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Dedication and Termination Rituals in Southern Moche Public Architecture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Abstract
This paper assesses a set of ideological practices related to the growth and abandonment of ceremonial and administrative buildings from the southern Moche area of the north coast of Peru. The archaeological record at Huacas de Moche, El Brujo, and Guadalupito, three of the main settlements in the region, includes evidence for the deposition and manipulation of animal and human bodies, burning, and the alteration of wall iconography. These activities took place in the period between A.D. 300-750, and were related to either the construction and renovation of structures or the abandonment of monumental built spaces. The analysis of this data contributes to a better understanding of Moche ritual dedicatory behavior, contextualizing it in a broader perspective on place making and the marking of time in precolumbian South America.
Resumen
El presente artículo evalúa datos procedentes de Huacas de Moche, El Brujo y Guadalupito, tres asentamientos Moche investigados intensivamente en las últimas décadas. Este análisis revela una serie de procedimientos de celebración del ciclo existencial de los espacios religiosos y de interacción políticá de la costa norte peruana entre los ahos 300-750 d.C. Los contextos examinados muestran la importancia que el estudio de las consagraciones arquitectónicas adquiere en la investigación de la conducta ceremonial Moche, permitiendo incorporar un rico conjunto de nuevas evidencias al debate sobre el significado de la dedicación y terminación de arquitectura publico en América precolombina.
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- Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2015
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