WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY References

Contact

Home
MINDSCAPE represents artifactual data representative of intellectual expression, such as art, music, religious iconography, and architecture. The mindscape of the Middle Horizon reflects a substantial concern with religious models and expressions of ritual behavior with fictional roles of supernatural beings in mythology and superstitions (see "What Kind of Gods were Huari Gods?" ) This MINDSCAPE catalog provides a reference tool to organize and compare attributes of such artifactual expression.
ICONOGRAPHS are the "units of analysis" in the catalog. An artifact, such as a textile or stone carving, may consist of several iconographs. If the iconograph is well known or published with an identifiable term, then that identity will be used. In any case all iconographs are coded after an initial 'Posture Matrix' code.
Example: In 'P.1.2.201.1' and 'P.5.8.201.2', the 'P.1.2' and 'P.5.8' are Posture Matrix codes and '201' is the artifact and '.1' and '.2' are the specific iconographs on the artifact that are catalogued.
POSTURE MATRIX charts the initial coding of the iconograph. With 16 variables the matrix provides 91 possible postures. Each iconograph is catalogued with a two-numbered, posture code. This code is followed by a number that identifies the artifact. If more than one iconograph was displayed on the artifact, then each one will be consecutively numbered. The matrix allows the identification of what is known and not yet known, both important perspectives of research in discerning distinctions in ancient knowledge. *1
ATTRIBUTES list the design elements of each iconograph. The ATTRIBUTES webpage allows the researcher to compare occurences and discern patterns of similar design elements among the various artifacts.
POSTURE MAPS guide the researcher to the 'Locations' of design elements on the iconographs. Some examples are:
    P.1.1 & P.4.1 = Head only
    P.1.2 = Full body with head turned forward
    P.7.5 = Full body with head turned to the side
    P.11.5 = Full body with head turned upward


INDEX: For Posture Codes, refer to: POSTURE MATRIX.














ICONOGRAPH: P.1.2.100.1 (Refer to Posture Map: P.1.2. )
Julio C. Tello 1942 excavations at Conchopata produced the first evidence of Staff God religious presence in the Huari Middle Horizon heartland.
POSTURE
ELEMENTS: 		Face: 1.1.
Forehead: 1.2.
Eyes: 1.3.04.05.1
Cheeks: 1.4 		Nose: 1.5.03.1
Mouth: 1.6
Chin: 1.7
Ears: 1.8 		Hair: 1.9
Arms: 1.10
Legs: 1.10
Hands: 1.10 		Feet: 1.10
Torso: 1.11
Wing: 1.12
ACCESSORY AND
BAND ELEMENTS:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations: 		2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations: 		2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations: 		2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations: 		2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
REFERENCES:
Deity P.1.2.100.1 (formerly 102-1)and P.1.2.100.2 (formerly 103-1)     Menzel 1977:Figure 62     Isbell and Cook 1987:30, bottom right     Cook 1994:L·m.9
###-2     Name (date)


