Funerary practices and models in the ancient Andes : the return of the living dead

This edited volume focuses on the funerary archaeology of the Pan-Andean area in the pre-Hispanic period. The contributors examine the treatment of the dead and provide an understanding of how these ancient groups coped with mortality, as well as the ways in which they strove to overcome the effects of death. The contributors also present previously unpublished discoveries and employ a range of academic and analytical approaches that have rarely - if ever - been utilised in South America before. The book covers the Formative Period to the end of the Inca Empire, and the chapters together comprise a state-of-the-art summary of all the best research on Andean funerary archaeology currently being carried out around the globe. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Table of contents 9 List of contributors 11 Preface 13 Chapter 1 The Impossibility of Death 15 Describing and Classifying Interments and Tombs 18 Burial Analysis 20 Interpreting Funerary Contexts 21 Conclusion 24 Notes 25 Chapter 2 Death and the Dead in Formative Perú 26 The Places of the Dead 27 Centres 27 Funerary Rituals and the Sea 29 Death Places and Settlements 29 Bodies and Space 29 Body Treatment 30 Bodies and Space 31 Space and Bodies 32 Interpretations 34 Death as a Concept 35 Conclusions 37 Notes 37 Chapter 3 Far Away, So Close 38 Introduction 38 Ancestor Veneration Rituals and Social Organisation 39 The Ychsma, Pachacamac and Panquilma 41 The Ychsma and the Oracle at Pachacamac 41 The Site of Panquilma 42 Addressing the Role of Ancestor Veneration Rituals at Panquilma 44 Conclusions 47 Acknowledgements 47 Note 47 Chapter 4 A Temple for the Dead at San Juanito, Lower Santa Valley, during the Initial Period 48 Introduction 48 Fieldwork at San Juanito 48 The Temple, Its Architecture and Chronological Position 50 Description of Burials 53 Burial 1 (Operation 1) 53 Burial 2 (Operation 2) 55 Burial 3 (Operation 2) 57 Burial 4 (Operation 4) 57 Isolated Human Bones from Operations 1, 2 and 4 59 Burial 5 (Operation 5) 59 Burial 6 (Operation 5) 59 Burial 7 (Operation 5) 61 Burial 8 (Operation 5) 63 Burial 9 (Operation 5) 63 Burial 10 (Operation 5; Not Excavated) 63 Isolated Human Bones from Operation 7 64 Analysis of Burial Patterns 64 Demography and Health 65 Dental Pathology and Subsistence 66 Bone Pathology and Skeletal Variation 66 Conclusion 67 Acknowledgements 68 Chapter 5 Tombs and Tumuli on the Coast and Pampa of Tarapacá 69 Introduction 69 Formative Period Tumuli 71 The Cemeteries 73 The Central Settlements 75 Discussion 79 Conclusion 80 Acknowledgements 82 Notes 82 Chapter 6 Paracas Funerary Practices in Palpa, South Coast of Perú 83 Introduction 83 Previous Studies 84 Presentation and Description of the Sample 84 Methodology 92 Analysis and Discussion 93 Mortality Curve and Sex Distribution 93 Burial Type 93 Type of Funerary Structure 95 Body Position 95 Body Orientation 95 Offerings 95 Trauma 96 Summary and Concluding Remarks 98 Notes 100 Chapter 7 When the Dead Speak in Moche 101 Introduction 101 The Tombs and Associations 103 Structural Characteristics of the Tombs 103 Shaft Tombs 105 Chamber Tombs 105 The Burial Process 109 Associations 110 Objects in Direct Association 110 Metal Ornaments 110 Fragments of Metal, Ceramic and Shell 110 Cinnabar 113 Other 113 Indirect Associations 113 Ceramic Objects 114 Animal Offerings 116 The Buried Individuals and Their Postmortem Treatment 116 Orientation 116 Position 116 The Number of Individuals per Tomb 120 Palaeodemography 120 Wrappings 120 Funerary Actors: Principals and Companions 121 Post-Interment Manipulation 122 Reburials 122 Interment–Disinterment–Interment 124 Synthesis and Final Remarks 126 Treatment of the Deceased 126 Identities of the Deceased 126 Age and Sex versus Status and Sexual Division of Labour 127 Human Offerings 128 Conclusions 128 Notes 129 Chapter 8 The Construction of Social Identity 131 Death and the Construction of Identity 131 Death and Identities on the Peruvian Northern Coast 132 The Identities of Moche Elites: The Lords of Sipán and the Priestesses of San José de Moro 134 The Specialists 135 Specialist Tombs at San José de Moro 136 Middle Moche Tombs M-U725 and M-U813 138 Where Are the Late Moche Specialists? 139 Specialist Tombs in the Urban Nucleus of the Huacas de Moche 141 Tombs of Specialists during the Transitional Period at San José de Moro 142 The Tomb of a Textile Worker (M-U1316) 144 The Burial of a Female Carver (M-U1403) 145 The Tomb of an Artesan (M-U909) 146 The Tomb of the Witchdoctors (M-U1221) 146 The Funerary Elements of Roles and Identities 149 Conclusions 150 Chapter 9 Bodies of Evidence 151 Wari Mortuary Preferences 152 Simple Wari Burial 154 Intermediate Wari Burial 156 Elaborate Wari Burial 158 Monumental Wari Burial 159 Wari Burial of Infants and Children 159 A Gender-Specific Wari Mortuary Preference (?) 