Pachacámac () is an archaeological site southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. The site was first settled around A.D. 200 and was named after the "Earth Maker" creator god Pacha Kamaq. The site flourished for about 1,300 years until the Spanish invaded. Pachacamac covers about 600 hectares (1480 acres) of land.
Pacha Kamaq deity
thumb|[[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic bird on a Huari pot|left]]
Pacha Kamaq ('Earth-Maker') was considered the creator god by the people who lived in this part of Peru before the Inca conquest. The Inca received him into their pantheon, but he was never an equal of Viracocha, whom they viewed as more powerful.
thumb|375px|left| 15th century Ychsma textile, from Peru's central coast
The myths that survive of Pacha Kamaq are sparse and confused: some accounts, for example, identify him as Manco Cápac's cowardly brother Ayca, while others say that he, Manco Cápac and Viracocha were the sole three sons of Inti, the sun god. Another story says that he made the first man and the first woman, but forgot to give them food – and when the man died and the woman prayed over Pachacamac's head, to his father Inti to make her the mother of all the peoples of earth, Pachacamac was furious. One by one, as the children were born, he tried to kill them – only to be beaten and to be thrown into the sea by her hero-son Wichama, after which Pachacamac gave up the struggle and contented himself by becoming the supreme god of fish.
Pyramids of Pachacamac
thumb|Pachacamac ruins, 2014
In the 1890s archaeologists first began exploring Pachacamac. They found many enormous buildings and burial sites that had been previously looted. The first (sacred) section of the site includes temples of religious significance and a large cemetery. The second section includes several buildings which are mainly secular pyramids. In this complex of buildings there were mud-brick stepped pyramids with ramps and plazas. These buildings are dated between the late 1300s and the mid-1400s.
The three most famous pyramids are all found in the sacred sector (the first sector). These are the Painted Temple, the Temple of the Sun, and the Old Temple of Pachacamac.
According to Peter Eekhout, an archaeologist who studied and excavated the site of Pachacamac, "For decades most scholars thought the pyramids (from the second section) were religious "embassies" that housed delegations from far-off communities who came to worship, bring tribute, and make offerings to Pachacamac". However, Eekhout came to a different conclusion after his work at the site. Eekhout and his team found that the structures lacked the features that characterized religious centers of the time. He concluded that the structures were used as palaces for the Ychsma (EESH-ma), the rulers of Pachacamac.
Pachacamac Idol
In 1938, an archaeologist found a 7.6-foot-long (2.34 meters) idol, which has a diameter of 5.1 inches (13 centimeters), at the Painted Temple, an object that was allegedly destroyed by Hernando Pizarro. Carbon-14 dating found that the idol dated to about A.D. 760 to 876, the time of the Wari Empire and that it had once been painted with cinnabar.
Temple of the Sun
The Temple of the Sun (seen below) is 30,000 m<sup>2</sup> in size and is in the shape of a trapezoid. It has the common step pyramid architecture which forms terraces around the structure. This temple has been dated to the time of Inca control over Pachacamac. Some archaeologists believe human sacrifices may have taken place at this the Temple. Sacrifices of women and children were found in an Inca cemetery within a portion of the structure. Burial goods found with the sacrifices point to the sacrifices originating from coastal societies.
In 2019, archaeologists have found a 1,000 year-old cemetery in this area. Director of the Ychsma Project Professor Peter Eeckhout reported that the human remains were massively buried with various items and ceramics. Physical anthropologists headed by Dr. Lawrence Owens specified the mummies.
:"Most of the people at the site had hard lives, with various fractures, bad backs, bad hips ... but the individuals from this cemetery show a higher than usual concentration of tuberculosis, syphilis, and really serious bone breaks that would have had major impacts on their lives. Still, the fact that most of these are healed – and that disease sufferers survived for a long time – suggests that they were being cared for, and that even in the sites' early history people felt a duty of care towards those less fortunate than themselves.". Still, Pachacamac was allowed an unusual amount of independence from the Inca Empire.
Spanish invasion
At sites like Pachacamac, the Spanish used local resentment of the Inca as a tactic for overthrowing Inca rule.
"In a few years the walls of the temple were pulled down by the Spanish settlers, who found there a convenient quarry for their own edifices."