Moche ceremonial architecture as thirdspace: The politics of place-making in the ancient Andes

Abstract

Ceremonial architecture at the site of Huaca Colorada in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, is analyzed as a ritually charged thirdspace, an interpretive move that illuminates both the creative power of place and the cultural particulars of Moche identity politics and ideological struggles. This perspective permits interpretation of how Moche monumental architecture was directly complicit in the construction of personhood, community, and power specific to the Jequetepeque Valley during the Late Moche Period (AD 600–850). Ultimately, the article demonstrates how the application of place-sensitive heuristics can improve archaeological investigations of the role of ritual performance in the creation of political subjectivities.