Archaeologia Baltica

Gender terms have been used to interpret some aspects of the archaeology of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age monuments. Frequently male and female inhumations are aligned cardinally and standing stones may be ‘male’ pillar and ‘female’ lozenges. However, the astronomical alignments at monuments are frequently on lunar standstills and solstices which bisect the cardinal alignments. The anthropology of gender suggests that the concept of a ‘gender of power’ is useful in explaining how ritual power is realised through the scrambling of sexual identities. Proficiency in aligning monuments on lunar-solar cycles may well have been a device to appropriate ritual power.

Characteristics of Andean huacas are summarized with examples from Urubamba, Machu Picchu, Llactapata, and Chankillo. We identify the pillars on the ridge above the town of Urubamba as a marker of June solstice sunrise to be viewed from the Palace of Huayna Capac. Both ends of the sightline connecting the pillars and the Palace appear to have been huacas. The large carved Intiwatana stone in the Urubamba canyon symbolically ties together Machu Picchu and the nearby ceremonial center of Llactapata. The astronomically complex site of Chankillo includes evidence for ceremonial observations of the solstices and shamanic ritual, set within a large-scale geometry established by June solstice sunset/December solstice sunrise.