ICONOGRAPH: P.1.2.200.1 (Refer to Posture Map: P.1.2. )
Recognized for decades as one of the most obvious images of a deity, the staffed, front facing figure carved in stone on the "Gateway of the Sun" monolith at Tiwanaku, Bolivia epitomizes this icon's representation. Here, the icon is labelled as "Icon 200.1" (2 for Tiwanaku, 200 for the entire monolith artifact, .1 for deity image). Menzel (1977:33) labelled this icon as the "God of Thunder" after observating that Middle Horizon iconography consisted of several primary deity and secondary mythical figures in a pantheon of religious images. The Sun and Moon deities are paired in the ubiquitous Andean practice of dualism and balance, whereas, the deity that stands alone is viewed as the Thunder God (Menzel 1977:54). However, these labels are tied to Inca mythology and may only be analogous to the Middle Horizon icons. Thus, this icon may have represented the sun or thunder but it is individualized on the stone lintel as a supreme power accompanied by genuflecting attendant icons, possibly "animal spirits". I argued that this arrangement might represent icons of constellations that appear during the night to face towards the sun's daily progression. The attendants have feet to walk across or under the earth during the day and wings to fly in the night sky. I also noted that these attendants occur on Huari and Tiwanaku tapestry tunics but not the central deity; thus: "By wearing tunics displaying the attendant angel icons (Fig. 12) and headdresses of gold plume ornaments (Eisleb and Strelow 1980:Abbs.305, 306), Wari leaders could embody mythical powers of a central deity." (Knobloch 1989:116). Also: "the iconography is both political and religious with little, if any, research suggesting that Wari religion and politics were separate social processes. One pattern of iconographic use is that numerous Wari tapestry tunics display the iconography of the subordinate attendant icons in which dozens are arranged in columns of vertical panels. I suggest that Wari leaders might have worn these tunics to symbolize themselves as deity-like by being the focus of these subordinate attendant icons that are purposefully arranged to face toward the tunic's vertical central line or the wearer. In Wari society, the wearer would appear empowered by these religious symbols and elevated to a higher social status" (Knobloch 2000:388). In Alan Sawyer's 1963 Textile Museum Journal article, "Tiahuanaco Tapestry Design", the icons are also subjected to distortion from wider bands near the center of the tunic to narrower and narrower bands as they progress to the sides. Sawyer points out that this lateral distortion produces an illusion of volume or cylindrical shape. In the model that I am suggesting, the attendant icons as representative of stellar models or constellations would also display this illusion of size reduction as they progressed across the night sky. From a horizon position at sunset and sunrise, a constellation (just as with the well-known "moon illusion", see: http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/intro9.htm) appears larger than when it occurs overhead. Thus, as the earth revolves around the sun and constellations (or attendants) progress across the night sky, they appear larger nearer the sun (or deity) at the horizon and compress or grow smaller week by week as their position occurs further from the sun at its rising and setting. To complete the imagery, perhaps the Milky Way or "Amaru" was represented as staffs helf by the Deity and/ or Attendant due to its more vertical or north/south position. See below: Deity with Attendants Cosmology
POSTURE
ELEMENTS: 		Face: 1.1.04
Forehead: 1.2.
Eyes: 1.3.04.10D
Cheeks: 1.4 		Nose: 1.5.05B
Mouth: 1.6.02A
Chin: 1.7
Ears: 1.8.03A 		Hair: 1.9
Arms: 1.10
Legs: 1.10
Hands: 1.10.23A 		Feet: 1.10
Torso: 1.11.1
Wing: 1.12
ACCESSORY AND
BAND ELEMENTS:
2.___       3.1
  Locations: CB
2.22A       3.12
  Locations: CU1, 2; CL1, 2; CR1, 2; CD1, 2
2.10A       3.3
  Locations: CUL; CUR; CDL; CDR
2.10A       3.___
  Locations: CL; CR 		2.22A       3.16
  Locations: CD
2.6.10A       3.___
  Locations: CU
2.10A       3.1
  Locations: SHL; SHR
2.37A       3.___
  Locations: SSL; SSR; P 		2.12C       3.4
  Locations: P
2.6.3A       3.4
  Locations: P
2.37A       3.___
  Locations: P
2.9B       3.17
  Locations: P 		2.10A       3.3
  Locations: BL; BR
2.12A       3.___
  Locations: S1 - 6
2.33A       3.___
  Locations: EL; ER
2.9B       3.___
  Locations: EL; ER 		2.36C       3.3
  Locations: SUL
2.9C       3.3
  Locations: SDL; SDR
2.9B       3.12
  Locations: SUR
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
REFERENCES:
200.1-1     Posnansky 1945:Plates 46, 47 -- Drawing method.
200.1-1 (copy)     Posnansky 1945:Plates 46, 47 -- Carving errors.
200.1-1 (copy)     Posnansky 1945:Plates 46, 47 -- Remarks on published images.
200.1-1 (copy)     Knobloch 2000d


