Pachacámac, or “creator of the Earth”, was a god capable of predicting the future, worshiped by the Inca Empire in the Andes (Peru). Yellow, red and white are at least three colors with which, between the 8th and 9th centuries, the Wari civilization painted a resistant wooden statue over two meters tall as a symbol of worship of this idol. The polychromy identified on this icon of Peruvian archeology is today the only example identified with such a variety of colors, according to the study published this Wednesday in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
What is clear is that a statue of two meters and 34 centimeters has been preserved and surely idolized for 800 years
In the past, various researchers thought that the figure had only one color and that it was made of the same wood (Lucuma pouteria) than the rest of the works of the archaeological sanctuary of Pachacámac, an ancient center of devotion of 450 hectares located 30 kilometers from Lima on the Pacific coast. The idolized figure for more than 800 years, however, follows patterns that differ from other objects.
To begin with, this statue should have disappeared during the conquest of Hernando Pizarro in 1533. The Spanish denied its importance, compared the sacred oracle to the devil and wanted to destroy the vestige. Marcela Sepúlveda, researcher at the molecular and structural archeology laboratory at the Sorbonne University (LAMS) and main author of the project, explains that the conquerors did not understand that “a dirty piece of wood in a dark room” could be venerated. The scientist indicates that it is not possible to really know what happened. “What is clear is that this object was preserved and idolized for 800 years, which is an incredible fact confirmed today,” she adds.
Is it really the Idol of Pachacámac? The debates persist and new hypotheses are drawn. In 1938, among the rubble of the Painted Temple, a carved wooden figure with iconographic motifs assimilated to the divinity was found and immediately identified as this idol that was believed to have disappeared.
Unpublished traces of polychromy
New research has found that this idol has novel and unexpected features. What was initially interpreted as blood has turned out to correspond to traces of paint that are still there. “Is incredible. We can say that it is the only case of polychromy on wood in a sacred object of such relevance and of those discovered so far”, continues Sepúlveda. “This polychrome practice was more common in other supports such as murals, metals or fabrics. It is scarcely known in icons like these”, he asserts.
Radiocarbon dating is also an advance for the study of Peruvian heritage and has confirmed the hypotheses about its antiquity. To do this and also carry out its taxonomy, the archaeologists have extracted a sample of wood from a hole in the lower part of the statue. On the other hand, the analysis techniques used by researchers from the CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research), the Sorbonne University and other French institutions constitute a novel methodological contribution as they are not invasive and destructive. With a microscope and various X-ray fluorescence techniques, they identified, in addition to red, the pigments used in the white teeth of a character and the yellow traces of some headdresses.
The story of an exclusive mineral
White and yellow, colors also used on the walls of the Painted Temple of Pachacámac, were produced with mineral pigments available around the place. The red pigments come in part from cinnabar, a shiny mineral that contains 85% mercury and 15% sulfur and is associated with the political and economic power of those who used it. “We were very surprised to find this element since it is a very precious and very inaccessible pigment, whose use was limited to certain groups of individuals,” says the expert. Cinnabar is rare in the geology of the Andes and is found about 380 kilometers from Lima in the Huancavelica mine.
Any discovery about the artistic practices of this time is essential to understand the past because we have few vestiges in our hands.
Before that, cinnabar had been found in other archaeological contexts at Pachacámac and sites in the Andes from about 1500 BC. It was used to decorate wood, metal, and other wall paintings. Later, during the time of the Incas, it was sometimes used as body paint by members of the elite and warriors who wanted to appear more terrifying. In Pachacámac, this mineral had already been observed inside textiles and on funerary masks.
Peter Eeckhout, professor of pre-Columbian archeology at the Free University of Brussels, assures that exchanges have existed for a long time between the higher social classes of different localities. “It is very interesting that they have used cinnabar, but I am not surprised either. For example, we have already found in Pachacámac bird feathers from the Amazon, that is, from more than 1,000 kilometers away,” he says.
For Eeckhout, any discoveries about the artistic practices of this time are essential to understand the past because there are few remains in the hands of archaeologists. “The Pachacámac idol is clearly exceptional and its resplendent colors give new information about ancient art,” he concludes.