An open-air “sounding” dance floor in Peru has been discovered, designed to mimic a drum-like sound, perhaps for a thunder god when stomped upon! Built sometime between 1000 and 1400 AD, the site called Viejo Sangayaico is located 200 kilometers (124.2 mi) southeast of the Peruvian capital of Lima. It was also very much in use during Inca rule between 1400 and 1532, and possibly even during the early years of the Spanish conquest.
Association with the Divine: Summoning the Thunder God through Dance
“We know that in pre-Hispanic Andean rituals dance was a big part of the proceedings. I believe that this specially constructed platform was built to enhance the natural sounds associated with dance,” says Kevin Lane, an archaeologist with the Instituto de las Culturas (IDECU) of the Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina, who led the research.
An ancient “sounding” dance floor, perhaps designed to create a drum-like sound for a thunder god when stomped on, has been identified by archaeologists in Peru https://t.co/HodKjHlJdG
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The sole author of the study, Lane had his research published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology . “The larger site’s association to veneration of Andean lightning and thunder deity suggests that dancing at this location might have been in part attuned to this supernatural entity,” he writes in the paper.
Amongst the stunning Andean landscape, where myths and beliefs converged with the…
