Diversity of Chachapoya mortuary practices is not well understood archaeologically, even though the region has received some attention for the monumental constructions and visually striking mortuary complexes located high on open cliff faces. This may be due to the difficult accessibility and often poor state of preservation consistent with many Chachapoya mortuary and occupation sites. This thesis reconstructs mortuary practices at La Petaca in the Chachapoyas region of Peru, applying paleodemographic and GIS methodological approaches to facilitate and improve the bioarchaeological study of commingled skeletal remains in an open, disturbed communal funerary context. Research focused on SUP CF-01, a natural cave context utilized as a group burial. The sample of human remains retrieved from SUP CF-01 (n= 8182) estimated an MNI of 43 adults and 12 juveniles, including a range of demographic categories. By employing a total station to record the cave structure, and a GIS to analyze the deposit of commingled remains, this thesis was able to measure the distances between paired elements and to explore possible post-depositional practices that could have created this commingled and disturbed deposit. This bioarchaeological analysis incorporating demographic and spatial analysis indicated that this collective burial was a primary context, and most likely a result of a gradual accumulation of complete bodies and movement of later skeletonized elements to make room for successive burials. When compared to other mortuary contexts at this complex, including a comparative secondary cave context and over 120 constructed mausoleums, it appears that all community members were included in the mortuary practices at this complex.

Reflections on the Chachapoya in the ChinchaysuyuCultural groups and cultural identity are some of the most discussed subjects in archaeology, history and anthropology. Material culture as artefacts and burial customs as well as building constructions reflect contacts between different regions, but how is it possible to reveal the cultural identity of a specific people in time and space?The Tawantinsuyu consisted of many ethnic groups, and Inca policies varied in different provinces, but how were cultural identities perceived by the Incas in their politics? It is generally understood that the Inca domination of a region can only be assessed on the basis of knowledge of the society that preceded it and by an understanding of the geographical landscape.Based on archaeological and ethnohistorical research I will discuss how a common cultural identity of the Chachapoyas as one group was created by the Incas for their political and socio-economic interests in a landscape that became loaded with Inca presence. The whole spatial setting of Inca installations in the landscape was charged with meanings that became essential for their existence in the land of the Chachapoya. The different señorios in the Chachapoyas province shared a common identity in settlement patterns, architectural design and ceramic tradition. Inca and Chachapoya identities and relations were a potent force of change where aggression and violence seem to have played an important and integrated cultural role. / Los grupos y las identidades culturales son algunos de los temas más discutidos en arqueología, historia y antropología. La cultura material, como los artefactos, las costumbres funerarias y las construcciones, refleja contactos entre diversas regiones, pero ¿cómo es posible revelar la identidad cultural de una población específica en tiempo y espacio?El Tawantinsuyu estuvo compuesto por muchos grupos étnicos y las políticas del Inca variaron en las diversas provincias, pero ¿cómo fueron percibidas las identidades culturales por los incas? Se entiende generalmente que la dominación inca de una región se puede determinar sólo sobre la base del conocimiento de la sociedad que lo precedió y por una comprensión del paisaje geográfico.Según la investigación arqueológica y etnohistórica llevada a cabo por la autora se discutirá cómo la identidad cultural común de los chachapoya como un grupo fue creada por los incas para sus intereses políticos y socioeconómicos en un paisaje que fue colmado con la presencia inca.La distribución espacial del conjunto de instalaciones inca en el paisaje fue cargada con significados que llegaron a ser esenciales para su existencia en la tierra de los chachapoya. Los diversos señoríos en la provincia de Chachapoyas compartieron una identidad común en patrones de asentamiento, diseño arquitectónico y tradición cerámica. Las identidades inca y chachapoya, y sus relaciones, constituyeron una potente fuerza de cambio en un escenario donde la agresión y la violencia parecen haber desempeñado un rol cultural importante e integrado.

Texte remanié de: Tesis doctoral--Universidad de Gotemburgo, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 471-511.

Violence has been found ubiquitously across human societies and throughout time. An act of violence can be defined as purposeful harm brought upon one individual as a direct or indirect result of the actions of another. The purpose of this research is to develop a quantitative approach to examining lethality using frequency distributions for location of trauma on the cranium in order to model patterns of interpersonal violence. This is accomplished through the study of a skeletal sample, from the prehispanic Chachapoya (existing around A.D. 800 – 1535), discovered at the site of Kuelap in the northern Peruvian Andes. Metric data were gathered from 81 individuals including males, females, and subadults. The data consisted of precise location of traumatic injury measured from anatomical landmarks in each of five two-dimensional views of the cranium as well as estimated diameter of impact for all lesions. The lesions were separated between perimortem (lethal) and antemortem (non-lethal) in order to explore patterns of lethality that correlate with location of injury. A statistical difference (p > 0.05) in location could not be determined when the distributions were compared in five standard two-dimensional views or between the sexes. Statistical significance (p > 0.05), however, was encountered when the entire cranium was used for the distribution. This distribution showed that perimortem injuries tend to occur more frequently on the posterior aspect of the cranium while antemortem injuries tend to occur more frequently on the anterior for this sample. These results show that a quantitative approach to location of injuries to the cranial vault can reveal new patterns of violent interactions and aid in the study of violent behavior.

From Chinchorro to Chiribaya: The Ancestors of the Chachapoya-Inca MallquisIn 1977 agricultural workers, turned into looters, found an intact funerary site in the cloud forest in northeastern Peru. A prompt archaeological rescue project permitted the recovery of an important collection of mummies and artifacts that are providing important insights about the archaeology of the Chachapoya people that established in this area around 900 A.D. up to the Inca conquest of this territory around the year 1475. The mummies recovered showed evidence of cultural practices devised and used to assure the preservation of the human bodies. Such practices are also reported among Chinchorro and Chiribaya mummies in the Andes. A cultural interpretation of these funerary activities is discussed connecting the practice of the cult to the ancestors to the access and management of resources and territory. / En 1997, unos peones descubrieron y huaquearon un cementerio intacto en el bosque nuboso del noreste del Perú. Un rápido proyecto de rescate arqueológico permitió la recuperación de una importante colección de momias y artefactos que están proporcionando importante información sobre la arqueología de los chachapoya. Este grupo se estableció en el área alrededor del 900 d.C. hasta la conquista inca de este territorio, que ocurrió alrededor del año 1475. Las momias recuperadas muestran evidencias de prácticas culturales diseñadas y empleadas para asegurar la conservación de los cuerpos. Prácticas similares se han reportado también entre las momias chinchorro y chiribaya en los Andes. En este artículo se discute una interpretación cultural de estas actividades funerarias relacionando la práctica del culto a los ancestros con el acceso y manejo de los recursos y del territorio.

The pre-Hispanic archaeological site of Kuelap in Chachapoyas, Peru, is representative of the variation in mortuary practices observed throughout the Chachapoya region. The goal of this study was to analyze the human skeletal remains excavated in the center of the Circular Platform between residential structures at Kuelap by creating an inventory of the remains (n=2,573) and determine the minimum number of individuals originally interred in the mortuary context. This study observed a total of 171 femora, 159 humeri, 74 calcanei, 110 ilium bones, 86 temporal bones, and 74 maxillae. Results show that this mortuary context was an ossuary of secondarily, commingled remains of at least 75 individuals and it is a previously undescribed type of tomb at Kuelap. There were significant statistical differences between the expected adult MNI (n=47) and the actual MNI counts of the ilium and cranial bones. Based on its location and the large number of individuals, I argue that this secondary ossuary had special ritual meaning to the people at Kuelap. This research is anthropologically significant because Kuelap is a major archaeological site and the variability of mortuary practices demonstrates the complex ways that people in the past treated the dead.