Emily Chan
On the northern coast of Peru, archaeologists discovered a throne room that may have belonged to an ancient queen of the Moche culture about 1,300 years ago.
The Moche were an Indigenous civilization that thrived between 350 and 850 C.E. They occupied a site in Pañamarca, where the room was found.
Pañamarca was rediscovered in the 1950s and contains adobe platforms, walls, temples, and murals.
Since 2018, researchers with the Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca research program have been studying the Moche site.
During their most recent survey, they uncovered an adobe throne room dating back to the seventh century.
It was inside Pañamarca’s Hall of the Moche Imaginary. The room’s walls and pillars are decorated with painted scenes featuring a “powerful woman.”
In one of the scenes, she is receiving a line of visitors. Another one depicted her sitting on a throne. The paintings suggest that a female ruler used the space. The woman seemed to be associated with the sea, the crescent moon, and craftsmanship.
One of the murals showed a workshop of women spinning and weaving while a line of men carried textiles and the female ruler’s crown.
“There is not a surface in this area that is bare,” said project archaeologist José Antonio. “Everything is painted and finely decorated with mythological scenes and characters.”
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