Staff God
Religious icon in the Andes / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]