Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:48:56.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Manipulation of Human Remains in Moche Society: Delayed Burials, Grave Reopening, and Secondary Offerings of Human Bones on the Peruvian North Coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jean-François Millaire*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Stephen Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, Québec, H3A 2T7, Canada. ([email protected])

Abstract

A careful reexamination of funerary contexts suggests that Moche (ca. A.D. 100–800) graves were not simply spaces for the disposal of decaying corpses, but contexts periodically revisited by certain members of Moche society. The dynamic nature of funerary practices is documented through an examination of delayed burials. It is argued that these were the product of two distinct ritual processes, one of which involved the storage of corpses to be used as retainers in subsequent rituals. The practice of grave reopening is also explored, leading to the identification of different types of rituals. At least some graves were reopened to remove skeletal parts of possible potent ancestors. Related ideology is addressed by examining cases of bone destruction and the more common secondary offerings of human remains. This study highlights the dynamic nature of Moche mortuary activity while stressing the important role of those in charge of manipulating ancestors’ remains. Finally, it is argued that the Moche shared with their highland neighbors a common vision of the eternal character of human remains, comparable ritual practices involving the human body, and a similar belief in the capacity of the living to influence the course of their destiny through periodic manipulation of ancestors’ remains.

Un examen detallado de los contextos funerarios sugiere que los sepulcros Moche (ca. 100–800 d.C.) no fueran simplemente espacios para la disposición de cadáveres, pero también lugares periódicamente visitados. La naturaleza dinámica de las prácticas funerarias Moche se documenta primero a través de una reexaminación de entierros diferidos. Se discute que éstos eran un producto de dos procesos rituales distintos, uno de los cuales implicó el almacenaje de cadáveres que se utilizarán como acompañantes en rituales subsecuentes. La práctica de reabrir los sepulcros también se explora, permitiendo la distinción de diferentes tipos de rituales. Por lo menos, sepulcros fueron reabiertos con fin de exhumar partes de esqueletos de antepasados potentes potenciales. Esto nos conduce a examinar el destino de los restos exhumados. Esta presentación destaca la naturaleza dinámica de la actividad mortuoria, y muestra la importancia de los encargados de manipular los restos de los antepasados. Finalmente, se discute que los Moches compartían con sus vecinos del Altiplano una visión común del carácter perenne de los restos humanos, un sistema comparable de prácticas rituales, y una creencia similar en la capacidad de los vivos de influenciar el curso de sus destinos con interacciones periódicas con los restos de los ancestros.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Alva, Walter 1994 Sipán. Colección cultura y artes del Perú. Cervecería Backus & Johnston, Lima.Google Scholar
Alva, Walter, and Donnan, Christopher B. 1993 Royal Tombs of Sipán. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Bastien, Joseph 1995 The Mountain/Body Metaphor Expressed in a Kaatan Funeral. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 355-378. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 1998a Pratiques sacrificielles et funéraires au site Moche de la Huaca de la Luna, côte nord du Pérou. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 27(1):41-74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourget, Steve 1998b Excavaciones en la Plaza 3A, Plataforma II y Cementerio Cerro Blanco. In Informe téchnico financiero 1997, edited by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales, pp. 20-33. Manuscript on file, Proyecto Arqueológico Huaca de la Luna. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2001a Rituals of Sacrifice: Its Practice at Huaca de la Luna and Its Representation in Moche Iconography. In Moche: Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 89-109. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2001b Children and Ancestors: Ritual Practices at the Moche site of Huaca de la Luna, North Coast of Peru. In Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook, pp. 93-118. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Cárdenas, Guidelina 1993 Los entierros. In Informe temporada 1993, edited by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales, pp. 68-79. Manuscript on file, Proyecto de Investigación y Conservación Huaca de la Luna. