Shamanism in Moche Art and Iconography - Maya Exploration Center

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individuals as the individ~~als on the te:ctiles,Early scholarshave referred to them as deities, demons and spirits.EvanHadi,ngham has suggested that they are in fact shamans intrans+ormation (Hadingham 1987; 178). The paper agrees withHadi ngham's int.erpret'ation and purposes further supportingevidence by linking the costume of the Paracas shaman with thatof the previous1 y identified Moche shaman.Figure 35 showsflying Mache shamans with animal headdress, one jaguar, one bird,,snakes extending off the waist and out of the mouth, just re inthe standard Faracas textile image.The headdress of the Faracaeshaman.;is an abstracto?d jaguar head with elungated whiskerswhich are sometimes snakes. Images painted on pottery from the';Nazca, the inheritors of Paracas c~~lture, strongly sl.~pport thisobservatl on (Fig!.~res 37-3'7).An image from a Nazca mural showsshamans trarisforming in the same costume as portrayed in theF'aracas textiles of centuries earlier (Figure 36).Though rare,images of both Paracas and Nasca shaman can 'be found in which theabstracted jaguar headdress is replaced with a more recognizabledepiction !Figure 40 and 41). The abstracted jaguar headdress wasan important enough imaye to be displayed in one of the famous. . .Nazca Lines(Figura 42).The Paracas/Nazca style of depicting shamanrs differs fromthe Mocha depictions in one important way; the incluaion ofsevered head%.They are displayed in the shamans hand or hangingoff his waist i,n many examples. Severed heads were apparently
part of the Paracas shaman's equipment or costume.A briefdiscussion of the Jivaro culture of the Eastern foothills of thsEcuadorian Andes may shed light on the practlee of headhunting.Up unti Xthis century, the Jivaro culture practiced bloodfe~tds which resulted in the decapitation and shrinking of theenemy heads. They are now broken of that habit by the Ecuadoriangovernment. The Jivaro revolted in 1599, twenty thousand strong,killing everyone in the closest Spanish village and pouringmolten gold down the throat of the unfortunate Alcalde.6s aresult, they were left alonr unti 1 anthropologist Michael J.Harner 'tuuk an interest in them in the 1950's(Hadingham 1987;163--164).':Harner spent fourte~n months among the Jivaro and acquiredsome. intriguing information about their culture. All men takecDaturata powerful hallucinogen) at a young age, around six, andacquire an ancestor spirit called an Arutam. It comes t thenovice as a menacing jag{-~ar, an anacdnda or 'a severed ~ L I an head.It lodges itself in the chest. The experience en~pwwers ndenrages the man. Within a few days of the ilcq~~isition of anArutam the novice must participate in a killing raid on enemies...Participation entitles him to ano'ther Arutam and "locks in" the,first soul.Killing is a dal.?yerous busi~iess because if not: donecorrectly the man's SOLII becomes a i.lui+ak or avenging soul.Itcomes out in the form of venomous snakes if not controlled.After death thfs head must he chopped off and shr~tnk in hot sand.
Page 1: &RH 395Spring 1994
Page 7 and 8: that Elizabeth Nenson called the Fa
Page 9 and 10: connected to shamanism and the call
Page 15: At 10,200.Ft, the site of Chavin de
Page 21 and 22: other indicators.Henson notes that
Page 23 and 24: scenes of prisoners in the process
Page 25 and 26: skeletal death figures(Henson 19723
Page 27 and 28: depicted in association with shaman
Page 29 and 30: that part of the coast.he sacrednes
Page 31: caught in the head.Once trapped, th
Page 35 and 36: 1947 -- Moche - A Pert-~vian Coasta

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