The Great South Andean Rebellion and the King's Army in the cave painting of Ccancahuani, province of Carabaya, Puno.

Alzamora M.V.-C. · Americania (2025) · DOI: 10.46661/americania.9540

Resumen

The Ccacahuani site, located in the department of Puno, stands out as one of the most representative places of post-conquest rock art in the region. Despite the methodological challenges inherent in rock art studies, we applied a specific iconographic analysis for this case. The results show representations of an emblem of the military order of Santiago and of combatants dressed in Spanish clothing from the 18th century. This scene highlights the triumphant march of a squadron of dragons at the juncture of the second phase of Tupac Amaru's revolution in 1781 in Carabaya. Considering that, towards the end of the 18th century, this province played an active role during the Great Andean Rebellion, it is inferred that this cave painting constitutes an allegory to the victory of the royalist army in 1781.