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Donnan, Christopher B. 1994 La ocupación Moche de San José de Moro, Jequetepeque. In Moche propuestas y perspectivas, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 93-146. Travaux de l’Institut Français d#x2019;Études Andines 79. Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 1997 Le tissus urbain du site Moche. In À l’ombre du Cerro Blanco, edited by Claude Chapdelaine, pp. 11-82. Les Cahiers d’anthropologie, No. 1. Département d’anthro-pologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 1998 Investigaciones en los conjustos arquitectónicos del centro urbano Moche. In Informe temporada 1997, edited by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales, pp. 34-128. Manuscript on file, Proyecto de Investigación y Conservación Huaca de la Luna. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 1999 Investigaciones en la zona urbana Moche durante 1998. In Informe temporada 1998, edited by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales, pp. 31-64. Manuscript on file, Proyecto de Investigación y Conservación Huaca de la Luna. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 2001 The Growing Power of a Moche Urban Class. In Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 69-87. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Conrad, Geoffrey W., and Demarest, Arthur A. 1984 Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inka Expansionism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cordy-Collins, Alana 1997 The Offering Room Group. In The Pacatnamu Papers, Volume 2: The Moche Occupation, edited by Christopher B. Donnan and Guillermo A. Cock, pp. 283-293. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Dillehay, Tom D. (editor) 1995 Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B. 1995 Moche Funerary Practice. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 111-159. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and Mackey, Carol J. 1978 Ancient Burial Patterns of the Moche Valley, Peru. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and McClelland, Donna 1997 Moche Burials at Pacatnamu. In The Pacatnamu Papers, Volume 2: The Moche Occupation, edited by Christopher B. Donnan and Guillermo A. Cock, pp. 17-187. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and McClelland, Donna 1999 Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and Its Artists. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Franco, Régulo, Gálvez, César, and Vásquez, Segundo 1998 Desentierro ritual de una tumba moche: Huaca Cao Viejo. Revista Arqueológica SIAN 6:9-18.Google Scholar
Franco, Régulo, Gálvez, César, and Vásquez, Segundo 1999 Tumbas de cámara Moche en la plataforma superior de la Huaca Cao Viejo, Complejo El Brujo. Boletín No. 1, Programa Arqueológico “El Brujo.” Google Scholar
Gumerman, George 1994 Corn for the Dead: The Significance of Zea mays in Moche Burial Offerings. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by Sissel Johannessen and Christine Hastorf, pp. 399-410. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Härke, Heinrich 1997 The Nature of Burial Data. In Burial and Society: The Chronological and Social Analysis of Archaeological Burial Data, edited by Claus Kjeld Jensen and Karen Høilund Nielsen, pp. 19-27. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus.Google Scholar
Hecker, Giesela, and Hecker, Wolfgang 1983 Gräberbeschreibung. In Vorspanische Gräber von Pacatnamú, Nordperu, 39-131. Compiled by Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering. Materialen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, Band 26. Verlag C.H. Beck, Munich.Google Scholar
Hecker, Giesela, and Hecker, Wolfgang 1992 Ofrendas de huesos humanos y uso repetido de vasijas en el culto funerario de la costa norperuana. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 6(21):3353.Google Scholar
Hecker, Giesela, and Hecker, Wolfgang 1995 Die Grabungen von Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering in Pacatnamú, Norperú: Untersuchungen zu den Huacas 31 und 14 sowie Bestattungen und Fundobjekte. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H. 1997 Mummies and Mortuary Monuments: A Postprocessual Prehistory of Central Andean Social Organization. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Larco Hoyle, Rafael 1948 Cronología arqueológica del norte del Perú. Sociedad Geográfica Americana, Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-François 2002 Moche Burial Patterns: An Investigation into Prehispanic Social Structure. BAR International Series 1066, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millones, Luis, and Lemlij, Moisés (editors) 1996 Al final del camino. Fondo Editorial SIDEA, Lima.Google Scholar
