The Pachacamac Project: Social Foundations and Environmental Context of the Famed Religious Center

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale IL

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Izumi Shimada and his colleagues will conduct 10 week long fieldwork during the summer of 2003 at the famed pre-Hispanic religious center of Pachacamac just south of the city of Lima on the central coast of Peru. Pachacamac was one of the most respected and long-lived pre-Hispanic religious centers in the Andean region and today, along with Macchu Picchu, is one of the best known and oft-visited monuments of Peru. The powerful patron deity of this site was much feared even by the mighty Inkas, who often consulted its oracle. Following Spanish conquest of the Andean world and the imposition of Catholicism, the deity transformed into the "Purple Christ' and continues today to command the fervent devotion of millions of modern Lima residents. With the participation of archaeologists, geographer, historian, botanists and geologists from Japan, Peru and the U.S., this research aims to illuminate the (1) identity, organization, and roles of the residents of this cult center, and (2) the role environmental conditions played in its remarkable longevity, resilience and power. In addition, the team will create the first digital map of the site and a broader geographic (GIS) database that will allow a three dimensional reconstruction of the site and its environment as well as their transformation over time. To locate residences and other buried architecture that was built during the 1500 plus years of nearly continuous pre-Hispanic occupation, the team will conduct a survey of various areas of the site using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). To determine the exact nature of what is detected by the radar, a series of test excavations will be conducted. The documentation of past environmental conditions will be achieved through analysis of sediment cores to be extracted from the small pond situated at the western edge of the site. Early Spanish documents describe the pond as sacred and an important site for rituals. Composition and relative frequencies of pollens, diatoms, sediments, and animal and plant remains that are believed to be in the superimposed layers of sediments should allow reconstruction of local climate and ecology, including the effects of droughts and El Nino events. Given that sediment core analysis and GPR surveys have never been conducted in this region of Peru, the 2003 fieldwork serves as a pilot study to determine the viability of these two methods. Promising results will open the door to future, larger scale application at the site. This research is important for a number of reasons: It will advance knowledge on the significance of religious institutions and ideology in the pre-industrial New World and refine approaches to understanding their operation and maintenance as well as their roles in relation to political institutions and environmental conditions. The research is also important in promoting international and inter-disciplinary collaboration, as well as the training of American and other students.