Astronomical Meanings in Hearths from the Middle Preceramic villages of Paloma and the Late Preceramic site of Buena Vista in Central, Coastal Perú

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Illuminated Communities: The Role of the Hearth at the Beginning of Andean Civilization" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Hearths from over 50 domestic structures at the stratified Middle Archaic fishing villages of Paloma, Chilca Valley, Peru, were found within circles of house poles. Domestic structures were burned and abandoned, sometimes with an old male burned on top. Burials in the last occupation were placed with males towards the entrance, females towards the rear, and children in a line towards the Milky Way extreme. The entrance was towards the December solstice sunset. Two valleys north, in the Chillón, the Late Preceramic monumental site of Buena Vista had two ventilated hearths, one in a Mito Temple. The Mito offering chamber was finally filled with debris of a feast. Another ventilated hearth was too badly looted to make the determination of final use. The Mito Temple was associated with the rise of the Andean Fox constellation on the December solstice and equinox and shortly after twilight, with the rise of the sun over a rock carved into a human head. An alignment to the equinox was to a stone pillar carved into the shape of a condor. The structures containing the other ventilated shaft were oriented to the major lunar standstill, as was the principal pyramid containing the Fox Temple.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Illuminated Communities: The Role of the Hearth at the Beginning of Andean Civilization   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22887