AN ELUSIVE CHARACTER: MONKEYS IN THE CASMA CERAMIC STYLE FROM THE NORTH-CENTRAL COAST OF PERU (AD CA. 800-1350)

Archaeological research on the late Prehispanic societies of the north-central coast of Peru (from the Chao Valley to the Huarmey Valley), now identified as Casma, reveals an outstanding cultural and political dynamism. Despite this, their role in the current debate on the Andean cultural processes is not very significant. This study focuses on the Casma vessels representing the monkey, an animal from the South American rainy lowlands not found in the north-central Peruvian coast. Primates were part of the iconography of Chima and Lambayeque traditions (AD 900-1450), which developed to the north of the Casma area. However; the meaning of monkeys in the Casma ideology and visual culture is less known. This research examines the concepts of hierarchy and submission, in addition to otherness and celebration, recognizable in the Casma representations of primates. The results integrate a north-central coast perspective into the debate of two interlocked topics: the relationships between indigenous societies of America and the natural world, and the long-distance networks of traffic that articulated the Andean coast with the South American Neotropical forest.