El “caracol terrestre” Scutalus spp. en la iconografía mochica: El símbolo de la espiral y el ciclo del agua.

Based on ethnographic, environmental and iconographic information, linked to the “land snail” Scutalus spp., the ritual context of a funerary nature is addressed, to which the representations of this molusk in Mochica ceramics are associated: both the colecction scenes, combat and mountain sacrifice, as the designs of snails, hybrid animals, among others. Representations of snails can be located on the summer and winter solstices, as well as -exceptionally- when El Niño/Southern Oscillation occurs. The mollusk can be considered a metaphor for water and regeneration, and its morphology develops the symbol of the spiral in three dimensions, replicated in architectural models with a spiral ramp, as well as in the exceptional case of a Mochica ceremonial well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]