Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the role of the Spondylus through the materiality, iconography, archaeological context, and performative use of a wooden plate, suggesting that this shell have deep implications for Chimu people, going beyond the political field and establishing cosmopolitical relationships.

Paper long abstract:

The Spondylus spp. shell was one of the most valued imported goods in the Peruvian Northern coast during the Late Intermediate Period. Nevertheless, this conch has been studied using mainly colonial and Inka sources, rather than sources from this time and region. This paper analyses the socio-political and cosmological role of the shell through a local piece, a wooden plate of Chimu origin, which despite been mentioned in the specialized literature has been left unanalyzed. Studying the materiality, iconography, archaeological context, and performative use of this object, the paper proposes that this plate depicts the interaction between two worlds through the harvest of Spondyus spp.: the human one, and another where the human order has seemingly been turned around. This analysis suggests that the harvest, exchange, public exhibition, and ritual use of the Spondylus spp. have deep socio-political and cosmological implications for the people of the Peruvian Northern Coast: through these activities they interacted with foreign people and beings, going beyond the political field and establishing cosmopolitical relationships.