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This chapter is an exploration into the identity of a male individual buried in Tomb 3 at Sipán, and into the nature of rulership in Moche society. Commonly known as the Old Lord of Sipán, he was between 45 and 55 years of age (Alva and Donnan 1993). He had been buried in the first construction phase of the funerary platform, making him the most ancient high-ranking individual found at the site so far. Before being deposited in a simple chamber, a woman and a llama were placed at the head of the burial perpendicular to the body of the main occupant. Although the deceased man had been denied a plank coffin like those of his successors in Tombs 1 and 2, and had been simply encased in reed mats and textiles, he was covered from head to toe with an impressive array of objects made of precious materials such as gold, silver, semiprecious stones, and exotic seashells. In fact, many of the most elaborate artifacts located at Sipán so far have come from the context of Tomb 3. The social identity of this person, though, remains elusive. Numerous objects in the burial—such as scepters , backflaps, and crescent-shaped bells—were nearly identical to those found with the main individuals in Tombs 1 and 2, which have already successfully been related to the iconography by Alva and Donnan. Yet the scholars could not offer identification for this individual : “On the basis of tomb contents, it is not possible to identify the principal figure in Tomb 3 as one of the participants in the Sacrifice Ceremony” (Alva and Donnan 1993:215). They suggested that a possible reason for this failure is that, because of the early date of this burial, which is located in the first construction phase of the platform, the distinctive features of a “Warrior-Priest” of the Sacrifice Ceremony may not have been fully developed , making a positive identification difficult (Alva and Donnan 1993:217). This might be possible, but the quality of the objects associated with the deceased, and the fact that many of them were nearly identical to those found in the later contexts, suggest otherwise. In other words, if the regalia buried with this Moche dignitary are fully consistent with the other contexts that led to a positive identification, it would be likely that this individual’s social position, or ritual persona, was also clearly delineated but had escaped the scrutiny of the investigators. As a research hypothesis, I thus propose that the ritual roles or social persona of the individual in Tomb 3 were already firmly established and formed part of the same symbolic structure displayed in the succeedchapter fifteen The Third Man Identity and Rulership in Moche Archaeology and Visual Culture steve bourget, university of texas at austin Abstract To date, the ritual and social identity of the person resting in the third burial at Sipán has remained an enigma. In contrast to the first two burials, which were successfully identified by Alva and Donnan (1993), this male individual was buried alone in a simple pit. Nonetheless, the quality and diversity of the ritual paraphernalia and regalia placed with him indicate his rank and symbolic importance. An identity is thus suggested through a detailed analysis of these objects in Moche visual culture and archaeology. 264 steve bourget ing burials as well. I believe that a slightly more complex reading of both the artifacts present in the tomb and in the iconography might tease out this information and lead to a positive identification of this individual. In the first part of this chapter, I review the principal identifications made over the last sixty years concerning a number of individuals found at Sipán and other Moche sites. This will permit identification of the main elements used in the recognition of these subjects. Second, some of the implications of these identifications will be explored to clarify both the iconography and the political and ideological positions of these subjects. Finally, I offer some ideas on the symbolic nature of rulership in an early archaic state such as that of the Moche. By using models developed elsewhere, especially in the Polynesian region, I intend to show that disparate religious , ritual, and political systems may yet draw upon similar structures for justification of the appearance of social inequality and the concentration of power within the hands of an early form of rulership. identities During the last sixty years or so, a series...

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