tomb, along with her ornaments of political, religious
and divine rank (Figure 164). This position is intentional
because to the west is the sea, the place from which
her ancestors came, and to the east where the moon
rises, once again demonstrating the theme of duality
and complementarity (Sea-Moon). The personage
would also be associated symbolically to the theme
“anthropomorphic wave”. Perhaps this priestess might
represent the head of the anthropomorphic wave, which
often appears in the art of Lambayeque culture. The
Priestess looks toward the east, which is the location
of the territory of the Moon, an element of her complete
dominion, which allows us to to approach the fact that
the tomb alludes to her symbolic capacity to enter
the depths of the sea, become a wave, fly like a bird
(Narváez 2011) or draw near the Moon, the celestial
element; characteristics that illustrate a being who has
become a divinity in her epoch and immortalized in her
tomb (Figures 165 and 166).
259
260
Fig. 164.
Explosive drawing of the tomb of the
Priestess of Chornancap and her funerary
objects.
Fig. 165.
Graphic which shows the position of the
Priestess of Chornancap and the court of
the tomb.
Fig. 166.
Recreation of the tomb of the
Priestess of Chornancap and
companions, in the residence
of the elite.

The religious structure of the Lambayeque elite
is reflected and inspired in the well-known ornaments
found in the collections of several museums in Peru
and abroad, as well as in some Lambayeque tombs
that have been scientifically excavated (Shimada 1994
and 2014a; Elera 2008; Martínez 1996, 2014; Alva
Meneses 2012). These have succeeded in making our
view of these themes focus on images that Lambayeque
art expressed in a frequent and classic manner, such
as the representation of the God Ñaymlap, attributed to
the icon that appears on the famous ceremonial dagger
called Tumi or the God Sicán (Shimada 1994, 2014a);
baptized without considering the historical, linguistic
and archaeological perspectives, taking into account
onlythe research carried out at Pómac. Also known is 261
the wide-spread face-mask Lambayeque with the face
of a solemn personage with winged eyes, long nose,
extended lips, of whom it is suspected that must be a
mixture of the face of a man-bird, whose appearance
is widely represented in gold, silver and copper objects
among others (Alva 1984; Kauffman 1989, 1992;
Zevallos 1971, 1989; Carcedo 1989, 2014; Narváez
1995, 2011; Castillo 1996, 2000; Donnan 1989, 2012;
Shimada 1994, 2014a and 2014b; Fernández 2012
and Wester 2010, 2014).
262
 Also known is the classic image called “Huaco
rey”, represented on both black and red vessels, where
the central character baptized as the God Ñaymlap
is flanked by anthropomorphic and zoomorphic
beings, eventually stylized or divinized, around which
associated characters are lying in a prone, ventral
position as if they were “floating” and which are called
“swimmers”. The most emblematic case are those
images that are known in mural art like the polychrome
paintings of Huaca Pintada in Illimo (Schaedel 1978),
Murales of Úcupe (Alva and Meneses 1984; Alva and
Alva Meneses 2011), Huaca Loro (Florián 1951),
(Shimada 2014a), the reliefs of Huaca Las Balsas
in Túcume (Narváez 2011) and the Paintings of
Chornancap (Donnan 1989 and 2012) among others; in
which the generally recurrent element is the individual
with winged eyes and with a half-moon headdress and
feather decorations, wings, face with an indistinct ritual
expression, but which combines a body of elements
that would seem to be connected to the legendary
history of Ñaymlap.
Also forming part of these materials are the classic
vessels where Lambayeque art is expressed, such as
the case of the type known as huaco rey, the conical
bodied vase with a tall pedestal and that form called
“tacho”, which corresponds to vessels with a double
neck and divergent conical body, joined by a bridge-like
handle, articulated to globular bodies with a pedestal
base and which often have an anthropomorphic
sculptured element associated with the image of the
mythical Ñaymlap (Figure 167) on the handle. In this
context of known images, which have made it possible
to construct a pantheon of gods, divinities and mythic
Lambayeque ancestors symbolic elements also come
together in a figurative or geometric form such as the
“simple marine wave”, the “anthropomorphic wave”,
the “orthomorphic wave”, the “antropo-ornitomorphic
wave”, etc.; symbols like the stepped triangle, circles,
the Andean cross or chacana, etc. With these symbols
one can apparently appreciate an enormous difference
between the objectively staged quality of Mochica art
and the allegoric and symbolic quality of Lambayeque
culture; at least that is what can be confirmed. On
the one hand the Mochica masters of mural art and
creative in the construction and composition of scenes
with fine lines and an enormous symbolic and realistic
repertory in which flora, fauna, anthropomorphic
figures, and deities come together have left a valuable
body of elements that allow us now to understand the
complex ceremonial and ritual world of that society
with greater certainty. From this culture come the
classic representations of the famous “temas” (Benson
2003; Donnan 1975, 1978; Hocquenghem 1987) such
as the Sacrifice and Presentation, the Casting of
Flowers, the Burial, Hunting Deer, Maritime Crossing,
to cite only the most representative and widely known.
Nevertheless, in the case of Lambayeque culture
there are “substantive” changes in the concept of
liturgy and symbolism, in which the characters are
apparently more limited and the repertory is less
broad, as if the massive public dimension achieved
by the Mochica had been circumscribed now with the
Lambayeques for political and religious reasons to a
specific message in which there is a clear intention
to associate the representations in Lambayeque
art with the oral tradition of the history of Ñaymlap
and his descendants, which maintain a coherent
relationship with a great part of the material produced.
This circumstance understood as the strategy of the
Lambayeque elite to legitimize their power (Rucabado
2008), can be conceived beyond the political limit and
be interpreted as the construction of a discourse like
an oral and artistic doctrine that is recognized and
reaffirmed in public acts in the form of a liturgy that 263
is materialized and mobilized and that seeks to unify
a territory by means of the presence of the priestly
elite which acts in the name of these deities linked to
the sea as origin and to the infinite as destiny where
they fly like mythic birds, producing the subordination
of the population by means of religious acts, in which
the celebrants and conductors of the rituals act with a
performance of massive and exceptional impact.
 The tombs excavated by Izumi Shimada in Huaca
Las Ventanas (1991) and Huaca Loro (1994) (Shimada
1995 and 2014b), like the tomb excavated by Carlos
Elera in 2006 in Huaca Las Ventanas (Elera 2008), in
which a funerary bundle was found which contained
the remains of an old woman, all provided new
iconographic elements which helped to redefine the
role and functions of the individuals who were buried.
Above all they provided the association of the goods and
ornaments making it possible to recognize the status
of the individuals buried there. The funerary contexts of
the east and west tombs in Pómac have unequivocally
revealed several situations that we should observe.
On the one hand, the presence of large and complex
tombs at great depth with personages surrounded by
their most precious objects, with companions buried
with them as a product of rituals, cults and funerary
practices charged with social meaning (Castillo 2000),
which must provide the opportunity to observe the
power and authority that these individuals had in life and
that they continued to have in their journey to the world
of their ancestors. They also make clear the wealth of
the governing elites based on the burial rituals which
reaffirm the enormous control they exercise throughout
the territory, being capable of managing and mobilizing
for their own benefit the necessary resources that are
placed in their tombs, constructed near large buildings,
erected to honor their memory, including besides
the placing of exotic goods such as spondylus shell,
conus, pearls, turquoise, cinnabar, lapis lazuli, etc.,
products that are not frequent in that area and that
can be understood as means of showing the power of
264 those who possess them (Makowski 2014:194).
In addition to this material context we find the
liturgical, symbolic, context that is the body of images
13
Luis Jaime Castillo and Carlos Rengifo (2008: 172), demonstrate that ideology is perhaps the only alternative to explain the capacity for integration. They add that
this term refers to materialized ideas by means of symbolic forms that are mobilized in the service of interests of certain groups, which they call the dramatization
of time (See John Thompson 1990).
that are associated with certain objects that repeat
concepts like duality, bipartition, or locations like the
Moon or the Sea. In the case of the tomb excavated
by Carlos Elera in 2006, we are dealing with a woman
of advanced age with important funerary objects
was buried (Elera 2008). Since it was a female,
which were not known for the Pómac Forest Historic
Sanctuary, it is interesting that women also have
complex funerary structures with prestigious goods
that include companions. Nevertheless, in our opinion,
this tomb does not show the hierarchical level of the
one documented at Chornancap.
Until two decades ago this was the panorama
regarding the symbology of Lambayeque culture.
Nevertheless, with the discovery in 2011 and 2012
of the tombs named The Priestess of Chornancap
(Tomb No. 4) and Personage of the spondylus (Tomb
No. 5) came an unsuspected repertory of icons of the
Lambayeque culture of which we had not known, above
all because the images are associated with certain
kinds of objects, many of which were used in life by the
main individual, such as prestige goods that express
the ritual performed by the person who uses them (jars,
bowls, bracelets, pectorals, etc.) as well as elements
that reveal their power and authority (crown, earrings,
scepter), or symbols that demonstrated their condition
in the tomb (painted textile and mask). In those cases
the symbolism that is represented constitutes a clear
sign of the access that said personage has to using
these symbols as part of their ritual discourse and
the legitimization of their authority in life and in the
underworld (Sheet 9).
 265

Fig. 167.
Frequent types of Lambayeque ceramics
(Brüning Museum Collection)
266
 CHAPTER VII
7.1 The Character of the Spondylus:
Sepulchre and ornaments.

The archaeological excavations at Chornancap

at the end of 2011 and during 20i12 made possible
not only the scientific recovery of an exceptional
funerary context which we have named Governor and
Priestess Lambayeque, found with a bundle with her
objects and an extraordinary number of ornaments,
symbols and companions that express her status,
power and the roles that she carried out during her
life in the society of Lambayeque culture during the
12th and 13th centuries, but also, after concluding that
excavation and once having withdrawn the fragile and
fragmented skeleton of the main character and her
eight companions, we performed exploratory digs at
the bottom of the tomb with the purpose of confirming
or discarding the possible presence of new offerings, as
a necessary methodological practice in archaeological
research.

267

Sheet 9.
Recreation of the burial of the Priestess of
Chornancap.
268
7.2 The Tomb
Upon excavating deeper, at 60 centimeters
below the bed of the tomb of the Priestess came
the surprising and unexpected discovery of a new
and complex funerary context (Tomb 5), which that
began to show up with some ceramic offerings and
concentrations of spondylus shell (Figure 168). These
indications allowed us to determine that we were
unquestionably dealing with another “elite personage”
of the Lambayeque culture, whose tomb and burial lay
under the tomb of the Priestess, a fact completely new
in Andean American archaeology.
Due to its association and content we called this
Fig. 168.
Area showing the first evidence of the
funerary context beneath the Priestess.
context “The Personage of the Spondylus”.The tomb
is defined by its rectangular shape measuring 3.20mm
in length (east-west) X 2.00mm in width (north-south),
where the central character lying on her back on an
east-west axis (looking to the west), which according
to the analysis of Physical Anthropologist Haagen
Klaus in 2013, indicates a male individual 30-40 years
old, who presents a complex association of offerings
and companions. We must emphasize that the
context of this individual is not in a bundle, as in the
previous case. Nevertheless there are concentrations
of offerings among which ten bivalves of Spondylus
Princeps shells placed on each side of the skull, as
Fig. 169.
First level of offerings.
269
 well as one in each hand (Figure 169).
In his right hand there was a concretion of cinnabar
(oxide of mercury) and at the level of the ulna and
right radius was a long bimetallic case in a poor state
of conservation. It seems that these goods were to
emphasize his unquestionable link and identification
with the extraction, movement and use of these prized
warm-water mollusks, the value of which in ancient
societies is incalculable (Hocquenghem 2009 and
Narvaez 2014). We know from archaeological literature
that there were groups of men who carried out the
function of “divers” going down to the depths of the sea,
tied with ropes around their waists and at more than
10 to 20 meters they brought up these mollusks, which
were part of the exotic objects tied to and used in the
rituals of the cult dedicated to water, fertility and for the
ceremonies of the funeral ritual. In these scenes the
“divers” deposit the spondylus in baskets in an activity
which during that period of Lambayeque culture had
an intensive and sustained frequency and has been

Fig. 170.
Scene showing the gathering of spondylus,
documented in the Joloro-Jayanca
complex.

270
271
 Fig. 171. represented in diverse materials (Figure 170).
Ceramic offerings, spondylus shell and Near the skeleton of the main character toward
copper and silver knives
the southwest side 10 ceramic vessels are also found,
272 including pots with flattened decoration (with remnants
of soot), plates and especially a large plate in the
coastal style of Cajamarca. One of the pots has a
plate that covers the top of the vessel like a lid (Figure
171). A thin sheet of copper held by a band of metal
5 centimeters wide like a headband is covering the
skull. A pair of dazzling gold ear plugs 12 centimeters
in diameter on the outside of which the consecutive
image of the “anthropomorphic wave” is embossed
(Figures 172 and 173), and in the center there is a
circular wooden decoration which appears to allude to
the moon (circular element).
 Fig. 172.
Gold ear plugs and disks of the same metal
are part of the primary goods.
Fig. 173.
Gold ear plugs with the image of
anthropomorphic wave.
Also in evidence are spondylus shell pectorals,
conus, pearls, turquoise and 28 copper disks that are
resting on the character’s chest. Two long knives, one 273
copper and the other silver, are held in the subject’s right
hand in an inverted position, with the blade extended
and the handle down and the semicircle or knife
toward the upper part. Next to those metallic objects
is a cream-colored bottle with a stirrup-shaped handle,
a flat bottom with a geometric decoration, belonging
to the Late Moche period, which surprisingly presents
repairs from that time and flowing decoration traced in
a fine line with the image of the anthropomorphic wave
274
275
276
(Figure 174).
Surely this bottle was part of an object of great
value and meaning, kept and passed on as a “legacy”
from their ancestors. There is also a long, rectangular
headdress made of silver-plated copper with the typical
image of the Lambayeque personage who is carrying
a cane and a cup respectively in his hands. This
image typically alludes to a prestigious Lambayeque
Fig. 174.
individual with a semi-lunar headdress and richly Late Mochica bottle with stirrup-
attired with ornaments and clothing. It reminds us of shaped handle.
the image of a character frequent in Lambayeque art.
This “headdress” is placed in inverse fashion, that is,
the individuals represented look to the east, while the Fig. 175.
Headdress with representation of the
burial faces the west (Figure 175). Lambayeque character.

277
 Next to this object there is a small laminated
headdress, with a feather-like element and a small gold-
plated copper crown with the silhouette of the body of
the “mythic bird”. Near the southwest side of the tomb
there is also a pair of thin gold disks and the remains
of what had been a young camelid. As a complement
to this body of metallic offerings there is a group of
small vases, 16 in number, placed on parcels 3 and 4
respectively. Near his left hand is a long wooden cane
and toward the northwest, west and southwest sides
are five “containers” made up of large fragments of
vessels that contain miniature ceramic objects called
“Crucibles”, which were placed directly on the surface
of the burial and must have formed part of the body
of offerings during the funerary ritual (Figure 176 and

278

Sheet 10
Grave with offerings of crucibles, ceramics
and other objects
 279

Fig. 176.
Offerings consisting of crucibles placed in
the tomb.
 Sheet 10).
It’s necessary to note that the lower left extremity
of the principal character doesn’t appear to be present
on the skeleton. It has been removed and there is no
indication of what happened to it. Toward the upper
left part of the central character there is a group of 9
small conical, copper vases. Next to these containers
is an accumulation of cinnabar (oxide of mercury).
accumulation of these containers cinnabar (mercuric
Fig. 177.
Bottle with diverging double neck with
sculpted Lambayeque appendagen
280
oxide) is recorded.
7.3 The Companions.
The main character has three companions, one
female (passenger No. 01) with about 14 to 18 years
old, located north of the grave with two bottles of
high pedestal with divergent neck loop connected by
bridge, known as “cans” (Zevallos 1989), including the
classical sculptural effigy of the character known as
God Ñaylamp Lambayeque (Figure 177 and Figure
178) appears.
Similarly, two bivalve Spondylus shell beads,
turquoise and twelve copper objects shaped flaps to
this companion is a secondary burial that had been
moved from its original burial to take part in this context
as their destination are associated Finally, for this
reason part of their skeletons they were found removed
or dismantled. Another escort (Nº02) male 18 years of
age found in the south west side of the tomb is sitting
bent with hands spondylus shells also part of this
funerary context. A third companion (Nº03) male 18
years, west of the tomb, presents a pectoral account
spondylus and turquoise shell and a bottle of double
Fig. 178.
divergent neck tacho type that was found fragmented Lambayeque bottles of the “tacho” type
and two shells full spondylus (Slide 11). associated with the companions of the
principal character.

281
282

Slide 11.
Drawing of the Lord of the Spondylus.

The discovery of this burial in the tomb of the
priestess, puts us in an extremely complex condition,
due to traditionally understood that each of the
characters in status has its separate grave, and is
surrounded by offerings and companions, so you can
certify in various Moche tombs excavated in the burial
platform of Sipan (Alva 1994), the tombs of San José
de Moro Castle (2003), the Lambayeque tombs Batan
Grande (Shimada 1994), and others known funerary
contexts on the coast northern Peru. However, this
location allows us to rethink the shape and pattern of
the burial or reflect on the circumstances that led to
this decision, which generates an overlay of graves,
because according to the stratigraphy in these
tombs excavated, the Priestess and the character
of the spondylus are two different events, two points
separated from one another by an undetermined
Fig. 179.
Drawing that illustrates the
superposition of tombs at
Chornancap.
period of time, but within the same period (Figure 178).
With regard to the overlap is necessary to have
more elements of analysis to raise what are the reasons
that would have been considered to carry out this type
of burial, are characters that have no link, there is a
family link that generates this kind of burial or possibly
part of an elite character intermediate, that being part 283
of the “family” of the Priestess (Spouse and / or Brother)
is buried in the same space, one over the other,
generating the idea of ​​Family Mausoleum . There are
some common elements between the two graves, one
of which is the type of gold earrings that both present
and refers to the design of the “anthropomorphic
wave” which could suggest the idea of ​​a family trait
that identifies and associates this symbol landmark as
part of a “family”, “religious” or “political” element. Both
characters also have on their face a plated copper foil
covering the entire front of the skull, like a mask, this
 feature might correspond to a pattern of burial position
invariably involves covering the face in the grave and
finally the position of each differs apparently marking
the time at which correspond or role play. A singular
condition occurs from the beginning of the excavation
of this burial, is that just began to deepen and define
objects, groundwater flowed in large quantities so
disconcerting, hindering excavation. For this, two
filtration wells were built near these tombs, of which
he retired with the help of a pump about 5,000 liters
of water for almost a month, in order to prevent water
outbreak in the grave. This condition of the excavation
inevitably generated the idea that the funerary context
at the time of placement, probably not had the water
table that should be much lower, but who were in
charge of the burial they did not ignore that this level of
water does not is stable and is irregular because it is
the product of the volume of water that irrigates in the
surrounding fields and that leaks from the upper parts
of the valleys to the bottom, therefore, were aware
that the burial at some point could be covered water,
then becoming possible and inevitable condition in the
grave, or probably part of the “intent” of those who were
in charge of the funeral event, they consider that these
characters narrate their origin from the sea, ie the water
arrive and return to it as part of ritual and mysterious
circle that surrounds his life and death, or probably the
character and spondylus return these goods to their
source to ensure abundance.
We should note that both graves show extraordinarily
intense ritual and ceremonial activity of high religious
content that has long developed in Chornancap, turning
284 this place into a sacred space where the highest figures
of the elite of the Lambayeque culture are buried at the
residence where they live and that his death acquires
the status Mausoleum. Once again the complex socio-
political and religious dynamics of this scenario reveals
how the power of the characters immortalized in the
world of the living and facilitates the meeting with their
ancestors (Figure 180).

Fig. 180.
Final view of the tomb with
characters and companions.
285
 FOURTH PART
POWER, GENDER AND RELIGIOSITY IN CHORNANCAP
 CHAPTER VIII

8.1 Ornaments and Symbology in the

Tomb of Chornancap.

The images made from ceramic, weaving, metal,

reliefs, polychrome paintings from early periods all show
characters in settings, associated with flora, fauna, but
above all the characters are wearing ornaments that
reveal their roles and identities. For example the arms
found with an individual communicate the idea that he
is a warrior. Privileged spaces and goods with a ritual
use associate the individual with high status functions.
Nevertheless, the extraordinary documentation that
exists in the tombs excavated scientifically in Sipán,
San José de Moro, Huaca Cao, Virú, Úcupe, Pómac,
Huarmey, etc. reveal that these sites show individuals
who, based on their location, meaning, type of
material, and symbolic elements allow us to support
the functions that they carried out and the their status
during their lives. We have evaluated these reasons
in order to consider our methodological proposal of
defining three categories based on the ornamentation
289
coming from the tomb of the governor and the priestess
at Chornancap. These can be classified as objects for
roles: politicall level, religious level and semi-divine
level (Figure 181).

Fig. 181.
Principal objects that reflect the status
and hierarchy of the Priestess of
Chornancap.
290
291
 8.2 Ornaments for political role.

The character referred to as governor and the

priestess at Chornancap present in their tombs key
ornaments that allow us to connect them with the
status and condition of political authority. We will briefly
describe the most representative.

Gold Crown: Weaver Deity in the Temple

of the Moon.

Made of gold and consisting of two long, laminated

bands, this ornament is 61 centimeters long by
12.5 centimeters wide with a maximum diameter
of 10.4 centimeters. It is made up of five figurative
representations elaborated with the technique of
lamination, embroidery, embossing and moving pieces
that are a center between the two bands. The lengthy
laminates of the crown show geometric decoration
(circles) and orifices to hold the hanging pieces. There
are 47 circles in high relief 7 millimeters in diameter
in the upper band. It has 02 old repairs located on the Fig. 182.
Golden crown.
right side and joined by four staples. Additionally there
are 10 perforations for fastening. The extreme left has
a rounded edge. The lower band has 43 circles in high Fig. 183.
relief 7 millimeters in diameter. There are two old repairs 3-D recreation of the gold crown.
in the center with two and three staples respectively.
There are 09 perforations for fastening. Between the
two bands are five figurative representations (central
part of the crown), which on their upper part bear the
image of a temple with a double roof, with the emblem
of the “mythic bird,” also called “point-rectangle-point” toward a trapezoidal form. This archaeologically
292 symbol (Zevallos 1989), associated with a sloping fantastic image unknown in the Lambayeque culture
roof from whose lower edges hang 21 small, gold and which is associated with the crown of the central
trapezoidal laminates. character in the Tomb of the Priestess (tomb 4) makes
up the symbology that alludes to the connection of the
Inside the temple is a representation of the waxing buried individual with the lunar deity and the activity of
moon, on which a woman is resting, seated with her the weaving woman. Nevertheless, the ornament that
left profile visible, the ends of her hands and feet are we describe as the crown of the Priestess allows us
stylized feline heads. On her forehead is a loom shaped to identify the status of the person who carried it in life
like a cross and falling from her head to her shoulder and who in the tomb it maintains its condition of symbol
is a plume that ends in a concentric circle extending of power and supreme authority (Figures 182 and 183).
293
 Pair of Golden Earmuffs: Character with
a Semilunar Crown.

A gold ornament, 7.2 centimeters in diameter and

4.9 centimeters high, including the back. The main
part of this object presents a circular perimeter like
a band that encloses the whole area. In its center is
the embossed image of a person seen face on with a
semi-lunar crown with tiny decorative elements on the
edges and a cylindrical crown with 5 small embossed
circles. The face is well defined with earplugs, and
each of her upper extremities hold a long ceremonial
scepter that ends in a concentric circle that is cast
in a long rhomboidal form with the appearance of a
lance shaft. The character is dressed in a short skirt
on the lower edge of which small cones or dangles can
be seen. Her lower extremities are facing forward but Fig. 184.
opposite one to the other. On each side of the scepters Pair of gold earplugs with the
design of an individual facing front.
that the person is carrying can be seen in right and left
profile and anthropo–zoomorphic figure with a small
headdress, the same ones that are found on each side
of the central figure (Figure 184).

294
Pair of Golden Earmuffs:
Anthropomorphic Wave.
An ornament made of gold 7 centimeters in diameter
and 4.3 centimeters high including the back. The main
part is defined by a concentric circle that encloses
three concentric circles, which form for defined fields,
a circular central field that is prominently seen. The
next field is formed by an embossed decoration with
the image of the well-known “anthropomorphic wave”
which appears on 09 heads with headdress one after
the other in a winding line which forms an “ocean
wave”. The third field is formed by a kind of crack in low
relief which must probably be for the placement of an
applique element. The fourth field associated with the
final edge of the earplug shows a succession of the
anthropomorphic wave or “mythic wave”, embossed
and formed by 17 heads with headdress that are
associated with a winding line that forms the wave.
This ornament made with the technique of embossing
and soldering and completely empty illustrates
two elements that are recurrent in the tomb: the
anthropomorphized Sea by the head of the character
represented and the central circle which articulates
the lunar element as a complementary scenario to the
sea. This pair of earplugs constitute the representation
of an object, which, by its condition, the material from
which it is made and the iconography that it illustrates
could only be used by an elite personage and a status
that reiterates his or her symbolic domination in the
maritime and lunar territory (Figure 185).
Fig. 185.
Pair of gold earplugs bearing the design
of the anthropomorphic wave and full
moon.
295
 Pair of Golden Earmuffs: Image of the
“San Pedro” Cactus.

A circular ornament made of gold, 5.5 centimeters

in diameter and 2.5 centimeters tall, made up of
two parts, a circular disk with a central relief in the
form of a circumference and an external perimeter
formed by a second part that presents an embossed
decoration on the border with the sectioned image of
the Cactus (Trichocereus Pachanoi), known as “San
Pedro”, a hallucinogenic frequently used in settings
of shamanism that produces psychotropic effects.
This pair of earplugs not only reaffirms the individual’s
status, but also allows us to establish the priestly Fig. 186.
(shamanistic) state of the buried individual who used it Pair of gold earplugs with the
during his lifetime (Figure 186). design of San Pedro and a full
moon in the center.

296
Pair of Silver Earmuffs: Character with a
Semilunar Crown.

Ornament made of silver, 7.3 centimeters in

diameter and 4.5 centimeters high, including the back.
The main part of this object has a circular perimeter like
a band which encloses the entire area in the center of
which there is a relief image of a character viewed face
forward with a semi-lunar crown bearing decorative
elements around the edge, cylindrical crown, well
defined face, and earplugs. he is carrying a long
ceremonial scepter in each hand. The scepters end in
a concentric circle that projects in a long rhomboidal
shape like a lance shaft. The character is dressed in a
Fig. 187.
short skirt on the lower border of which are small cones Silver earplug with the design of a
ordangles. The lower extremities are seen in profile and character’s face
one opposite the other. On each side of the scepters
that the character is carrying is an anthropomorphic
being with a small headdress, the same that appear in
profile with respect to the central image (Figure 187).

297
 Silver Earmuffs: Concentric Circular.

Silver ornament, 4.2 centimeters in diameter and

2 centimeters tall, made up of two parts joined by
soldering. The stem and the circular lid have been
made in the form of a single object. The stem shows a
concavity at the base and the lid shows four concentric
circles without any decoration (Figure 188).

Fig. 188.
Silver earplug in concentric circular
form.

298
Pair of Silver Earmuffs: Lunar Feline.
Ornament made of silver, 6.7 centimeters in
diameter and 2.4 centimeters high including the
stem. It is configured as a circular disk the outside
edge of which is a band that limits the length of the
circumference and that produces a space in low relief
formed by tow embossed fields. In the main, central
field there is a mythic being (lunar feline) seated with
left profile showing, wearing a headdress in the form
of double plumes falling to each side and joined to a
cylindrical crown with four embossed circles. The face
of the feline, in profile, shows a concentric eye, curved
nose, and over the back there is a jagged accessory.
Fig. 189.
Pair of silver earplugs with feline lunar
design.
The tale is pulled toward the inside. In the feline’s left
hand there are two spondylus valves and an undefined
ornament. In the part behind its head is a schematic
drawing that could correspond to a bird and/or fish. The
second field Is defined by a succession of 20 tiered
triangles, also known as the symbolic representation
of mountains in a left-to right direction. This pair of
earplugs allows us to recognize one of the most remote
deities of the Andean region, that is the lunar feline,
associated with a waxing moon, to feminine symbolism
and that appears in this context as an icon of identity of
the buried individual (Figure 189).
299
 Golden Bracelets.

Ornament made up of golden spheres assembled

in two parts and joined in the middle by soldering. This
object is composed of 7 rows of spheres that coordinate
more than 90 that were founded joined by threads. It
should be placed on the right and left forearm of the
main character (Figure 190).

Fig. 190.
Golden bracelet, empty spheres.

300
Golden Scepter: Deity in the Temple.

Ornament made of gold, 23 centimeters long

and maximum width of 4 centimeters. It was made
with a laminating technique, embossed, open work
and movable pieces. It is made in two parts. The first
corresponds to the hilt or handle, which is long and
flat in shape, made from a single sheet with the lower
extreme rounded giving the impression of a ceremonial
dagger and on the opposite extreme there is a long
rectangular sheet in the shape of a podium upon
which we see an anthropomorphic personage in a
face forward position with a ritual position that involves
the upper extremities extended toward the sides and
slightly upward. The figure’s face is defined by an
embossed outline which shows the eyes, nose, mouth,
crown and clothing (short skirt). Around his neck there
is a long element as if it were a “scarf” the ends of
which finish off with the heads of “stylized serpents”,
from the tongues of which hangs a trapezoidal sheet
as a movable piece. The description applies to both
sides of the ornament.
Toward the middle part of the small trapezoidal
crown that shows the main character on the scepter
there is a very thin rod made of gold that coordinates
with an extraordinary structure that represents the roof
of a temple at two waters, on the upper perimeter of
which one sees the symbology of the image of the
“bird in sharp descent”, known as the symbol “peak-
rectangle-peak.” (Zevallos, 1971, 1989), or also known
as “wings and tail” (Narvaez 2015). On the outer edge
of the roof toward both sides one sees a series of
301
sea waves that connect the temple with a seascape,
as well as small perforations on the edge of the main
front and toward both sides that were used to hold
small trapezoidal sheets as movable pieces that with
their movement should give a magical sense to this
scepter. This extraordinary ornament unquestionably
certifies the highest status of one who used it in life,

Fig. 191.
Complete image of golden
scepter of the Priestess of
Chornancap.
 that is his political, religious and semi-divine status, but
it refers us to the presence of a deity little known in
Lambayeque art, one that moves in the highest sphere
of religiosity as a lunar deity as well as in the sea.
One of the ornaments that the character represented
wears at neck level and that we have called “scarf” in
the form of a two-headed serpent apparently has the
characteristic appearance that makes it possible for
us to associate it with other images found along the
north and central coasts of Peru, which means that this
image must correspond to a transcendental deity in a
vast territory of the Peruvian coast.
On the other hand, we should note that the
trapezoidal crown with the small embossed sheets
that suggest the plumage of a bird represents the body
like the roof that is over its head, the same one that
we think synthesizes the bird in descent into the sea,
an icon that is characteristic of Lambayeque culture.
This image must allude metaphorically to the story
about the origin and end of the Lambayeque dynasty
represented by Ñaymlap, who came from the sea and
ended up transformed into a bird. Nevertheless, we
suspect that the representation of the main image
302
on the scepter corresponds to the female deity in the
mythic palace, and that it is related to the similar image
represented in gold and silver earplugs.
An object associated directly with the architectural
setting has rarely turned up. Let’s recall the case
of the copper scepter found in the sacked tomb of
Sipán (Alva 1994), the same one that shows a long
cylindrical dagger that ends in a point, which on the
extreme opposite side shows a sculpture of a Mochica
palace, on the main wall of its upper altar shows a
mythological scene in which a feline possesses a
woman in a symbolic sexual act, having a waxing moon
as a support or bed. On the other hand, in the Tomb of
the Lord of Sipán (Tomb 1), the main character has a
gold and silver scepter in his right hand. In it the part
that is located upward symbolizes a pyramid with the
body inverted, while the silver blade presents symbols
and military emblems. Curiously in the Tomb of the
Priestess of Chornancap the Golden Scepter is placed
in her left hand, which might mean that the placement
of the scepters on elite characters is associated with a
gender theme, that is the right hand is for men and the
left hand for women (Figures 191 and 192).
Fig. 192.
Detail of the golden scepter with
the image of a mythic deity in the
Lambayeque temple.
303
 Conus Shell Breastplate.

Ornament made of trapezoidal pieces of conus

shell, cut and formed into six semi-circular rows in
descending order, ending with circular, copper objects.
Some pieces are incomplete from wear and erosion.
Nevertheless, it must represent one of the principal
pectorals of this character and would have been white
at the time of its use (Figure 193).

Fig. 193.
White shell (Conus) breastplate.

304
 8.3 Ornaments for Religious Role.
These goods stand out because their possible
use is determined for ceremonies in which they played
an active part, as is the case with the jars and cups,
among other items. In what follows we will describe the
most representative items:
Fig. 194.
Necklace of small, golden
idols.
Necklace of Golden Little Idols
A gold necklace composed of 18 beads with
anthropomorphic image and 14 spherical beads
interspersed with them. The object consists of three
parts: an end in the form of a cone like the character’s
headdress, the body, which is soldered at the back and
the flat, circular base with an opening in the center as
well as at the top to hold the necklace. The spherical
beads have been made based on two soldered
semi-spheres and with a center hole to fasten it. The
anthropomorphic beads for the most part are shaped
like the head of the character making up nearly half the
object and showing a personage in a solemn posture
with hands together and in front of him (Figure 194).
305
 Golden Rattle

A golden rattle made up of 4 spherical beads with

an entrance hole and an exit hole at the top and bottom
respectively. Originally they would have been joined
by a wire that went through the holes, allowing the
object to be held together, since the beads are hollow
and contain tiny metal pieces that make a sound with
movement. These rattles were found inside a broken,
metal basin that contained cinnabar, placed at the
height of the right hand (Figure 195).

