essay

The Chotuna friezes and the Chotuna-dragon connection

northern dynasties : kingship and statecraft in chimor: a symposium at dumbarton oaks, 12th and 13th october 1985Washington, D.C.Published In 1990 • Pages: 275-296

By: Donnan, Christopher B..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
At Chotuna in the Lambayeque Valley there are friezes in a courtyard to the northwest of Huaca Gloria preserved by windblown sand. Radiocarbon dates are provided, as well as drawings of the courtyard and friezes. The friezes are compared to similar ones at the contemporary site of Dragon in the Moche Valley, and reference is made to similar motifs in Moche and Chimu ceramics. The iconography of the Chotuna friezes may have been copied from painted textiles that served to disseminate a complex iconography throughout a wide area. This would account for the blurring of detail on the Chotuna friezes when compared with the ones at Dragon in the Moche Valley, and indicates the artists were unfamiliar with the images at their source. The arched, double-headed serpent with a human figure underneath first appeared in early Moche, and use of the motifs appears to have spread north from around the Supe Valley.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Visual arts
Archaeological excavation methods
Cultural participation
Acculturation and culture contact
Woven and other interworked fabrics
Chronologies and culture sequences
traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Chimu
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2015
RegionThe area the document pertains to
South America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Central Andes
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Archaeologist
Document Rating 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.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Sarah Berry; 2014
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1980-1982
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
900-650 BP (AD 1100-1350)
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Chotuna, Lambayeque district (Lambayeque Valley) and Dragon, La Esperanza, Trujillo (Moche Valley), La Libertad, Peru
NotesAdditional notes
Christopher B. Donnan
Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-296)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
89023336
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Chimu Indians--Politics and government--Congresses
Chimu Indians--Antiquities--Congresses
Chan Chan Site (Peru)--Congresses
Peru--Antiquities--Congresses