Abstract
The Chachapoya culture of northern Peru (AD 800–1470) is often associated with elaborate and visually striking mortuary structures such as anthropomorphic sarcophagi known as purunmachus and burial chullpas, precariously situated within the Andean vertical environment. This study focuses on the archaeological site of La Petaca, an exposed natural rock escarpment that was chosen as a sacred space, housing a series of funerary structures located across the cliff. Natural overhangs were selected as open collective buriaIs; however, a large number of small structures were also built into this vertical environment to serve similarly as communal tombs. An analysis of the spatial dimensions reflected in this mortuary expression allows us to explore the ritual creation of this space by the living to commemorate and honor the dead. By using an innovative method of data retrieval and recording, it appears that individuals were deposited over a period of time, resulting in a gradual accumulation and unintentional commingling of the dead. This decision to both construct and continuously return to small sacred spaces within a challenging physical environment illustrates the importance of cave burials and chullpas within the greater Chachapoya ritual landscape and how the placement of the dead was vital to the creation of group identity.
The province of Chachapoyas contains buildings of stone, of a conical shape, supporting large unwieldy busts. They are situated on the declivities of mountains, and in spots so inaccessible, that, in their construction, both the materials and the workmen must have been lowered down by means of strong cordage. They appear to have been the mausolea of certain caciques or principal people, who, being desirous to perpetuate their memory, endeavored not only to secure these monuments from the ravages of time by forming them of the most durable substance, but also from the rude attacks of men, by placing them, where the precipice would prevent his approach. (Skinner 1805, p. 14)
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Notes
- 1.
Ayllu as defined by Isbell (1997, pp. 98–99) as “a group of people who shared a resource attributed to a founder or ancestor and whose members could therefore be ranked in accord with the idiom of kinship when the founder was employed as a common ancestor.”
- 2.
Khipus as defined by Urton and Brezin (2005) are knotted-string devices that were used for bureaucratic recording and communication in the Inca Empire.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support was provided by Petzl Foundation, MonVertical, University of Central Florida Department of Anthropology and College of Sciences. This project would not have been possible without the logistical support of Project Ukhupacha/Universidad de Jaume I team members including Salvador Guinot, Jordi Puig, Ismael Mejía, Felipe Sancristán, Milan Saez, Javi Sanz, Iñaki Menkatorre, and Patric Vogel. Archaeological research would not have been possible without Manuel Malaver, Willy Chiguala, and Armando Anzellini. We also thank the collaboration of the local Leymebamba Comunidad Campesina, and specific individuals, including Don Florentino and Doña Rubitsa (Fig. 6.8).
a and b Spatial Model illustrating the number of individuals that could have been deposited in this cave context according to the calculated spatial dimensions of the cave and adult (161,000 cm3) and juvenile complete bodies (77,500 cm3; n = 55)
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Epstein, L., Toyne, J. (2016). When Space Is Limited: A Spatial Exploration of Pre-Hispanic Chachapoya Mortuary and Ritual Microlandscape. In: Osterholtz, A. (eds) Theoretical Approaches to Analysis and Interpretation of Commingled Human Remains. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22554-8_6
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