Sacrifice and Social Identity: Untangling Identity from a Mass Burial at Matrix 101, Huaca Las Ventanas, Peru

Summary

Typically, burials are laden with symbols of social identity such as age, sex, and wealth of grave goods. However, conceptualizing individual or group identity can become problematic when examining non-modal or deviant burials.

During the 2011-2013 field seasons, the National Sicán Museum and the Lambayeque Valley Biohistory Project recovered over 200 individuals from a Late Middle Sicán (A.D 1050 - 1100) sacrificial context designated Matrix 101. Constructed in three separate phases during a protracted El Niño event and just before Sicán political collapse, Matrix 101 involved burial characteristics well outside normal Sicán burial practices. Burial reopening and manipulation, body position, burial placement, and lack of grave goods all deviate from modal Late Sicán burials and sacrificial contexts. What were the victim’s social identities? Why were they buried in an elaborate funerary context? Were they elites or commoners? Utilizing a compiled database of contextualized Sicán burials, we examine age, sex, health, and burial patterns of the victims. Preliminary results indicate that most of these individuals were Sicán elite buried in a non-modal fashion, though a few may have been members of the local Muchik ethnic group. This information allows a better understanding of events leading to Sicán political collapse.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• See How We Are: Representing Identity in the Ancient Americas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage