The Enigmatic Structure at Panquilma on the Central Coast of Peru: Site of Funerary Bundle Preparation or Ancestor Cult?

Summary

During the summer of 2015 a puzzling structure was excavated in the cemetery at Panquilma, a major Ychsma settlement on the Peruvian central coast. Upon first glance this structure appeared to have a layout of a household structure but was located near the outskirts of the cemetery, far from the residential center of the site. A wide array of unusual items such as an abundance of metal fragments, colorful bird feathers, orpiment, an arsenic-bearing yellowish mineral used as a pigment, and lithic artifacts as well as Spondylus and Nectandra seed beads were discovered within this building suggesting an important occupation. Was this structure used in the preparation and care of the funerary bundles? Did it house an important figure in both their life and death? Or did it serve as a workshop for preparing ritual items? In an effort to ascertain the significance of this structure, this paper examines the aforementioned remains as well as its relative location and the results from portable X-ray Fluorescence (PXRF) analyses of some of the excavated remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Consumption patterns and funerary rituals at the site of Panquilma, Lurin Valley, Peruvian Central Coast

Keywords

Spatial Coverage