161 Observations Regarding Wari Mortuary Preferences 161 Tiwanaku Mortuary Preferences 162 Simple Tiwanaku Burial 164 Elaborate Tiwanaku Burial 164 Ritual Tiwanaku Burial 165 Some General Characteristics of Tiwanaku Mortuary Preferences 166 Conclusion 168 Acknowledgements 169 Notes 169 Chapter 10 To the God of Death, Disease and Healing 172 Cemetery I 173 Stratigraphic Context and Chronological Issues 177 Burial Archaeological Data and Funerary Typology 182 Material Culture and Age Correlations 184 Multiple versus Collective Burials 188 Indigenes versus Pilgrims 188 The Human Remains 188 Methods and Practice 190 Demographics 1: Age 190 Demographics 2: Sex 192 Demography 3: Sex and Pathology 192 Trauma 195 Discussion 197 Concluding Remarks and Future Work 198 Notes 199 Chapter 11 The Preparation of Corpses and Mummy Bundles in Ychsma Funerary Practices at Armatambo 200 Location and General Characteristics of Armatambo 200 The Armatambo Cemeteries 200 The 22nd of October Cemetery 201 The Huaca San Pedro Cemetery 201 Unwrapping Methodology 202 Stratigraphy and Funerary Contexts 202 22nd of October Cemetery 202 Funerary Context 26 202 Funerary Context 65 203 Funerary Context 79 204 Huaca San Pedro Cemetery 204 The Unwrapping Process 204 Bundle 26B (Code 2824) 204 Bundle 65A (Code 3439) 207 Bundle 79 (Code 3425) 209 Bundle 168–2000 (Code 620–2000) 211 Discussion 213 The Comparative Sample 219 Nonstandard Ychsma Funerary Traditions at Armatambo 221 Conclusion 222 Acknowledgements 222 Notes 223 Chapter 12 From One Burial to Another 224 The Japoto Site 225 Burial Typology 225 Primary Deposits 226 Secondary Deposits (Bundles of Bone) 229 Anthropological Analysis 231 Molecular, Isotopic and Geomorphological Analyses 236 Acknowledgements 237 Notes 237 Chapter 13 Decapitated for the Temple 238 Introduction 238 Location and Relative Chronology 239 Materials from the Context 239 Burial Sequence 244 The Decapitated Individual and the Trophy/Offering Head 244 Space, Context and Ritual 245 Cahuachi, Ritual Combat and Iconography 246 Conclusion 249 Notes 250 Chapter 14 Multidisciplinary Study of Nectandra Sp. Seeds from Chimu Funerary... 252 Ethnohistory 257 Ethnobotanical Study 260 Results of Ethnohistorical and Ethnobotanical Study 260 Chimú Funerary Contexts at Huaca de la Luna (Valle del Moche), with... 262 Phytochemical and Pharmacological Analyses of Prehispanic Nectandra sp. Seeds 264 Phytochemical Study 265 Materials 265 Procedure 266 Results 266 Pharmacological Study 267 Discussion: Funerary Behaviour Connected with Human Sacrifices 268 Laboratory Results 269 Further Proposals of Botanical Identity, Biochemical Elements and/or... 271 Conclusions 272 Acknowledgements 272 Notes 273 References 275 Index 311 Content: The impossibility of death : introduction to funerary practices and models in the ancient Andes / Peter Eeckhout and Lawrence S. Owens -- Death and the dead in formative Peru / Peter Kaulicke -- Far away, so close : living with the ancestors in Panquilma, Peruvian central coast / Enrique Lopez-Hurtado -- A temple for the dead at San Juanito, lower Santa Valley, during the Initial Period / Claude Chapdelaine and Gérard Gagné -- Tombs and tumuli on the coast and pampa of Tarapacá : explaining the Formative Period in northern Chile (south central Andes) / Carolina Agüero and Mauricio Uribe -- Paracas funerary practices in Palpa, south coast of Peru / Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao, Markus Reindel and Johny Isla -- When the dead speak in Moche : funerary customs in an architectural complex associated with the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna / Henry Gayoso Rullier and Santiago Uceda Castillo -- The construction of social identity : tombs of specialists at San José de Moro, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru / Carlos E. Rengifo and Luis Jaime Castillo Butters -- Bodies of evidence : mortuary archaeology and the Wari-Tiwanaku paradox / William H. Isbell and Antti Korpisaari -- To the god of death, disease, and healing : social bioarchaeology of Cemetery I at Pachacamac / Lawrence S. Owens and Peter Eeckhout -- The preparation of corpses and mummy bundles in Ychsma funerary practices at Armatambo / Luisa Díaz Arriola -- From one burial to another : a sequence of funerary patterns from the Manteño culture (Integration Period, AD 800-1535) site of Japotó, Manabí Province, Ecuador / Tania Delabarde -- Decapitated for the temple : a Nazca funerary context from Cahuachi / Oscar D. Llanos Jacinto -- Multidisciplinary study of Nectandra sp. seeds from Chimu funerary contexts at Huaca de la Luna, north coast of Peru / Maria del R. Montoya Vera. "This edited volume focuses on the funerary archaeology of the Pan-Andean area in the pre-Hispanic period. The contributors examine the treatment of the dead and provide an understanding of how these ancient groups coped with mortality, as well as the ways in which they strove to overcome the effects of death. The contributors also present previously unpublished discoveries and employ a range of academic and analytical approaches that have rarely--if ever--been utilised in South America before. The book covers the Formative Period to the end of the Inca Empire, and the chapters together comprise a state-of-the-art summary of all the best research on Andean funerary archaeology currently being carried out around the globe"-- Provided by publisher