Pachacamac

Not to be confused with Pacha Kamaq.

Pachacamac
Location
Location of Pachacamac in Peru
Coordinates	12°15′24″S 76°54′1″W
Culture	Huari Lima Inca
Period	Middle Horizon Late Intermediate Late Horizon
Country	Peru
Region	Lima

Temple of the Sun, front side, facing the sea

The temple of Pachacamac is an archaeological site 40 km southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. Most of the common buildings and temples were built c. 800-1450 CE, shortly before the arrival and conquest by the Inca Empire.

To date, several pyramids have been uncovered; archaeologists have identified at least 17 pyramids (many of them irreversibly damaged by the El Niño weather phenomenon). Besides pyramids, the site had a cemetery and multicolored fresco of fish from the Early Intermediate period (c. 200-600 CE). Later, the Huari (c. 600-800 CE) constructed 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 stage (c. 800-1450 CE).

By the time the Tawantinsuyu (Inca Confederacy) 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 the Pacha Kamaq, the creator god. The Ichma joined the Incan Empire, which used Pachacamac as an important administrative center. The Inca maintained it 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.

Pacha Kamaq God

Temple main entrance.

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 took him into their pantheon, but considered him a lesser rival of Viracocha, their creator god.

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 he gave up the struggle and contented himself by becoming the supreme god of fish.

In popular culture

• 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 Brussles.
• 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.
• West German group Alphaville included a song named "Girl from Pachacamac" in their 2003 album CrazyShow.

References

• Mcleish, K. (1996) Myths and Legends of the World, The Complete Companion to all Traditions, Blitz, United Kingdom.

External links

• Pachacamac Satellite view @ Google Maps
• Pachacamac Museum
• Stock Photos of Pachacamac
• Visit Pachacamac (flash)
• Pachacamac in Inca times(flash)
• Pachacamac Archaeological Project
• Pachacamac Panorama Photos