Considering that the MOCHICA-CHIMU cultures connected directly to both MOCHE and WARI and to the INCA cultures, the understanding of the rituals in which the role of the mushrooms played an important part, were well known during the time of the Incan Empire.
The INCAS were known to incorporate other beliefs or religions and worship into their own as seen in PACHACAMAC and other religious sites that belonged to the conquered cultures.
The Moche (100 BCE-800 EC), a culture known for its spectacular archaeological finds, produced in their ceramics anthropomorphic beings with representations of mushrooms. They provide the most expressive, varied and the most clear evidence of all Peruvian Cultures that mushrooms were used in their everyday life and played an important symbolism in their spiritual beliefs.
Moche art provivides a window in which we can observe the mind and rituals of its people, creating in us a unique chance to better understand the role of mushrooms in the ancient Peruvian world.
They display three different levels of understanding. The first level use a REALISTIC representation of them. The second level is SUBTLE "hidden" that are easily missed if one is not looking for them, but clear when one has found them. The third level is an ABSTRACT SYMBOLIC or iconographic representation or uses with which they were associated.
On the North West of Lake TITICACA, in the town of Chucuito, there are finely carved stones in the shape of mushrooms. The age of the stones is unknown and the purpose remains a mystery.
To create a tourist attraction, the site was declared as a "Temple of Fertility"named IncaUyo.
The Pucara (1200 BCE-400CE), a highland culture had a very deep influence in the region for the Tiahuanco and Wari cultures that followed after their demise. The Pucara site was built under a rock formation which looks like a feline shape, most likely, a puma shape.
They have a strong visual evidence that mushrooms were used ritually. They also produced mushroom shaped stones.
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