Pachacamac

The griffin deity Pacha Kamaq (Pachacamc) on a Huari pot

Pacha Kamaq ('Earth-Maker') was considered the creator god by the people who lived in this part of Peru before the Inca conquest. The Inca received him into their pantheon,[1]^: 187 but he was never an equal of Viracocha, whom they viewed as more powerful.

The myths that survive of Pacha Kamaq are sparse and confused: some accounts, for example, identify him as Manco Cápac's cowardly brother Ayca, while others say that he, Manco Cápac and Viracocha were the sole three sons of Inti, the sun god. Another story says that he made the first man and the first woman, but forgot to give them food – and when the man died and the woman prayed over Pachacamac's head, to his father Inti to make her the mother of all the peoples of earth, Pachacamac was furious. One by one, as the children were born, he tried to kill them – only to be beaten and to be thrown into the sea by her hero-son Wichama, after which Pachacamac gave up the struggle and contented himself by becoming the supreme god of fish.

15th century Ychsma textile, from Peru’s central coast

Pachacamac ruins, 2014

In the 1890s archaeologists first began exploring Pachacamac. They found many enormous buildings and burial sites that had been previously looted. The first (sacred) section of the site includes temples of religious significance and a large cemetery. The second section includes several buildings which are mainly secular pyramids. In this complex of buildings there were mud-brick stepped pyramids with ramps and plazas. These buildings are dated between the late 1300s and the mid-1400s.

The three most famous pyramids are all found in the sacred sector (the first sector). These are the Painted Temple, the Temple of the Sun, and the Old Temple of Pachacamac.

According to Peter Eekhout, an archaeologist who studied and excavated the site of Pachacamac, "For decades most scholars thought the pyramids (from the second section) were religious "embassies" that housed delegations from far-off communities who came to worship, bring tribute, and make offerings to Pachacamac". However, Eekhout came to a different conclusion after his work at the site. Eekhout and his team found that the structures lacked the features that characterized religious centers of the time. He concluded that the structures were used as palaces for the Ychsma (EESH-ma), the rulers of Pachacamac.

Pachacamac Idol

In 1938, an archaeologist found a 7.6-foot-long (2.34 meters) idol, which has a diameter of 5.1 inches (13 centimeters), at the Painted Temple, an object that was allegedly destroyed by Hernando Pizarro. Carbon-14 dating found that the idol dated to about A.D. 760 to 876, the time of the Wari Empire and that it had once been painted with cinnabar.

The Huari (c. 600–800 CE) reconstructed the city, probably using it as an administrative center. A number of Huari-influenced designs appear on the structures and on the ceramics and textiles found in the cemeteries of this period. After the collapse of the Huari empire, Pachacamac continued to grow as a religious center. The majority of the common architecture and temples were built during this later stage (c. 800–1450 CE).

The Inca Empire invaded Pachacamac and took over the site around 1470. For the Inca, Pachacamac was extremely important to religion as well as an important administration center. When the Inca started their conquest, they had their own creation god, Viracocha. However, out of respect for the religion of their conquered people, the Inca entered Pacha Kamaq into their religion, but Pacha Kamaq and Viracocha were not equals, Viracocha was believed to be more powerful.[7] Still, Pachacamac was allowed an unusual amount of independence from the Inca Empire.[2]

By the time the Tawantinsuyu (Inca Empire) invaded the area, the valleys of the Rímac and Lurín had a small state which the people called Ichma. They used Pachacamac primarily as a religious site for the veneration of Pacha Kamaq, the creator god. The Ichma joined the Incan Empire along with Pachacamac. The Inca maintained the site as a religious shrine and allowed the Pachacamac priests to continue functioning independently of the Inca priesthood. This included the oracle, whom the Inca presumably consulted. The Inca built five additional buildings, including a temple to the sun on the main square.

Archaeologists believe pilgrims may have played a part in life at Pachacamac for a couple of thousand years before the Inca claimed the site as part of their empire.[2]

At sites like Pachacamac, the Spanish used local resentment of the Inca as a tactic for overthrowing Inca rule.[2]

After the Battle of Cajamarca, Francisco Pizarro sent his brother Hernando Pizarro, and fourteen horsemen, to Pachacamac to collect its gold riches. According to Cieza, the priests learned of the Spanish defilement of the Cuzco temple, and "ordered the virgin mamaconas to leave the Temple of the Sun", from where they say the priests removed more than four hundred cargas of gold, as well as from the Temple of Pachacamac. They hid the gold, and it has not appeared to this day, and it is unlikely to appear except by chance, since all those who knew, those who hid it as well as those ordered it, are dead. Hernando departed Cajamarca on 5 Jan. 1533, and returned on 14 April 1533, after defiling the temple. On the return trip through the Jauja Valley, he accepted the surrender of Chalcuchimac.[8]^{: 237–237}

"In a few years the walls of the temple were pulled down by the Spanish settlers, who found there a convenient quarry for their own edifices."[1]^: 189

• Pachacamac was the name of the ship that carried the abducted Professor Calculus in The Seven Crystal Balls of The Adventures of Tintin. In the next book, Prisoners of the Sun, Pachacamac was the name of the Sun god worshiped by an ancient Incan tribe still active in South America. In the sixth book, The Broken Ear, a wooden head of Pachacamac is exhibited in the museum of Ethnography in Brussels.
• A character in the video game Sonic Adventure is named Pachacamac after the ancient ruin.
• Pachacamac was also the name of the main villain in Juken Sentai Gekiranger vs. Boukenger, a crossover direct-to-video movie.
• German group Alphaville included a song named "Girl from Pachacamac" in their 2003 album CrazyShow.

• List of buildings in Lima

• Mcleish, K. (1996) Myths and Legends of the World, The Complete Companion to all Traditions, Blitz, United Kingdom.
• Eeckhout, Peter (2005). "Ancient Peru's Power Elite". National Geographic. 207 (3): 52–57.
• De Cieza De León, Pedro. (1998) The Discovery and Conquest of Peru: Chronicles of the New World Encounter, Duke University Press, Durham and London.
• Van Stan, Ina. (1967) Textiles From Beneath the Temple of Pachacamac, Peru, The University Museum University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
• Boone, Elizabeth and Tom Cummins. (1998) Native Traditions in the Postconquest World, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
• Ravines, Rogger. (1996) Pachacamac: Santuario Universal, Editorial Los Pinos E.I.R.L.

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