Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T17:02:17.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Death and Religion in the Southern Moche Periphery: Funerary Practices at Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David Chicoine
David Chicoine*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, 227 Howe-Russell-Kniffen Geoscience Complex, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores religion, death, and mortuary practices in the Southern Moche (A.D. 1-800) periphery as viewed through the excavation of grave contexts at the site of Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Moche influence reached Nepeña as is visible in the construction of religious buildings at the site of Pañamarca and the presence of Moche style ceramics at several sites. In 2003 and 2004, scientific excavations at Huambacho, an Early Horizon center mainly built and occupied during the first millennium B.C., yielded a series of intrusive graves containing Gallinazo, Virú, and Moche style objects. This contribution contextualizes these discoveries and focuses on the analysis of funerary patterns of burial, osteological evidence, and symbolic meanings with the objective of understanding local funerary practices and Moche religious and cultural expressions. Symbolic references to coast-highland interactions, inversions in body positioning, and possible human sacrifices bring insights into the complex and potentially tense sociohistorical cirmcumstances in Nepeña during the Moche phase.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo explora la religión, muerte, y costumbres funerarias en la periferia sur de los moche, basándose en la excavación de contextos de entierros en el sitio de Huambacho, Valle de Nepeña, Perú. La influencia moche llegó a Nepeña como es apreciable en la construcción de edificios religiosos en el sitio de Pañamarca y en la presencia de cerámica de estilo Moche en varios sitios. En 2003 y 2004, excavaciones científicas en Huambacho, un centro del Horizonte Temprano construido y ocupado principalmente durante el primer milenio a.C., permitieron el descubrimiento de una serie de entierros intrusivos con objetos de estilo Gallinazo, Virú, y Moche. Esta contribución contextualiza estos descubrimientos y se enfoca en el análisis de los patrones de enterramiento, la evidencia osteológica, y sus significados simbólicos con el objetivo de entender las prácticas funerarias locales y la expresión cultural y religiosa moche. Referencias simbólicas a interacciones entre la costa y la sierra, inversiones en el tratamiento de los cuerpos, y posibles sacrificios humanos brindan información sobre las complejas y potencialmente tensas circunstancias sociohistóricas durante la fase Moche en Nepeña.

Type
Themed Section on the Bioarchaeololgy of Ritual Violence
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 525 - 548
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 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

Allen, Catherine J. 1988 The Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Alva, Walter 1988 Discovering the New World’s Richest Unlooted Tomb. National Geographic Magazine 174: 510–550.Google Scholar
Bawden, Garth 1996 The Moche. BlackweW, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bawden, Garth 2004 The Art of Moche Politics. In Andean Archaeology, edited by Helaine Silverman, pp. 116–129. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Benson, Elizabeth P. 1972 The Mochica. A Culture of Peru. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Billman, Brian 2010 How Moche Rulers Came to Power: Investigating the Emergence of the Moche Political Economy. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 181–200. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1971 Mortuary Practices: Their Study and their Potential. In Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices, edited by James A. Brown, pp. 208–243. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bloch, Maurice, and Parry, Jonathan (editors) 1982 Death and the Regeneration of Life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2001 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. and New Haven.Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2003 Somos diferentes: dinámica ocupacional del sitio Castillo de Huancaco, Valle de Virú. In Moche: hacia el final del milenio, tomo 1, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 245–267. Pontifica Uni versidad Católica del Perú, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Lima and Trujillo.Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2006 Sex, Death, and Sacrifice in Moche Religion and Visual Culture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve 2010 Cultural Assignations during the Early Intermediate Period. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 201–222. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Buikstra, Jane E. 1995 Tombs for the Living … or … For the Dead: The Osmore Ancestors. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 229–280. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cannon, Aubrey 1989 The Historical Dimension in Mortuary Expressions of Status and Sentiment. Current Anthropology 30(4):437–458.Google Scholar
