Staff God

Not to be confused with Staff god.
Stamp of the Staff God from the Gate of the Sun in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. The figure holds a spearthrower with an avian hook in its right hand.

In "Southern Andean Iconographic Series" the Staff God pose is a religious icon and a standardized pose reminiscent in its way of the standardized poses in Byzantine art.[1] The pose shows a front-facing human or human-like figure with vertical attributes, one in each hand.[2] There is no uniform representation of a "Staff God". Dozens of variations of "Staff Gods" exist. Some scholars think that some of these personages are possible depictions of Viracocha or Thunupa[3] (the Aymara weather god). However, there is little evidence to support the idea that these front-facing figures do represent deities. Some researchers point to their attributes and spatial organization which seem to indicate that they are ritual practitioners. Some attributes in their hands were identified as Qirus (Andean ritual cups), Snuff trays (used in ceremonial contexts) and Spear-throwers.[4][5] The "rays" radiating or sprouting out of the faces of Tiwanaku front-facing figures appear to have approximately the value of an aureole.[6] They may represent flows and distribution of energy. At the Wari site of Conchopata a vessel was found which shows a Staff God in which the "rays" can be interpreted as a Anadenanthera colubrina tree sprouting from its head whereas the circular elements do represent its seed pods.[7]

The oldest known depiction of a Staff God was found in 2003 on some broken gourd fragments in a burial site in the Pativilca River Valley (Norte Chico region) and carbon dated to 2250 BCE. This makes it the oldest religious icon to be found in the Americas.[8]

There are scholars who maintain that the Wari-Tiwanaku Staff God is the forerunner of the Incan principal gods, Sun, Moon, and Thunder.[9] It served as the primary religious icon of the entire Peruvian Andes, particularly during the Early Horizon (900-200 BC) and beyond.[10] The worship of Staff Gods spread to the Central Andes during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE)[11] This is supported by excavated Middle Horizon artifacts that resembled the Staff-God.[12]

  1. ^ Charles C. Mann: 1491: The Americas Before Columbus.
  2. ^ Mathieu Viau-Courville: Spatial configuration in Tiwanaku art. A review of stone carved imagery and staff gods. In: Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 15
  3. ^ Kolata, Alan L. (1993). The Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-55786-183-2.
  4. ^ Mathieu Viau-Courville: Spatial configuration in Tiwanaku art. A review of stone carved imagery and staff gods. In: Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 22
  5. ^ Max Uhle: Wesen und Ordnung der altperuanischen Kulturen. Colloquium Verlag, 1959, p. 62: The staff in the figure's right hand clearly indicates the spear thrower due to the hook at the top, which - as is often the case with real spear throwers - has the shape of a bird („Der Stab in der rechten Hand der Figur bezeichnet durch den am oberen Ende sitzenden Haken, der — wie so oft bei wirklichen Speerschleudern — die Gestalt eines Vogels hat, deutlich die Speerschleuder.“)
  6. ^ Alfons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Second Part, p. 23 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
  7. ^ Matthew E. Biwer, et al: Hallucinogens, alcohol and shifting leadership strategies in the ancient Peruvian Andes. Antiquity 96.385 (2022): 142-158, p. 4
  8. ^ Hannah Hoag (15 April 2003). "Oldest evidence of Andean religion found". Nature. doi:10.1038/news030414-4.
  9. ^ Isbell, William; Silverman, Helaine (2008). Andean Archaeology III: North and South. New York: Springer Science & Business Media. p. 307. ISBN 9780387757308.
  10. ^ Henderson, Peter V. N. (2013). The Course of Andean History. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780826353368.
  11. ^ Eeckhout, Peter; Owens, Lawrence S. (2015). Funerary Practices and Models in the Ancient Andes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 9781107059344.
  12. ^ Salomon, Frank L. (2004). The Cord Keepers: Khipus and Cultural Life in a Peruvian Village. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780822386179.