Pachacamac is vast. This ancient religious and urban centre lies on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, in the lower reaches of the Lurín river valley and on the southern outskirts of Lima: capital of modern Peru. Today, the archaeological site covers 465ha. About half of its area comprises a concentration of imposing monumental architecture, fashioned from adobe and ultimately clad in stone.
The site was visited by Spaniards in the first half of the 16th century, shortly after arriving in Peru in 1531, and they described it as a temple complex and renowned oracle. The conquistadors also ranked Pachacamac among the three most important religious centres in the Inca Empire, alongside Coricancha – in the Inca capital at Cusco – and the islands of the Sun and the Moon in Lake Titicaca. These temples drew their significance from a belief that they lay at three critical locations: where the sun god emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca, where he reached his zenith above Cusco, and where he plunged into the waters of the Pacific Ocean to enter the underworld. While the sun, called Inti or Punchao, was the greatest Inca divinity, it was another god who received most veneration at Pachacamac: a god who bears the same name as the site, and to whom power over earthquakes was attributed. In the Quechua language widely spoken in the Inca world, Pachacamac means the one who animates (camac) the earth (pacha). Several Spanish chroniclers record that pilgrims travelled to the sanctuary of Pachacamac from all over the Inca Empire. Some of these visitors, after a lengthy phase of preparation involving fasting, would be granted an audience with the oracle.
From pilgrims to scholars
Given the wealth of historical information about Pachacamac and its proximity to Lima, it is no surprise that the site attracted the attention of scholars as early as the second half of the 19th century. One particularly prominent figure is Max Uhle, whose excavations were published in 1903 and provided the basis for the first chronological outline of the prehistory of the Central Andes region. The interpretations that came to Uhle’s mind during his excavations at the Temple of the Sun in the sacred compound at Pachacamac (which also contains the Painted Temple associated with the eponymous city god) and in an extensive burial area named Cemetery 1, still set the agenda for debate today.
The Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall 2009