Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

of Chanchán’s palatial and administrative structures. Other
motifs alluding to water or the sea (catfish, manta rays, octopus,
crustaceans, frogs, cormorants, ducks, shells) abound in works
of ritual, funerary and ceremonial art. In pictorial scenes
depicted on cloth and pottery, human figures travel by boat,
surrounded by shoals of fish. Some figures portrayed in Chimú
vessels even ride the back of colossal fish or whales (a visual
metaphor for the ocean itself?). Such characters may allude to
actual dignitaries or to the large numbers of people who lived
from the sea (including boatmen, fishermen, Spondylus shell
hunters, and long-distance traders).
Much of the iconography has a mythological dimension.
There is a fluid interchangeability of human and animal being.
Crowned pelicans are borne on litters by bird attendants in
imitation of the Chimú nobility; they appear to be standins
for rulers and dignitaries. The "Moon Animal," another
ubiquitous magical creature, is also presented seated and
crowned like an elite. The figure is shown as an iguana (surely
derived from a reptilian character who consorts with the
Moche "Wrinkled-Face" god), but also appears in the guise
of a monkey, feline, fox or coati. Evidently the image could
accommodate diverse stories.
The lord or deity with the crescent headdress or feather
corona that is the principal icon of power and leadership in
this pan-coastal imagery is subject to infinite interpretation, as
well as to increasing standardization and simplification, over
time. The figure’s prevalence and his oceanic symbolism may
well be connected with origin myths recorded for both the
Chimú and Lambayeque peoples.
Accounts transcribed in colonial texts suggest variations of
a common tale describing the arrival of a putative historical
founding ancestor by boat or reed raft. This mythical
progenitor, named Taycanano by the Chimú, reportedly
established the royal dynasty that ruled the Chimor kingdom
through nine generations of kings. The last of these historical
rulers, Minchançaman, was ultimately defeated by the Inka
around AD 1460. The earlier Sicán groups in the Lambayeque
and Jequetepeque valleys of the far north coast, which had
been vanquished by the Chimú general Pacatnamú a century
earlier (circa AD 1375), had an equivalent dynastic myth and
primordial lord in Naymlap.
Massive cinnabar-encrusted, gold and copper funerary masks,
which are among the most stunning works produced by the
Lambayeque metalsmiths, seemingly depict the visage of this
culture hero Naymlap (or his lineage descendants) with his
characteristic winged or almandine eyes. That supernatural
eye features similarly on figures portrayed in Lambayeque
textiles, which despite strong affinities, differ subtly from
classic Chimú styles of figuration and color.
Lambayeque iconography can be elaborate and dynamic,
involving multiple personages enacting ceremonies and
scenes that condense select mythical sequences from the
ancient Moche narratives. This trait of visual complexity is
an extreme contrast to the stylized, reductive figuration of the
later period Chimú and Chancay aesthetic, where repetitive
patterning and the rhythmic application of color and color
variation triumphs over originality of motif and design.
Yet the discovery of Lambayeque textile offerings at both
Pachacamac and Pacatnamú––the two far-flung sanctuaries
that roughly demarcated the northern and southern endpoints
of the Chimor sphere of influence––reveals the extent of
cultural interplay in this region and era. These mysterious,
fragmentary vignettes yield insight into the evolution of
the broader north-central coast iconographic tradition over
five centuries, even as that admitted a rich new inventory of
symbols as well as innovative and virtuoso artistic methods for
expressing them.
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