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Feasting and Ancestor Veneration at Chinchawas, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George F. Lau
George F. Lau*
Affiliation:
Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
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Abstract

The present article considers evidence for ancestor veneration and feasting in the North Highlands (Department of Ancash), Peru between A. D. 500-900. The study draws upon ethnohistorical, iconographic, and archaeological comparisons to better understand different lines of data from the ancient Recuay community of Chinchawas (3,850 masl), including public and mortuary architecture, ceramics, faunal remains, and stone sculpture. Two major programs of religious activity can be discerned: one situated within local Recuay traditions (Kayán and Chinchawasi phases, A. D. 500-800), followed by a suite of intrusive patterns associated with Wari expansion (Warmi phase, after A. D. 800). The study argues that, by A. D. 500, special public ceremonies combined ancestor worship and feasting as part of community politics at the site. Chinchawasi practices included subterranean tombs, special architectural enclosures with monolithic sculptures, and evidence for large-scale consumption. Warmi practices appear smaller in scale, focusing on aboveground mausolea, different stone sculptural forms and iconography, and increasing evidence for interregional interaction. The diachronic patterns reflect: 1) flexible sociopolitical arrangements at Chinchawas that accommodated group and entrepreneurial interests, and 2) local sociocultural transformations associated with Wari expansion (ca. A. D. 750).

En la contribución presente se expone la evidencia arqueológica para culto a los ancestros y ceremonias públicas en la zona serrana de Ancash, Peru, entre los años 500-900 cal d. C. El estudio utiliza comparaciones arqueológicas, iconográficas, y etnohistóricas para mejor entender la evidencia del antiguo pueblo de Chinchawas-en particular, la arquitectura pública y funeraria, cerámica, óseos de animales, y monolitos grabados. Se determinaron dos patrones principales: uno identificado con la tradición cultural Recuay (fases Kayán y Chinchawasi, 500-800 d. C), el otro asociado con la presencia intrusiva de los Wari (fase Warmi, 800-900 d. C.). El estudio propone que en unas ceremonias públicas especiales se manifiestan las dimensiones de culto a los ancestros y festín como parte del programa polítia local. Los patrones Chinchawasi incluyeron tumbas subterráneas, recintos con monolitos Recuay, y evidencia de consumo en gran escala. El patrón Warmi se define por prácticas en menor escala, con innovaciones culturales: estructuras del tipo chullpa, monolitos de nuevo estilo, y nuevas conexiones inter-regionales. Los cambios se interpretan como manifestaciones culturales de: 1) patrones de organización socio-política adaptable en los cuales se trataron interéses de individuos y de la comunidad, y 2) influencia externa por el estado Wari (ca. 750 d. C.).

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2002 , pp. 279 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2002

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