Columbia Archaeologist Unearths ‘Thrilling’ New Findings in Peru

A graduate of Columbia College took part in the dig, which found evidence that female leaders in ancient Peru had more authority than known.

By
Christopher D. Shea
November 15, 2024

Early this past summer, at an archaeological site about 250 miles north of Lima, Peru, Columbia art history and archaeology professor Lisa Trever and her longtime collaborators watched intensely as a team of trained conservators on their project meticulously pulled away layers of sand and stacked adobe bricks that had been put in place some 1,300 years ago.

For about a week, Trever and her archaeological team worked with the conservators to slowly remove those layers, gradually revealing something that shocked them all: a throne room, adorned with painted images of a powerful woman.

It was a “thrilling experience” for Trever, who, since her undergraduate years, has been studying the Moche culture of Peru, a civilization that made its home in the region’s north-coastal valleys from around AD 350 to 850. Over the course of several weeks, the excavations unearthed the throne room and another royal hall, both of which were constructed around AD 650. Together, the discoveries deepen scholarly understanding of the Moche culture, and confirm the growing consensus that women held more power in the society than most scholars have heretofore recognized.

“There’s a tendency in the field to call high-status Moche women with a particular kind of appearance ‘priestesses.’ The idea is that they served in religious ceremonies by offering a sacred goblet to a more powerful authority,” Trever said in an interview. “But with these findings we now see such a woman in a much wider range of contexts: raising a scepter, enthroned within a temple, taking the shape of the crescent moon, and raising a goblet for her own use without apparent deference to anyone else. Together with the discovery of the throne room, this new evidence points to the existence of a woman, or a lineage of women, who held broad authority at Pañamarca during the seventh and eighth centuries.”

A Site Long Known About But Unexplored

Pañamarca—which was founded as a Moche royal and religious center around AD 550 with even more ancient foundations that date back to at least 300 BC—has never been lost.

Unlike certain ancient Maya cities that over time became buried below jungle growth and have only recently been rediscovered by researchers, Pañamarca sits prominently on a hilltop above an area now dominated by commercial sugar cultivation. Mangoes, avocados, asparagus, and blueberries also grow there, and support much of the local economy.

Painted architecture within the Hall of the Moche Imaginary revealed in 2024. Photograph by Lisa Trever

The site has always been part of the local public imagination, although many of its structures have been covered by windblown sand and adobe bricks put in place more than a millennium ago, in the waning years of the Moche civilization. The first report about the site’s murals was published in the early 1950s by Richard Schaedel of the University of Texas, who published images of its vibrant wall paintings of priests and warriors, ceremonies, and battles between supernatural beings. Pañamarca, near the small town of Capellanía, is the southernmost monumental site of the Moche people, who lived in valleys near the coast around the region.

Trever’s interest in Moche culture began in 1998, when, as an undergraduate, she received a grant to do an archaeological field school in northern Peru. “One thing led to another,” Trever said, and the culture became the primary focus of her graduate work, and then of her career.

Trever’s 2010 dissertation focused on the site, as did her 2017 book, The Archaeology of Mural Painting at Pañamarca, Peru. When she and her team began their excavation work at the site this June, she knew they would find more painted architecture, but no one knew what it would depict.

A Planned Dig Turns Up Stunning Findings

In their excavation this summer, Trever and her team uncovered two major new halls: the throne room and another royal hall.

The team dubbed the throne room “The Hall of the Moche Imaginary.” The pillars in the hall depict a vast array of images of processions and mythical battles, together with the newly documented images of the powerful woman, as well as a painted scene of noble women spinning, twisting, and weaving fine cotton textiles. The team recovered human hair, loose beads, and bits of thread from the throne itself—where the backrest showed erosion from extended periods of use—suggesting that it was a seat by a real person, perhaps the female leader shown in the paintings. Although earthen thrones have been found at other sites, this is the first time a throne room decorated explicitly for a powerful woman has ever been discovered in Peru.

Painting of the crowned woman raising a goblet, on the exterior of the painted throne discovered within the Hall of the Moche Imaginary in 2024. Photograph by Lisa Trever

“We were all astounded by the repeated appearance of this female figure,” Trever said. The figure was first seen on an exposed wall at Pañamarca in 1958. But that mural crumbled within a few years due to a lack of conservation planning, as Trever discusses in her first book. Methods have improved dramatically in recent decades. But until this summer’s discovery, the group had no idea that the woman would appear with the prominence or frequency she did, or that an entire room would be dedicated to her.

In addition to that chamber, the group discovered another room that they call the “Hall of the Braided Serpents,” which features pillars covered in paintings of snakes with human legs, images of warriors, images of weapons with human arms and legs, and a painting of a monster chasing a man. Located above the site’s plaza, the hall seems to have been used by privileged members of society to preside over what was happening down below.

Figures painted on a pillar within the Hall of the Moche Imaginary. Measured watercolor made on site by Pedro Neciosup

The team’s most significant finding to date is the throne room, Trever said. Excavations since the 1990s of royal Moche sites have hinted that women played an important role of authority in the society. But there’s been little traction overall in moving away from referring to powerful women as “priestesses,” which Trever explains as a term that implies religious service. Elite men discovered in royal tombs at other Moche sites, meanwhile, are referred to as lords or rulers.

“This finding is confirmation that women did hold real social authority beyond being religious attendants akin to ‘chalice bearers.’ At the same time, it would be wrong to think that Moche leaders would have separated ‘church and state’,” Trever said. Whether these women were warrior-queens, or divine rulers, remains one of the team’s active research questions.

An International Research Team Includes a New Columbia Alum

Trever led the research along with Peruvian archaeologist Jessica Ortiz Zevallos, who directs the Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca research program, and Michele Koons, director of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

The project’s team of conservators—César Alfredo Velásquez, Blanca Sánchez, Alex Clavo, and Megan Salas—played the crucial role of meticulously peeling back the adobe construction fill that was put in place to cover the paintings when later generations renovated and renewed these spaces. The works is also made possible by project archaeologists José Antonio Ochatoma Cabrera, Gabriela De Los Ríos, and Amy Gillaspie.

With a grant from Columbia’s Institute of Latin American Studies, Trever hired Pedro Nesiosup, a Peruvian archaeologist with extensive fine arts experience, to create measured pencil and watercolor illustrations of their findings, which can be difficult to understand from photographs alone.

Riley Tavares, who graduated from Columbia College in the spring, joined the dig in July after working with another professor, Francesco de Angelis, on an excavation project at Hadrian’s Villa near Rome. Tavares learned about the Pañamarca project while taking Trever’s class on art and architecture in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. Her work in Peru primarily consisted of documenting the conservation of the painted architecture and learning how to treat artifacts recovered from the excavations. Tavares hopes to pursue a career in art conservation for a museum or private collection, and is currently taking post-baccalaureate classes in chemistry in order to apply for a master’s programs in the field.

In past seasons, Columbia doctoral students Brandon Agosto and Brendon Murray participated in the archaeological project at Pañamarca. But the 2024 season was the first to include a recent Columbia College alum. Trever is applying for internal funding to extend more opportunities to Columbia and Barnard College students next year. “In really no time at all, Riley became a valued member of the team,” Trever said. “Her contributions to this project were utterly essential to its success.”

Lisa Trever stands, with research assistants Joseph Senchyshyn and Riley Tavares, behind the painted throne within the Hall of the Moche Imaginary. Photograph by José Antonio Ochatoma Cabrera

For Tavares, the most striking part of the Peru work was how vibrant the paintings were, especially compared to those at Hadrian’s villa, which have degraded severely. “Everything was so well-preserved,” she said. “I was speechless.”

The Research Continues

Trever and her team aren’t the only ones excited about their work. “I’m just wondering what kind of unbelievable discoveries will be made in the near future,” Gabriel Prieto, a professor of anthropology at the University of Florida who was not involved in the research, told The New York Times in a story they published about the findings.

Trever and her team hold a five-year permit to explore the site; four years still remain. The work has been funded by Columbia, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and the National Geographic Society. The fieldwork requires extensive planning in collaboration with Peru’s Ministry of Culture to ensure that they are following all protocols, documenting their progress as they work, and carefully conserving the site to protect it from damage. For now, conservation protocols require reinterring the painted architecture at the end of each intervention, to ensure its long-term preservation.

Pañamarca panoramas, aerial drone photography by José Antonio Ochatoma Cabrera

The site is open to tourists, but since the mural paintings cannot be left exposed for visitors Trever’s team is working to develop different ways to make the work accessible, including plans for films and exhibitions in the United States, France, and Peru. They document their efforts on the project’s website, and engage with English- and Spanish-speaking publics on Facebook and Instagram.

Trever is looking forward to the work that lies ahead. “Even within five years, we’ll still just have scratched the surface,” she said.