Morphology and Culture among the Middle and Late Intermediate Period inhabitants of Catarpe (San Pedro de Atacama, Chile)

Summary

Catarpe tambo represents one of the clearest pieces of evidence for an Inca presence in north Chile’s Atacama oases. The tambo was built and used north of the oases, in the San Pedro river canyon. Catarpe was chosen by the Incas as the local administrative center, however the valley was already densely occupied since at least the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1400). Here, we study morphological affinities and the distribution of cranial vault modification among over 300 individuals from the two largest Catarpe cemeteries, with the objective of exploring whether the occupation of Catarpe is associated with the presence or influx of groups with different biological and/or cultural identities when compared to other settlements in the area. Our results show that there are no significant differences among the Catarpe cemeteries, nor any strong differences between Catarpe and several other contemporaneous local sites. However, the later, and much smaller, cemetery of Catarpe 1, which includes Inca objects among the grave goods, does demonstrate an increase in morphological variation, suggesting the influx of foreign individuals close to the arrival of the Incas in the area.

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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