Life at Achanchi: A High Altitude Chanka Burial Site from the Andahuaylas Region of Southern Peru

Summary

Recent archaeological research from a high elevation (4,000 masl) hilltop site in the Andahuaylas region of southern Peru offer new data to illuminate aspects of life and social organization within the Chanka society that lived during the tumultuous Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1400). In contrast to the machay (or cave) burials typical of this time period, an intramural burial site excavated from the ridgetop site of Achanchi may offer another perspective of this localized polity. This highly fragmented and commingled burial assemblage contains the remains of roughly 40 individuals associated with several burial goods, including a copper bracelet, nine ceramic vessels, and five human rib "trophies." Preliminary skeletal analysis suggests that raiding-style violence and infectious disease were features in this community that would have impacted quotidian lifeways. Furthermore, preliminary non-metric data suggests some individuals may be genetically related. This burial could thus represent a small social unit or extended kin grouping. Finally, the appearance of multiple types of cranial vault modification may suggest some degree of socio-ethnic integration within Achanchi during a time of heightened environmental and political stress and balkanization.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage