Huaca Pucllana

One evening in Lima my sisters, a couple of cousins, and I went out to dinner at La Huaca Pucllana.

La Huaca Pucllana is a restaurant in Lima's Miraflores district, which overlooks the pre-Inca adobe structure for which the restaurant is named.

 I had been there previously, many years ago, but had not then had the opportunity to dine outside, on the patio, overlooking the huaca itself. 

The huaca Pucllana (also known in older references as the huaca Juliana) is the remains of a 1,500-year old temple complex of the Lima culture, which flourished in the area for centuries before the Yschma,Wari, and later the Incas, left their mark.

It is amazing that such a structure still survives in the midst of a modern city of nearly 11 million inhabitants.  I the early 20th Century, in fact, part of the huaca was destroyed as a brick manufacturer mined it for the clay in its adobe bricks.  Another section was demolished to make room for surrounding streets.

The first exploratory archaeological digs took place at the huaca in 1967. Finally, in 1981 sustained systematic archaeological work was begun, and in 1984 a site museum and "historic-cultural park" were established.  The 37-acre site includes the 75-foot pyramid proper, and a surrounding ceremonial/administrative sector of smaller, interconnected, buildings and courtyards.

 

 

 

 

 Archaeological investigations have revealed that the site likely began as a temple to a sea divinity of the culture we have come to call Lima, in about 500 CE.   From about 800 CE the Wari people used it as a cemetery for their local elites.  After the collapse of Wari civilization in the 12th Century the site temples appear to have fallen into disrepair for some centuries. At various times, until the Spanish rolled into town, the Yschma villagers to repair or shore up portions of the huaca, particularly on the western side, facing the sea --an echo through the centuries of the site's original purpose.

Huaca Malena

On July 21st, the same day that we visited the cave with the mysterious bones, Orlando and I traveled a bit further south along the Pan-American Highway to Huaca Malena.

Huaca Malena is a precolumbian site in the district of Asia, a couple of miles inland from the coastline.  The site was first established about 200 C.E. but subsequently was apparently all but abandoned for an extended period.  It gained new life as a Wari ceremonial center and necropolis from about 700 C.E. to about 1100 C.E.

The site consists of a large mud-brick platform, with associted terraces, altogether encompassing several acres.  It was first described scientifically in the 1920s by Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello.  Tello and his associates discovered some 300 mummy bundles at Huaca Malena, establishing Huaca Malena as one of the most important pre-Columbian cemeteries on the central coast, along with Paracas and Ancón.

Like many other archaeological sites, after initial study Huaca Malena was left largely unstudied and unprotected and several decades of unscrupulous and indiscriminate looting ensued.

I knew of the looting and thus had a sense of what we'd see, but I was unprepared for the level of destruction visited upon the place and for the sight of a relatively recently-looted mummy abandoned on the surface.

The sheer scale of the damage is sobering. The upper level of the mound has been cratered and almost all architectural features obliterated.

The scale of what has been lost to looters is evinced by the hundreds of skulls that litter the site.

Orlando and I wandered about the mound for over an hour, checking out the exposed remains and artifacts.

One notable feature, among all the piles of skulls and bones, was the high proportion of deformed skulls. Cranial deformation was practiced by several ancient Peruvian cultures and was usually reserved as a mark of high status birth.  The large percentage of them attests to Huaca Malena's importance and the high status of those who were buried there.

 There was also evidence of the sophistication of the ancient Peruvians who lived in the Mala Valley surrounding Huaca Malena, in the form of at least one trephinated skull.

Trephination, or trepanning, is a type of surgical intervention in which a hole is made through the skull to expose the brain, or at least the dura mater, and thus relieve swelling or pressure from injuries. It is, in essence, an early form of brain surgery.  The healing surrounding the opening in the skull in the photo above points to that surgery having been successful, at least insofar as that the individual must have lived for a good length of time following it.

In addition to human bones, Huaca Malena is also littered with the detritus of whatever else the looters did not want.

We found this lovely little woven bag near the exposed mummy.  Orlando, who knows textiles, was able to immediately tell that it was made from a combination of cotton fabric and llama or alpaca wool.  It was sad to know that instead of being in a museum it would just sit there and rot away.

In addition to many textile remnants, we also encountered the remains of several other types of grave goods, including corn cobs, gourds, pacae pods, and camelid bones.

We were particularly surprised when a number large oddly-shaped stones associated with graves --or at least with the pits from which mummies had been looted-- turned out to be whale vertebrae.  Where they grave offerings?  Grave markers? A sign of special status?  However they were intended, they were certainly impressive.

Pachacamac

This morning Wily, Helba, my dad, and I headed off to Lurin for lunch and to visit the new museum at Pachacamac.

Pachacamac is a 1400 acre archaeological site 40 km south of Lima at the edge of the Lurin Valley. It was first settled in about AD 200, and was one of ancient Peru's primary religious piligrimage sites for over a thousand years, until the Spanish Conquest.

 The main idol of the temple of Pachacamac

The site was dedicated to the earth-creator god, Pachakamaq, who was worshipped far and wide across ancient Peru, and by many successive cultures, including the Ychma, Lima, Wari, and eventually, even, the Incas. 

The remains of the Palace of Taurichumpi, last Inca administrator of Pachacamac

Reconstructed Inca-period structures which housed the "chosen women"

The site museum is pretty much brand-new, having been opened earlier this year and it is a big improvement over the rather small and wear-worn one that had been there previously.

The new museum does not have a great many objects on display, but those it does have are very nice pieces and are arranged and selected to give a very good impression of the cultures who occupied Pachacamac and of the special nature of the site for them.

All in all, it was a great visit.

Inca-period footwear

Inca feathered headdress

Wari-period ceramic "gourd" offering

Grave covering, with spndylus shells brought from Ecuador

Spndylus and cotton necklace, and silver miniature offerings

Inca-period, male and female gold figurines

Lima Zoo - Parque de las Leyendas

Yesterday Liz and I ventured to the Parque de las Leyendas -the "Park of Legends"- which is, in fact, the Lima zoo.

Built in 1964, the zoo was designed to showcase the fauna of Peru's three major natural regions: coast,  highlands, and jungle.  Of the three, the jungle section was, and still is, the centerpiece of the zoo.  Densly planted, it was designed to give visitors the impression of being in a jungle, and included a replica native village on an island.

Naturally, since I was a child it has been my favourite part of the zoo.

Red-bellied piranha ( Pygocentrus nattereri)

Male Andean cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus), Peru's national bird.

White caiman (Caiman crocodylus).

Coatimundi (Nasua nasua)

Maquisapa or Pruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek).

Huacari

Taricaya turtles (Podocnemis sp.)

Saki (Pithecia sp.,)

That part of the park has been significantly revamped in recent years, and its overall appearance has improved quite a bit.  We noticed that the animal population is much reduced, indicating that the zoo is not undertaking collecting from the wild to replace animals that have passed away.  In one sense that is a good thing, and is in line with modern zoo practices (which emphasize trading among zoos instead of wild colllection), but it also means that some animals are fated to live solitary lives in their enclosures, which for animals such as monkeys, otters, and capybaras could be quite stressful.  It also means that the zoo has no chance of establishing breeding populations of those animals

 Next to the jungle section, the Sierra or highlands portion of the park is the most developed in terms of giving a sense of place.  In the 1990s they built it up to resemble an Andean village, which is a nice touch.  The old replica mine has been preserved, and a favourite attraction in this section of the park (however, we skipped it this time).

Male Andean condor (Vultur gryphus)

A shot in which all four New World camelids can be appreciated.  From L to R: guanaco (Lama guanicoe),
vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), alpaca (Vicugna pacos), llama (Lama glama), and two more vicuñas.

 Another very distinctive feature of the park is that it emcompasses a significant portion of the ruins of what was once the ceremonial and administrative center of the precolumbian city of Maranga, with archaeological sites that date back 1,000 years or more, and go on up through the Inca occupation of the valley (in fact, most of what is visible today dates from the Inca period).

Huaca Tres Palos

Huaca La Cruz

15th century Ychma/Inca vase with an octopus motif

With ample water, treetops, and food supplies, the Parque de las Leyendas is also prime bird habitat, specially in the jungle section, which is just awash in the sounds of wild birds in the trees and bushes.

The huacas, or ruins, also serve an unexpected function as some of the few remaining habitats for native species of lizards and geckos. In fact, the whole of the park serves that purpose for other small animals including several snake, toad, and frog species.  When the zoo was founded it was surrounded by agricultural lands -someof which still received water via precolumbian canals!- and fallow fields.  As the area around it was urbanized those animals found refuge in the park.  In fact there is one species of llizard that is endemic to the park and to just two or three other huacas in the city.

"Castillo de Huarmey" exhibit at the Lima Museum of Art

After lunch at the Sheraton Hotel with Juan Ramon, Liz and I walked to the Lima Museum of Art (MALI) where there was an exhibit of artifacts recovered from the ruins of a Wari-period palace at Huarmey, north of Lima.

The "Castle" was a stepped-pyramid shaped temple built some 1,200 years ago, and is the first unlooted tomb of nobility of the Wari culture that has been yet found by archaeologists.  It contained the remains of 63 individuals, of which 58 were females and included the bodies of three Wari queens or high-ranking noblewomen.  Over 1000 artifacts were also recovered - including the pieces depicted in the photos below.

The finds are significant because they have brought to light some previously unknown or unconfirmed facets of Wari life and cultural practices.  For example, they have allowed archaeologists and historians to glean a better view on the status of women in Wari culture. They have also confirmed that the Wari buried their notables with an assortment of grave goods, including perhaps human sacrifices, as well as the strengthening the theory that the Wari played a role in the decline of the Moche culture.

Wooden ear spools decorated with turquoise, sea shells, and other materials.

Gold ear spools.

Painted leather shoe.

(More on the discovery can be read here:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130627-peru-archaeology-wari-south-america-human-sacrifice-royal-ancient-world)

Casa Bodega y Quadra Museum

On our trip to downtown this afternoon we took the opportunity to visit the recently opened museum at the Bodega y Quadra House, next to the old train station behind the Presidential Palace.   The house, or rather its remains, was the home of the Bodega y Quadra family in the 17th and 18th Centuries.  The patriarch of the family, Tomas de la Bodega y Quadra, purchased the property after the devastating earthquake of 1746.  The house, like so many others, had been damaged and thus the property was available at a fraction of its previous value.  Bodega y Quadra, nontheless, felt that it held promise, as its central location offered advantages given his commercial ventures.

Lima in 1685

Detail of map, showing  the area near the main square.
 The large 4-courtyarded structure is the government palace.
 The Bodega y Quadra House is the second to the left of the
 numeral 4, on the near side of the street.

Tomas, who was born in Spain, married the limeña Francisca de Mollinedo y Lozada Agüero. Together they had three children: Tomas Aniceto, Alberto, and Juan Francisco.  It is the latter of these who brought fame to the famil;y and made the site historically significant, in addition to being so archaeologically.

Remains of the colonial-era structure

Colonial-era floor

 Juan Francisco (1744-1794) upon reaching adulthood he entered the Spanish Royal Navy at Cadiz, whereupon he was detached to the Pacific fleet attached to the Viceroyalty of New Spain at San Blas, Mexico.

In 1775, Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra was put in command of the Sonora (also called the Felicidad), one of a two-vessel expedition sent by the Spanish crown to explore and lay claim to North America's northern Pacific coast, in light of Russian advances across the Bering Strait.

After the expedition leader, Bruno de Heceta, turned back after an attack by Quinault Indians in present-day Washington state, and the onset of scurvy amongst the crew, Bodeda y Quadra continued northward, eventually reaching the neighborhood of present-day Sitka, Alaska.

Bodega y Quadra was thus able to draw the first relatively accurate maps of the Pacific Northwest coast.  In the process, he sailed over and noted the location of a reef that now bears the name of his ship, the Sonora, discovered what we today call Vancouver Island, as well as the bay in California that now bears his name: Bodega Bay.

The museum is evidently a popular school field trip.

The Bodega y Quadra home itself was remodeled, torn down, built-over, several times in the intervening centuries, housing, over time, a butcher shop and cobblers, among others.   In recent years, the Municipality of Lima took an interest in the site and funded its archaelogical excavation and the establishment of a site museum, which just opened earlier this year.

Colonial clay pipe bowl

Colonial stoneware jars and bottles