Fig. 195.
Golden Rattles.

306
Bimetallic Embossed Beaker
Tall, cylindrical beaker that also functioned as
a rattle (beaker-rattle). It was found assembled and
artistically shaped in three gold and three silver sections.
It is 20.5 centimeters tall and the diameter of the mouth
is 7.3 centimeters. On the outer, silver surface there is
a magnificent and delicate embossed decoration on a
panel composed of three lines of rhombuses that make
up the center of the image and two triangles located
at the upper and lower sections that are defined by
the representation of spirals or sea waves. Inside
the upper and lower rhombuses in profile (left) is an
anthropomorphic being with a serrated headdress from
which hang a pair of curls down its back ending in a
circle and a trapezoid, suggesting the possible female
identity of the character represented. It is standing in
profile on a podium holding a kind of ribbon in one
of its upper extremities and the representation of the
head of an indeterminate being (possibly a serpent).
This female representation is alternated symmetrically
with the presence in the center rhomboid of the image
of the well-known “lunar feline”, which in our judgment
could deal with the mythic or mythological version of
the woman being represented: this feline character is
wearing on its head a double, semi-lunar headdress
and is standing in a position opposite that of the female
character (right profile), which suggests an outline and
a configuration of complementarity. Both in the upper
and lower parts of the rhomboidal panel are successive
triangles inside of which two opposing birds have
been embossed, one with respect to the other in an
attitude of flight. Finally, in the upper section of the
panel the scene is closed with a band that contains the
representation of successive sea waves.
This ornament confirms the religious and priestly
identity of the buried individual, but above all it enables
us to establish the relationship that exists between the
“lunar feline” and the feminine identity of the character
in the tomb, which could be the feline image of the
icon that represents the mythic version of the woman
or the mediator that conducts the feminine character
in her journey by the moon and the sea, scenarios
of both earthly and heavenly religiosity (Figures 196
and 196b). This object, which has been made from
two metals of singular value in the Andean world, gold
and silver, implicitly reveals a message connected
to duality, which signifies their special condition
used in highly transcendent ceremonies. In addition,
embossed on the silver surface is a scene composed
of various elements where the woman with the locks
of hair falling to her back is associated with the feline
character seated with a semi-lunar headdress, and
these appear in a rhomboidal space bordered by sea
waves, and as a complement, the birds appear in the
upper and lower parts of the scene. This scene is
an categorical argument to sustain this ornament’s
enormous religious value, not only its feminine identity,
but also its symbolic equivalence and the scenarios in
which it acts.
307
 Fig. 196a.
Embossed bimetallic
beaker

Fig. 196b.
Detail of embossed symbology.

308
Silver Beaker

Flared silver beaker, 15.5 centimeters tall by 7.1

centimeters in diameter at its mouth. At its base is a
space that allowed it to fulfill the function of a rattle
beaker. The upper part of the beaker has an expanded
mouth, the body is tall and narrow. It was found at the
level of the right hand of the main character (Figure
197).

Fig. 197.
Silver Beaker.

309
 Pair of Golden and Silver Bimetallic Cups
Bimetallic object made of gold and silver in the
shape of a horn or the silhouette of a “legendary”. The
object is tubular in shape, expanding from one end to
the other until the mouth measures 7.9 centimeters
in diameter with a height of 18.3 centimeters. Half of
the upper part of the object is silver and the other half
is gold. Technologically it is made in six parts that are
joined successively by applying solder. At the bottom
there is a small hole which would allow the slow flow
of liquids. It is one of the ornaments that were placed
in each hand and represents a unique form in their
genre, but allow us to reinforce the complex priestly
and religious function of the principal character in the
bundle (Figure 198).
310
We must emphasize once again that as in other
cases these cups have been finely worked in two
metals of singular value in the Andean world, gold
and silver, which implicitly reveals a message tied to
duality, which signifies their special condition used in
highly transcendent ceremonies. Each one of these
cups is found at the level of the right and left hands
of the principal character, which confirms the idea
of exclusively personal use, but above all in very
important acts. We must point out that in this case
the silver section is at the top of the object, and gold,
toward the bottom, different from other objects found
in tombs from the Mochica era, in which the gold was
at the top and the silver at the bottom, or the gold on
the east side and the silver on the west. This situation
of the technological and symbolic configuration of the
object may allude to the gender thee, where silver
objects linked with the moon have a greater presence
and dominance.
Fig. 198.
Bimetallic cups (gold and silver)
311
 Silver Bowl: Sacred Vessel
This is a small, silver vessel, horizontal and circular
in shape, 5 centimeters high and 9 centimeters diameter
at the mouth. It appears inside the funerary bundle of the
main character at the level of the left hand. The interior
surface shows signs of use and the outside surface
is finely embossed with a complex and extraordinary
figurative and symbolic decoration, accomplished
with a fine awl, permitting the embossment of one of
the most important jewels in silver jewelry known in
Andean America and showing an unequaled narrative
power (Figure 199a).
The scene represented on the outside surface of
the bowl shows three well-marked spaces or scenarios,
bordered by 5 concentric circles of greater or lesser
diameter which determine the three scenarios, each
one of which contains a symbolic message: the first
of them shows in the center an anthropomorphic
being with the characteristics of both man and feline.
His body shows a simplified version of the individual
represented, in which we see only his head with eyes,
mouth and ears with a double semi-lunar headdress,
defined by a succession of small triangles, like a jagged
312 arch. The character shows no upper extremities, only
lower extremities seen in profile. He is carrying a cane
or “estólica”, the upper end of which shows a decorative
element in the form of an embossed concentric circle
and jagged trapezoidal appendage. On the opposite
side is a hook that is associated with the decapitated
head of a feline being seen in profile, on which there is
a bird in flight. On the lower part of the extremities of the
central character they have symbolically represented
the head of a feline, a serpent whose head is stylized
and a bird in flight seen in profile. These three elements
remind us of the ancient and famous Andean trilogy
composed of feline, serpent and bird, which express
a being like a deity that has been baptized with the
name of “Falcónida”. From the lower left extremity of
the character one sees two small concentric, triangular
appendages, on the outside edge of which are placed a
jagged band that forms a kind of hip protector. This first
scene is bordered in its total length by a continuous,
successive spiral or wave which moves in a counter-
clockwise direction and encloses this first space that
we call terrestrial space, marked by maritime limits,
that is, two basic elements: earth and water.
The second scenario is confirmed by a great “sea
wave”, successive and in counterclockwise direction
that is associated with the body of a bird with wings
unfurled in an attitude of flight. Toward its tail there
is a triangular element that ends in a jagged edge,
both inside and outside of the wave, suggesting the
Fig. 199a.
Finely embossed silver bowl
313
 possibility that it represents the spondylus. This
space is enclosed by a simple circumference on which
appears the representation of ocean waves or spirals
in a counterclockwise direction, producing the second
scenario that we are calling the scenario of sea and air.
The third and last symbolic scenario turns out to be
the most complex of all. There are six anthropomorphic
characters (mythic feline) in left profile holding in one
hand a tall beaker and wearing a double, jagged semi-
lunar headdress, concentric eye, rounded ear. From
the tail comes the head of an anthropomorphic being
from which spring staggered triangles with jagged
edges, giving the idea of an anthropomorphic wave.
On the upper part of this representation there are
birds in flight as well as birds on land, three serpents
with stylized heads, a circular face and another with a
turban that ends in a point. Next to one of the mythic
felines there represented there is a zoomorphic being
in left profile which, it seems, is the being known as
the “lunar animal: or the “fantastic feline”, wearing a
double, jagged, semilunar headdress, concentric eye,
hands, feet and tail that ends in a circle and a triangle
and from whose mouth springs a stylized tongue.
This feline has successive triangles on his back as a
jagged, decorative element. Of the six mythic felines
represented in profile, each one carrying a beaker, the
body of one appears in concentric silhouette which
distinguishes it from the rest as if this element were
314 apparently a trait marking gender, status, etc. These
mythic felines also have an element inside their back
that could be the representation of a spondylus.
The iconography represented on the bowl, from
the ideological point of view, places us in a really
complex context as several elements come together
simultaneously in which water and birds predominate,
even though the representation of beings like serpents
and land birds may be surprising (Figure 199b).
The themes represented in this vessel of exclusive
ritual use demonstrate that the celebrant or priest who
had access to it carried out at least two important
functions using this object: the first is the meaning of
the content, that is, it was used to contain liquids, and,
on the other hand to communicate a perfect symbology,
the liturgy of which is understood only by those closest
to this individual, while for the larger public this object
becomes only a kind of chalice or sacred beaker, the
impact of the use of which is communicated only in the
content.
From the viewpoint of its creation, we can define
a complex technique not only in the application
of embossing, but also in that fundamentally the
composition of the circular, geometric element
becomes the conducting thread of the development of
scenes portrayed, as if the cosmic and celestial spaces
were understood from a circular perspective. The artist
who accomplished this display of high technology and
composition not only manages space extraordinarily
well, but also in a proportional and equidistant manner
places the beings so that many of them produce the
impression of movement. It attracts our attention that
the characters placed on the third level are related to
the character on the first level, by the kind of headdress
they are wearing as well as by the shape of the feet,
while on the second level the birds in flight have no
ornamentation.
 315

Fig. 199b.
Finely embossed silver bowl.
 8.4 Ornaments for Semi-Divine Role.
These ornaments have been considered as those
that were not necessarily used in life, but nevertheless
contain a symbolic message that associates them with
the funeral ritual. We describe some of them in what
follows:
Funerary Maskattached to the bundle.
A mask of silver-plated copper with winged
eyes, and the representation in copper of three
volumetric tears falling from each of the eyes and
that are articulated. They could express the weeping
of a divinized face that in the tomb offers a revealing
and metaphoric message in route to the other life. In
addition, we note the prominent nose in which there
is along ornament that holds dangles that make up
the decoration of the mask and that constitute the
complement to the symbolic representation of the face.
Toward the upper part of the mask there are
316
embossed, open-worked bands that define the
representation of the head of a stylized feline with
semilunar headdress from whose mouth hangs
a laminated, trapezoidal ornament, which could
represent a tongue.
This ornament confirms the indisputable status
of the character buried there and reminds us of the
representation of female characters that from Moche
art and today in Lambayeque present the same type of
ornamentation. The composition represented by mask,
crown and opposing headdress constitutes the most
important complement of the entire funerary bundle,
giving the impression that the individual by means
of the mask looks upon his own burial ritual from the
other life (Figures 200 and 201).
 317

Fig. 200.
Silver-plated copper mask.

Fig. 201.
Drawing of copper mask with
crown and plumes.
 Painted Cloth 01.

Cloth 1.80 meters wide by 2.46 meters long,

extended through the length of the tomb. At the
top of the bundle, this ornament of singular value
and symbolic composition presents a polychrome
perimeter represented by the successive image of the
anthropomorphic wave. In the center or main body
of the cloth are 90 copper disks 10.7 centimeters in
diameter created by the technique of embossing two
concentric circles. These are placed in rows 9X10
respectively in orderly form and were originally sewn
to the textile. At the upper and lower side of the cloth
there are 9 squares of copper 0.12 centimeters on each
side that define the upper and lower side of the cloth.
This ornament offers an iconographic theme that refers
to a classic composition: the moon and the sea, two
transcendent scenarios in the rituals of Lambayeque
society, over which the individual buried here no doubt
had access as part of the ideological elements that
mark her condition and semi-divine position in the
hierarchy, as well as the reflection of her feminine
identity (Figure 202).

318
Fig. 202.
Painted cloth 1.
Painted Cloth 02.

Cloth 1.80 meters wide by 2.4meters long,

originally found folded in three parts, toward the west
side of the tomb. This ornament of outstanding value
and symbolic composition presents a polychrome
perimeter represented by the sequential image of the
anthropomorphic wave. In the center, or main body of
the cloth, there are 90 copper disks 10.7 centimeters in
diameter produced by the embossing of two concentric
circles. They are placed in rows of 9 X 10 respectively
in orderly fashion, making a total of 90 disks, which
originally were sewn to the cloth. On the upper and
lower sides of the cloth there are painted bands,
orange in color, with the image of a sea wave or swirl
followed by a black band that closes the upper and
lower edges respectively. This ornamentation presents
an iconographic technique that alludes to a classic
composition: the moon and the sea, two transcendent
scenarios in Lambayeque society, to which the
individual buried here no doubt had access as part of
the ideological elements that mark her condition and
semi-divine position in the hierarchy, as well as the
reflection of her feminine identity (Figure 203).
IIt’s important to note that these clothes (cloth 1
and cloth 2) are a signal, sign or announcement of the
existence of funerary contexts in Lambayeque culture 319
just as it has been recorded in Huaca Las Ventanas
(Shimada 1994 and 2014) and now in Chornancap.
Fig. 203.
Painted Cloth 2.
 Miniature in Shell: Berth with the
Character and Chargers.

This corresponds to the object that we call miniature

of pieces of shell and sculptures of the same material,
the dimensions of which are about 15 centimeters in
length and 10 in maximum width. We are dealing with a
small litter made up of two long and two short poles, at
the ends of which we find representations of a stylized
feline head with tongue out. At the intersections of the
poles there is the head of a “monkey” with applications
on its face intended for the porters. The litter has a
back with an additional cushion and on it appears the
sculpture of a character finely made in white shell with
a turban and applications on the eyes.
This ornament, in our opinion, is the symbolic
representation of a litter in which the individual
buried here is transported to the world of the dead
as an unmistakable sign of his recognized political
and religious status. Normally we hope to find the
complete liter. Nevertheless, this small miniature,
which obviously alludes to the elevated hierarchy of the
female individual buried here, appears in the bundle
(Figure 204).

Fig. 204.
Shell miniature representing a
litter with character and porters.