Castillo, Luis Jaime 2010 Moche Politics in the Jequetepeque Valley: A Case for Political Opportunism. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 83–109. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Donnan, Christopher B. 1995 Los mochica del norte y los Mochica del sur. In Vicús, edited by Krzysztof Makowski, Christopher B. Donnan, Ivan Amaro, Luis Jaime Castillo, Magdalena Diez Canseco, Otto Eléspuro, and Juan Antonio Murro, pp. 143–176. Banco de Credito del Perú, Lima.Google Scholar
Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Quilter, Jeffrey 2010 Many Moche Models. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 1–16. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Rengifo, Carlos 2008 Identidades funerarias femeninas y poder ideológico en las sociedades mochicas. In Los señores de los reinos de la luna, edited by Krzysztof Makowski, pp. 2–34. Colección de Arte y Tesoros del Perú, Banco de Crédito del Perú, Lima.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. and New Haven.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 2004 Tumbas y clases sociales en la zona urbana moche del sitio Huacas de Moche, costa norte del Perú. In Desarrollo arqueológico costa norte del Perú 1, edited by Luis Valle, pp. 177–188. Ediciones SIAN, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude 2010 Moche Political Organization in the Santa Valley: A Case of Direct Rule through Gradual Control of the Local Population. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 252–279. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude, Pimentel, Victor, Gagné, Gérard, Gamboa, Jorge, Regalado, Delicia, and Chicoine, David 2004 Nuevos datos sobre Huaca China, Valle del Santa, Perú. Bulletin de l’Institut François d’Études Andines 33(1):55–80.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude, Pimentel, Víctor, and Gamboa, Jorge 2005 Contextos funerarios moche del sitio El Castillo de Santa: una primera aproximaciön. In Muerte y evidencias funerarias en los Andes Centrales: avances y perspectivas, edited by Claudio Cesar Olaya and Marina Romero, pp. 13–41. Universidad Nacional Federico Villareal, Lima.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Claude, Pimentel, Víctor, and Gamboa, Jorge 2009 Gallinazo Cultural Identity in the Lower Santa Valley: Ceramics, Architecture, Burials, and Sociopolitical Organization. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast, edited by Jean-Francois Millaire and Magali Morlion, pp. 181–206. UCLA Costen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Chicoine, David 2006 Early Horizon Architecture at Huambacho, Nepeñia Valley, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 31(2): 1–22.Google Scholar
Chicoine, David 2010 Cronología y secuencias en Huambacho, Valle de Nepeña, costa de Ancash. In El Periodo Formativo y evidencias recientes: cincuenta años de la misión japonesa y su vigencia, edited by P. Kaulicke, pp. 317–348. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 12. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.Google Scholar
DeMarrais, Elizabeth 2004 The Materialization of Culture. In Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World, edited by Elizabeth DeMarrais, Chris Gosden and Colin Renfrew, pp. 11–22. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.Google Scholar
DeMarrais, Elizabeth, Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Earle, Timothy K. 1996 Ideology, Materialization, and Power Strategies. Current Anthropology 37(1): 15–31.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 1975 The Thematic Approach to Moche Iconography. Journal of Latin American Lore 1 (2): 147–162.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 1978 Moche Art of Peru. Pre-Columbian Symbolic Communication. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 1995 Moche Funerary Practice. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited Tom D. Dillehay, pp. 111–159. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 2007 Moche Tombs at Dos Cabezas. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 2009 The Gallinazo Illusion. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition of the Peruvian North Coast, edited by Jean-François Millaire and Magali Morlion, pp. 17–32. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B 2010 Moche State Religion. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 47–69. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and Castillo, Luis Jaime 1992 Fi nding the Tomb of a Moche Priestess. Archaeology 45(6):38–42.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and McClelland, Donna 1997 Moche Burials at Pacatnamú. In The Pacatnamú 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
Gagné, Gérard 2009 Gallinazo Disposal of the Dead and Manipulation of Human Remains at El Castillo de Santa. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast, edited by Jean-Francois Millaire and Magali Morlion, pp. 207–222. UCLA Costen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambini, Wilfredo 1983–1984 Santa y Nepeña: dos valles, dos culturas. Imprenta Castillo, Lima.Google Scholar
