Rediscovery of a Moche pillared hall with mural painting at Pañamarca, Nepeña valley, Peru

Abstract

This report focuses on the 2022 discovery of mural paintings within the pillared building, or “hypostyle hall,” located within the western area of the archaeological monument of Pañamarca. Situated on the Moche southern monumental frontier, the leaders and artists of Pañamarca largely eschewed the creation and use of fineline ceramics well known from valleys to the north. Rather, they invested their efforts in other types of materials for artistic expression, among which mural painting stands out. In this “report from the field,” we present the rediscovery of a pillared hall with novel paintings, which continues to be a subject of ongoing research. In this study, we offer preliminary interpretations of its painted architecture made in full late Moche style, but with iconography and evidence of social processes that are so-far unique to Pañamarca.