The Amazonian Imprint on Andean Religion from Prehispanic to Hispanic Times

This paper investigates the impact of Amazonian cultures on Andean rituals as practiced by (mostly highland) Andean religious specialists from pre-hispanic to colonial times. By drawing on archaeology as well as on ethnohistory this paper tries to start at the Late Intermediate Period and investigates Andean rituals way into the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when Jesuit reports and Visitation protocols allow for a good grasp of Andean rituals. Knowing that the connection between “costa, sierra y selva” has always been considered a key feature of Andean cultures from the vantage point of archaeology, this paper asks how this long-distance communication, bridging the different geographical spheres of the Andes, shaped Andean rituals. Which evidence testifies to the incorporation of cultural features from the Amazon? How did this communication with the Amazon change under the impact of Inca as well as Spanish colonialism? How did Spaniards, in turn, instrumentalize this Amazonian imprint for their own aims in Christianization?