Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:58:14.726Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mortuary Practices and Human Sacrifice in the Middle Chao Valley of Peru: Their Interpretation in the Context of Andean Mortuary Patterning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Catherine Gaither ,
Jonathan Kent ,
Víctor Vásquez Sánchez  and
Teresa Rosales Tham
Catherine Gaither
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Metropolitan State College of Denver ([email protected])
Jonathan Kent
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Metropolitan State College of Denver ([email protected]) Campus Box 28 Denver, CO 80217-3362
Víctor Vásquez Sánchez
Affiliation:
ARQUEOBIOS, Aptdo. Postal 595, Trujillo, Perú
Teresa Rosales Tham
Affiliation:
ARQUEOBIOS, Aptdo. Postal 595, Trujillo, Perú
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Investigations at several northern Peruvian coastal archaeological sites by archaeologists and physical anthropologists are beginning to provide details on long-term patterning of mortuary behavior. Some of these patterns include retainer sacrifice, child sacrifice, and the metaphorical principle we refer to as “like with like.” In this paper, we discuss the data relating to these mortuary patterns discovered at the site of Santa Rita B in the middle Chao Valley. Examples of each of the patterns presented are evident at the site. These include at least three child sacrifices and one adult sacrifice. The sacrifices appear to be retainer sacrifices, defined as sacrifices intended to accompany a deceased principal personage in the afterlife. The inclusion of the child sacrifices with a subadult principal burial is part of the “like with like” pattern seen here and at other Andean sites. Dating to the start of the Late Intermediate period (ca. A.D. 1100–1300), these finds are compared to other north coastal sites, both earlier and later, and the extent of temporal continuity in these patterns is discussed.

Resumen

Resumen

Basándose en investigaciones arqueológicas llevadas a cabo en varios sitios de la costa norte del Perú, arqueólogos y antropólogos físicos han mostrado la larga tradición de los patrones funerarios en la región. Algunos incluyen el sacrificio humano incluso de niños, junto con un patrón metafórico que denominamos “similar con similar.” Presentamos aquí datos mortuarios del sitio arqueológico Santa Rita B, valle medio de Chao, que contiene ejemplos de cada uno de los patrones. Estos incluyen, por lo menos, tres sacrificios de niños y uno de adulto, que aparecen como acompañantes, del personaje principal en la vida futura. Los niños, incluidos con un subadulto principal, son parte de lo que denominamos “similar con similar”, y ha sido registrado en otros sitios andinos. Perteneciendo al inicio del Período Intermedio Tardío (ca. 1100 d.c. a 1300 d.c.), estos descubrimientos se comparan Con otros de la costa norte, tanto tempranos como tardíos, y discutimos su continuidad temporal.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 107 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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

