Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2020 - 34

over how much Wari transformed the region, and
Pachacamac in particular. "One scenario would
have Wari coming in and, if not founding the
major temple at the site, reestablishing it under
an imported deity and reorganizing the central
coast, probably under theocratic leadership,"
he says. "But certainly, the Wari Empire was a
pretty aggressive organization and would have
been backed up by military power as well."
Other scholars argue that the transformation
that eventually led to the construction of
Pachacamac's temples and its rise as a religious
center had taken place centuries before, in the
Early Intermediate period (ca. 200 b.c.-a.d.
650), and that the site was already at that point
home to a state-level society with a stratified
class system, including military and priestly
castes, and had a well-developed material culture
of its own. This society, in turn, may have
adopted cultural practices from, traded with,
or become a client state of Wari. While direct
evidence of Wari political or military control
at Pachacamac is lacking, numerous Wariinfluenced burials, ceramics, murals, and textiles
have been discovered at the site, particularly in
and around the vicinity of the Painted Temple.
Now that it has been dated, the idol may
feature prominently in the debate. Its carved
decoration has long provided researchers with
an opportunity to examine the extent to which it
reflects a mix of Wari themes and those already
present in the Pachacamac area before Wari's
arrival. At its top, the sculpture bears a carving
of two anthropomorphic figures standing back
to back, or perhaps one figure with two faces
looking out in opposite directions, Janus-like.
The middle of the statue is crammed with depictions of animals, particularly felines, fish, and
snakes. "The human representations that adorn
the idol, as well as the animal and other iconographic motifs that cover its middle portion,
refer to symbols that we can call pan-Andean,"
Sepúlveda says. "It's difficult to know if their
meanings were the same in various places, or if
they varied across time." Even visually comparable representations, she explains, could have
held different meanings depending on context.
For instance, similar themes on the idol and on
murals identified in the Painted Temple may
have had different connotations. "We now know
Carved anthropomorphic figures (top) in the
upper portion of the Pachacamac Idol may depict
a deity or an oracle venerated in Pachacamac for
more than 700 years. The idol's center section
features depictions of both human forms (middle)
and felines (bottom), along with other animals.
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the idol was made several centuries before the
last repainting of the temple," says Sepúlveda.
"It is not clear which meanings of these motifs
were preserved in time."

hile scholars cannot say for certain
what the Pachacamac Idol was called
by those who venerated it, it does
not appear to depict one of the primary Wari
deities. Wari are thought to have worshipped
a trio of gods headed by the Staff God, a
humanlike figure typically portrayed holding
a staff in each hand, with solar rays radiating
from around his face. In many instances, he is
shown accompanied by two attendants who also
hold staffs. Isbell says that if the Pachacamac
Idol does represent a Wari deity, it does so in a
unique manner. "If it were dead-on Wari style,
it would show a recognizable figure from that
pantheon-and it doesn't," he says. "On the
other hand, certain decorative elements it does
have, such as pendent rays and feline heads, are
very reminiscent of the rays that come off the
face of the Staff God."
Archaeologist Peter Eeckhout of the Université libre de Bruxelles suggests that the idol's
iconography is not purely Wari, but rather a mix
of local central coast and Wari styles. "It's a kind
of syncretism," he says. He explains that the idol
shares characteristics with depictions of gods at
other coastal sites from the same period, such as
a human figure generally shown either as just a
head or in full body, often featuring a snakelike
headdress or braids. This figure is often surrounded by felines, snakes, and fish, motifs also
found on the idol. Colonial accounts written
many centuries later suggest that the god of the
Painted Temple was variously believed to have
been the creator of the world, an oracle, or a
deity associated with fertility.
The pervasiveness and continuity of certain
religious themes throughout the Andean world
may have been a factor in the endurance of the
Pachacamac Idol as an object of veneration for
at least as long as six centuries (a.d. 876-1533),
during which time Pachacamac itself underwent
political change and experienced periods of
temporary abandonment. Isbell says, "I think
the radiocarbon date clearly shows that whether
the idol represents the principal image of Pachacamac or not, it was there for a long, long time
and participated in a tremendous number of
changes that must have occurred on the central
coast over those centuries, spanning the Wari
Empire, through the Ychsma period, then into
the Inca Empire, and through the Inca right to
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Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2020

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