ICONOGRAPH: P.1.2.201.1 (Refer to Posture Map: P.1.2 )
Linares Lintel was discovered by Posnansky (1945:223) in a house in La Paz where this andesite block was being used as a door threshold and possibly by several generations. The image depicts a central deity that Posnansky believed was female and floating attendants that he also suggests may be depicting porpoise-nosed beings. Based on careful observations of the photo his schematic drawing has been updated on this webpage with several corrections. The most important are in the details of the Deity's staff, Attendant voice tufts and probabl trophy heads. The relationship of deity and attendant may be the earliest such combination in Tiwanaku art as suggested by Rowe (1971, see also Wassén 1972 for comments by Menzel). The Attendants are similar to those on the Kantatayita architrave that lacks a Deity, possibly since the doorway could have staged the appearance of a shaman/priest or possibly, mummy or statue, as an avatar of the deity.
POSTURE
ELEMENTS: 		Face: 1.1.04
Forehead: 1.2.
Eyes: 1.3.04.09C
Cheeks: 1.4 		Nose: 1.5
Mouth: 1.6.02B
Chin: 1.7
Ears: 1.8 		Hair: 1.9.01
Arms: 1.10
Legs: 1.10
Hands: 1.10.23B 		Feet: 1.10
Torso: 1.11.1
Wing: 1.12
ACCESSORY AND
BAND ELEMENTS:
2.10E       3.___
  Locations: CL1, 2, 3; CR2
2.10F       3.___
  Locations: CR1, 3 		2.___       3.20A
  Locations: CB
2.2.60.3B       3.___
  Locations: P
2.___       3.19
  Locations: SSL; SSR 		2.___       3..1
  Locations: SHL; SHR
2.10F       3.4 & 3.21
  Locations: SUR
2.___       3.4 & 3.21
  Locations: SUL; SDL; SDR 		2.10E       3.___
  Locations: BL
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations: 		2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
2.___       3.___
  Locations:
REFERENCES:
201.1-1     Posnansky 1945:Figs. 140, 140a Redrawn
###-2     Name (date)


ICONOGRAPH: P.5.8.201.2 (Refer to Posture Map: P.11.5 )
Linares Lintel Attendants. Refer to Linares Lintel Deity
POSTURE
ELEMENTS: 		Face: 1.1.04
Forehead: 1.2.
Eyes: 1.3.04.09A & B
Cheeks: 1.4.10 		Nose: 1.5.08A
Mouth: 1.6.04A
Chin: 1.7
Ears: 1.8 		Hair: 1.9
Arms: 1.10
Legs: 1.10
Hands: 1.10.23B 		Feet: 1.10.05A
Torso: 1.11.2
Wing: 1.12
ACCESSORY AND
BAND ELEMENTS:
2.10E       3.15A
  Locations: CBU
2.10F       3.15B
  Locations: CBU 		2.10E       3.15B
  Locations: CBU
2.10F       3.15A
  Locations: CBU
2.___       3.15C
  Locations: CBD 		2.6.2B       3.20A
  Locations: V
2.6.3E       3.20A
  Locations: V
2.___       3.20B
  Locations: AKU; AKD 		2.___       3.20C
  Locations: WU; WD
2.4.06.2A       3.___
  Locations: P
2.10E       3.___
  Locations: P 		2.10F       3.___
  Locations: P
2.___       3.4
  Locations: BL
2.___       3.18
  Locations: AU; AD; LU; LD
2.33B       3.___
  Locations: HU1
REFERENCES:
201.2-1     Posnansky 1945:Figs. 140, 140a Redrawn
###-2     Name (date)



