ABSTRACT
This chapter uses Late Archaic Period (3000–1800 B.C.) ceremonial structures on the coast of Peru to examine the changing nature of ritual practices performed by early political actors as they systematically incorporated religion into their base of power. The Central Andes witnessed the florescence of multiple communities with monumental platform mounds and large sunken plazas. These structures provide an avenue for investigating the role of ritual and ideology in the emergence of complex political systems. Control over religious beliefs and associated rituals may have served as a pathway to power. This chapter demonstrates how the application of innovative analytical techniques in the excavation of a series of small-scale ceremonial architecture at the site of Huaricanga can explore variation in ritual practices in the evolving complex polities on the Peruvian coast during the Late Archaic Period.