Nelson, Andrew J. 1998 Wandering Bones: Archaeology, Forensic Science and Moche Burial Practices. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 8:192-212.3.0.CO;2-5>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pillsbury, Joanne (editor) 2001 Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Quilter, Jeffrey 1989 Life and Death at Paloma: Society and Mortuary Practices in a Preceramic Peruvian Village. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Rowe, John Howland 1946 Inka Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest. In Handbook of South American Indians, Vol. 2: The Andean Civilizations, edited by Julian H. Steward, pp. 183-330. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143.Google Scholar
Rowe, John Howland 1995 Behavior and Belief in Ancient Peruvian Mortuary Practice. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 27-41. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Salomon, Frank 1995 ‘The Beautiful Grandparents’: Andean Ancestor Shrines and Mortuary Ritual as Seen Through Colonial Records. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 315-353. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Salomon, Frank, and Urioste, George (editors and translators) 1991 The Huarochírí Manuscript, a Testament of Ancient and Colonial Andean Religion. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 1994 Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 2001 Late Moche Urban Craft Production: A First Approximation. In Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 177-205. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi, Shinoda, Ken-ichi, Farnum, Julie, Corruccini, Robert, and Watanabe, Hirokatsu 2004 An Integrated Analysis of Pre-Hispanic Mortuary Practices: A Middle Sicán Case Study. Current Anthropology 45 (3):369-402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Kenneth G. V. 1986 A Manual of Forensic Entomology. British Museum (Natural History), London.Google Scholar
Strong, William D., and Evans, Clifford 1952 Cultural Stratigraphy in the Virú Valley, Northern Peru: The Formative and Florescent Epochs. Columbia Studies in Archaeology and Ethnology IV. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tello, Ricardo 1994 La arquitectura de Huaca de la Luna. Unidad 6. In Informe temporada 1994, edited by Santiago Uceda and Ricardo Morales, pp. 9-37. Manuscript on file, Proyecto de Investigación y Conservation Huaca de la Luna. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Tello, Ricardo 1998 Los conjuntos arquitectónicos 8, 17, 18, y 19 del centra urbano Moche. In Investigaciones en la Huaca de la Luna 1996, edited by Santiago Uceda, Elías Mujica and Ricardo Morales, pp. 117-135. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Ubbelohde-Doering, Heinrich 1967 On the Royal Highways of the Inka: Archaeological Treasures of Ancient Peru. Translated by Margaret Brown. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Uceda, Santiago 2001 Investigations at Huaca de la Luna, Moche Valley: An Example of Moche Religious Architecture. In Moche: Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 47-67. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Uceda, Santiago, and Armas, José 1997 Los talleres alfareros en el centro urbano Moche. In Investigaciones en la Huaca de la Luna 1995, edited by Santiago Uceda, Elías Mujica, and Ricardo Morales, pp. 93-104. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Uceda, Santiago, Morales, Ricardo, Canziani, José, and Montoya, María 1994 Investigaciones sobre la arquitectura y relieves polícromos en la Huaca de la Luna, valle de Moche. In Moche: Propuestas y Perspectivas, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 251-303. Travaux de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 79. Universidad Nacional de La Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Uhle, Max 1899 Unpublished field notes. Manuscript on file. Robert Sainsbury Library, University of East Anglia, Norwich.Google Scholar
Urton, Gary 2001 A Calendrical and Demographic Tomb Text from Northern Peru. Latin American Antiquity 12:127-147.Google Scholar
Verano, John 1995 Where do they Rest? The Treatment of Human Offerings and Trophies in Ancient Peru. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 189-227. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Verano, John 1997 Human Skeletal Remains from Tomb 1, Sipán (Lambayeque River Valley, Peru); and Their Social Implications. Antiquity 71:670-682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verano, John W., and Lombardi, Guido P. 1999 Apéndice 3. Análisis del material oseo. In Tumbas de cámara Moche en la plataforma superior de la Huaca Cao Viejo, Complejo El Brujo, by Régulo Franco, César Gálvez, and Segundo Vásquez, pp. 48-51. Programa Arqueológico “El Brujo”. Boletín No. 1.Google Scholar
Vreeland, James M. 1992 Day of the Dead. Archaeology 45:43.Google Scholar