ICON: hump-backed animal
Beginning as a monkey icon in Nasca art of the Early Intermediate Period Epoch 7, the image was transformed into just a head and then just eye and mouth design elements that eventually were stylized into the asymmetrical bi-colored ray motif and pendent rectangle motif found on Huari style pottery of Epoch 1B (Knobloch 2005 - Contact author for .pdf preprint copy). Thus the later Epoch 1B hump-backed animal was a possible archaism or a Huari innovation of humped animal motifs found from the Argentinian Aguada culture in the southern Andes to Recuay and Moche "moon animal" designs in the northern Andes. This icon category probably represents various animals such as felines, viscaches, dogs, foxes as well as monkeys. As such possibilities become recognized, this category will reflect those changes.
REFERENCES:
Hump-backed Animal - ALL     Lothrop 1957:Figure 143; Lavalle, et. al. 1984:79 (also Matos 1980); Cook 1987:Figures 15-16)
Hump-backed Animal - 1 (textile bag)     Lothrop 1957:Figure 64
Hump-backed Animal - 2 (textile bag)     Lothrop 1957:Figure 102
Hump-backed Animal - 3 (textile bag)     Brinckerhoff 1999:3
Hump-backed Animal - 4 (textile bag)     Lapiner 1976:Figure 519
Hump-backed Animal - 5 (textile bag)     Lapiner 1976:Figure 520
Hump-backed Animal - 6 (textile bag)     Lapiner 1976:Figure 521
Hump-backed Animal - 10 (textile)     Tello 1922:Lam. XV
Hump-backed Animal - 20 (Pacheco ceramic)     Lavalle, et.al. 1984:120 bottom
Hump-backed Animal - 21 (Fancy Chakipampa 1B ceramic jar)     Lavalle, et.al. 1984:125 upper right
Hump-backed Animal - 22 (Atarco ceramic jar)     Lavalle, et.al. 1984:139
Hump-backed Animal - 23 (NieverÌa ceramic pouring bowl)     Rowe 1974:Figure 400
Hump-backed Animal - 40 (Ancash carved stone lintels)     Lavalle, et.al. 1984:187

ICON: Ayacucho Serpent
REFERENCES:
Ayacucho serpent - 1 (modeled ceramic jar)     Lavalle, et.al. 1984:142 upper right

ICON: Flying Attendant 101 and 102
The Linares Lintel (no photos extant - see Posnansky 1945; Rowe 1971:Fig.23; Conklin 1991:Fig.1) and by design association, the Kantatayita Lintel, were recognized as architectural architraves, dated earlier than the Gate of the Sun (Rowe 1971; Menzel 1977; Conklin 1991). As depicted in horizontal position, these supernatural icons (N-canine) appear to be floating or flying overhead rather than walking or running or genuflecting like the Profile Deities on the Gate of the Sun. Three designs have been mistakenly drawn in previous publications (Conklin 1991:Fig.5; Cook 1994:L·m.56; Isbell and Cook 1987:33). In both publications the design elements hanging from the attendant's staff are not isolated rays, but represent the arms of a captive agent tied behind at the back. This agent has internal limbic rays and a belt of nested squares. [Enlarge A4 and turn upright for a better view.] The trophy head held behind the attendants is not in profile (as in Cook 1994:L·m.56; Isbell and Cook 1987:33) but in full frontal view. Also, the round nose on one type of Profile Deity is not a spiral but a circled-circle.
REFERENCES:
Flying Attendant 101/102 (Kantatayita Architrave, Tiwanaku)     Knobloch 2000d
Reconstruction with Captive Deities (Kantatayita Architrave, Tiwanaku)     Knobloch 2012

