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Painted throne room of Moche female leader found at Pañamarca
A richly painted and pillared throne room from the 7th century has been excavated at the Moche architectural complex of Pañamarca in northwestern Peru. The imagery on the wall paintings and on the painted throne indicates the hall was used by a high-status female leader associated with the moon goddess.
Pañamarca was the southernmost monumental city of the Moche culture, built beginning in around 550 A.D. on a hilltop in the lower Nepeña Valley. The main monumental structure is a stepped platform made of adobe bricks. There are two large adobe platforms lower on the hill, an adobe walled plaza and several other structures of adobe and masonry. The city is famed for its vividly-colored wall paintings, the first of which was discovered in 1958.
The Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca project, a multidisciplinary collaboration between Peruvian and US researchers, has been investigating the site since 2018. The 2022 season uncovered a pair of murals depicting two-faced figures wearing headdresses and holding feather fans. The two-faced figures are the only ones of their kind ever found in Moche art.
The throne room of a queen with wall paintings depicting her is also a unique find unknown on the Moche archaeological record. Dubbed the Hall of the Moche Imaginary, the walls and pillars of the space depict scenes of a female ruler: a woman on a throne speaking to a bird man, a crowned woman raising her goblet, a crowned woman wielding a scepter and a serpent rattle leading a procession of men carrying textiles. Other paintings found in the hall include a figure with a human body but spider legs carrying a goblet and a whole workshop of women spinning and weaving.
The interior of the throne features another depiction of the female ruler, this time a crowned woman with a rattle shaped like the crescent moon.
Scholars will debate whether the woman painted on the walls of the throne room is human or mythical (a priestess, goddess, or queen). But the physical evidence of the throne, including the erosion to its back support and the recovery of greenstone beads, fine threads, and even human hair, make clear that it was occupied by a real living person—and the evidence all points to a seventh-century woman leader of Pañamarca.
Another major find of this season’s excavation was a new monumental structure on the plaza with yet another previously-unknown iconographic motif: snakes entwined in a pair human legs.
The Hall of the Braided Serpents (Sala de las Serpientes Trenzadas) was also built with wide square pillars. Many of these pillars were arrayed with paintings of intertwining serpents with human legs—a motif not seen elsewhere in Moche art. Other surfaces were decorated with images of warriors, anthropomorphized weapons, and a large monster chasing a man. The Hall of the Braided Serpents underwent multiple renewal events that included copious material offerings—most notably textiles—burning events, the careful capping of floors, and the whitewashing of previously decorated walls. “Perched above the plaza, this hall offered a prominent position—almost like box seats at a theater or stadium—from which to observe the goings-on down below, while it also provided private spaces for its privileged occupants,” explains archaeologist Michele L. Koons of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
As with all the murals at Pañamarca, these will be covered for their protection and not opened to the public. The first murals found in the 1950s began to deteriorate as soon as they were exposed to air, and are now irreparably damaged. At the end of every dig season, the exposed remains are covered with roofs and windbreaks to ensure the preservation of the painted surfaces and adobe brick. Everything they find is documented with watercolors, scans and digital renderings and shared with the world on the Pañamarca Digital website.
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