320
8.5 Meaning and Symbolic Value of the
Ornaments.
Even when we count on greater archaeological
arguments for the presence of women in power in the
politics, religion and myth of ancient societies on the
north coast of Peru from the Formative Period (Seki
2014) and especially in the Mochica culture, where they
were important for the construction and subsistence
of society as were their male counterparts (Castillo
2003) (Franco and Gálvez 2005) and (Holmquist
1992), we must examine and carefully reflect on the
value and meaning of the principal ornaments found in
the tomb bundle of the so-called sovereign, governor
and/or Priestess of Chornancap. We have described
the characteristics of the principal goods and roles
with which they are associated. Nonetheless, beyond
the reading of each one of them, it is indispensable
to outline some explanations on the socio-political
and ritual context that accompanies this wealthy and
extraordinary female character. On the one hand, we
are in the presence of a woman of the highest status
and hierarchy in Lambayeque culture who we may know
archaeologically. She has the ability and the privilege
of enjoying a tomb with all her goods and riches
(crown, earplugs, scepter, ceremonial beakers, mask,
painted cloths, ceramics, etc.), with eight companions
(principally young women) who make up her court, in a
funerary structure within an architectural complex that
functioned as a residence and became a mausoleum.
She also administered an unsuspected iconographic
corpus that is related to images such as the sea, the
moon, as well as creatures such as birds, felines,
serpents, etc. The political and religious status allowed
her to sustain the social order and lend legitimacy to
a highly hierarchical and ritualized system. For the
reasons already given her status as a person of high
rank is unquestionable.Nevertheless, that the condition
of mythical ancestor who incarnates a divinity and who
is the result of all the ceremonial activities carried
out in life, the display at her burial and the periodic
commemoration of this funerary episode as well as her
association with a conspicuous feminine image who,
because of her supernatural attributes is considered as
the mythic deity Lambayeque, represented pall on one
of the silver beakers in the Denver Museum of Art in the
USA, all are reasons to establish her roles as governor,
priestess and ancestor. The prestige items that are
part of the paraphernalia of the principal character
in the tomb of Chornancap are made of materials
access to which is neither frequent nor common for
any individual. We are referring to artifacts or objects
of gold, silver, copper, alloys. Spondylus shell, conus,
turquoise, wood, stone, textiles, etc. Complemented
by symbolic elements with sacred implications, such
as cinnabar for example. They show that the character
has access to goods of high technological, artistic and
cult value, not only because of the value of the objects
they have but also that in addition their procurement,
transformation and preparation demand a strong
organization and contacts, with a macro regional area
in order to acquire them, as is the case with spondylus,
cinnabar, pearls, gold, silver, etc. They become
more valuable as they come from an intact context
scientifically excavated. These prestige goods are part
of the official ritual paraphernalia of a religious elite
that instructs the productive areas in the production
of these goods where we should emphasize certain
elements, traits, characteristics and images that stand
out as a kind of liturgy or doctrine that categorically
communicates the status, role, ability and identity of
the character, not only during her lifetime, but also in
the world of the ancestors.
To refer just to the religious symbolism expressed
in the ornaments (crown, ear plugs, beakers, cups,
etc.), these refer to the image of a female mythical
being, associated with two main scenarios: the moon 321
and the sea, which are the spaces of her dominion and
the ones in which there are complementary elements,
such as birds, the feline, serpents, staggered waves,
anthropomorphic waves, spondylus, looms, mythic
feline, etc.,, which are part of those aforementioned
scenarios (Figure 205). Evidently the objects belonging
to the character who is the owner or possessor of
the goods we have described, along with her ability
to act with political power, religious authority gives
her the privilege of becoming a mythic being, who is
remembered and frequently venerated as the goddess
 of the moon and the sea.
There is an element that we should emphasize
and that is an invariable condition of the funerary
rituals of the Central Andes and that is that almost all
the tombs that have been excavated that we know of
have offerings beyond the social and political condition
of those buried. The placement of offerings forms part
of a non-negotiable custom, which on the one hand is
understood, since the dead journey with their goods,
but also because the buried individual arrives at the
other life with the riches that identify them. Therefore,
if we look at the archaeological panorama of the
principal tombs that have been scientifically excavated
(Sipán, San José de Moro, Cao, Pómac, etc.), we
realize that they all exalt the cult of the dead as an
official, institutionalized ritual, which forms part of
the ceremonial calendar of those societies. Some of
these are characters who in life carried out important
roles and functions and a few of them become mythic
322
ancestors who are remembered and venerated with a
certain frequency and whose identity buried in a tomb
under the earth not only can be defined by the location,
but also because it occupies the people’s collective
memory as the image of a mythic deity with supernatural
attributes that elevate and exalt their human condition
to the status of an ancestral divinity (Matzumoto 2014).
This approximation as a result of the reading of the
archaeological evidence and the comparative materials
that we have discussed, places us in the condition of
maintaining that the female character at Chornancap
fulfilled roles of sovereignty with political authority in her
territory, priestess with ceremonial activities in which
she made use of the goods that reveal her identity and
after her death assumed the equivalency of a mythic
ancestor similar to what we call the Goddess of the
Sea and the Moon.
Fig. 205.
Comparative table with scenarios of the personage
of Chornancap.
 CHAPTER IX
9.1 Searching the identity of the
Chornancap character.
The principal character of the tomb excavated at
Chornancap illustrates in her tomb traits that allow
us to define the burial model of a typical character
of the highest hierarchy of he Lambayeque elite and
to approach the roles and functions that she fulfilled
during her life. We begin with the fact that a burial is
an “intentional” process (Castillo 2000), the point
of departure of which is the death of the character
being buried, the same one who apparently makes no
decisions about the type of burial, place, companions,
objects that will be placed as offerings and their
burial ritual, that is the totality of acts involved in the
circumstance of death and which transform it from an
inevitable event into a public ceremony. Nonetheless,
the burial episode as a cult ceremony to the dead has
had a special emphasis in the ancient societies of
Andean America, above all in the public sphere with
the purpose of making permanent the memory of the
character who is going to encounter his ancestors,
and with the clear intention of showing their people
the power and religiosity of these individuals beyond
life.Apparently, death as a ceremonial process with
ideological repercussions becomes a sacramental
act that constitutes an opportunity that allows the
elite to be the protagonists who transcend the people,
achieving greater religious cohesion and above all the
people’s total dependence to participate in these acts
and renew their faith in the deities.
The archaeology of the north coast in the last 30
years has been able to come closer to defining the
burial models and identities of the characters buried.
Evidently the more objects placed in the tomb, the
more opportunities that exist to approach the function
of the character. Thus, for example, the tombs of the
characters at Sipán follow a determined pattern as to
type of tomb, position, companions, type of offerings,
and styles among other things (Alva 1994). A similar
circumstance is seen in the tombs of the priestesses
at San José de Moro (Castillo 2011), the tomb of the
character at Úcupe (Bourget 2008), the Lady of Cao in 323
the El Brujo complex (Franco 2008), and the Warrior
Priest at Virú (Strong and Evans 1952).
 If these tombs have anything in common it is the
extraordinary technological and informative quality of
the associated objects, which are part of the context,
as well as the correlation of the characters with those
existing in Mochica iconography. Other common
elements are, for example, the existence of wooden
and reed coffins, niches in the sides of the tomb,
individuals as companions (eventually offered up), or
perhaps followers, guardians of the tomb, secondary
burials, offerings of camelids, dogs, serpents, carob
beams, among other components.In Mochica society
the evidence indicates that there was a rite or funerary
libretto for the acts of burials, which, in addition, were
symbolically defined in a scene carried out in a bottle
made for this theme, which archaeologists have
baptized as the bottle with the theme of the Burial
(Donnan 1975). This protocol would have been carried
out over a vast territory and was applied with rigorous
ritual. Thanks to all these studies that we have cited
324
briefly we can understand more about the theme of
death and can draw nearer the identity of each one of
these individuals and the possible roles they assumed
in life. Nevertheless, in the case of Lambayeque
culture considered as the civilization that emerged as
a consequence of the “collapse” of the Mochica on the
north coast (Shimada 2014b; Castillo 2003), the burial
rituals underwent substantive changes, obviously a
product of the influences which have been considered,
such as the presence of Cajamarca groups or influences
from the south (Wari) and also groups from Ecuador,
which surely produced an impact on the concept and
organization of these funerary practices.
Fig. 206.
Face mask, crown and plumes,
in situ
325
 The tombs excavated in Batán Grande (Shimada
1995, 2014b) appear as large chambers deep below the
surface, like complex tombs with the central character
who is not in a coffin. He is seated, legs bent, looking
toward the west, in a bundle or wrapping. It is not that
the concept of coffin disappears as such. What happens
is probably that a new component is introduced into the
burial ritual, one which revolutionizes the ceremony,
because it is not the same to move a coffin with the
individual inside as it is to carry a bundle in a litter with
a face mask and crown, thereby creating the sensation
that the individual in the bundle, still “alive”, is actively
participating in his own funeral, in the “farewell” to this
world on his way to the place of the dead, where he will
meet his ancestors (Figure 206).
Few Lambayeque funerary sites have been
excavated scientifically. What is known is that these
tombs contain important quantities of metallic offerings
that exceed the imaginable, but in which exists a
symbolic repertory that is limited to the character
326
with winged eyes, prominent nose, whom we call
the God Ñaymlap. The east and west tombs that are
documented in Huaca Loro (Shimada 1995, 2014b)
are the unquestionable proof of the enormous power
that these characters exercised beyond death. They
are buried in large chambers wrapped in bundles that
contain all their ornaments, and in addition they receive
exotic offerings, human sacrifices, important quantities
of copper “cards”, which are considered to be a kind of
medium of exchange or money and had widespread
diffusion during the period considered as Middle Sicán
(Shimada 2014b). Thus, spondylus shell, conus, and
pearls among other exotic goods that reveal that these
individuals exercised enormous power in their society
during their lives and an influential relationship with
contacts in a wider sphere than the local and regional
area (Figure 207).
Fig. 207.
Reconstruction of the East Tomb,
excavated in Huaca Loro.
327
 With this evidence, we have maintained that the
privileged scenario for the existence of these large
tombs for the Lambayeque elite is the so-called Bosque
de Pómac, also called the Batán Grande archaeological
complex (Shimada 2014b; Carcedo 2014). It is called
thus because of the presence and place of origin of
a large quantity of metallic objects, including gold,
silver, copper, and alloy, as well as ceramics that come
from these scenarios and that are associated with
the concentration of large buildings, such as Huaca
Loro, Las Ventanas, Rodillona, Soledad, El Corte,
and Sontillo, among others. They allow us to suppose
that there was a single capital on principal center,
where the Lambayeque elite resided and carried on
productive ritual activities and were buried. Besides,
many of the objects obtained illegally in this zone
(grave robbing) are today part of private collections.
Contemporary history suggests that one family had
the privilege of being authorized to rob graves in the
Batán Grande complex for more than half a century.
Another archaeological excavation of singular value
was the one carried out at El Arenal de Illimo, in the
charge of archaeologist Juan Martínez Fiestas, who in
an archaeological rescue operation sponsored by the
Brüning Museum was able to identify the tomb of an
important member of the elite that could correspond to
the one the author calls the Warrior of Illimo (Martínez
1996 and 2014), who was accompanied by two young
women, ceramic offerings, among which bottles with
conic-trunk mouths and lateral handle, globular body,
and pedestal base stand out. They belong to the late
Lambayeque period. There were also objects of gold,
gold and copper alloy and silver. This burial would
correspond to a middle-level person, probably tied to
the territory in which his tomb is found, who for reasons
of origin or due to the functions that he had to carry out
in that area was buried there (Figure 208).

328

14
Paloma Carcedo states: .. ¨ that we don’t have sufficient information to support that Chotuna-Chornancap is the area of development of Early Lambayeque. Also
the quantity, size, style or the iconography of the metallic objects found in the Historic Sanctuary Bosque de Pómac in Batán Grande has not been reported” (2014:
110). Nevertheless, this affirmation doesn’t consider current results of research in Chotuna and Túcume.
 329

Fig. 208.
Tomb of the Warrior of Illimo,
excavated in 1996.
 The archaeological investigations in Collud under
Ignacio Alva (2012) made known some intrusive
tombs from the Late Lambayeque period. The first of
these belonged to an adult with deteriorated clothing
and associated with 5 ceramic vessels placed at the
sides of the skeleton. One of these vessels stands out
because it is a bottle with a globular body, a conic-
trunk neck, a pedestal base with low relief decoration,
side band handle, and ornamental appendages on
the body and above all a delicate decoration with
designs like successive sea waves in a technique
known as black fugitive (Zevallos 1989). The type of
ceramic described belongs to a classic representation
of Lambayeque ceramics from the late period. Also
found were a wooden pole on the right side of the
tomb, several gourds, and knitting needles among
other things (Alva Meneses 2012). Nevertheless, an
important intrusive tomb was recorded belonging to
the Late Lambayeque period (Alva Meneses op. cit.),
which is that of an adult woman carrying a mask and
a copper knife, as well as an extraordinary wooden
scepter, the image on which represents the well-known
330 image of Ñaymlap. This sculpture, found at the back of
the character, has two stylized serpent or feline heads.
This finding with outstanding content and wealth of
information belongs to a woman weaver buried with
a basket with weaving artifacts and ceramic offerings
in Late Lambayeque style, especially two bottles with
diverging double necks joined by a bridge handle (See
Figure18b in this volume). This discovery includes a
body of items that consisted of more than 2014 very
delicate wooden spools, 22 of which were found with
black and white cotton thread, 6 balls of cotton yarn,
52 copper needles, 6 gourds, 7 copper needle cases,
“torteros”, “mates” and baskets containing cotton and
textile fragments. As a sign of her prestige the seated
woman has a copper knife and a mask of the same
metal with applications in the eyes, as well as a copper
ceremonial beaker and huaca chalk (Figures 209 and
210). This association certifies the enormous value of
those women who dedicated themselves to the art of
weaving and textiles. We must emphasize that of the
body of ceramic offerings the most frequent type of
Lambayeque ceramics in this context is double bottle
with divergent peak, a bridge handle, short globular
body, and pedestal base, known as “tacho” (Alva
Meneses 2012). Oddly, in the case of the tomb of the
female individual at Chornancap the most frequent
representation of Lambayeque ceramics in this context
also is of the so-called “tacho” form.
 331

Fig. 209.
Burial of a weaver found in
Collud.
 On the other hand the funerary bundle of the
Lambayeque Priestess or Governor at Chornancap with
her eight companions, primarily young women (Klaus
2014) buried in an “intrusive” tomb in the architectural
context of the so-called elite residence located south of
Chornancap, we can identify one of the most notable
female characters of Lambayeque’s elite culture
of the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. Judging by her
astonishing and emblematic ornaments of rank, power
and authority, we are led to document one of the most
conspicuous political and religious authorities of her
time. The primary protagonist of that character’s tomb
is not only an important woman, but she also has a
wide dominion in the local, regional ad macro-regional
area, managing to establish ties with complex societies
of her time, such as Cajamarca, La Libertad, Ecuador,
etc.She administered an unsuspected iconographic
corpus, which by coming from an intact archaeological
context, provides a reading of her ties in the religious
scenario in which she was an outstanding leader. The
burial of this personage, like the ritual of her tomb, as
well as the content, enable us to understand the complex
political and religious hierarchy in Lambayeque culture,
about which we were only aware males. This women
of immense power is not only extraordinary due to the
richness of her goods, but also because access to it
was a privilege of persons of only the highest status,
comparable to the great priests, sovereigns and leaders
of the complex societies or the Queens of the Old World.
Fig. 210.
We should remember that the decade of the 90s of the
Wooden sculpture found in the tomb of
last century produced some of the most spectacular the weaver excavated at Collud
discoveries of female characters than at any time in
332 the history of Andean America. These are the cases
of the priestesses of San José de Moro, excavated by
Luis Jaime Castillo (Castillo 2000), and the so-called
Lady of Cao, excavated by Régulo Franco in the El Fig. 211.
Brujo complex (Franco and Gálvez 2005). In both Tomb of the Priestess of San José de
cases we are dealing with extraordinary characters of Moro, excavated in 1991
unquestionable power and authority in their time. Even
though both belong to different moments in Mochica
culture on the north coast of Peru, nonetheless they
have a special treatment in their tombs which hold
extraordinary objects that underscore their status and
identity. We must note that in the case of San José
de Moro seven tombs of priestesses belonging to
the Late and Transitional Mochica periods have been
found (Castillo 2011: 54), which reveals that we are not
speaking of only one female who exercised power and
authority in a specific territory, but of an elite made up
of women who succeed each other during a period of
time, and whose presence on the political and religious
scene is lengthy and is not linked to their relations
with a man. Instead, they enjoy their own authority
and prestige independently, making them a kind of
Governor, Sovereign or the equivalent of a Queen
(Figure 211).
It’s important to note here that this continuity of
female characters scientifically documented at San 333
José de Moro and which has a close relationship con
the image of the mythic woman (Character “C”) who
appears in the theme The Presentation (Donnan1975;
Holmquist 1992) is one of the most concrete evidences
of the continuity of the political and religious roles
of women at the end of the Mochica period, and
that for reasons that we don’t understand the must
have disappeared from the public scene, giving the
impression that women cease to form part of the top
hierarchy of society on the north coast in the post-
Mochica period.
 Logically, after these events archaeologists
succeeded in determining with stronger arguments
the roles of these important women, using all the ritual
paraphernalia to that end, as well as the relationship
with complex scenes from Moche art, with which a
surprising and historic coherence has been produced,
permitting a clear reading of political and religious
hierarchy in the sacred spaces that are transmitted by
means of symbols expressed with singular quality and
content. Obviously, based on these investigations, the
theme of gender in the archaeology of the north coast
becomes stronger and is introduced into the academic
debate, not only as the identification of the role but
also as the consolidation of the female presence the
nature of whose roles is highly diverse going from that
of mother, responsible for domestic activities, spinner,
weaver by nature and today identified in the most
important levels of religion, as well as in the context
of ancestral deities where they have their own place
(Carrión 1923; Lyon 1978; Hocquenghem and Lyon
1980; Holmquist 1992; Castillo and Holmquist 2000).
These evidences, then, help us to understand the
role of women in society throughout history that we
had not recognized because of a marked attitude of
associating all past deeds and events with the male
presence.
334
Despite the evidences pertaining to the Moche
period, the research at the Chotuna-Chornancap
complex with the discovery of the tomb of the
Lambayeque Priestess enables us to demonstrate
that beyond the Moche period, when we believed that
women had almost disappeared from the political
and religious scene and from the visible dimension
of power, the excavation of this complex tomb makes
clear for us that women’s role was maintained with a
certain continuity throughout many centuries, and that,
to the contrary, it was strengthened with the presence
of objects in this tomb that demonstrate that not only
are we in the presence of a woman who was important
in her time, but who could also be treated as equivalent,
as noted above, with the “Queens and Sovereigns” of
the Old World. Consequently it is clear that the women
who fulfilled these functions of an exceptional character
are not only great people, but also when they die, they
become divine ancestors who assure the equilibrium
and continuity of their people (Castillo 2000). To be
able to determine the role of the female character at
Chornancap and her possible identity we have initially
analyzed the ornaments that to our understanding are
signs of status and indicators of hierarchy. These
goods that accompany her forever allow us to infer the
Fig. 212a.
Design painted on the west façade of the
funerary site of the Lady of Cao.
Fig. 212b.
Design of the silver earplug of the Priestess of
Chornancap.
identity and roles of the character buried there.
On the other hand, on the basis of the iconographic
corpus represented by some objects, attributed only
to fulfill functions for large ceremonies and important
rituals, we can deduce what kinds of activities she
carried out, for example, the groups of beakers –
rattles and bi-metallic cups, which are of exceptional
artistic and technological quality. The earplugs, crown
and scepter indicate the unquestionable status and
power of the one who used them, and the mask that
covers the bundle as well as the painted cloths suggest
the divine condition of the individual buried there and
symbolically reveal the scenarios of her identity and
hierarchy as the Sea and the Moon.
By analyzing the principal ornaments we identified
that one of the pairs of silver earplugs with the
representation of the seated feline in profile, identified
as the “lunar feline” is similar to the polychrome image
painted on the west wall of the area where the tomb of
the Lady of Cao was found (Régulo and Gálvez 2005).
If we carefully compare both iconographic elements
we find that in both cases the supernatural being
represented has a headdress that opens in bipolar
plumes and has a continuous succession of triangles
on the back. Her tail is up toward the interior and the
perimeterperimeter or its surroundings are defined by
stepped triangles that go in a clockwise direction. Both
images are similar and apparently constitute the same
representation, but above all are associated with an
important funerary context for a woman of the highest
political and religious status, as are the Lady of Cao
of Mochica culture and the Priestess of Chornancap
of the Lambayeque culture (Figures 212a and 212b).
All of which leads us to think that this icon called lunar
feline goes back to remote centuries (Recuay culture),
continuing through the Mochica era to the Lambayeque,
Chimú and Inca societies, but in our case connected to
the tomb of an important woman.
The existence of this icon baptized as “lunar
feline”, which is recorded in a large passage of the
history of the northern coast and mountains of Peru
(Mackey and Vogel 2003) reinforces the idea not only
of its importance in the religious scene to which it
belongs, but also its association with feminine contexts
offers new evidence to deduce the nature of its origin,
the circumstances with which it is associated and the
gender to which it is tied. All indicates that this icon is
the feminine equivalent or the symbol that verifies the
gender identity in which it is represented.
335
336
 CHAPTER X

10.1 The Denver Beaker and its

Relationship to the Tomb of Chornancap.

One of the two existing silver beakers in the Denver

Museum of Art, USA, shows on its exterior and base
a group of extraordinary and complex scenes in which
are found human beings, mythological beings scenes
and deities, all in action and in rituals that happen
independently, but in the case of the beaker have been
represented on a single surface.
One of these surprising silver beakers (Figures
213a and 213b) reveals a symbolic and iconographic
universe, which has been the object of important
opinions, such as that of Paloma Carcedo, who
maintains that these beakers belong to the Sican-
Chimú period (Paloma Carcedo 2000 [King 2000])
or the study of Carol Mackey and Joanne Pillsbury
(2i013), as well as that of Alfedo Narváez (2011 and
2014b), who have carried out exhaustive analyses
and correct observations on the development of the
scenes, the possible function of the characters, the
identity, meaning and roles of the beings that are part 337
of these scenes, but who lamentably have not had the
benefit of a primary and intact archaeological context to
associate and begin that lengthy task of reconstructing Fig. 213a. y 213b.
the rituals, scenes and everything that this masterful Finely embossed Lambayeque silver beaker, in the
representation involves. Nevertheless, the ornaments Denver Museum of Art.
that were found in the tomb of the Priestess of Fig. 214. and 215.
Chornancap offer us an invaluable opportunity to Complex embossed iconography on Lambayeque
identify and associate them with those existent in silver beaker, in the Denver Museum of Art.
the iconography of the Denver beaker and begin the
reading of some representations.
338
339
340
341
342
343
 In that respect we should note that the silver
beaker in the Denver Museum of Art, USA, consists
of a long receptacle with a flat base, 15.2 centimeters
in height and 14 centimeters in diameter of the mouth.
The cylindrical part and the base (of the beaker) are
decorated with embossing. This decoration shows a
complex story with images and scenes pertaining to
the mythological world of the Lambayeque culture
(Mackey and Pillsbury 2013; Narváez 2014b). Said
beaker has the shape of a “quero” and would have
entered the collection of the Denver Museum of Art
with another in 1969 (Mackey and Pillsbury 2013).
The silver beaker in the Museum of Art of Denver is
made up of three pieces that were joined technically by
pressure and soldering (Mackey and Pillsbury op, cit).
This extraordinary object that we will use as the
principal element of analysis and comparison with the
preceding iconography from the Tomb of Chornancap
presents a surface decorated in several fields, which
we will methodically separate into two. We will call the
plate that forms the cylindrical section (body of the
beaker) the main field and we will call the circular sheet
that forms the base secondary field. For our analysis
we will “preferentially” use the main field. It has a long,
rectangular shape on which several scene appear
made up of the presence of characters, scenarios,
mythical beings and supernatural beings, among other
elements (Figures 214 and 215). In that respect, Carol
Mackey and Joanna Pillsbury (2013) have defined
344 the scenes of what we are calling the main field,
maintaining that there is a line which separates two
spaces, one larger and another smaller. In the larger
space there are three scenes and a fourth made up of
what they call the mythic canal and a lessor segment
in which there are five spaces, in each of which diverse
characters emerge. On the other hand, Alfredo Narváez
(2014b) has called attention to his observations
around the qualification of some of these elements
that obviously have repercussions on the interpretive
aspect. For Narváez (op. cit.) this scene has another
configuration. For example, he considers that what is
called the canal is a mythic serpent with “bubbles” and
that the mythic female person on the upper right side
is part of the scene where the characters are carrying
decapitated heads. In spite of these differences both
focuses concur on something and that is that this body
of images is one of the most revealing and complex
scenes that Lambayeque art possesses and where
we can recognize rituals, scenarios, mythic beings
with their diverse functions, roles and gestures in the
ancestral world and that in addition show that the idea
formulated by Izumi Shimada (2014a) on the existence
of a single deity in the universe of Lambayeque culture
has no archaeological basis, given this complexity
of images and characters in different ritual acts and
gestures, which means that we must have several
deities in Lambayeque culture just as Narváez
correctly proposes (2011 and 2014a and 2014b). For
this reason and taking into account the existence of a
single funerary context of such informative richness as
is that of Chornancap, allowing us to have a narrative
reading of the ceremonial, funerary and religious
customs of the Lambayeque pantheon. We have
developed some approximations to the relationship
between the iconographic content of one of the beakers
in the Denver Museum of Art, USA, and some of the
elements represented in the principal objects that form
part of the scientifically excavated funerary context at
Chornancap.
It’s necessary to point out that we have developed
the use of a methodological focus that employs the
review of the proposals of Panofski (1979), Berezkin
(1980), Donnan (1985), Hocquenghem (1987), Castillo
(1987), Makowski (1989), and Holmquist (1992), all
of them devoted to Mochica iconography. We also
include those of Carol Mackey and Joanne Pillsbury
(2013) and the recent studies of Narváez (2014b)
for the iconography of Lambayeque culture. The
methodological process that we have developed began
with the identification of the entire corpus of images,
symbols, characters, mythological beings, scenarios,
etc. that appear in the Tomb of Chornancap, taking
special care to not separate the from their object of
origin and the one with which they are associated, that
is, crown, beakers, earplugs, necklaces, and others.
Panofski (1979) calls this phase pre-iconographic
description:
. . . ‘’Which consists of constructing a representative
corpus and making its description, elaborating a
catalogue of the different themes and motifs that appear
and the modalities in which they occur’’ (Holmquist
1992:8).Castillo (1987) calls this step identification of
the iconographic personality. Following that, we seek
to establish the meaning of the designs in the tomb
of Chornancap that we identified and described in
relation to the context of the Lambayeque culture to
which they belong. Panofski (op. ci.) called this phase
iconographic analysis:. . . ‘’Which consists of identifying
the motifs and seeking the conventional meaning
they have had in the society to which they belong.
The difficulty begins when we have to find a body of
information comparable to and independent of the
iconographic body, which allows us to interpret them’’
(Holmquist 1992:8).Finally we established the analogy
and meaning of the motifs identified and described in
the tomb of Chornancap with respect to larger scenes
previously selected as is the case of the silver beaker
(VPD) in the Denver Museum of Art, USA, as well as
the information which we have from the archaeological
complex Túcume at Huaca las Balsas (Narváez 2011),
and research at Pómac under Izumi Shimada (1995,
2014b). These contexts have made it possible for
us to interpret the images toward their meaning and
obviously the roles of the characters and beings that
show these images. Panofski (op. cit.) called this phase
iconological interpretation:
. . . ‘’Seeking the cultural meaning that these
motifs could have had within the society to which they
belonged. At this level we find ourselves with the same
need to interpret with reference to a body of information,
comparable to and independent of the culture to which
they belong” (Holmquist 1992: 8). 345
 As a consequence and result of this methodology,
as well as of the discussion and interchange of ideas
we developed a proposal, which we will explain: In the
first place, the tomb of the so-named priestess and
governor of Chornancap is defined by the presence
of the funerary bundle, on top of which we recorded
a face mask with tears, prominent nose, a geometric
decorative ornament that drops from the nose, earplugs
at each side, decorative appendices on the upper
and lower sides of the mask with the representation
of serpents’ heads or stylized felines that make those
at the top into double, semi-lunar headdress. On this
face mask is a cylindrical crown and on each side of
the upper part of this crown is a headdress like the
head of a serpent which gives the idea of being a
bipolar headdress. This representation found outside
the bundle is the first diagnostic element to identify the
status of the individual buried there, but above all, if we
relate this metallic composition with the one belonging
to the female character, described and corresponding
to the silver beaker in Denver (VPD) we confront the
surprise that we are dealing with the same composition
that accompanies this individual. This means that the
female personage on the beaker appears in the scene
as a deity, a supernatural being who comes from
the other life in her status mythic ancestor and is the
recipient of a series of offerings as well as homage. The
346 face mask composition, cylindrical crown and bipolar
headdress, identifies her as the individual buried in
Chornancap, which, in our judgment the same one that
appears o the silver beaker (Figures 216a and 216b).

Fig. 216a.
Representation of the mask, crown and
plumes of the Priestess of Chornancap.
347
Fig. 216b.
Supreme female deity, recorded on the silver
beaker in the Denver Museum of Art, USA,
with surprising similarity.
 In the second place, upon examining the golden
crown in the tomb of Chornancap we noted that
the principal design on this ornament is the image
of a woman seated in a waxing moon, with a cross
loom, but seen in profile. In the design of the golden
crown the character in the tomb appears with the
same characteristics and elements that stand out in
both cases, that is, that the female character has on
her hands and feet stylized feline heads, next to her
right hand the cross loom, and falling from her head
a plume that ends in a circular and trapezoidal form.
This surprising and extraordinary similarity is one of
the elements that allow us directly to associate the
identity of the female character on the silver beaker
with the representation of the golden crown in the
tomb of Chornancap (Figures 217a and 217b). There
is a difference: while in the case of the silver beaker
(VPD) she appears front on as if descending to the
world from above, in the representation on the crown at
Chornancap she is seated on a waxing moon, inside a
temple defined by the roof with the symbol of the mythic
bird, as if this space were the sacred place where the
female weaver deity and moon goddess lives.

348
Fig. 217a.
Iconography portrayed on the crown of the
Priestess of Chornancap.
 A third element is the character represented in what
has been called the serpent of water and the “bubbles”
or mythic serpent (Narváez 2014a and 2014b). In the
first “bubble” of the right section is the same female
character seated with her lower extremities flexed and
presenting the elements that identify her: face mask,
cylindrical crown and bipolar headdress similar to the
existing composition in the bundle of the Priestess of
Chornancap. At the level of her neck is an ornament
in the form of a two-headed serpent, ending in the
heads of stylized felines, an ornament that we call
“scarf or shawl” and which is the same ornament on
the character represented on the golden scepter
found in the left hand of the Priestess of Chornancap
(Figure 218). She is also carrying in each one of her
hands a long, bell-shaped beaker similar to one of
those recorded in the right hand of the Priestess of
Chornancap. This relationship obviously reinforces the
identification of our female character or her association
Fig. 217b.
Female deity recorded on the silver vase
in the Denver Museum of Art, USA.
with the mythic female personage on the silver vase.
Complementing these ornaments, we must emphasize
that the headdress of the seated individual has the
symbolism of the silhouette of the mythic bird and is the
same representation as the one on the golden scepter
found at Chornancap, as is also the small crown
shaped like a bird that rests on her head. Therefore, the
golden scepter in the tomb of Chornancap becomes
an object that is also related to this entire scenario
on the silver vase (Figures 219a, b, and c). We must
underscore that the objects that express the power of
the individual at Chornancap: crown, earplugs, scepter
and some beakers contain the identity of the female
character expressed as supreme deity, associated with
the moon, the sea, textiles, birds and felines.
349
 Fig. 218.
Female character portrayed on one of the embossed
bubbles on the silver beaker in the Denver Museum of
Art, USA.

350

Fig. 219a. Fig. 219b. Fig. 219c.

Representation of the mask with Golden scepter. Silver beaker.
crown and plumes.
Fig. 220a.
Image of a woman embossed on the bimetallic beaker
of the Priestess of Chornancap.

Fig. 220b.
Supreme female deity recorded on the silver beaker in
351
the Denver Museum of Art, USA..
 A fourth element consists of the plumes that fall
from the shoulder-level of the female deity on the
silver vase and that have the same characteristics
as those represented on the bi-metallic beaker at
Chornancap, in which there is the figure of a woman
in left profile with the same kind of plume that ends
in a circular and trapezoidal figure (Figure 220a and
b). In a complementary fashion, the pair of golden
earplugs in the tomb of Chornancap, where there is
a character standing face on, holding a cane on each
side, a semi-lunar headdress and a cylindrical crown
with the representation of circles (See figure 184 in
this volume). This ornament is similar to the image of
the same woman represented on the silver beaker in
the Denver Museum (See Figure 213 in this volume).
A fifth element is the representation of the so-named
mythic feline that appears in the upper right of the
representation on the silver vase in the Denver Museum
(VPD). The placement of this icon is in an apparently
unnoticed scenario. Nevertheless we are dealing with
the mythic figure of a feline in left profile with concentric
eye, semi-lunar, dentated crown, rounded nose. There
are concentric circles on the body and the tail becomes
352
the head of what is an anthropomorphic wave (Figure
221). This image is similar to the one that appears in the
silver bowl in the tomb of the Priestess of Chornancap,
which has in the group of representations the image
with the characteristics, not only of ornaments and
form, but also the symbolic posture is similar (Figure
222a and b). Obviously this leads us to suppose that
this representation on the outside of the bowl of the
Priestess of Chornancap appears as a principal
element with the role of protagonist which stands out
in the entire scene. It must be a symbolic version of
the mythic woman, but in the case of the silver beaker
in Denver (VPD) she appears represented without
the leadership role with which we have seen it in the
tomb of Chornancap. We must note also that this
same mythic feline is related to the representation of
the character that appears on the bimetallic beaker
(gold-silver), framed by the rhombuses and alternating
with the representation of the woman in profile. That
supposes that the relationship between the mythic
feline, lunar feline and the female representation are a
constant, not only at the tomb of Chornancap, but also
in Lambayeque art during the late phase.
Fig. 221.
Feline deity with crown, portrayed
on the silver beaker in the Denver
Museum of Art, USA.

Fig. 222a.
353
Feline deity with crown portrayed
in the silver bowl, both from the
Chornancap bundle.

Fig. 222b.
Feline deity with crown portrayed on
the bimetallic beaker.
354
Fig. 223. As a sixth observation in this reflection, we must
Female supreme deity regitered in the consider two crucial facts. One is that under the right
silver vase on the Denver Art Museum foot of the female character on the silver beaker (VPD),
USA.
there is a silhouette inside of which is recorded a tall
individual lying on his dorsal side, giving the idea of a
Fig. 224.
Superposition of the tomb of
buried person (Figure 223). By coincidence, at the tomb
Chornancap. of Chornancap a funerary context was documented
archaeologically beneath the Priestess, the central
Fig. 225a. character of which (a male) was found lying on his
Image of the scene on the silver dorsal side in the same position portrayed on the silver
beaker in Denver. Note the similarity
beaker (Figure 224).
In the structure.

Fig.225b.
Aerial view of Chornancap with T shape of
platform..

355
 In seventh place, the architectural form developed
in the lower right section of the silver vase in the Denver
Museum of Art, which alludes to a platform structure
superimposed with a central ramp that communicates
the idea of T-shaped structure with a front plaza and
structures around in on the left (Figure 220 a). If we
analyze the form of the Chornancap tomb (Figure 220
b), it is exactly the same model as the one on the silver
beaker (Figures 220 a and b). In addition, on the same
T-shaped structure with enclosures toward the north
where we also record a decorative frieze (polychrome
murals) on one façade in which there are scenes in
which an entire group of characters moving from right
to left are bearing arms and carrying decapitated,
heads, forming part of a ritual or major ceremony. This
corresponds to the scene documented by Christopher
Donnan in 1982 and is similar in composition and
content to the one on the beaker in Denver (Figures
226 a and b).

