Moche ceremonial architecture as thirdspace: The politics of place-making in the ancient Andes

Abstract

Ceremonial architecture at the site of Huaca Colorada in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, is analyzed as a ritually charged thirdspace, an interpretive move that illuminates both the creative power of place and the cultural particulars of Moche identity politics and ideological struggles. This perspective permits interpretation of how Moche monumental architecture was directly complicit in the construction of personhood, community, and power specific to the Jequetepeque Valley during the Late Moche Period (AD 600–850). Ultimately, the article demonstrates how the application of place-sensitive heuristics can improve archaeological investigations of the role of ritual performance in the creation of political subjectivities.

Deciphering public spaces in urban contexts: geophysical survey, multi-element soil analysis, and artifact distributions at the 15th–16th-century AD Swahili settlement of Songo Mnara, Tanzania

“…The archaeology of open space has challenged researchers to devise methodologies for understanding their functional, socio-political, and ritual uses within a settlement (Canuto et al, 2010;Cap, 2012;Cavanagh, 2001;Hutson et al, 2007;Moore, 1996;Parnell et al, 2002;Robin, 2002;Robin and Rothschild, 2002;Smith, 2008;Swenson, 2012;Wells, 2004). Following Stanley et al (2012Stanley et al ( : 1089, we define urban open space as -any urban ground space, regardless of public accessibility, that is not roofed by an architectural structure.‖ Open spaces can include a variety of areas such as house yards, gardens and orchards, plazas, alleys/streets, and cemeteries.…”

The Political Landscape of Early State Religions

“…The comparison above demonstrates that anthropologists stand to make valuable contributions interpreting the intersection of religion and power by investigating the production of historically varied political landscapes and by developing heuristics sensitive to the vicissitudes and potentialities of ritually manufactured places ( Swenson 2012 ). Place-sensitive heuristics, including chronotope or heterotopia briefl y sketched above, are better suited to illuminate the historical particulars of the religious programs of early complex polities than taken for granted, "metahistorical" models, including most notably chiefdom and state (A. Smith 2003 ;Swenson 2012 ).…”

“…Place-sensitive heuristics, including chronotope or heterotopia briefl y sketched above, are better suited to illuminate the historical particulars of the religious programs of early complex polities than taken for granted, "metahistorical" models, including most notably chiefdom and state (A. Smith 2003 ;Swenson 2012 ). In this light, much would be lost if analyses of Inka and Angkorian political theology proceeded simply in terms of their success in legitimating authority or the degree to which they conformed to one of Whitehouse ' s modes of religiosity.…”

“…Pilgrimages to these evocative centers, controlled access to particular sectors of the settlements (including entryways reserved to specifi c ethnic groups), the possible staging of intercommunity ritual warfare, and the use of prized Inka vessels for the prodigious consumption of corn beer variably but powerfully inculcated identities, emotions, and social divisions distinctive to Andean structures of practice and Inka strategies of statecraft (see C. Morris 1998 ). However, for the many pilgrims and laborers who migrated to these majestic sites, the centers were likely experienced as decidedly "heterotopic" spaces ( Foucault 1986 ;Swenson 2012 ). Heterotopias denote markedly other places of alternative experience and heightened emotion.…”

Crucibles of power: Forging copper and forging subjects at the Moche Ceremonial Center of Huaca Colorada, Peru

“…Therefore, ceremonial precincts and their platforms were literally sacrificed and buried in tons of sand as a prerequisite to the construction (''creation,'' ''birth,'' etc.) of new platform-complexes and associated features (Swenson, 2012). Indeed, stratigraphic analysis indicates that no more than one or possibly two platforms were in use at any given occupation phase (Swenson et al, 2011).…”