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Death and Religion in the Southern Moche Periphery: Funerary Practices at Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David Chicoine
David Chicoine*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, 227 Howe-Russell-Kniffen Geoscience Complex, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (dehico@lsu.edu)
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Abstract

This article explores religion, death, and mortuary practices in the Southern Moche (A.D. 1-800) periphery as viewed through the excavation of grave contexts at the site of Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Moche influence reached Nepeña as is visible in the construction of religious buildings at the site of Pañamarca and the presence of Moche style ceramics at several sites. In 2003 and 2004, scientific excavations at Huambacho, an Early Horizon center mainly built and occupied during the first millennium B.C., yielded a series of intrusive graves containing Gallinazo, Virú, and Moche style objects. This contribution contextualizes these discoveries and focuses on the analysis of funerary patterns of burial, osteological evidence, and symbolic meanings with the objective of understanding local funerary practices and Moche religious and cultural expressions. Symbolic references to coast-highland interactions, inversions in body positioning, and possible human sacrifices bring insights into the complex and potentially tense sociohistorical cirmcumstances in Nepeña during the Moche phase.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo explora la religión, muerte, y costumbres funerarias en la periferia sur de los moche, basándose en la excavación de contextos de entierros en el sitio de Huambacho, Valle de Nepeña, Perú. La influencia moche llegó a Nepeña como es apreciable en la construcción de edificios religiosos en el sitio de Pañamarca y en la presencia de cerámica de estilo Moche en varios sitios. En 2003 y 2004, excavaciones científicas en Huambacho, un centro del Horizonte Temprano construido y ocupado principalmente durante el primer milenio a.C., permitieron el descubrimiento de una serie de entierros intrusivos con objetos de estilo Gallinazo, Virú, y Moche. Esta contribución contextualiza estos descubrimientos y se enfoca en el análisis de los patrones de enterramiento, la evidencia osteológica, y sus significados simbólicos con el objetivo de entender las prácticas funerarias locales y la expresión cultural y religiosa moche. Referencias simbólicas a interacciones entre la costa y la sierra, inversiones en el tratamiento de los cuerpos, y posibles sacrificios humanos brindan información sobre las complejas y potencialmente tensas circunstancias sociohistóricas durante la fase Moche en Nepeña.

Type
Themed Section on the Bioarchaeololgy of Ritual Violence
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 525 - 548
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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