Fig. 226a.
Parade scene of characters carrying
decapitated heads, represented on the
beaker in Denver

Fig. 226b.
Parade scene with characters carrying
decapitated heads represented on the
356 polychrome mural in Chornancap.
357
 Therefore, we now have not only the idea that a
female character from the bundle at Chornancap is
intimately associates with part of the representation
of the female character on the silver beaker in
Denver (VPD) – that is the identity of the character
at Chornancap must correspond to the identity of
the character on the silver beaker – but also she is
in the scenario in which she carries out ritual and
public activities. As a result the scenes represented
on the silver beaker (VPD) must have been inspired
in Chornancap and it is probable, then, that the origin
of these silver beakers that are found in the Denver
Museum of Art belong to that territory.
Temple Priestess
358
Complementing all this association and relationship
between the tomb at Chornancap and some of the
images on the silver beaker in the Denver Museum
of Art, USAW, in addition to what has already been
stated,there are two other significant facts that have not
passed unnoticed during our analysis and comparison.
On the one hand, the embossed images on the silver
beaker in Denver bear a drawing that represents a mythic
serpent (Narváez 2014b) or a serpent-like form located
in the middle section of the beaker. In this representation
the head of the serpent opens into a horizontal image
made up of successive anthropomorphic waves, giving
the impression that this water course or river (Mackey
Serpent / River
Mouth Sea
and Pillsbury 2013) in the form of a serpent is flowing
into the sea (Figure 227), symbolically reminding us
of the story of Ñaymlap about the place of arrival is
next to the mouth of the Faquisllanga River at the sea
(Cabello 1951 [1586]).
Also, near its mouth there is a temple or building, the
access to which (ramp) faces east. This circumstance
seems to allude to the exact place where the high
priestess, represented as a supernatural being in the
upper part of the silver beaker in Denver, lived and
was buried. Furthermore this character corresponds
to the personage in the tomb of the priestess found
at Chornancap. We state this observation, because in
the territory of the Lambayeque culture paradoxically
we find temples whose placement is near the Pacific
coast and the mouth of a river. Such is the case of
the Murales de Ucupe tomb with access on the east
and location on the southern edge of the Saña River,
near its mouth flowing into the sea. The el Taco tomb
is another case with access on the east and placement
on the southern edge of the Reque River near its mouth
into the sea. And finally,the Cornancap tomb with its
access on the east and located on the southern edge
of the Lambayeque River and near its opening into the
sea (Figure 228).
Fig. 227.
Image on the silver beaker in Denver,
showing the location of elements that must
allude to oral tradition: river, sea and temple.
359

This situation opens the way for us to propose
that the location of an important temple at the mouth
of a river into the sea is not the result of something
fortuitous, but rather is due to a reason of a probably
religious or territorial nature, and further it leads us
to sustain the hypothesis that the location of sacred
360 spaces during the Lambayeque period obeyed a pre-
established model that is repeated again and again
and that associates important buildings with a space
or context related to the landscape determined by the
mouth of a river and its emptying into the sea, as can
be appreciated at Murales de Úcupe, Huaca El Taco
and Chornancap (Figure 228). These are apparently a
clear model of how the Lambayeque elitedetermined
that temples near the sea with access from the east
and nearness to the place where a river flows into the
sea and on the southern edge, as if this placement
Fig. 228.
Ubicación de templos cerca a
desembocadura de río en el mar: Murales
de Úcupe, Huaca el Taco y Chornancap.
led them to remember or reminded them at first of the
oral tradition of Ñaymlap as it refers to the place of
arrival, the memory of which is commemorated with
the building of temples in these places. It is probably
also alluding to how the waters coming down from
the mountains, represented by the seated women
and located in the two upper bubbles of the so named
mythic serpent (Narváez 2014b) or called mouth
(Mackey and Pillsbury 2013) cross the coast by the
mouths of rivers in the form of serpents, just as the
river enters the sea in a ritual and symbolic act in which
the water from the river is introduced into the mother of
waters, which is the sea, where it lives forever changed
into a supreme deity, the mythic expression of which is
the anthropomorphic wave.
 The other fact that we have turned up in our
analysis and comparison is the circumstance I which la
image of the mythic woman represented on the silver
beaker, which we understand could be the one buried
at Chornancap, presents a particular characteristic,
which is that she has been represented with eyes
in several parts of her body and of her principal
ornaments. He has eyes on the bipolar headdress, in
the face mask, and her upper and lower extremities
(Figure 229). This repetition of vision turns out to be
a basis that reinforces our suspicion that she is the
principal deity, a supernatural being that sees all, who
is the most important of all the female deities, so that
her enormous capacity for vision becomes the principal
characteristic of the religious and priestly role of this
individual, who in life had the vision of a shaman and
incarnates the female deity, and who in the other life
becomes the goddess of the moon and of the sea who
sees all.The silver beaker in Denver, then, the metal
of which is associated with the feminine element,
becomes a key object to identify the character in the
tomb, but, above all, to become acquainted with the
unsuspected and, until now, unknown mythological and
ceremonial universe of Lambayeque culture, in which
we thought only of the god Ñaymlap, deity of winged
eyes, the being with ornithomorphic traits, as if all the
symbology revolved around this character with bird-like
characteristics, that for a long time led to the mistaken
monotheistic vision of Lambayeque religiosity, just as
Narváez correctly observed (2014a and 2014b).
Fig. 229.
Supreme female deity recorded in the
Silver Vessel of Denver Art Museum USA,
with repeated eyes.
361
 The tomb at Chornancap and the silver beaker
in the Denver Museum of Art, USA, are not only
connected to the same place, but also their inspiration
revolves around a complex ceremonial and religious
scenario in which the Priestess of Sovereig of
Chornancap was the principal protagonist during and
after her life. In this context the temple of Chornancap
acquires an extraordinary value in the religious life of
Lambayeque society. It is a scenario with an identity
associated with the moon and the sea, a sacred space
where transcendental liturgical acts are carried out,
acts in which religiosity is publically expressed and
the woman of Chornancap acquires her identity as
principal deity, Goddess who from her tomb intercedes
for her people in the world of the ancestors and
Fig. 230.
Mochica figurine, female character called
the Priestess
362
with her power of vision generates control of natural
phenomena.This deity who was identified in Mochica
society as a priestess of character C (Donnan 1975)
(Figure 230) has a continuity of roles and functions
during the Lambayeque period, as we can represent
graphically in the mural art, iconography, ceramics,
etc. As in the case of the Lambayeque figurine that
represents a woman of the elite and that was found in
the southern zone of Chornancap near the tomb of the
priestess (Figure 231).
Fig. 231.
Lambayeque figurine, female character
found at Chornancap, probably the
priestess
 CHAPTER XI

11.1 Character Roles: Sovereign,

Priestess and Mythical Ancestor.

Throughout the history of humanity at diverse of the 15th century was widely occupied by the Inca
moments and in different places archaeology has Empire, which submitted this area and its occupants
documented not only the development of peoples, but to a brief period of political and ideological domination
also especially the concept of life and death that human that was violent and was dramaticallyinterrupted by the
beings have. Life as a continuous passage in which Spanish invasion about 1532. This process not only
people interact, exercise authority, control production, transformed the socioeconomic structure of one of
erect large scenarios for rituals and ceremonies, many the greatest empires in the Andes, but also installed a
of them with eschatological ends, and also death as a new ideological order that put an end to the essence of
complement to life that has a special treatment. Beyond Andean religiosity, its concepts as well as the pantheon
the status of individuals there is a reasonable concern of gods and existing divinities.
for the destiny of the dead, who depending on the ability
he has had to accumulate goods that are the reflection
of his power, receives special treatment.The panorama
of the central Andes is no different in developing a
cult of the dead as one of the most emblematic rituals
that societies have perfected, and that have been
documented en images engraved and printed in the
most prized materials used by priests or priestesses, 363
kings or queens or by the elite that has access to
them. On the other hand, archaeology on the north
coast of Peru in the last three decades has revealed
the most important material testimonies of societies
such as the Cupisnique, Mochica, Lambayeque and
Chimú societies, located in a territory that at the end
 Turning once again to the coastal north, the
evidence that we have on Mochica culture tell us of
a society with an unsuspected technological and
artistic development, which emerged in the north of
Peru between the first and eleventh centuries BC.
Unquestionable are the treasures and funerary contexts
that come from the tombs excavated in Sipán (Alva
1994, 1999), the tombs of the Priestesses at San José
de Moro (Castillo 2008J), the discoveries at the El Brujo
Complex with the so-named Dama de Cao (Franco and
Gálvez 2005), the surprising works in the Huaca El Sol
Complex and the Huaca La Luna Complex (Uceda
2000), the discovery of the Tomb of the Warrior de Virú
(Strong and Evans 1952), and the excavations at the
Úcupe Pueblo Complex with the Tomb of the Warrior of
Úcupe (Bourget 2008). All these archaeological events
have recovered the material and non-material version
of the Mochica and have allowed us to construct an
understanding of the origin, development and collapse
of this society, but have also provided us with an
exceptional opportunity to understand the meaning of
the images and representations that frequently and
with recognized quality appear in the painted stirrup-
handle bottles in the fine line technique (Donnan 1975;
Hocquenghem 1987).
Fig. 232.
Mochica iconography: Sacrifice and
presentation scene. Taken from Donnan
1989
364
This complex ceremonial world and “mythic”
scenario, especially as expressed in ceramics in the fine
line technique or revealed in the polychrome friezes on
the façades of important temples, reflected in jewelry,
weavings, etc. has attracted the interest of well known
researchers who have published important documents
with detailed studies that allow us to understand the
themes and scenes in Mochica art, which are part of
a symbolic universe of exceptional narrative content.
It cannot be considered to be a faithful reproduction
of daily life, as in “costumbrista” painting (Malowski
1008: 82). Additionally many of them make up a chain
of events and actions that mark the rhythm of what was
happening in a specific territory, as part of a linguistic
exercise that transmits the history of a society seen
through the eyes of the elites and presented by means
of a symbolism with political, religious and liturgical
content. The research to which we have made reference
are a significant and extraordinary contribution to the
understanding of the Mochica iconographic system,
analyzed critically with their own methods and which
we understand should in some way be continuous
under new forms of expression and representation.
 The classic scene called the theme of the
Presentation (Donnan 1975) or commonly known
as the theme of Presentation and Sacrifice (Figure
232) would constitute one of the most revealing and
important episodes in Mochica iconography,not
because it may be more notable than other themes, but
because the most important characters of the elite and
of Mochica society that we know throughout its history
appear in it. Our interest is circumscribed to one of
these characters who appears at the upper center part
of the scene. It is a woman seen in profile (left) facing
right to left, carrying a cup in her right hand, wearing
earplugs, curls falling toward each side, bracelets,
cylindrical crown, on which there are three plumes
ending in triangular points (Figure 233).This character,
which has been documented in extraordinary fashion
in the excavations at San José de Moro (Figure 234)
under Luis Jaime Castillo (2003) appears in Mochica
art as the female version of power and introduces us
to reflection upon and understanding of the gender
balance that this society incorporated into its discourse
(Donnan 1975; Hocquenghem 1987; Holmquist 1992;
Golte 1994); Kutscher 1954, 1983; Makowski 1990,
2008). This same female character, which Donnan
(1975) called character “C” also appears on a raft or
reed boat carrying prisioners and earthenware vessels
supposedly in route to where they will be sacrificed
(Figure 235). A later image also taken from Mochica
art again shows us the woman or priestess on a waxing
moon seated in profile from left to right (Figure 236),
as if she were returning in a boat where the allegory
is that “the moon is a boat”. It is supposed that this
character represents the goddess of the moon and the
sea (Cordy Collins 1977).
Fig. 233.
Mochica iconography: Character “C” (priestess), part
of the scene of sacrifice and presentation. Taken from
Donnan 1989.
Fig. 234.
Ceramic cup found in 1991 in the tomb of the Priestess of
San José de Moro. Excavated by Luis Jaime Castillo B..
365
 In another famous scene, the priestess delivered Fig. 235.
the cup with his left hand to a main character who Mochica iconography, priestess in a boat
carrying crew and ceramic vessels.
receives the container with the contents of the blood
of a prisoner sacrificed, it can be seen that the woman
has the same ornaments where the cup and touched
Fig. 236.
bipolar are your hallmark (Figure 237). In another
Mochica scene called The Moon is a boat,
scene, complex narrative power, artifacts fighting men, priestess in mythic navigation.
scene which is chaired by Guerrero Owl (Makowski
366 2008) and which can be seen the priestess with bipolar
touched trying to control this ritual where inanimate
Fig. 237.
objects they come to life and capture men (Figure 238). Mochica priestess offering a cup to a
character seated on a throne.
367
 Fig. 238.
Scene of the rebellion of the artifacts – See
the Mochica priestess on the right.

Finally, a classic scene of limited existence is the

so called burial ceremony painted in fine line on a Late
Moche bottle where a character receives offerings
of strombus given by a woman. A coffin has been
lowered into the depths and the ritual is viewed by a
kind of assembly made up of women and felines, while
at another extreme a nude woman is sacrificed and
exposed, so that the scavenger birds tear the skin from
368 her body, as part of a process of purification which
must have been a harrowing ritiual (Figure 239). This
type of bottle has been documented archaeologically
at San José de Moro in 1992 and 2014 (Castillo com.
Pers.).
Fig. 239.
Mochica iconography, burial scene.
All these Mochica scenes that we have briefly
described have as a common denominator the presence
of important women who interact and lead in the
ceremonies with the connotation of being priestesses
or sovereigns who are part of the highest stratum of
the Mochica hierarchy. This shows that certain women
during the Moche period, at least during the Middle
toward the Late Moche period had the privilege of being
part of the highest political and ideological structure
(Castillo and Holmquist 2000). They administer goods,
resources and establish themselves in a territory
where they have access to the society’s most important
liturgy. Nevertheless, we must note that there are two
places where these women have been documented
archaeologically, in San José de Moro where at least
seven of them have been recorded (Castillo 2003) and
then in the El Brujo Complex, where a young woman
is documented with an important and extraordinary
funerary bundle that must connect her with la political
and ideological structure in the south of the Mochica
territory (Franco and Gálvez 2005). Nonetheless, if we
look at the panorama of Mochica archaeology, both
in the Lambayeque valleys and in La Libertad tombs
of great individuals in Mochica society have been
documented. They are clearly related to the scenes 369
represented in iconographies and that make it possible
for us to state that all this territory, apparently unified
by a discourse composed of scenes and images, was
completely distinctive at a territorial level, but united by
an ideological system and with a hierarchical structure
defined in the image, but also proved archaeologically.
 This has resulted in that, thanks to archaeological
research, Mochica archaeology a greater understanding
of the origin, development and collapse of the Mochica
culture. They have also identified the roles of the
characters found in the tombs, their functions and the
power relationships that they established in their time.
Nevertheless, the recorded iconography enables us to
recognize in Mochica art images of priestesses whose
religious and mythic identity has common elements
among all of them (Holmquist 1992; Castillo and
Holmquist 2000). For example, they are associated
with chalices, have bipolar headdresses, wear long
dresses and belts that end in stylized serpents’
heads (this is exceptional) and some of them have an
ornament on their necks like a scarf or shawl, which,
apparently distinguishes them (Figure 240 a,b,c,d, e
and f). These common characteristics, visible during
Fig. 240 a, b y c.
the Mochica period, continue in the following period, Mochica images of a female mythic
because the case of the Lambayeque priestess found character associated with a maritime
in Chornancap the same elements described above scenario.
are found, such as chalices, bipolar headdress, long
dress, belt ending in stylized serpent’s head, with the
difference that in the case of the mythic woman of
Chornancap there is also a crossed loom, as well as
the lunar and especially sea scenario, which appear
as characteristics of identity or of mythic personality
(Figure 241 a, b and c). In the case of Lambayeque
culture it would seem that the body of images, ,symbols
and representations developed by the Mochica do not
suddenly disappear from the public scene. They are
reaffirmed and adopt new roles, and the new discourse
apparently focused on a central, ancestral image with
370 anthropomorphic traits that allude to the history of the
legendary Ñyamlap (Larco 1948; Zevallos 1971, 1989;
Donnan 1989, 2011; Narváez 1995, 2011, 2014a; Alva
1985; Shimada 1985, 1994, 2014; Wester 2010, 2014).

