Ritual as Inter-Action with Non-Humans: Pre-Hispanic Mountain Pass Shrines in the Southern Andes.

AXEL E. NIELSEN; CARLOS I. ANGIORAMA; FLORENCIA AVILA

Rituals of the Past. Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology

University Press of Colorado

Año: 2016; p. 241 - 266

Focusing on the archaeology of mountain passes of the Southern Andes as an example, this paper explores the kinds of beings that inhabited the world of past peoples. The first part characterizes to the rituals presently conducted on mountain passes of the southern Andes, highlighting the religious importance of these places for travelers. The second part presents other archaeological evidences documented on mountain passes across the area, putting emphasis on offering pits, ?sepulchers? (Nielsen 1997), or ?artificial hollows? (Pimentel 2009). Interpreting these sites as shrines --places where non-humans are addressed?the third section discusses their possible meanings and the agencies they may have engaged.