Archaeologists in Peru have recently uncovered the first known painted throne room of a powerful Moche woman at Pañamarca. The so-called “Hall of the Moche Imaginary” was built by the prosperous civilisation in the 7th century CE.

Lisa Trever, associate professor at Columbia University and a member of the archaeology team explained that the site possesses an “extraordinary abundance of subject matter arrayed on every painted surface—walls, pillar faces and the earthen throne itself, which was built between two pillars.” Researchers associated with the Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca  found two elaborately decorated pillared halls, which have proven to be completely unique in Moche archaeology.

One hall shows vibrant scenes of spinning and weaving, a Moche hero possibly Ai Apaec fighting monsters, and an influential woman conducting a range of activities. The unprecedented image of this woman talking to a bird-man whilst seated on a throne, identical to an eroded throne in the room, supports the theory that a woman or a lineage of women were once rulers.

“Female leaders were not rare in ancient Moche society or in the northern Peruvian dynasties that followed,” Trever said. “There is evidence in abundance of female authorities, most of it from funerary contexts, for centuries of this history.”

Another painted scene depicts the crowned woman holding a sceptre amongst a procession of men carrying ceremonial objects. The iconography indicates the woman was linked to the sea, the crescent moon, and craftsmanship.

For the last 500 years, historical bias has often diminished the role of female rulers.  “We notice that high status burials of Moche men have more often than not been described as ‘lords’ but women as ‘priestesses’,” commented Trever. “The findings at Pañamarca help to drive the last nail into the coffin—so to speak—of the point that powerful women in ancient Moche art and life were not only ‘priestesses’ but that they held real social and political authority.”

Archaeologists also discovered greenstone beads, fine threads, and human hair in the hall, suggesting that it was a functioning political space despite its restricted and private nature. By contrast, the other “Hall of the Braided Serpents” operated as a viewing platform where large gatherings of the elite watched over the plazas below.

The Moche people were indigenous to Peru, flourishing between 350 and 850 CE before the culture mysteriously disappeared. Although no written records were left behind, these paintings provide a crucial insight into this lost civilisation.

“Pañamarca continues to surprise us,” said Trever, “not only for the ceaseless creativity of its painters but also because their works are overturning our expectations of gender roles in the ancient Moche world.”