Is Aspero Similar to La Galgada?
The ceremonial complex of Huaca de los Idolos (left) and the North Mound (right) at La Galgada do have some things in common: a) Both are large man-made mounds whose platform summits provide floors for ceremonial architecture. Sides of the mounds are created using large rock with earthen fill inside, and erected to create a stepped-side effect. b) Long stairways lead from the base to the summit. Once the peak is reached a large doorway leads the visitor into an initial open court. c) Each piece of architecture played home to a series of rebuildings, even though these were not of the same type. d) Central ritual rooms/chambers of both complexes have niches lining the interior walls, and neither show signs of using them as storage. Click here to further explore similarities between these two ceremonial mounds.
While there were similarities, Huaca de los Idolos (left) and the North Mound (right) had a number of differences between them: a) Huaca de los Idolos was one structure with multiple rooms. One would enter the main door into a large court, and would then make their way to the small central ritual room. The North Mound summit housed several one-room ritual chambers that could only accommodate a small number of worshippers each. No large courts were available for large gatherings. b) While both complexes show series of rebuildings, they happen differently. At Huaca de los Idolos the rebuildings take place in the center ritual rooms where the floor is filled with clean quarried stone held in bags of different materials, and the walls are heightened/rebuilt. La Galgada essentially builds a whole new layer to their ceremonial mound. Old chambers are converted to tombs and a new level is built directly over the old level, and another layer is added to the mound. c) The staircase and entrance to Huaca de los Idolos faces to the east, but the staircase and entrance to the North Mound faces the West. d) Fire pits play a major role in La Galgada as there is a pit at the center of every chamber. No evidence has been found for ritual fire at Huaca de los Idolos. e) There are no burials at Huaca de los Idolos. Two occur at the top of Huaca de los Sacrificios, and there are a couple more throughout Aspero, but none on this mound. North Mound at La Galgada is essentially a mound built on top of their venerated dead. Access is still available from the mound into these tombs for a few generations per tomb, and these tombs were actually old ritual chambers converted into these mausoleums. Click here to further explore differences between these two ceremonial mounds.
Artifact caches were found in otherwise clean floor fill. These dedicatory caches would be placed under, above, or in pockets in the construction fill for rebuilt floors of the ceremonial center rooms in Huaca de los Idolos. These artifacts would range from carved wooden bowls, carved wooden sticks (left), and perhaps most intriguing is the numerous individual unbaked clay figurines (right). These were considered to have been dedicated during the rebuilding that took place. At the North Mound of La Galgada there were very few artifacts found. Stones, shells, and foods were burned in the fire pits and have left remains in the archaeological record, but only a single deer antler base has been found outside of the fire pit. Click here to see more artifacts from Aspero.
