Social Identity and Mass Sacrifice: An Investigation at Matrix 101, a Late Middle Sicán Funerary Context

Summary

We examine the social identity of the individuals buried at a Late Middle Sicán (A.D. 1050-1120) mass grave designated Matrix 101, located in the Sicán Religious-Funerary Precinct in the La Leche Valley, north coast of Peru. Our objectives are threefold: (1) to understand the social identities of the individuals, (2) to examine the complex mortuary practices that took place during the construction of the burial, and (3) to infer sociopolitical reasons for the construction of Matrix 101 and to see how they might relate to the Sicán political-religious collapse.

Body positions, grave goods, and present frequencies of biological stress allow for social identity of the deceased to be assessed. Due to the large scale of the mortuary context and apparent deliberate skeletal manipulation, preliminary research points to the special nature of Matrix 101. We hypothesize that Matrix 101 represents a mass grave that was constructed in three closely timed events surrounding an El Niño ca. A.D. 1050. We argue that the presence of burial manipulation, specific body positions, and evidence of sharp force trauma provide evidence of ritual killing. We suggest that these individuals represent Sicán elite whose identities were transformed into sacred objects during a crisis ritual.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage