The importance of the sea in Lima religion: an interdisciplinary proposal

Abstract

This article proposes the existence of a cult dedicated to a female sea deity on the Central Coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period (200-700 AD). This research is based on archaeological evidence of ritual activity as well as ethnohistoric, ethnographic, and linguistic data that supports the proposal. A goddess of the sea, with a court of marine life, linked to the feminine aspects of the cosmos could have had Huaca Pucllana as one of its centers of worship, with the abundance of figurative and symbolic marine representations, as well as the evidence for the social role of women and the importance of marine resources. It is worth noting that this cult somehow managed to transcend the decline of Lima
culture and achieve cultural permanence into the Middle Horizon.