ICON: Deity 101
Shown in relief on both Tiwanaku and Huari ceramics, this Deity icon's most noticeable attribute are the bulging, black pupils. These pupils are always outlined in white. Therefore I suggest that this iconic message may be related to solar eclipses. Not only do these dramatic events last approximately 7 minutes, but they are experienced by large numbers of people over vast distances. The effect would also be devastating due to eye damage and blindness resulting from staring at the event.
During annular solar eclipses the moon is further from the earth and therefore does not block out the sun completely leaving a bright white outline of the sun's edge glowing behind the moon. Annular Eclipse
During a total eclipse the moon is closer to the earth and it's diameter totally blocks out the sun's and only allows for the sun's brilliant corona to radiate out from the edges of the moon. Total Solar Eclipse with corona Other design elements that might represent a total solar eclipse are the black-centered star like designs found on Tiwanaku keros (see Berenguer 2000:64, upper left)
The list below indicates a cluster of eclipses from 642 to 668 A.D. - a time span easily within a generation. The significance of these dates is that they correlate with John Janusek's estimate for his Late Tiwanaku IV Period (600 - 800 A.D.) and associate a kero with Deity B (Janusek 1996:Figure 3.42). As Janusek (2003:62) states, "These elaborate vessels appeared in the Late Tiwanaku IV phase but disappeared in Early Tiwanaku V." This disappearance also correlates well with the lack of solar eclipses over Tiwanaku for the next 324 years. However, if the Janusek chronology is recalibrated with CALIB 5.0.2, then this program produces later calibrated dates that would extend the Late Tiwanaku IV phase into the 10th century (Janusek 2003:Table 3.1 - at 1 sigma the cal AD dates are: SMU2278 = 670 - 890, SMU2469 = 778 - 990, SMU2289 = 784 - 987, SMU2277 = 895 - 1017). Thus, these "black pupil" Deity vessels may date to the Total and Annular Eclipses of 945, 992, 999 and 1011 A.D. An earlier version of the "black pupil Deity" occurs on a Qeya (or Late Formative or Tiwanaku III) style jar with the Deity head surrounded by avian-headed rays and positioned over two "griffin" like creatures. This early style may have documented the solar eclipses occurring during the 642 - 668 A.D. cluster of eclipses. (Janusek 2003:Fig.3.21). This jar depicts one of the earliest depictions of the a "rayed Deity head". According to Menzel (1964), the Robles Moqo example dates to Epoch 1B (possibly to the early 9th century), whereas the examples from San Jose de Moro and Huari date to Epoch 2.
These short durations of multiple eclipses may have contributed to undermining the authority of religious leaders. Their inability to appease the gods and stop such events would not only continue to be threatening to experience but may have caused general retinal damage - even blindness - in the general population of followers.

Eclipse map/figure/table/predictions courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. For more information on solar and lunar eclipses, see Fred Espenak's Eclipse Home Page: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html
The following list of total and annular solar eclipses represents only significant events that occurred between 10 - 20 degrees south latitude and 65 - 80 degrees west longitude:

613 (January 26) Annular Eclipse Pucara to Arequipa
617 (May 10) Total Eclipse Pachacamac
25 year gap
642 (January 6) Total Eclipse Tiwanaku
645 (May 1) Total Eclipse Cuzco to Nasca
663 (November 5) Annular Eclipse Tiwanaku to Nasca
668 (August 13) Annular Eclipse Tiwanaku
43 year gap
711 (April 22) Annular Eclipse Pikillaqta
717 (December 7) Annular Eclipse Huari to Pachacamac
228 year gap
945 (March 16) Total Eclipse Pisagua
968 (June 28) Annular Eclipse Maymi
24 year gap
992 (August 30) Total Eclipse Tiwanaku to Pachacamac
999 (April 18) Total Eclipse Cochabamba to Pisagua
1011 (March 7) Annular Eclipse Cochabamba to Pisagua
33 year gap
1044 (May 29) Total Eclipse Pikillaqta to Nasca
1050 (July 21) Annular Eclipse Pikillaqta to Nasca
1069 (January 25) Total Eclipse Pachacamac
1072 (May 20) Total Eclipse Pachacamac
1093 (March 29) Annular Eclipse Tiwanaku
REFERENCES:
Deity 101-1 (Tiwanaku)     Janusek 2003:Figure 3.42
Deity 101-2 (Pacheco) (copy 1)     Tello 1967:Lamina 21, top left     Lumbreras 1990:208, 212
Deity 101-2 (Pacheco) (copy 2)     Valladolid, et.al. 1984:66     Menzel 1977:Figure 120     Knobloch 2000e
Deity 101-3 (Pacheco) (copy 3)     Menzel 1977:Figure 119
Deity 101-4 (Huari)     Bennett 1953:Plate 8F, 8H
Deity 101-5 (San Jose de Moro)     Castillo 2004

