Pachacamac, famous god venerated by the Incas in his dedicated temple, was represented by a statue of more than two meters in carved wood and colored in red, yellow and white.
The Idol of the Inca god Pachacamac was sculpted and colored with mysterious pigments.
Born from the union between the Sun and the Moon, the god Pachacamac founded according to Inca mythology the peoples established along the coasts of Peru. Following the creation of the first Men by the god Kon, Pachacamac took power and transformed all humans into monkeys, before shaping the first two representatives of the new humanity, a man and a woman, without giving them food. Succumbing to hunger, the man died, leaving alone the woman who soon after gave birth to the son that the Sun gave her by impregnating her, a child who taught her the nutritional benefits of the wild plants that abounded in the environment. Furious that the woman had venerated the Sun rather than him, Pachacamac killed the child whose body became fertile land, dedicated to the cultivation of corn and all the plants that we cultivate today.
A statue of Pachacamac found in 1938
The god "Animator of the Universe", if not considered by the Incas as its "Creator", was celebrated from the year 200 AD in the ceremonial site of Pachacamac, which over time became time a place of pilgrimage for many inhabitants of the Peruvian coast who came to consult the oracle. In the central "Painted Temple" of this site, dedicated exclusively to the god, a 2.34 meter high wooden statue representing the deity was found in 1938.
The imposing "Idol of Pachacamac" struggles to reveal its secrets, and in particular that of the mysterious red colorings that adorn it in several places. However, the pigments did not resist researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, the National Museum of Natural History and the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques-Chirac, who traced the origin of the famous red of the statue and carried out the first carbon 14 dating carried out on the object.
Born from the union between the Sun and the Moon, the god Pachacamac founded according to Inca mythology the peoples established along the coasts of Peru. Following the creation of the first Men by the god Kon, Pachacamac took power and transformed all humans into monkeys, before shaping the first two representatives of the new humanity, a man and a woman, without giving them food. Succumbing to hunger, the man died, leaving alone the woman who soon after gave birth to the son that the Sun gave her by impregnating her, a child who taught her the nutritional benefits of the wild plants that abounded in the environment. Furious that the woman had venerated the Sun rather than him, Pachacamac killed the child whose body became fertile land, dedicated to the cultivation of corn and all the plants that we cultivate today.
A statue of Pachacamac found in 1938
The god "Animator of the Universe", if not considered by the Incas as its "Creator", was celebrated from the year 200 AD in the ceremonial site of Pachacamac, which over time became time a place of pilgrimage for many inhabitants of the Peruvian coast who came to consult the oracle. In the central "Painted Temple" of this site, dedicated exclusively to the god, a 2.34 meter high wooden statue representing the deity was found in 1938.
The imposing "Idol of Pachacamac" struggles to reveal its secrets, and in particular that of the mysterious red colorings that adorn it in several places. However, the pigments did not resist researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, the National Museum of Natural History and the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques-Chirac, who traced the origin of the famous red of the statue and carried out the first carbon 14 dating carried out on the object. These results were published in PLOS ONE on January 15, 2020.
A fully engraved and colored wooden statue
During the devastating passage of the conquistador Hernando Pizarro in the Andes of the Inca Empire, the Spaniard and his troops plundered temples, houses and tombs of the site of Pachacamac in search of the gold and silver promised by the emperor. Inca Atahualpa in exchange for his freedom. It was therefore legitimately believed that the Idol of Pachacamac had been destroyed, until its discovery in 1938 where the Incas themselves had left it:in the Painted Temple. An international team of French, Peruvians, Chileans and Americans was able to carry out the first unprecedented, non-invasive and non-destructive analyzes of the polychromy of the idol, which shows numerous traces of red, yellow and white colors.
The statue is divided into three clearly identifiable sections. The upper part consists of two human figures dressed differently and facing forward, standing side by side. The first, called "Personaje A", for "Character A" in Spanish, wears a feather headdress with red and yellow traces, and has traces of red on her face and body. The second, "Personaje B", wears a headdress of snakes with red markings, and has red and white on her face, especially on her teeth. The central segment of the pole bears multiple richly dressed human figures, animals and geometric patterns, with traces of red and yellow. The third segment, the lowest, is undecorated and could be the part inserted into a pedestal.
Traces of paint on the Idol of Pachacamac © MARCELA SEPULVEDA / ROMMEL ANGELES / PLOS ONE
The red spots, remnants of sacrificial blood?
After analyzing the pigments, the scientists determined that the red color was due to the presence of a mercury mineral, cinnabar, and not blood, as was initially believed. "While the yellow and white pigments used for the Painted Temple murals were produced at Pachacamac from mineral pigments available around the site, the occurrence of cinnabar in Andean geology is rare and none have been found around the Pachacamac site, so it is highly unlikely that its presence on the buried idol occurred naturally “, can we read in the publication.
Indeed, no trace of cinnabar is encountered within 380 km of the Pachacamac site, while other very similar color pigments were available without having to travel such a distance. So why source so far away? The scientists explain in their study that "the choice of cinnabar was probably associated with its brilliance, but we cannot rule out specific knowledge related to its circulation and production. In the red color of the idol, we let's see a material that probably combines symbolic and economic dimensions" . Spiritual, religious, political and economic intentions were thus simultaneously carved into the wood of the statue:the worship of the Animator of the Universe and his oracle deserved nothing less than the use of pigments transported at the cost of consequent efforts, which also participated in testifying to the political and economic power of the Inca Empire over a very large territory.
Carbon 140 dating confirms preservation over 700 years
The first dating of this type carried out on the object corroborates its 700 years of existence. According to the study, the wooden pole was cut and most likely carved by the Waris, the civilization that predated that of the Incas, during the 8th and 9th centuries, in the year 731 and indicates that a form of worship of this culture would have been introduced and then consolidated. Although this discovery does not make it possible to specify the exact provenance of the idol, whether it was carved on the site or imported, it does provide valuable information as to the meaning of the idol for those who venerated it. .
The fact that the idol has been maintained over time despite possible changes in ceremonial practices at Pachacamac indeed serves to underscore its cultural significance...Another way of ascertaining the extent of Pachacamac worship, and that doesn't involve this one using carbon-14 dating? You can dive back into the adventures of Tintin:the Temple of the Sun refers to it directly. But don't expect to spot the two-meter statue there, visibly forgotten by Hergé!