Sacred Landscape, Mesocosm, and Cosmology: The Late Formative Period at Jequetepeque-Jatanca

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Bridging Time, Space, and Species: Over 20 Years of Archaeological Insights from the Cañoncillo Complex, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

How does architectural construction relate to the surrounding landscape and a broader cosmological framework? This paper discusses the relationship among architecture, geography, and cosmology at the site of Jequetepeque-Jatanca in the Jequetepeque Valley on the northern coast of Peru. This site was occupied mainly during the Late Formative period (approximately 500 BCE–100 CE) by local coastal populations, resulting in the construction of six monumental architectural compounds located on a relatively undifferentiated flat plain. Only one partially elevated structure exists at the site, a unique acropolis that radiocarbon tests and excavations indicate was the very first building constructed there. This acropolis could be understood as a mesocosm for its relationship to the surrounding sacred mountains and even celestial bodies, functioning as a specialized meeting place between the divine and human realms. We argue that the acropolis exhibits a specific cosmological relationship with the nearby mountain Cerro Cañoncillo, creating an almanac based on alignments of solstices and equinoxes that connected the site’s inhabitants to a larger cosmic framework. This paper will discuss the rationale behind Jatanca’s geophysical location and spatial considerations for its ritual practices, including an analysis of its surrounding environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bridging Time, Space, and Species: Over 20 Years of Archaeological Insights from the Cañoncillo Complex, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38402.0