Fig. 240 d, e y f.
character associated with rituals of
human sacrifice and the rebellion of the
artifacts.
371
372
 The female mythic figure is seen not only on the
images on metal objects, on the so-called ceremonial
knives, the metal face mask, the style of ceramics
known as huaco rey. There are other places, such as
Huaca Las Ventanas, and Huaca El Oro in the Forest of
Pomac in the east and west tombs, in the Tomb of the old
woman in Huaca Las Ventanas (Shimada 1994, 2014b;
Elera 2008), the weaver of Collud (Alva Meneses 2012)
among others where the offerings have a relationship
with a very characteristic ancestral personage with
a hieratic face, aquiline nose, winged eyes, facial
decoration, birdlike traits, seated or standing with
hands forward and in some cases carrying spheres in
each hand, showing various ritual gestures. On the
other hand the tomb excavated at Chornancap with all
its complexity of ornaments and the 8 companions, as if
dealing with her followers into the other life or her court
in earthly life, enables us to understand that the death
of their sovereign or priestess generated the inevitable
accompaniment in the other dimension, where they will
go on carrying out their functions in the presence of
the ancestors in religious activities that they performed
during their lives. We must specify that the goods of
the deceased allow us to identify the possible ritual
activities; therefore, we don’t hesitate to maintain that
this individual is a principal governor or priestess whose
functions were reserved for characters who were part
of the highest spheres of power, and that this incursion
into the ritual scenario of public impact, produced the
reaffirmation of her prestige and the legitimization of
her power. Being a woman who carried out ceremonial
activities during her lifetime, her death obviously had
to produce the inevitable encounter with her mythic
and divine identity, which is the image of the woman
represented on the silver beaker in the Denver Museum
Fig. 241 a, b y c.
Images that represent a female deity in the Lambayeque
culture, documented on ornaments of prestige (a.
Beaker in Denver, USA; b and c: crown and scepter of
Chornancap).
15
Krzyszlof Makowski (2014) maintains that . . .”In the pre-Hispanic Andes burial was considered the dwelling of the dead, indispensably so that he could be born
again and take up the journey into the beyond and his return. It was believed that the dead continued to accompany the living after their death and they were given
great powers to insure rain and the abundance of animals and harvest” (2014: 191).
of Art, USA, who had wide dominion in a territory tied
to the sea and the moon. In that respect Makowski
(2008: 95) maintains, referring to the priestess of San
José del Moro, that this is the well known Female Deity,
closely tied to the sea and frequently represented on a
waxing moon that serves her as a boat (Collins 1997).
In reality, the use of the terms Governor and Priestess
in referring to the individual at Chornancap is what best
approaches the tomb’s content. We are speaking of an
individual who has political and religious hierarchy;
her ornaments are for use exclusively in rituals and
ceremonies that could only be conducted carried out
by someone of the highest religious stature. Her tomb
speaks to us of political power, but also of her leadership
role in the ritual life of her society. Nonetheless, this
tomb independently of its complexity should produce
commemorative circumstances, the carrying out of
great celebrations and processions, which must have
been realized at the moment of her burial and the
sealing of the tomb, and that in addition was part of
the acts carried out periodically, in which this divinity is
remembered, as we have documented archaeologically
at Chornancap with the partial reopening of the tomb
to place offerings and goods pertaining to other
epochs. There is a complementary element that we
should underscore, that is the location of the tomb. The
priestess is buried in an area near the main altar of
a unique and peculiar architectural grouping, which
we are calling the residence of the elite, located to
the south of Chornancap, just as we commented in
Chapter IV of this volume. It offers an extraordinary
architectural element that connects the two altars that
exist along a corridor and symbolic passageway that 373
is mythic in nature. Between the two altars there is an
element made of adobe of medium height, consisting
 of a form that shows a “geometric wave” or fret that
is connected to a stepped symbol that produces a
ritual and ceremonial journey which must suppose
the transformation of the character (priestess), who,
in a exclusive manner, should enter by this element,
going through it from east to west, from the space of
the Moon toward the Sea, as an inevitable step to her
presentation before the main altar, where she arrives
having been transformed from Moon Goddess into Sea
Goddess. It is in this journey where the main character
acquires certain characteristics of divinity and where
she remembers and reaffirms her relationship with
female divinity represented on the silver beaker
described in the previous chapter. This architectural
element describes the Priestess’s elevated political
and religious role, which brings about the encounter
between water and the earth to guarantee agricultural
fertility, a basic condition for life in the society.
The woman of Chornancap whom we call Priestess
and Sovereign not only offers a funerary bundle of
inestimable value, composed for unique pieces of gold,
silver, copper, alloys, ceramics, precious stones among
other things, but above all her most representative
goods express an iconographic corpus that emphasizes
and underscores the theme of gender, that is, the
representation of the mythic woman, associated with
the sea, the moon, birds, and felines among other
elements that reveal a scenario which we did not
suspect, but which introduces her into the domain of
ancestral deities (Fig. 242).

374

Fig. 242.
Principal icons and images recovered
among objects associated with the
Priestess of Chornancap.
375
 We should give special emphasis on her
association with an activity related historically with the
female gender, that is textile production, because one
of her most prized objects (the golden crown) shows
a mythic woman seated on the waxing moon with a
crossed loom in front of her and located in a temple
with the roof alluding to the symbol of the nose-diving
bird. In that respect Gabriel Prieto (2014) has correctly
observed that the fact of the presence of goods that
show prestige and especially those related with
thread and textile production cannot be interpreted be
interpreted as an indicator of the role or social identity
of the person who possesses them. That is, if we find
materials related to weaving and textiles we should not
say that we are only dealing with a weaver or spinner
(Figures 243, 244 and 245). Perhaps this appreciation
a priori may be reasonable, but it may also deal with
elements of status that allude to religious and mythic
symbolism. That is, they may be related with the
themes of fertility and reproduction (Prieto 2014:534).
In this context the golden crown of the woman found
in Chornancap does not reflect the role of weaver but
rather the mythic condition of the character represented
on said crown, which allows us to maintain that we
are dealing with a mythic woman weaver of life, of the
ritual activities that the woman buried at Chornancap
dedicates to her name.
With this reflection we are attempting to bring into
the debate the idea not of a single role, but that of several
roles and identities as sovereign, priestess and mythic
Fig. 243.
ancestor of the female character found at Chornancap.
Structure of a crossed loom made of silver
The area where this woman was finally buried is (Larco Museum, Lima).
376 confirmed as a place of power or a sacred space,
acquiring a new condition or status. This scenario, used
in life for ritual and ceremonial activities, serves for her
tomb as a sacred place that gives her access to the
world of the dead where she will live with her ancestors.
But we had not had the opportunity to record tombs
or funerary contexts of women in the Lambayeque
culture, so that we could establish her condition of
ancestor, as if it had happened for the Mochica culture
(Castillo 2003; Franco and Gálvez 2005). That’s why the
excavation of the tomb of the character at Chornancap,
 Fig. 244. Fig. 245.
Silver miniature of a crossed loom with cloth in process Knife with the representation of a woman with a
(Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard crossed loom (Larco Museum, Lima).
University Peabody ID 48-37-30-7162). 377
 without a doubt, is an unpublished episode in the
archaeology of the north coast, since it showsa woman
at the top of the sociopolitical structure, who exercised
roles of sovereign, religious functions as priestess,
(shaman) and obviously, with her death, becomes the
most conspicuous and well known female ancestral
divinity as the goddess of the Sea and the Moon. It’s
important to note here that as a consequence of the
extraordinary archaeological findings in the bundles of
the castle of Huarmey, Makowski (2014) maintains, in
agreement without proposal, that the woman buried
at Chornancap is a person of the highest status who
carried out priestly functions and that this person is
directly related with the palatial residence that we call
the residence of the elite with ceremonial spaces and
evidently has been placed there as her tomb because
of her ritual activities.
In the ethnohistorical study of Maria Rostworowski
(2006) associates Andean myths with the presence
of priestesses and comments that in a town in the
province of Huaylas, the Spanish official sent against
the idolatry of the natives gave information on numerous
idols, tombs and dead ancestors in the “ayllus” (Indian
settlements) that had been destroyed or burned during
his tenure (Herández 1923). In the detailed report
carried out in ayllu after ayllu he not only mentions
the tombs, but also the natives whose responsibility it
378 was to care for the idols, the cults and the rites. Maria
rostworowski (op. cit.) tells us to note that no only were
male priests named, but also priestesses who were
called “ministras”, of whom there were many different
categories and duties. For example, some spoke with
the tombs and received answers to the questions of
the faithful. Others interpreted dreams and were called
the “dreamers”, such as doña Friancisca Urya who
was a “ministra” and offered her eyelashes to the sun,
pulling them out for him, while María Urmay prepared
the “sancu” and the grease to offer them to the tombs
as payment. Other “ministras” were chicha makers,
charged with preparing the drinks that would be carried
to the idols for the rituals.
This information demonstrates that there were
several categories and hierarchies of “ministras”.
Some were the leaders of an entire group of women.
One of these women, called prophetesses of the future
carried out these practices using spiders, an ancient
custom among the inhabitants of coastal towns. María
Rostworowski (2006) also states that the Inca paid
little attention to the worship of the moon since its cult
was under the charge of the women and especially
of Mama Huaco, ,sister of Manco Capac. Finally, the
prophetesses and shamans were associated with the
“ministras” who officiated at the rites a the tombs offering
auguries. Generally they were widows who hid their
identity under this name in order not to be discovered
by the Spaniards and so preserve the ancestral beliefs
and practices.
We must mention and certainly not avoid the
story of Ñyamlap in whose wealth of content valuable
episodes are narrated about the arrival and presence of
a character and founding hero who came accompanied
by his entourage, concubines and wife whose name
was Ceterni. And here we should emphasize the role
of woman as wife, in that her hierarchy is associated
with the value and importance of her male companion,
that is as a principal woman. An equal circumstance
happened with Zolzoloñi, the wife of Cium (son of
Ñaymlap), who appears in the story as the principal
wife and progenitor of several children who acted period of drought that produces famine and death,
as heads or governors in the different parts of the for which reason the priests of the kingdom blame
Lambayeque kingdom. These women were so Tempellec for these misfortunes, capture him, binding
important that, according to Martín Farrochumbi, his hands and feet and throwing him into the sea as
Ñyamlap must have ordered the construction of a an act of justice in order to restore order. This episode
palace for Ceterni, also called Sioternic (Brübubg 1922) and outcome suggests that the act had to be carried
or Seornancacum (Zevallos, 1993), which might well out in a place close to or by the sea, which allows us
be the origin of the place name Chornancap. We must to suspect that the Chotuna Chornancap Complex
also remember that one of the servants of Ñyamlap, associated directly with the coast is the location of the
named Llapchiluli, was in charge of the clothing, which beginning and the end of these men who come from
indicates the enormous importance of the production the sea and end up there as a sacred space where
of textiles for the use of this outstanding personage, they dwell forever. Evidently this hypothesis should be
so that possibly it became a very exclusive activity that thoroughly evaluated within the material context of the
probably involved groups of both women and men. evidence, ethnohistorical data and above all the most
Perhaps the speculation may be risky leading us detailed analysis of the oral tradition, in which, we
to think of the possibility that the priestess or governor understand, there are some inconsistencies that have
found in Chornancap was perhaps that woman who not been stressed and debated.
seduced Fempellec (Ñaymlap’s grandson) so that he
would move the idol with the image of Llampallec and
then had an intimate relationship that brought about
chaos, primarily in a rainfall or flood that lasted more
than thirty consecutive days and that may well be
associated with or related to one of those big “Niño”
phenomena (FEN) that occasionally or cyclically occur
on the north coast of Peru. It is also probable that with
regard to the naming of this woman, who seduces and
convinces Tempellec or Fempellec,Martín Farrochumbi
may have named her as the shaman or perhaps the 379
priestess, using the equivalent in his maternal language
and that the word has been erroneously translated
from the European perspective by Cabello de Balboa
(1951) with the use of “witch” or “devil.” We must also
make it clear that after the flood is followed by a long
 Finally, we should point out that the masculine Fig. 246.
380 identity of the principal mythic ancestor in Lambayeque Lambayeque male deity.
culture is frequently attributed to Ñyamlap, whose
image is identified with the character with winged
Fig. 247.
eyes and birdlike attributes like the character of Ucupe Lambayeque female deity.
(Figure 246). Nevertheless, the female version of the
Lambayeque deity was an unexplored topic, unknown
until the discovery of the tomb at Chornancap in which
the image is associated with the mythic ancestor or
supreme female deity, represented on the silver beaker
at the Denver Museum of Art (Figure 247).
 As an aside, this new funerary event results in
greater arguments to understand the mystery around 381
the presence and participation of women in the power
dynamic and religiosity in Lambayeque culture, but
above all, to understand the identity of female deities, of
which, archaeologically, we had no material evidence
and which since Chornancap show their power
and the religiosity that they showed in life and their
transformation into mythic ancestor.
Fig. 248.
Lambayeque bottle with the representation
of a character transported on a litter
(Brüning Museum collection.
382
383
 CHAPTER XII