Altamirano, E., José, Alfredo 2000 Comprometiendo la estructura osteo-facial de las poblaciones humanas del Antiguo Perú por la Leishmaniasis Tegumentaria de forma mucosa. [Doutorado] Fundação Oswaldo Cruz: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública.Google Scholar
Alva, Walter 1990 New Tomb of Royal Splendor. National Geographic 177:2–15.Google Scholar
Alva, Walter, and Donnan, Christopher B. 1993 Royal Tombs of Sipan. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Bourget, Steve, and Newman, Margaret 1998 A Toast to the Ancestors: Ritual Warfare and Sacrificial Blood in the Moche Culture. Baessler-Archiv 46:85–106.Google Scholar
Brooks, William E., Brooks, Matthew G., Kent, Jonathan D., Victor F. Vásquez, S., Teresa E. Rosales, T., Marrero Cuebas, Rosenelsy, and Willett, Jason C. 2001 The Muralla Pircada-Evidence for a 2000-Year Old Natural Hazards Dam Near the Santa Rita B Archaeological Site, Norther Peru. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(6):A–128.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, Andrew, and Parker Pearson, Michael 2001 Earthly Remains: The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies. Oxford University Press, London.Google Scholar
Cordy-Collins, Alana, and Merbs, Charles F. 2003 Forensic Iconography and the Moche Giants. Paper presented in the symposium: The Art, the Arts and the Archaeology of the Moche. Fourth D.J. Sibley Family Conference on World Traditions of Culture and Art. November 14–16, 2003. Austin.Google Scholar
de Herrera, Antonio de 1944 Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos, 10 vols. Editorial Guariana, Asunción.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 1986 Introduction. In The Pacatnamu Papers, Volume 1, edited by Christopher Donnan and Guillermo Cock, pp. 19–26. Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 1994 The Tombs of Ancient Peruvian Rulers: Myth Becomes Reality. Americas 46(3):14–22.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 1995 Moche Funerary Practice. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by Tom Dillehay, pp. 111–160. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 1997 Introduction. In The Pacatnamu Papers, Volume II: The Moche Occupation, edited by Christopher Donnan and Guillermo Cock, pp. 9–16. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 2001 Moche Burials Uncovered. National Geographic 199(3):58–73.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher 2003 Tumbas con Entierros en Miniatura: Un Nuevo Tipo Funerario Moche. In Moche Hacia El Final Del Milenio, Tomo I, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 43–78. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo y Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Fondo Editorial, Lima.Google Scholar
Donnan, Christopher, and Luis Jaime Castillo, B. 1994 Excavaciones de tumbas de sacerdotes Moche en San José de Moro, Jequetepeque. In Moche Propuestas y Perspectives, edited by Santiago Uceda and Eléas Mujica, pp. 415–424. Travaux de l’lnstitut Français d’Etudes Andines, 79. Lima.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnan, Christopher, and Foote, Leonard J. 1978 Appendix 2. Child and llama burials from Huanchaco. In Ancient burial Patterns of the Moche Valley, Peru, edited by Christopher Donnan and Carol Mackey, pp. 399–408. University of Texas Press, Austin CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B., and Mackey, Carol J 1978 Ancient Burial Patterns of the Moche Valley, Peru. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Franco, Régulo, Gálvez, César, and Vásquez, Segundo 2003 Modelos, función y cornologéa de la Huaca Cao Viejo, Complejo El Brujo. In Moche Hacia El Final Del Milenio, Tomo 11, edited by Santiago Uceda and Eléas Mujica, pp. 43–78. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo y Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Fondo Editorial, Lima.Google Scholar
Friedmann, John 1966 Regional Development Policy: A Case Study of Venezuela. MIT Press. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gumerman IV, 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 A. Hastorf, pp. 399–410. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Kent, Jonathan, and Kowta, Makota 1994 The Cemetery at Tambo Viejo, Acaré Valley, Peru. Andean Past 4:106–140.Google Scholar
Lau, George F. 2005 Core-Periphery Relations in the Recuay Hinterlands: Economic Interaction at Chinchawas, Peru. Antiquity 79:78–99.Google Scholar
McEwan, Colin, and Van de Guchte, Martén 1992 Ancestral Time and Sacred Space in Inca State Ritual. In The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes, edited by Richard F. Townsend, pp. 359–371. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.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 15:371–389.Google Scholar
Ramirez, Rosa, León, José Mostacero, Mejia Coico, Freddy, Pelaez, Freddy, y Medina, Dario 1987 Catálogo de plantas utilizadas en medicina popular en el Norte del Perú. Rebiol 7(1–2):95–132. UNT/CON-CYTEC. Trujillo and Lima.Google Scholar
Reinhard, Johann 1996 Peru's Ice Maidens. National Geographic 189:62–81.Google Scholar
Reinhard, Johann 1997 Mummies of Peru. National Geographic 191:36–43.Google Scholar
Reinhard, Johann 1998 Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden: My Adventures on Ampato. National Geographic Society, 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 45:369–402.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, Reimer, Paula J., Bard, Eouard, Beck, Warren J., Burr, George S., Hughen, Konrad A., Kromer, Bernd, McCormac, Gerry, van der Plicht, Johannes, and Spurk, Marco 1998 INT CAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration. Radiocarbon 40:1041–1083.Google Scholar
Sutter, Richard, and Cortez, Rosa 2005 The Nature of Moche Human Sacrifice: A Bio-Archaeological Perspective. Current Anthropology 46:521–549.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. 43–78. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo y Pontífica Universidad Católica del Perú, Fondo Editorial, Lima.Google Scholar
Uceda, Santiago, and Tufinio, Moisés 2003 El complejo arquitectónico religioso Moche de Huaca de la Luna: Una aproximación a su dinámica ocupacional. In Moche Hacia El Final Del Milenio, Tomo II, edited by Santiago Uceda and Elías Mujica, pp. 179–228. Universidad Nacional de Trujillo y Pontífica Universidad Católica del Perú, Fondo Editorial, Lima.Google Scholar
Valdivia V., Luis 1988 Odonto Antropologia Peruana. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Lima.Google Scholar
Verano, John 1997 Human Skeletal Remains from Tomb 1, Sipán (Lambayeque river valley, Peru); and their Social Implications. Antiquity 71:670–683.Google Scholar
Verano, John 2001a The Physical Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Peru. In Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, edited by Elizabeth Benson and Anita Cook, pp. 165–184. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Verano, John 2001b Paleopathological Analysis of Sacrificial Victims at the Pyramid of the Moon, Moche River Valley, Northern Peru. Chungara, Revista de Antropologia Chilena 32(1):61–70.Google Scholar
Verano, John 2003 Human Skeletal Remains from Machu Picchu: A Reexamination of the Yale Peabody Museum’s Collections. In The 1912 Yale Peruvian Scientific Expedition Collections from Machu Picchu: Human and Animal Remains, edited by Richard L. Burger and Lucy C. Salazar, pp. 65–117 and 143–152. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, Number 85. New Haven.Google Scholar
Vreeland, James M. 1998 Mummies of Peru. In Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures, edited by Aidan Cockburn, Eve Cockburn and Theodore A. Reyman, pp. 154–189. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar