<html>Duh Jukang, <i>Wak’a</i>, and Other Physical Manifestations of the Volcanic Divine: Indigenous Perceptions of Volcanism in the Barbacoan World</html>
Author(s): Ryan Hechler
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Celebrating the Contributions of Volcanologists Minard Hall and Patricia Mothes to Ecuadorian Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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Throughout Spanish colonialism to the modern, written accounts often mentioned Indigenous ontologies of volcanoes and their influence on the lived realities of communities throughout the northern Andes, especially within Barbacoan regions. The Tsáchila referred to volcanoes as duh jukang (“hill spirit”) and a poné (“shaman”) could interpret or mitigate its influence. A volcanic lake could be referred to as mudúh jukang, with papu mudúh being used to describe an “angry lake” that was dangerous to health. Colonial accounts referred to Indigenous perceptions of the Quilotoa Volcano’s regional impact: the destruction of its last major Pre-Columbian eruption and the dangers of its associated lake. After the 15<sup>th</sup> century Inka conquest of the northern Andes, the emplaced communities of the empire would use Quechuan terminology and refer to a volcano as a wak’a (worshipped landscape feature) which housed an apu (spiritual lord). Imperial communities made ritual offerings to volcanoes – Central Andean perceptions of volcanic worship that were often culturally intelligible to local colonized societies. Volcanic activity was believed to have oracular connotations and volcanoes were both feared and revered. This is an ethnohistoric study of past Indigenous perceptions of volcanoes and the lived realities of human resilience to volcanic activity.
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Cite this Record
Duh Jukang, Wak’a, and Other Physical Manifestations of the Volcanic Divine: Indigenous Perceptions of Volcanism in the Barbacoan World. Ryan Hechler. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509757)
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Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 51094