ICON: Deity P.1.2.100.1 (formerly 102-1)
Deity P.1.2.100.1 (formerly 102-1)and P.1.2.100.2 (formerly 103-1)occured on large ceremonial pottery urns excavated by Julio C. Tello in 1942 and William H. Isbell and Anita Cook in 1999 at the Huari site of Conchopata, located on the eastern outskirts of Ayacucho, Per˙. Deity 102 and 103 are most siimilar to the Deity 104 depicted on an elaborate textile. Many archaeologists argue that textiles were the main media of communicating such elaborate iconography. Deities 102, 103 and 104 share the common attribute of a three-sided crown band of interlocking frets.
REFERENCES:
Deity 102-1     Menzel 1977:Figure 62     Isbell and Cook 1987:30, bottom right     Cook 1994:L·m.9

ICON: Deity P.1.2.100.2 (formerly 103-1)
Paired with Deity P.1.2.100.1 (formerly 102-1), Deity P.1.2.100.2 (formerly 103-1), this icon may occur on the same urn but no complete vessel has been published. (see comments above for Deity P.1.2.100.1 (formerly 102-1). Deity P.1.2.100.2 (formerly 103-1) does not have a belt. This pairing of a belted and beltless deity icon was suggestive of gender distinctions.
REFERENCES:
Deity 103-1     Isbell 2000:Fig.3     Cook 1994:L·m.9

ICON: Deity 104
The main attribute of this Deity icon is the three sided crown band. The Munich textile has been interpreted as a possible "calendar" representation by Zuidema (1977:221-225). The Deity Icons are similar to those on the 1942 Tello ofrenda urns from Conchopata in having the atypical crown band that outlines only the sides and top of the head. However, many attributes are not comparable (e.g., staffs, appendages, teeth, belt). This textile may date close in time to the late Epoch 1B/2. These Deity Icons also display a unique attribute of divided eye with horizontal halves that alternate the light and dark sides on the same face. Photo by P. Knobloch 1985.
REFERENCES:
Deity 104-1     Knobloch 1985b     Zuidema 1977:Fig.15.1     Bergh 1999:Fig.141, top

ICON: Kneeling Attendant C
Kneeling Attendants accompany Deity icons on the ceremonial urns from Conchopata and stone carvings from Tiwanaku, Bolivia. This association of icons is considered a thematic relationship in which the Attendant is dutifully subordinate to a more powerful Deity. (See Deity with Attendant Icons) From published images of this icon, various design elements vary among the renditions. There may be a trophy head or prisoner attached to the staff. The wing may have 4 or 5 bands. The Anadenanthera colubrina icon or bulb-based tuft may occur appended to the top, center of the crown.
REFERENCES:
Kneeling Attendant 100-1     Menzel 1977:Figure 67     Isbell and Cook 1987:30, bottom right, 31

