The Decapitator or a Comet With Two Heads.

In the recent magazineArchaeology,(March/April, 2002. p. 35), there are two pictures thought to be the Decapitator God of the Moché of Peru. The above shows serpent forms surrounding the head like hair, while two bird forms extend from the chin as if it were a long forked beard.

The more complete view on page 33 shows a fanged face with twelve curley scrolls emerging from around its head. The conclusion reached was that because of the scrolls, it probably was an octopus deity image. . . a very good representation of the Decapitator because of the octopus's practice of bleeding its prey before eating it.

The problem with that particular conclusion is that it is based only on the nearness of the ocean. However, the ocean is not that close. The pyramid where these images are found are in a dry desert area, which has little rain. It is for this reason that the images were able to be salvaged.

The first image—the one illustrated here—is similar to a gold mask found in the Nasca area of Peru. The Maskhas a face with fourteen serpent scroll heads emerging from the head, and two bird heads falling below the chin.

This image is very similar to the above Decapitaor figure.

Another gold mask found in the Iquitos area also has rays terminating in snake heads. It was determined that it was created during the Nasca period of Peru. Even their woven materials show a great variety of long scroll-type serpents extending from various bodies.

The more permanent struture—the gate at Tiahuanaco—also shows gods with serpent scrolls instead of hair. The Bennet monolith has many smaller figures with such "hair" even thought the Sun and the Moon are a bit different. The Sun appears to have knives surrounding its face, while the Moon has star forms (the circle within a circle). this does not detract from the original concept of Medusa's serpent hair images which surround them. A more exact statement that can be made: Images with scrolls or rays emanating from the head or body which terminate in snake heads may be considered a universal Inca image, not only a symbol of the Moché.

It is more likely that this concept of serpents and birds relates to a different kind of god, one illustrated on page 30 of the magazine article and found in the Hoppci Newsletter(Vol. 3, #1, March/April, 1999). The "gods" and human figures in this scenario are all above a sky band and underneath that sky band are flying animals and human forms. Wind streamers indicate that all near the Jaguar in the sedan chair held up by the legless creatures are in motion. There are several flying creatures behind him while, over his head, is an Inca version of the Golden Sword. . . a comet known around the world as a cutting tool in the skies. This comet had two (bird) heads which, as meteorites, struck our earth some time in the past.

Probably the throat cutting and "sacrificing" came about because of the frightening aspect of the "golden sword." I am not saying there was never any decapitation in the human government, or that there were no religious ceremonies which offered a cup of blood, human or animal. All the elements on that vase refer to a sky event—a very debilitating, frightening occurrence—in order to have such drastic ceremonies in their religion.

Bauer and Dearborn has a commentary of Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua, (1950) 242 [1613].
In that time they say that news arrived of a miracle in Cuzco, of something like a yauirca or amaru that had emerged from the mountain of Pachatusan, a very fierce beast, half a league long and thick, and two and a half fathoms in width, and with ears and fangs and whiskers; and it came by Yuncaypampa and Cinca, and from there it entered the lake of Quibipay. Then two sacacas of fire came out of Asoncata, and [onel passed Pontina [mountain] of Arequipa; and the other came down to and passing Guamanca, where there are three or four very high mountains covered with snow, those in which they say that there are animals with wings, and ears, and tails and four feet, and on top of their backs many spines like a fish; and from afar they say that it appeared to them [to be] all fire.
The above words were written by those who saw the skies at night. Obviously, they did not understand all the aspects of the events that they witnessed. The events had to be translated into elements that their citizens could understand. It was not frightening because of its appearance, it was frightening because of what it did to the world that they knew.

It appears that in order to understand the ancient cultures, one must look to the skies. Yet, if the event were such as a blazing comet that spread its tail across the heavens, or a meteor that came too near the earth, or even a meteorite that struck the earth, as the above quote seems to imply, there would be no evidence in the skies to collaborate the episode. Too few of us have seen a comet or a meteorite that close. No matter how many giant telescopes tell us that such events do occur on other planets, no words or pictures will convince us that it was more than "primitive" imaginations. There are NO words or pictures that will convince us that it actually could be disasterous to our environment!

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Bauer, B. S. & Dearborn, D. S. P. (1995) Astronomy and Empire in the Ancient Andes Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin.