Written by Super User. Posted in Papers - English

A PICTOGRAM NAMED TUPAC AMARU. ABOUT A NOMINATED RUPESTRIAN PAINTING AT CHAUPIQAQA-ANDASCO, CALCA (CUSCO - PERÚ)

UN PICTOGRAMA LLAMADO TÚPAC AMARU. ACERCA DE UNA PINTURA RUPESTRE NOMINADA EN CHAUPIQAQA- ANDASCO, CALCA (CUSCO - PERÚ)

Raúl Carreño-Collatupa

One of the post-Columbian Espinar rock art panels of Chaupiqaqa-Andasco, Calca, contains the figure of a horseman with a lightning-like antler headdress, known in the local oral tradition as “Túpac Amaru.” These paintings were made when Túpac Amaru’s Great Rebellion troops attacked Calca at the end of 1780. It is the only known case of a Peruvian pictogram that recalls a historical figure. The analysis allows stating that the depicted rider is not José Gabriel Túpac Amaru but his first cousin, Diego Cristóbal, who commanded the army in the area and became the rebellion leader after José Gabriel’s execution. It would be a case of syncretism between symbols of power and legitimacy, which used the name of Diego and the Hispano- Andean symbolism of lightning to present Diego Cristóbal as a Santiago-Illapa-Amaru personification.

Tags: Cusco, pictograma, Túpac Amaru, Calca, Santiago-Illapa, Great Rebellion, rock art

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