ICON: Deity with Attendants Cosmology
The Deity with Attendants iconography may or may not model an ancient reality of hierachical rule by priests or divine rulers over their subjects. Rather, the subordinate position of Attendants in a kneeling poise and positioned on either side of a Deity supports the possibility that certain power sources within the ancient cosmology of the Andes were primary but interdependent with active supernatural agents. For example the Deity icon may represent a belief in "creator" origins or mythical explanation for natural objects and events. In order for communication to occur between a populace and such a power, shamans and/or priests could consult with intermediaries. Menzel (1977:34) referred to the Attendants as angels or ìmessengers to the godsî. For decades many scholars have interpretted the iconography of the Gate of the Sun as a potential calendar or representation of a cosmological system. The role of the moon and its phases was not mentioned in any iconographic studies. Thus, the suggestion here is that "Artisans also may have depicted the half moon phase as the divided eye on some of these nocturnal icons as it passed into a constellation" (Knobloch 1989:113). In this same article a cosmological model was presented in which the Deity with Attendants icons "formed a complete mythological explanation for the sun and stars in which supernatural animals could run across the earth, fly into the night sky and return to earth, thereby accompanying and attending to the sun deity" (IBID:116). With recent research and excavations at Conchopata and Tiwanaku, the increasing number of icons may also represent other astronomical bodies such as planets. Of course, the possibility remains that the icons represent more earthly phenomena such as thunder, earthquakes, Pachamama, fertility, etc. The following illustrations provide the background data to continue this research and attempt to discover what the possible constellations and thus, possible annual cycles and ritual activity that might have been documented in this elaborate iconography. The following diagrams map out the four major seasonal events of equinoxes and solstices as lunar phases could have occurred along the ecliptic path. NOTE: for any given year the moon could be at any point along the ecliptic on the date given in the diagrams. For example, the June solstice sky had a 1st quarter moon in 762 and 743 A.D., a full moon in 783, 764 and 726 A.D., a new moon in 779, 749 and 703 A.D., and a 3rd quarter moon in 785, 739, 720 and 709 A.D. in the positions shown in the June Solstice diagram. [NASA; Goddard Space Flight Center (Fred Espenak, author) webpage]

June Solstice Night Sky

September Equinox Night Sky

December Solstice Night Sky

March Equinox Night Sky

REFERENCES:
Deity with Attendants Iconography - 1     Menzel 1977:Figure 62, 67     Isbell and Cook 1987:30, bottom right, 31     Isbell 2000:Fig.3

ICON: Deity 104 and 105
Found on 23 face-necked jars excavated at the site of Conchopata in 1977 and analyzed by Anita Cook (1979; 1994) as the basis of a theory that Middle Horizon political structure was modeled by the hierarchical relationship between a Central Staffed Deity and accompanying Profile Attendants. As a "Central Deity Theme" Cook placed this iconographic model into Menzel's chronology thereby arguing that the Deity Theme on the Tello excavated urns dated to Epoch 1A and was followed by the face-necked jars as identified by Menzel as Epoch 1B manufacture (Cook 1994:199-202) This temporal arrangement was challenged by analysis of Huari excavated data that supports a reversed temporal order (Knobloch 1983; 1991). Deity 104 is rather simplistic and unnatural in its appearance of a human form with supernatural design attributes. More remarkable is its similarities to the Deity 105 icon incised on the back of the Ponce monolith. These similarities suggest a temporal correlation or an origin on textile tapestry that fostered the transfer of the icon. In support of this suggestion, this iconography occurred on the body of the face-necked jars suggestive of a tunic below the short shoulder-like tunics displaying the hump-backed animals. Due to a number of similarities in the following diagram, I suggest that Deity 104 and 105 may reference the same antecedent icon.
A common feature of Tiwanaku anthropomorphic statues are the hands that appear to be carved incongruous to what left and right hands would be when viewed grasping objects by a single individual. The hand on the statue's right shows the thumb and palm as though it was a left hand being viewed from the inside arm. I suggest that due to the intensively Andean practice of distinguishing gender dualities what the carvers of these statues were trying to convey was the image of the left hand only. On the statue's left side, the left hand is congruent to a normal pose whereas to maintain the "leftness" and therefore, possible gender such as male, the other hand is also depicting the left hand from its other side.
REFERENCES:
Deity 104-1     Isbell and Knobloch 2006, 2009; Knobloch 2013
Deity 104-1     Isbell and Knobloch 2006, 2009; Knobloch 2013 (Spanish version)
Deity 105-1     Knobloch 2000d
Deity 104/105     Comparison
###-4     Name (date)

