Discovery at Cardal, Peru of an Initial Period Polychrome Frieze of the Manchay Culture

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the 2018 field season, the authors unearthed a portion of a large polychrome frieze at the U-shaped civic-ceremonial center of Cardal in the Lurin Valley of Peru. This talk provides a brief description of the excavations and its discovery. The frieze was located on the lower terrace of the right arm of the platform complex and was buried by the construction of a later circular plaza. The frieze consisted of incised and painted motifs on the plastered interior face of an earlier circular plaza dating to approximately 1100 BC. The frieze was subsequently covered by a layer of thick clay plaster painted with red pigment. Two sections of the frieze were exposed by removing this final layer and they reveal monstrous supernaturals combining arachnid, feline and avian elements. The content of the frieze confirms the distinctive nature of the religious iconography of Manchay culture centers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25281