Crafting and ordering the sacred space: Landscape, religion and political organization of the Manteño Society of Costal Ecuador.

Summary

Powerful chiefly elites seem to have been always concern with “crafting “ themes of ideological order to convince followers of their divinity character and justify being at the top of social and political hierarchy. This concern in some instances have resulted in the “institutionalization of belief systems forged by these elites. In coastal Ecuador, prior the Spanish conquest, the Manteño society developed a religion system that was based on the creation of a sacred landscape, around which, they organized their settlements. Placing temples on elevations with clear view to the ocean, and configuring islands as pilgrimage places, are some of the main ways Manteños ordered the space. In this presentation I will focus on discussing the development of the Manteño religion landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• The Rise, Spread, and Dominion of Human Institutions

Keywords

Spatial Coverage