ICON: Deity 106 and 107
From Pacheco, Nasca Valley, several oversized urns were discovered that display two deity icons that may represent gender differentiation. The belted, male deity (Deity 106) is depicted on the exterior with a motif of maize growing out of a square human head and the Anadenanthera colubrina icon, and, then, on the interior paired with a beltless, female deity (Deity 107) that also displays maize and A. colubrina icons. The function of the oversized urn was probably as a ceramic dipping vessel from which A. colubrina or vilca as a chicha drink with the hallucinogenic additive could be served. Menzel referred to the Pacheco urns with depictions of a male god and female goddess as antecedent to the Inca's Sun god - who came next in importance to their principal Creator god - and his wife the Moon goddess (Menzel 1977:54). The association of a deity rendition wearing a belt as male and a deity displaying maize icons as female is challenged by a tapestry textile at the Museo Nacional de ArqueologÌa, AntropologÌa e Historia del Per˙, [Wari # 7127 at: http://textiles.perucultural.org.pe/wari.htm ] This tapestry textile remnant displays a deity with a belt of a zigzag, nested triangle band and shoulder strap bands of interlocking frets; hanging from the belt are maize cobs.
REFERENCES:
Deity 106-1     Bennett 1954:Figure 82
Deity 107-1     Menzel 1974:Fig. 123; Posnansky 1957:Plate LVIIIa

ICON: Camelid Attendant
An icon more common in the altiplano area than in Huari iconography, this camelid icon occurs on carved snuff tablets, stone and pottery. The camelid appears to have the hallucinogenic plant, Anadenanthera colubrina growing from its back, though the message may be more indicative of cargo and transport of the plant. The San Pedro de Atacama snuff tablets and Bennett Monolith renditions provide another possible stylization of the A. Colubrina icon with important ramifications for its occurrence on other artifacts, including the Robles Moqo style Pacheco urns where the plant has an obvious association with maize iconography. As previously suggested (Knobloch 2001) the drinking of chicha with the hallucinogen may have been Huari's ritual practice or "drinking complex" as an alternative to San Pedro de Atacama's "snuffing complex".
REFERENCES:
Camelid Attendant 103-1     Torres 2001:Figure 10a
Camelid Attendant 104-1     Torres 2001:Figure 10c
Camelid Attendant 105-1     Posnansky 1943
###-4     Name (date)

ICON: Deity 108
Deity 108 is located on the back of the Bennett Monolith that was excavated from the Tiwanaku's semi-subterranean temple and now located at the La Paz Museo Nacional de ArqueologÌa. Rather than staffs, the deity holds up two implements associated with human heads. This deity is almost exclusively associated with snake headed rays and A. colubrina icons at its feet and to either side depicted in one of the typical rubrics of this hallucinogen's ritual art - growing from a human head motif. Though the detail of the rays appended to the sides of this square human head are currently undecipherable, the general shape and predominance in the other rays suggests that more snake headed rays were intended.
REFERENCES:
Deity 108-1     Posnansky 1943
Footnote 1

    The 16 variables of this matrix produces 3 possible variations of the head motif and 88 variations of the body motif.
    The variables are: 1) head only; 2) body (includes head); 3) head forward (with two eyes); 4) head turned
    sideways; 5) head turned sideways looking ahead of the direction of body; 6) head turned sideways looking
    behind the direction of the body; 7) head turned upward; 8) body in vertical position; 9) body in horizontal
    position; 10) legs straight; 11) legs bent; 12) no wing; 13) winged; 14) two arms; 15) one arm; and, 16) no arms.
Created by: Dr. Patricia J. Knobloch    
Last Updated:     October 6, 2021
Copyright © 2002 Patricia Jean Knobloch, 9229 Dillon Drive, La Mesa, CA 91941