Archeologists have discovered the oldest known depiction of a deity found in the Americas, a 4,000-year-old gourd fragment incised with an image of the Staff God, a principal god in the South American pantheon. The Staff God, a fanged, splay-footed creature, is usually portrayed with a staff in its hand (hence the name). It remained, in various incarnations, an important deity for thousands of years, until Europeans overthrew the Inca empire in the 16th century. Jonathan Haas of Chicago’s Field Museum and his colleagues unearthed the fragment at a burial site along the coast of Peru. “Like the cross, the Staff God is a clearly recognizable religious icon,” Haas stated in a press release. The fragment bearing the simply drawn, 3 -inch figure has been carbon dated to 2250 BC. “It indicates,” Haas said, “that organized religion began in the Andes more than 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.”
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- September 2022
- August 2020
- June 2019
- August 2017
- August 2016
- December 2015
- October 2015
- February 2015
- June 2014
- January 2014
- July 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- August 2012
- January 2012
- August 2011
- January 2011
- August 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- October 2009
- January 2009
- May 2008
- April 2008
- January 2008
- September 2007
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- January 2005
- November 2004
- September 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- November 2002
Categories
Meta