Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Spanish chroniclers stated that prehispanic Andean populations put more care into the construction of their sepulchers than their own houses. These sepulchers, collective tombs in which the dead were deposited allowing postmortem access for the living, are an integral part of Andean highland landscapes. They vary in both location and construction: whether positioned above- or belowground, partially or completely constructed, or situated within natural cave formations. Yet what all these monuments have in common is their geographic ubiquity in the highlands, ranging from the north of Peru to the north of Argentina. They have been given various names according to variations in typology (chullpa, machay, pucullo), but all can be gathered under the term “open sepulchers.” Based on ethnohistory, open sepulchers have long been interpreted through the lens of ancestor veneration. However, despite their prevalence, it is only recently that they have been systematically excavated. Over the last two decades, the application and integration of archaeological methodologies and scientific techniques have uncovered new information regarding these monuments. With this symposium, we aim to gather recent research on open sepulchers in order to understand and interpret their variations, meanings, and functions over time and across the geography of the Andes.
Other Keywords
Andes: Late Intermediate •
Mortuary archaeology •
Mortuary Analysis •
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis •
Paleopathology •
Survey •
Andes: Late Horizon •
Looting •
Landscape Archaeology •
Warfare
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Peru (Country) •
Republic of Panama (Country) •
Republic of Colombia (Country) •
Netherlands Antilles (Country) •
Aruba (Country) •
Republic of Ecuador (Country) •
Republic of Chile (Country) •
South America (Continent) •
South America: Andes
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)
- Documents (12)
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Accessing the Inaccessible: Late Intermediate Period Chachapoya Collective Mortuary Practices at Diablo Wasi, Peru (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The complexity in mortuary traditions across the Chachapoyas region ranges from single individual interments to large, commingled mortuary caves, as well as including constructed sarcophagi and shared open chambers high on cliff faces. Variation within sites and across funerary complexes demonstrates individuality in...
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Can Chullpas Provide a Better Understanding of Territorial Organization during the Late Intermediate Period? New Perspectives through Pacajes and Lupacas Areas and Their Influences in the South-Central Andes (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The construction of chullpas in the south-central Andes, and more particularly in the Lake Titicaca basin, is certainly one of the major characteristics of the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1450 CE). Building on prior research and extensive surveys coupled with spatial analysis, this presentation aims to shed new light on...
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Chullpa Use in in the Ancash Region of Peru: Insights from the Discovery of Multiple Rare Developmental Conditions at Marcajirca (AD 1000–1650) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Situated on a steep-sided mountain slope on the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca in the Ancash region of Peru, the Late Intermediate−Early Colonial period (AD 1000–1650) site of Marcajirca consists of residential, public, and funerary areas. Interment contexts include 35 aboveground walled tombs (chullpas). While it...
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“The Dead Do Not Leave”: LH Funerary Behaviors in Pueblo Viejo Pucara (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pueblo Viejo-Pucara, main settlement of mitmaqunas, Caringas de Huarochiri, is one of the emblematic cases of funerary behaviors involving the construction and use of open chambers. In most of the cases studied, the two-story structures of 1 m high each story, which fulfill the original function of storage rooms in each...
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From the Dead to the Living: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Late Period Open Sepulchers, Upper Nepeña Drainage, Ancash, Peru (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ubiquity of open sepulcher type funerary contexts in the Andean highlands is a salient fact. Previous work and new surveys in the Pamparomás and Chaclancayo valleys of the Upper Nepeña Drainage have identified more than 60 such funerary contexts. Over the past two years, systematic excavations of selected sites coupled...
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Housing the Dead, Assembling Kin: The Construction and Use of Chullpa Tombs during the Middle Horizon in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley, Peru (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the highland Andes, archaeologists often emphasize the late prehispanic era (post-1000 CE) when examining the widespread mortuary tradition of interring the deceased in above-ground tombs known as chullpas. Our understanding of this practice during the preceding centuries, however, remains limited due to the smaller...
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Landscapes and Chronology of the Chullpa Phenomenon within the Lauca Basin (18°S) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Carangas region, named after a late prehispanic and early colonial chiefdom in Qollasuyu (south-central Andes), preserves over 600 chullpa mausoleums associated with walled hilltops, administrative centers (tambos), and regional movement routes. Carangas’s chullpas exhibit a great diversity of architecture, as well as...
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Machays, Tombs, and Burials: The Complex Mortuary Landscape of Late Intermediate Period Sondor (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Sondor in the south-central Peruvian Andes is famously known as an Inca ceremonial center in Andahuaylas, Peru. Prior to Inca presence, Sondor was occupied by cultures from the Formative period to the Late Intermediate period (LIP), with the largest occupation by the Chanka during the LIP (AD 1000–1400)....
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Mummies and Mortuary Monuments Revisited: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on Ayllus and Open Sepulchers (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Open sepulchers (chullpas) are typically thought to have marked the social and territorial boundaries of Andean ayllus, corporate landholding groups based on descent. This proposed relationship between chullpas and ayllus follows from colonial-era accounts of Andean mortuary practices and finds empirical support in the...
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Tombs as Evidence for Religious Diversity in the Late Prehispanic Sacred Valley, Peru (ca. 1000–1532 CE) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper articulates a novel approach to prehispanic Andean funerary architecture that interprets differences in materiality and temporality as evidence for distinct religious traditions. I analyze a sample of 845 tombs throughout the Sacred Valley, Peru, and adjacent tributary valleys, built and used during the Late...
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Violence and Selected Funerary Treatment: Insights from a Collective Open Tomb of the Upper Nepeña Drainage, Peru (AD 1300–1500) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The recent PARAMa project undertook the excavation of several open sepulcher funerary contexts in the Upper Nepeña Drainage, among which two structures were thoroughly excavated. Their content, predominantly skeletonized and partially mummified human remains, were analyzed, representing the first systematic...
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Where Are the “Interesting” Skulls? The Practice and Taphonomy of Modern Interaction with Human Remains in Open Tombs (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Modern interaction with ancient human remains is near-ubiquitous in aboveground open-air tombs, used in the Andes during the late prehispanic period (ca. 1000–1532 CE). These spaces are host to a range of activities, from looting and sale of artifacts by professional huaqueros to exploration by local history enthusiasts....