Every Day Hath a Night: Nightlife and Religion in the Wari Empire, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "After Dark: The Nocturnal Urban Landscape & Lightscape of Ancient Cities" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

What was daily life like after sundown in the ancient city of Wari, Peru? What events took place and who was involved in them? In this paper, activities of the night and the sacred rituals that occurred in the ancient capital of the Wari Empire are explored from evidence that denotes the advanced practice of astronomy. The observation and movement of the stars, the phases of the moon, and the position of the planets can be seen only when the sun is hidden. The presence of megalithic tables, little pots dug into the rock, and evidence of intense burning associated with ceremonial enclosures in the city were some of the constituents of nocturnal rituals. These activities are associated with representations of nocturnal deities or the underworld that are known in the Andean world as ccoa (winged feline), the amaru (snake) and the owl, which at night had absolute control over life and death.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• After Dark: The Nocturnal Urban Landscape & Lightscape of Ancient Cities   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24302