12.1 Conclusions.

Existing archaeological evidence in the territory of

Lambayeque culture (8th and 9th centuries A.D.) allow
us to maintain that in this space a complex development
was produced, the product and consequence of a
lengthy process that began its development in the
Archaic Period or so-called Pre-Ceramic Period (2500
B.C.E.). To support this proposal today we know the
results of the research in Ventarrón at the mid-lower
part of the Reque River, northern shore (Alva Meneses
2012), whose evidence reveals the existence of a
temple of a ceremonial nature inside of which there
is a polychrome mural called the scene of the Captive
Deer, which presents successive phases of remodeling
with a ritual aspect maintained through three phases
until its final burial. This area maintained control over
ritual activity and of the relationships with surrounding
areas that included the eastern zone and the sea.
Later and with greater breadth we have evidence of
the Formative Period at sites like Collud in Pomaica, 385
Huaca Lucía Chólope in Pomac, Morro Elen, Raca
Rumí in Chongoyape, Purulen and Corbachoin Zaña,
to cite only a few places that illustrate a greater cultural
cohesion and a solid sociopolitical structure expressed
in a known material production known as Cupisnique.
 From the remainders of this epoch toward the
year 100 BCE until the 8th century AD a cultural
phenomenon was consolidated on the north coast that
was long lasting and strong in the territory that we call
the Mochica culture, a result of the Cupisnique. As we
now know, the Mochica evolved in an extraordinary
and surprising way with explosive growth, massive
production and above all a peculiar style that
characterizes it and that is now the image of a state
sociopolitical structure. In this context and toward
the 8th and 9th centuries AD a Transitional Period
(Castillo 2003) began to be formalized that years later
consolidates Lambayeque culture as an autonomous
entity en its territory, with a well marked geographic
scenario and an ideological structure that maintains a
consistent discourse in which the divinity that we know
as Ñyamlap. We make this brief restatement because
the consolidation of the Lambayeque State is part of a
process of continuity and change begun in its past and
expressed in the notable material development that is
recorded during this epoch.
386
The evidences of which we are aware and to which
we have access in the Lambayeque region reveal that
beyond the defined territoriality and the stability of the
ideological message as a resource for control there is
an express will on the part of the governing class to
control the water resources by means of a complex
network of inter-valley canals that are administered
to benefit the productivity of the land under their
dominion. This characteristic implied that the workers
in the service of the elites controlled the water and the
land as a medium, having in their charge the irrigation
infrastructure that was administered at an inter-valley
level. As a result of this strategy an elevated production
of an excess of consumer goods, such as ceramics,
metal objects, and weavings among others that were
made in artisanal workshops dependent on and
located in specific areas by a lower level leader or local
worker. It seems that the structure that administers this
productivity receives the tributes not only in agricultural
labor but also in goods for the benefit of the elite that
will guarantee political and religious stability.
 The Lambayeque elite must have structured their
permanence with a mechanism of appropriation of the
symbolic or iconographic corpus that is the reflection
of the natural and geographic landscape. Apparently,
since the evidence suggests a new cosmological order
that had a principal referent: the Sea and the Moon. On
the other hand, as regards the scenarios documented in
Chornancap, it is a significant fact that the architecture
no only expresses function in structural terms, but also
makes possible a symbolic reading with ideological
roots as is the case with the northern front, where the
Throne and the symbolism of the architecture shows
the presence of a principal authority that exercises
power over a particular human group. In addition, the
case of the southern front of Chornancap, where we
documented a residential-ceremonial area, turns out to
be its complement, where there are also scenarios that
transmit the message of its ritual content, but above all
the prestige and status of the individuals who appear
in these areas. Now we can better understand the
political and religious organization of the Lambayeque
elite, counting, as we do, with a space to the north of the
tomb that has a political and religious character, that is,
the case of the Throne and to the south a residential
area of the elite with spaces that maintain the ritual
hierarchy and daily activities appropriate to the persons
that direct this population and that maintain spaces
from which they reiterate their authority and political
and religious investiture.
The research and analysis of the findings at
Chornancap allow us to establish the fact that we have
identified the female personage of the highest status
in Lambayeque culture who pertained to the 12th and
13th centuries AD. Also, in the tomb of the priestess of
Chornancap, there are goods of a high technological
value and unequaled political and religious function,
who make this personage the priestess or sovereighn
of Chornancap who administered an iconographic
corpus that was complex and unknown to Lambayeque
culture, the same one that is associated with the
maritime and lunar scenario.
387
 The female personage buried at Chornancap
and baptized as the supreme priestess shows in her
tomb an enormous capacity to construct contacts
with other societies beyond the local territorial sphere
(Cajamarca, Ecuador, La Libertad and the northeast).
The primary ornaments in the tomb of the priestess
reveal an unsuspected and surprising relationship
with the complex iconography existing in one of the
silver beakers in the Denver Museum of Art (USA),
which means that these goods probably formed part
of a similar context to that of the individual buried at
Chornancap, and must have been found in the area
of this archaeological site. The burial of the priestess
of Chornancap has a close and surprising relationship
with the female character onone of these silver beakers
in the Denver Museum of Art, to such an extent that it
seems that the representation engraved on this vessel
unquestionably alludes to the political and religious
personality of the priestess of Chornancap, so much so
that its attributes, characteristics, gestures, ornaments
and scenario coincide with those of Chornancap.
The tomb at Chornancap offers an unpublished
format in which the funerary contexts are superimposed,
388 thus presenting the idea of a family mausoleum, just
as the evidences of the reopening of the tomb that
illustrates the validity of the one buried in the memory
of her people, even beyond her times. The priestess of
Chornancap allows us to reformulate our posture on
Lambayeque culture, and presents a new territorial,
political and religious map, in which there is no center
and exclusive scenario of power, but rather several
political and religious spaces where a tradition, form
of art, style, funerary customs and religious liturgy
are shared, as if we were dealing with family elites
who hold power throughout the valleys and in which
Chotuna and Chornancap are in the only monumental
scenario, directly connected to the sea area. This
provides an opportunity to understand the oral
tradition as a basis to legitimize the power of those
who were at the head of this society. The tomb of the
female personage according to the bio-archaeological
examination shows a principal personage of 45 or
50 years of age, accompanied by 8 young women
whose ages range fro 15 to 20 years. One of these
companions appears only as a decapitated head, and
all of them are complemented by the presence of a
young camelid, which indicates the elevated power and
status of the individual buried with a bundle of goods
and companions of such magnitude and ceremonial
display.
 The architecture of the area of Chornancap
represented by the throne and the residence of the
elite shows that the spaces immediate to these grand
buildings are scenarios of power and ritual areas where
the architecture unmistakably reveals the concepts of
duality, authority, ceremonialism, and rituals of human
sacrifice and burial in complex tombs. Also proven by
the tomb at Chornancap is the complexity of burial
infrastructure and ornaments of a ritual nature, as well
as her companions. This funerary context places us in
an ideal circumstance, based on the ornaments and
goods, to establish not only the status, role and prestige
of the central character, but also the dimension of the
relationships that she developed with greater spaces
than the local surroundings. This allows us to glimpse
the construction of a links of a commercial character,
as well as possible marriage ties and consolidation of
political ties. A rich and complex religious iconography
has been recorded in the tomb at Chornancap, On
the one hand it reiterates the female identity of the
individual buried there and on the other the message
of the maritime theme, as well as those of birds, the
moon and characters never before identified, making
them a new ritual repertory to understand Lambayeque
culture, about which we did not have the most minimal
idea. The identification of textiles or painted cloths
is, beginning with the findings at Chornancap, an
indicator that would characterize the presence of
complex burials as has happened in the excavations
at Huaca Las Ventanas 1991, 1994 and 2006. The
symbol known as “anthropomorphic wave” or “ornitho-
morphic wave” appears repeatedly on all the painted
cloths. The material elements, goods and companions
that make up the tomb of the woman at Chornancap
leads us to suspect multiple roles and identities in
the political sphere as sovereign, in the religious
sphere as supreme priestess and in the memory of
her people as after her death she becomes a mythic
ancestor. With this discovery, la Lambayeque culture
of the 9th through the 14th centuries AD brings into
written history one of the most important individuals,
unexpected by researchers, who being a women opens
the way to suppose the existence of women of this
stock in the territory of this society. Finally, the finding
at Chornancap allows us to reinforce the proposal of a
dual political structure, that is, both male leaders and
female sovereign. Additionally, the processes of burial
and their complexity produce the idea of an ancestral
role of the individual buried there, who with her death 389
enters the world of the ancestors, where they live in the
memory of their people, converted into supreme deities
and represented in images of permanent diffusion as is
the case of the individual at Chornancap.
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Masato SAKAI, Walter TOSSO M., Kinya INOKUCHI, Araceli ESPINOZA y 1979 El reino de Lambayeque en el antiguo Perú, Haus Völker und
Daniel MORALES Kulturen Anthropos – Institut, St. Agustín.
2010 Nuevas evidencias del sitio arqueológico Pacopampa en la sierra norte UCEDA CASTILLO, Santiago
1996 “El poder y la muerte en la sociedad Moche”. En: Al final del 2013 The Naymlap Legend: Between Mystery and Fact. En: Perú Kingdoms
camino, Luis Millones y Moises Lemlij, Editores, págs. 20-36. Fondo of the sun and the moon. Catálogo de la Exposición del mismo
Editorial SIDEA – Seminario Interdisciplinario de Estudios Andinos. nombre editado por Víctor Pimentel, Pp 108-115. Museo de Arte de
Lima. Montreal – Canadá.
1999 “Culto a los muertos y a los ancestros: escenas en miniatura y una WESTER LA TORRE, Carlos, Juan MARTÍNEZ y Arturo TANDAYPAN
maqueta en la época Chimú”. Arkinka, Revista de Arquitectura, 2000 La Granja: Investigaciones Arqueológicas. Sociedad Minera La Granja
Diseño y Construcción 49: 72-83. Lima, Arkinka S.A. S.A. Cambior, Museo Arqueológico Nacional Brüning.
2000 “El templo mochica: rituales y ceremonias”. En: Los dioses del WESTER LA TORRE, Carlos, Samuel CASTILLO y Fausto SALDAÑA
antiguo Perú, Krzysztof Makowski y otros, págs. 91-101. Colección 2014 Escenarios de Poder y Espacios Ceremoniales: El Trono y la
Arte y Tesoros del Perú. Lima, Banco de Crédito del Perú. Residencia de Élite en Chornancap – Cultura Lambayeque. En:
2008 “El busca de los palacios de los reyes Moche”. En: Señores de los Cultura Lambayeque: en el contexto de la costa norte del Perú.
Reinos de la Luna. Makowski (compilador). Banco de Crédito del Actas del Primero y Segundo Coloquio sobre la Cultura Lambayeque
Perú. Lima. Págs. 110–127. (Lambayeque, 18, 19 y 20 de Agosto del 2011), Julio Fernández
UCEDA, Santiago y Elías MUJICA editores Alvarado y Carlos Wester La Torre, Editores. Pp 108-115. Coloquio
1994 Moche: propuestas y perspectivas, Actas del Primer Coloquio sobre II, páginas 271 – 309. Lambayeque. Museo de Sitio Chotuna.
la Cultura Moche (Trujillo, 12 al 16 de abril de 1993), Travaux de 2014.
I’Institute Francais d’Etudes Andines 79, Universidad de La WILLIAMS, Carlos
Libertad-Trujillo/Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos/Asociación 1971 Centros ceremoniales tempranos en el valle de Chillón, Rimac y
Peruana para el Fomento de las Ciencias Sociales, Lima. Lurín, Apuntes Arqueológicos 1:1-4.
2003 Moche: hacia el final del milenio, Actas del Segundo Coloquio WILLEY, Gordon R
sobre la cultura Moche (Trujillo, 1 al 7 de agosto de 1999), 2 vols. 1971 An Introduction to American Archaeology. Vol. II, South America.
Universidad Nacional de Trujillo/Pontificia Universidad Católica del New Jersey, Printice Hall Inc.
Perú, Lima. WILSON, David L.
UHLE, Max 1988 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Lower Santa Valley, Perú: A
1959 Wesen und Ordnung der alterperuanischen Kulturen. Colloquium Regional Perspective on the Origins and Development of Complex
Verlag, Berlín. North Coast Society. Smithsonian Series in Archaeological Inquiry.
VERANO, John W. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.
1994 Material osteológico recuperado por el Proyecto “La Mina”, valle ZEVALLOS QUIÑONES, Jorge
de Jequetepeque: Informe preliminar. En: Moche: Propuestas y 1971 Cerámica de la Cultura Lambayeque (Lambayeque I), Universidad
Perspectivas, Santiago Uceda y Elías Mujica (editores). Actas del Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo.
Primer Coloquio sobre la Cultura Moche (Trujillo, 12 al 16 de Abril 1989 “Introducción a la Cultura Lambayeque”. En: Lambayeque, J. de
de 1993). Travaux de I´Institut Français d´Etudes Andines 79:83-84. Lavalle, 15-103, Colección Arte y Tesoros del Perú, Banco de Crédito
Lima, del Perú, Lima.
VETTER PARODI, Luisa María, and CARCEDO DE MUFARECH, 1989b Los cacicazgos de Lambayeque, CONCYTEC, Trujillo. 138
Paloma páginas.
2009 El tupo: símbolo ancestral de identidad femenina. Lima: Gráfica 1993 “Toponimia Mochica de Lambayeque – 1193”. En: Revista del Museo
Biblos. de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia Nº8, 1998. Facultad de
WESTER LA TORRE, Carlos Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Nacional de Trujillo. Pág. 435 –
2010a Chotuna – Chornancap: Templos, Rituales y Ancestros 473.
Lambayeque. Lambayeque: Museo Arqueológico Nacional Brüning ZUIDEMA, Tom 397
de Lambayeque. Unidad Ejecutora 111 Naylamp Lambayeque. 1983 The lion in the city: Royal symbols of transition in Cuzco. Journal of
Ministerio de Educación. Latin American Lore. T.9:39-100.
2010b El Trono Sagrado de Chornancap Lambayeque – Perú. I Encuentro 1990 “Dynastic Structures in Andean Culture”. En: The nortbern dynasties:
de Arqueólogos del Norte del Perú y Sur del Ecuador: Relaciones kingshipn and stategraft in Chimor, editado por Michael E. Mosely
Interregionales y Perspectivas de Futuro. Prefectura de la Azuay. y A. Cordy-Collins, pp. 489-505. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
Universidad de Cuenca. Cátedra Abierta de Historia de Cuenca y su
Región. Cuenca (Ecuador), p. 77-82
2011 El Trono Sagrado de Chornancap, Un Templo de la Cultura
Lambayeque – Perú. Evidencia Ancestral. Quito (Ecuador). 3:50-65.
2012 Misterio e Historia en la Cultura Lambayeque: La Sacerdotisa
de Chornancap. Catálogo de la exposición del mismo nombre
realizada en el Museo de la Nación. Año 2012. Ministerio de Cultura,
Lima.
 PICTURE CREDITS
Figure 70b. Proyecto Chotuna
Sheet 1. Carlos Wester La Torre – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 71. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 1. Unidad Ejecutora Nº005 Naylamp Lambayeque
Figure 72. Christopher Donnan
Figure 2. Christopher Kleihege – zona arqueológica Caral
Figure 73. Museo de oro – Lima
Figure 3. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Figure 74 y 75. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 4. Yuji Seki – Proyecto Pacopampa
Figure 76. Christopher Donnan
Figure 5. Carlos Wester La Torre – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 77 – 78. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 6. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Figure 79a – 79b.Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 7. Santiago Uceda Castillo – Proyecto Huaca de la Luna
Figure 80 – 82. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 8. Unidad Ejecutora Nº005 Naylamp Lambayeque
Figure 83 – 85. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 9. Museo de Túcume
Figure 86 y 87. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 10. Rafael Rioja Asalde – Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 88. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 11. Yuji Seki – Proyecto Pacopampa
Figure 89. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 12. Terry D´Altroy – Universidad de Columbia – USA)
Figure 90, 91. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 13. Walter Alva Alva – Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán
Sheet 2. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 14. Luis Jaime Castillo B. – Proyecto San José de Moro
Figure 92. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 15. Régulo Franco Jordán – Fundación Wiese
Figure 93 – 95. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 16. Milosz Giersz – Proyecto Arqueológico Castillo de Huarmey
Figure 96, 97. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 17. Izumi Shimada – Proyecto Sicán
Figure 98. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 18a. Juan Martínez Fiestas – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 99, 100. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 18b. Ignacio Alva Meneses – Proyecto Ventarrón
Sheet 3. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 19 – 21 Yutaka Yoshii
Sheet 4. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 22. Walter Alva y Bruno Alva – Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán
Sheet 5. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 23. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 101 – 104. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 24. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Sheet 6. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 25 a – 25b. Christopher Donnan
Figure 105 – 107. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 26. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 108 – 110. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 27. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 111. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 28 y 29. Christopher Donnan
Figure 112 – 118. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 30 y 31. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 119. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 32. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Sheet 7. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 33 – 38. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 120. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 39. Christopher Donnan
Figure 121 – 123b. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 40. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 124. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 41 y 42. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 125. Marco Fernández – Museo Chotuna
Figure 43. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 126. The Cleveland Museum of art Leonard C Hanna Jr. Fund
Figure 44. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 127. Christopher Donnan
Figure 45 – 46. Proyecto Chotuna
398 Figure 47. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 128a. y 128b Christopher Donnan
Figure 129. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 48. Christopher Donnan
Figure 130 – 131. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 49. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 132. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Figure 50a. María del Carmen Espinoza Córdova – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Brüning
Figure 133 y 135. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 50b. Museo de Túcume
Figure 135. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 50c. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 136 – 138. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 50d. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Figure 139. Proyecto Chotuna
Brüning
Sheet 8. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 51- 55. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 140 – 143. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 56. Museo BCR.
Figure 144. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 57 – 66. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 145. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 67 – 69. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 146. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 70a. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 147 – 152. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 153. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 154 y 155. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 156. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 157. Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala (1615)
Figure 158. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 159 – 160. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 161. Daniel Fairbanks
Figure 162. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 163. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 164 – 166. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 167. Yutaka Yoshii
Sheet 9. Alberto Gutiérrez y Luis Chayán
Figure 168 y 169. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 170. Juan Martínez Fiestas – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 171 y 172. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 173 y 174. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 175 – 177. Proyecto Chotuna
Sheet 10. Alberto Gutierrez y Robert Gutierrez.
Figure 178. Marco Fernández – Proyecto Chotuna
Sheet 11. Alberto Gutiérrez y Ami Niquen
Figure 179. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 180. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 181. Yutaka Yoshii – Robert Gutiérrez
Figure 182. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 183. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 184 – 190. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 191 y 192. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Figure 192. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Figure 193 – 200. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 201. Alberto Gutiérrez Vásquez – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 202 – 203. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 204. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 205. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 206. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 207. Izumi Shimada – Proyecto Sicán
Figure 208. Juan Martínez Fiestas – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 209 – 210. Ignacio Alva Meneses – Proyecto Ventarrón
Figure 211. Luis Jaime Castillo – Proyecto San José de Moro
Figure 212. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 213a – 213b. Museo de Arte de Denver – USA
Figure 214 – 215. Carol Mackey, Joanne Pillsbury y Héléne Bernier
Figure 216a. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 216b. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 217a. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 217b – 218. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 219a. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 219b. Marco Fernández Manayalle – Museo Chotuna
Figure 219c. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 220a. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 220b – 221 Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 222a – 222b. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 223. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 224. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 225a. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 225b. Proyecto Chotuna
Figure 226a. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 226b. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 227. Carlos Wester La Torre – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 228 – 229. Carlos Wester y Robert Gutiérrez – Museo Nacional
Brüning
Figure 230. Christopher Donnan
Figure 231. Yutaka Yoshii
Figure 232 – 233. Christopher Donnan
Figure 234. Luis Jaime Castillo – Proyecto San José de Moro
Figure 235, 236, 237, 238, 239. Christopher Donnan
Figure 240a – 240f. Christopher Donnan
Figure 241a. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 241b. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 241c. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 242. Robert Gutiérrez Cachay – Museo Nacional Brüning
Figure 243. Museo Rafael Larco
Figure 244. Peabody Museum Of Archeology and Ethnology Harvard
University Peabody
Figure 245. Museo Rafael Larco
Figure 246. Walter Alva Alva – Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán
Figure 247. Carol Mackey y Joanne Pillsbury
Figure 248. Yutaka Yoshii
Sheet 12 – 29. Proyecto Chotuna
399
400
DRAWINGS OF THE CERAMICS
IN TOMBS 4 AND 5.

401
402

Slide 12.
Inca ceramics, from Tomb 4 level 2.
 403

Slide 13.
Cajamarca – coastal cups , from
Tomb 4 Level 3.
404

Slide 14.
Cajamarca - coastal jars, from
Tomb 4 level 3.
 405

Slide 15.
Cajamarca - coastal jars, from
Tomb 4 level 3.
406

Slide 16.
Cajamarca - coastal dishes, from
Tomb 4 level 3.
 407

Slide 17.
Cajamarca - coastal dishes, from
Tomb 4 level 3.
408

Slide 18.
Late Lambayeque Bottles, from
Tomb 4 Level 3.
 409

Slide 19.
Late Lambayeque ceramic, from
Tomb 4 Level 3.
410

Slide 20.
Late Lambayeque dishes, from
Tomb 4 Level 3.
 411

Slide 21.
Late Lambayeque and Cajamarca – coastal Ceramic,
from Tomb 4 Level 3.
412

Slide 22.
Cajamarca – coastal dishes, from
Tomb 4 level 5.
 413

Slide 23.
Cajamarca – coastal dishes, from
Tomb 4 level 5.
414

Slide 24.
Cajamarca – coastal dishes, from
Tomb 4 level 5.
 415

Slide 25.
Cajamarca-coastal ceramic, from
Tomb 4 level 5.
416

Slide 26.
Late Lambayeque and Lambayeque – Chimu
Ceramics, from Tomb 4 level 5.
 417

Slide 27.
Late Lambayeque and Lambayeque – Chimu
Ceramics, from Tomb 4 level 5.
418

Slide 28.
Late Moche stirrup ceramics, Late Lambayeque bottles (tachos),
from Tomb 5 level 7.
 419

Slide 29.
Late Lambayeque tardío pots and
dishes, Cajamarca-coastal dishes, from
Tomb 5 level 7.