Genovés, Santiago 1967 Proportionality of Long Bones and their Relation to Stature among Mesoamericans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 26:67–78.Google Scholar
Gumerman, George IV 1994 Corn for the Dead: The Signification of Zea mays in Moche Burial Offerings. In Corn and Culture in Prehistoric New World, edited by Sissel Johannessen and Christine A. Hastorf,pp. 399–410. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Hecker, Giesela, and Hecker, Wolfgang 1983 Graerbeschreibung. In Vorspanische Gräber von Pacatnamú Nordperu, edited by Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering, pp. 39–131. Verlag C. H. Beck, Munich.Google Scholar
Hecker, Giesela, and Hecker, Wolfgang 1992 Ofrendas de huesos humanos y uso repetido de vasijas en culto funerario de la costa norperuana. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 6(21):33–53.Google Scholar
Hill, Erica 2003 Sacrificing Moche Bodies. Journal of Material Culture 8(3):285–299.Google Scholar
Hill, Erica 2005 The Body Intact, the Body in Pieces: Foucault and the Moche Prisoner. In Art for Archaeology’s Sake: Material Culture and Style across the Disciplines, edited by Andrea Waters-Rist, Christine Cluney, Calla McNamee, and Larry Steinbrenner, pp. 124–131. The University of Calgary, Calgary.Google Scholar
Kaulicke, Peter 2000 Memoria y muerte en el Perú antiguo. Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.Google Scholar
Larco, Rafael 1938 The Mochicas. Casa Editorial la Crónica, Lima.Google Scholar
Larco, Rafael 1948 Cronología Arqueológica del Norte del Perú. Sociedad Geográfica Americana, Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Lau, George F. 2004 Object of Contention: An Examination of Recuay-Moche Combat Imagery. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 14(2):163–184.Google Scholar
Makowski, Krzysztof 2002 Power and Social Ranking at the End of the Formative Period: The Lower Lurín Valley Cemeteries. In Andean Archaeology I: Variations in Sociopolitical Organization, edited by William H. Isbell and Helaine Silverman, pp. 89–120. Kluwer Academics/Plenum Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Makowski, Krzysztof 2010 Religion, Ethnic Identity, and Power in the Moche World: A View from the Frontiers. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 280–305. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-François 2002 Moche Burial Patterns: An Investigation into Pre-hispanic Social Structure. BAR International Series 1066. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-François 2004 The Manipulation of Human Remains in Moche Society: Delayed Burials, Grave Reopening, and Secondary Offerings of Human Bones on the Peruvian North Coast. Latin American Antiquity 15:371–388.Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-François 2009 Gallinazo and the Tradición Norcosteña. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast, edited by Jean-François Millaire and Magali Morlion, pp. 1–16. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-François 2010 Moche Political Expansionism as Viewed from Virú: Recent Archaeological Work in the Close Periphery of a Hegemonic City-State System. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 223–251. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Millaire, Jean-Francois, and Morlion, Magali (editors) 2009 Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast. Los Angeles. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Nelson, Andrew J. 1998 Wandering Bones: Archaeology, Forensic Science and Moche Burial Practices. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 8:192–212.Google Scholar
O’Shea, John M. 1984 Mortuary Variability: An Archaeological Investigation. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Onuki, Yoshio 1985 The Yunga Zone in the Prehistory of the Central Andes: Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions in Andean Ecological and Cultural Processes. In Andean Ecology and Civilizations: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Andean Ecological Complementarity, edited Shozo Masuda, Izumi Shimada and Craig Morris, pp. 339–356. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Pader, Ellen-Jane 1982 Symbolism, Social Relations and the Interpretations of Mortuary Remains. BAR International Series 130. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, Michael 1999 The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill, U.K. Google Scholar
Pozorski, Shelia, and Pozorski, Thomas 1996 Cerámica de la cultura moche en el Valle de Casma, Perú. Revista del Museo de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia 6:103–122.Google Scholar
Proulx, Donald A. 1968 An Archaeological Survey of the Nepeña Valley, Peru. Research Report Vol. 2. Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Proulx, Donald A. 1973 Archaeological Investigations in the Nepeña Valley, Peru. Research Report Vol. 13. Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Proulx, Donald A. 1982 Territoriality in the Early Intermediate Period: The Case of Moche and Recuay. Ñawpa Pacha 20:83–96.Google Scholar
