14 DAY TRIAL // A new adobe temple named Collud has been uncovered in the northern region of the Lambayeque valley in Peru. The third such edifice to be found in the area, the temple seems to have been dedicated to a spider god by its builders, the little-known civilization of Cupinisque, who ruled the area for about five centuries, during approximately 1500 BC to 100 BC. The finding indicates that the three buildings of this type may have been part of a vast worshiping capital city, according to the director of the Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum, archaeologist Walter Alva.
The temple comprises a large series of architectural styles and symbols that span across all the known ancient civilizations of Peru up to the Incan one. The spider deity figure, for instance, was frequently met in other locations dating from the early Peruvian formation age between 1200 and 400 BC, like Lima's Garagay temple or the Limón Carro site located in northern part of Peru. The god is depicted as having the head of a spider, the mouth of a cat and the beak of a bird, with web-like lines spreading from its neck.
The researchers associate the web with hunting nets, which is explained as a sign of prosperity and progress, as the son of the archaeologists' group leader, Ignacio Alva, believes. He also thinks that the spider image had a political importance, since “Any emergent political group would have to be associated with this god”. Yale University archaeologist Richard Burger, a specialist in the Chavin civilization, the descendants of the Cupisnique culture, states that spiders were linked to the life-giving rain.
“They were associated with divination of rainfall because spiders come out before rain,” shared Burger, adding that other symbolic associations for the spider god included war, hunting, power or textiles. “There is an image of spider deities holding nets filled with decapitated human heads, so there was an analogy with successful warriors and claims of power,” states the expert.