Spatial Configuration in Tiwanaku Art: A Review of Stone Carved Imagery and Staff Gods

This article highlights the scenic potential of Tiwanaku stone carved iconography (South-Central Andes, ca. AD 600-1000). It argues that aspects of Tiwanaku carved imagery may be approached as potential scenes of ritual action. The paper develops by taking into account the spatial configuration of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Viau-Courville,Mathieu
Language:English
Published: Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 2014
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-68942014000200002
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Summary:This article highlights the scenic potential of Tiwanaku stone carved iconography (South-Central Andes, ca. AD 600-1000). It argues that aspects of Tiwanaku carved imagery may be approached as potential scenes of ritual action. The paper develops by taking into account the spatial configuration of the imagery that surrounds a specific set of anthropomorphs referred to as Staff Gods. An examination of Staff God imagery reveals how some elements in the iconography indicate that these personages may be human representations engaged in ritual action rather than representations of divine figures, i. e., cases of Andean divine anthropomorphism. Comparisons with Moche and Recuay scenic configurations also give further meaning to such a hypothesis.