Archaeologists and restorers working at the site of Moche Pañamarca in the Nepeña Valley on Peru's northern coast have discovered a throne room with columns bearing images and evidence that it was used by a high-ranking female leader - probably a priestess or queen.
This is stated in the press release of the scientists, published in Pañamarca Digital.
Pañamarca is the southernmost monumental center of the Moche culture, a society that settled in the coastal valleys of northern Peru between about AD 350 and AD 850.
Archeology Moche is well known for its rich elite tombs, amazing architecture and artwork, and intricate religious artifacts and imagery. Built on top of a granite hill at the bottom of the Nepeña Valley, Pañamarca consists of a stepped adobe platform, two lower but large adobe platforms, a large adobe-walled plaza, and many other structures, including a brick building from the Formative period.
Panjamarca's colorful murals were first published in the 1950s. Found on plazas and platforms, they depict priests and warriors in procession, battles between supernatural beings, an unusual two-faced man, and scenes of ceremonial action involving captive humans. But there had never been a throne room for a queen before, either in Pañamarca or anywhere else in ancient Peru.
The throne room for the queen
The adobe throne is surrounded by walls and columns depicting four different scenes of a powerful woman, in some cases receiving visitors in a procession and in others sitting on a throne. She is depicted on the walls and columns of the throne room, as well as on the inner surfaces of the throne itself, and is associated with the crescent moon, the sea and its creatures, as well as with the arts of spinning and weaving.
The frescoes, discovered in July, include a rare scene of an entire workshop of women spinning and weaving, as well as a procession of men carrying textiles and the crown of a female leader.
"Panamarca continues to surprise us not only with the ceaseless creativity of its artists, but also because their works turn our expectations upside downabout gender roles in the ancient Moche world", Lisa Trever, professor of art history at Columbia University, noted.
Scholars debate whether the woman painted on the walls of the throne room is human or mythical—a priestess or a goddess. But the throne's physical evidence, including erosion of its back and recovered greenstone beads, fine threads and even human hair, suggests that a real, living person sat on it—and all evidence points to a female leader of Panjamarca.
Excavations as part of the project in Panjamarca Square also revealed a monumental structure that was not known before. The Hall of Woven Serpents was also built with wide square columns. Many of these pillars were decorated with designs of snakes entwined with human legs, a motif found nowhere else in Moche art.
Other surfaces were decorated with images of warriors, weapons, and a large monster chasing a man. The hall of entwined snakes underwent numerous renovations, which included numerous material changes, especially textiles, extensive floor coverings, and whitewashing of previously decorated walls.
"Situated above the square, this hall provided a prominent location—almost like a box in a theater or stadium—from which to observe what was going on below, and also provided private seating for its privileged occupants." added archaeologist Michele L. Kuhns of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.