Quilter, Jeffrey 2002 Moche Politics, Religion, and Warfare. Journal of World Prehistory 16(2): 145–195.Google Scholar
Ramón, Gabriel 2011 The Swallow Potters: Seasonally Migratory Styles in the Andes. In Archaeological Ceramics: A Review of Current Research, edited by Simona Scarcella, pp. 160–175. BAR International Series 2193. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rowe, John H. 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 Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Saxe, Arthur A. 1970 Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Schaedel, Richard P. 1951 Moche Murals at Pañamarca. Archaeology 4(3): 145–154.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 1994 Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 2010 Moche Sociopolitical Organization: Rethinking Data, Approaches, and Models. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 70–82. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Soriano, Augusta 1941 Monografía de Ancash: Nepeña (Provinciade Santa). Revista del Museo National 10(2):263–277.Google Scholar
Sprague, Roderick 2005 Burial Terminology: A Guide for Researchers. Altamira Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Strong, William D., and Evans, Clifford Jr. 1952 Cultural Stratigraphy in the Virú Valley, Northern Peru. Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tainter, Joseph A. 1978 Mortuary Practices and the Study of Prehistoric Social Systems. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 105–141. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Tello, Ricardo, Armas, José, and Chapdelaine, Claude 2003 Prácticas funerarias moche en el complejo arqueológico Huacas del Sol y de la Luna. In Moche: hacia el final del milenio, tomo 1, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 151–187. Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú/Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Lima and Trujillo.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1992 Hyoid Fracture and Stangulation. Journal of Forensic Sciences 37(5): 1216–1222.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 Castillo and Elías Mujica, pp. 251–303. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Instituto Franés de Estudios Andinos, Asociación Peruana para el Fomento de las Ciencias Sociales, Trujillo and Lima.Google Scholar
Uhle, Max 1903 Pachacamac. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Archaeology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
van Gennep, Arnold 1965 The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Vega-Centeno Sara-Lafosse, Rafael, del Carmen Vega Dulanto, María, and Cragg, Patricia Landa 2006 Muertes violentas en tierras de ancestros: entierros tardíos en Cerro Lampay. Arqueología y Sociedad 17:255–272.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 1994 Características físicas y biología osteológica de los moche. In Moche: propuestas y perspectivas, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 307–326. Universidad Nacional de la Libertad, Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, Asociación Peruana para el Fomento de las Ciencias Sociales, Lima and Trujillo.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 1997a A Mass Burial of Mutilated Individuals at Pacatnamú. In The Pacatnamú Papers, Vol. 1, edited by Christopher B. Donnan and Guillermo A. Cock, pp. 117–138. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 1997b Physical Characteristics and Skeletal Biology of the Moche Population at Pacatnamú. In The Moche Occupation, edited by Christopher B. Donnan and Guillermo A. Cock, pp. 189–214. The Pacatanamú Papers, vol. 12, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of Californai, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 1998 Sacrificios humanos, desmembramientos y modificaciones culturales en restos osteológicos: evidencias de las temporadas de investigación 1995–1996 en la Huaca de la Luna. In Investigaciones en la Huaca de la Luna 1996, edited by Santiago Uceda, Elías Mujica, and Ricardo Morales, pp. 159–171. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 2001 The Physical Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Peru. In Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru: New Discoveries and Interpretations, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook, pp. 165–183. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Verano, John W. 2003 Avances en la bioantropología de los Moche. In Moche: hacia el final del milenio, tomo 2, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elias Mujica, pp. 15–32. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Lima and Trujillo.Google Scholar
Wilson, David J. 1988 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Lower Santa Valley, Peru: A Regional Perspective on the Origins and Development of Complex North Coast Society, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar