This dissertation examines mortuary traditions, cranial trauma, violent dismemberment, and cranial hyperostoses among a mortuary population from the cemetery of Uraca, in the Majes Valley, Arequipa, Peru. AMS dates show that Uraca was used for the burial of individuals who lived during the Early Intermediate Period (âEIPâ, ca 200 BC â 600 AD), and during the emergence and first fifty years of the Andean Middle Horizon (600 â 1000 AD). Galtungâs (1969 and 1990) models of the violence triangle are applied to understand how physical violence, structural violence, and cultural violence constituted internal and external relationships; specifically whether Uraca utilized network or corporate power strategies. Archaeological and bioarchaeological results show that burial with exotic grave goods in prominent mortuary landscapes was predominantly used for elite males who were injured during their lives or around the time of death. Sex-based differences in wound characteristics combined with similarities to a nearby elite mortuary complex suggest men were injured in physical conflict resolution and intergroup battle, while women may have been injured in the context of intragroup conflict. Clear differences in mortuary treatment between social status groups did not translate into disparities in childhood health, as indicated by cranial hyperostosis. The demographic and pathological characteristics of human trophy heads suggests they were taken in the context of intergroup conflict, while the temporal shift from individualized to anonymized trophies suggests their cultural meanings changed through time. The combined results suggest that intergroup and intragroup violence and violent trophy-taking rituals were key mechanisms for local leaders to compete for prestige, while symbolic aspects of violent ritual may also have conferred communal benefits within religious systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-12212017-114123 |
| Date | 21 December 2017 |
| Creators | Scaffidi, Cassandra Koontz |
| Contributors | Tiffiny A. Tung, Steve Wernke, John Janusek, Joseph Rife |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-12212017-114123/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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