Our investigations of the Church Complex so far have revealed a number of interesting features. The East Atrium is located at a higher elevation (approximately 1.5 m.) above the West Atrium. We believe that this sector of the site was built on top of a precolumbian platform, possibly a Moche structure. The East Atrium also holds the remains of many rooms which we believe included residences, offices, and other facilities of the Dominican friars who occupied the site. The damage caused by illegal excavations is so severe, however, that we have not been able to adequately trace the organization of these room complexes.

Clearing and excavating the church nave.

In 2006 we noted that the central axis of the church coincides with the north-south axis of the empty area presumed to be a plaza in the Colonial Town. Excavations were therefore placed at the northern edge of church complex to search for an entryway. This was tentatively identified by the discovery of a clean, relatively unlooted area of smooth plaster floor which appeared to have never supported a wall and thus we interpret as an entry. No evidence of architectural features that would have bordered or defined the entry was found, however.

View of the southern atrium wall looking west. The remnants of the entry and ramp have been exposed.

The nave of the church is oriented north-south. This is different than the standard orientation of Christian church to face eastwards. This orientation would have positioned the priest and the congregation, facing the altar, to also face the Moche huaca, invisible through the adobe walls of the church but likely present in the minds of those inside. Our cleaning of the church walls revealed that there was at least one major remodeling of the church interior and possibly two phases. Remnants of wall paint suggest that the sanctuary (the area closest to the altar) likely was separated from the rest of the church by projecting walls and possibly a rise in the floor. In this area of the church the first wall was painted in dark gray or black colors and a later decoration consisted of red-brown flowery designs. On the interior of the east wall, however, the earliest decorative program consisted of a rectilinear design of red paint on a white background. Later painting may have been of solid light cream colors.

Work on reinforcing the west wall of the church nave, still standing after 500 years.

About a third of the presumed chapel was excavated in 2006. We reached the floor and believe that there is some evidence that water (from an El Niño event?) may have once flowed across it although this has been hard to determine. Further excavations in the chapel were halted because a large section of roof appears to have collapsed on to it. We are developing means by which to remove this large section of roof as completely as possible so that we can examine construction techniques.

Aerial photo of the nave of the church as exposed in 2006.

On the exterior of the western wall of the chapel we encountered fragments of paper, including an almost complete page of a prayer book. We also found what appears to be a wooden paddle for the making of the native maize alcoholic beverage known as chicha. The paddle was broken but it appears to have been deliberately placed flush against the wall of the chapel.

Jaime Jimenez S. removing a large printed paper from deposits next to the church wall.

In the sacristy, our work was restricted to clearing the walls in order to outline the structure. We noted that the placement of this building in relation to the southern end of the nave appears to be architecturally “awkward” perhaps indicating that is was added somewhat late in the history of the church. Even though we restricted our work to clearing we found several interesting features.

A spondylus princeps shell was found, possibly on the floor of the sacristy. This shell is not found in local waters. It was imported from Ecuador or farther north in prehistoric times and was highly valued for its ceremonial value. Today, it is still in use in native Andean religious rituals. It is therefore curious that this shell was apparently deposited on the floor of a Christian church.

Spondylus shell found on the floor of the sacristy of the church.

On the inside of the eastern wall of the sacristy and attached to it were the remnants of a high adobe table or bench with a smooth upper surface. This may have been an altar for the priest’s private use or, alternatively, it may have simply served as a table on which to place various objects before being taken into the nave. On the exterior of the wall, in the same general area as the table we found a human foot. As far as we can tell without doing damage, it appears that part of the lower leg associated with the foot is embedded in adobe wall and that no other human remains are present. The use of body parts as part of religious practice was carried out by natives and Spanish although with different ideological associations.

Work remaining to be done in the nave includes exploration of the area where the altar was located, examination of sub-surface deposits in the nave, and investigation in the vicinity of where a bell tower may have been located, among other studies.

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