Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Alva Meneses, Nestor Ignacio
Title:
Spiders and spider decapitators in Moche iconography: identification from the contexts of Sipan, antecedents and symbolism
Published in: if part or section of a book or monograph
The art and archaeology of the Moche : an ancient Andean society of the Peruvian north coast, edited by Steve Bourget and Kimberly L. Jones
Published By: Original publisher
The art and archaeology of the Moche : an ancient Andean society of the Peruvian north coast, edited by Steve Bourget and Kimberly L. Jones
Austin: University of Texas Press. 2008. 247-261 p. ill.
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
Nestor Ignacio Alva Meneses
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2015. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Moche (SE55)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Fauna (136);
Visual arts (5311);
Burial practices and funerals (764);
Cosmology (772);
Ethnozoology (825);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The tombs excavated at Sipán in the Lambayeque Valley contained representations of spiders and anthropomorphized spider beings. In this document the iconography of spider representations from Cupisnique through Moche times in the northern and southern Moche regions is traced. It is argued that the spider represented is a north coast orb-weaving spider that has a pattern on its abdomen resembling a human face. The spider was used as a metaphor for rain, ritual sacrifice, duality, and the cycle of life and death, perhaps even symbolizing a center or axis mundi uniting the two realms.
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
17
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
se55-017
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Essay
Language: Language that the document is written in
English
Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261)
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1987
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is a ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data
Archaeologist-4, 5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
Sarah Berry; 2013
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
3000-1200 BP (1000 BC-AD 800)
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Ancash regions (north coast), Peru
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Moche (Peru)--Antiquities
