Mortuary analysis of juvenile burials in the sacristy of a Spanish colonial reducción in the southern highlands of Peru

Summary

Mortuary practices at Spanish colonial sites in Latin America varied in terms of burial location, style of burial, and associated grave goods. Understanding burial practices is one way to investigate shifting identities, conversion to Catholicism, and the degree of control over and involvement of priests in daily life at colonial sites. The mortuary practices at the reducción (planned colonial town) of Santa Cruz de Tuti (today known as Mawchu Llacta, Colca Valley, Peru) reveal nuanced insights into colonial life for the living through their treatment of the dead. Focusing on body orientation, associated grave items, and the demographic profile of this burial population, we present mortuary data from 21 child burials in the sacristy at Mawchu Llacta. The exclusively juvenile demographic profile of the burial population in the sacristy likely reflects its liminal status just outside the sacred space of the church nave, but in nearest proximity to it (and the main altar). We also make comparisons between the mortuary practices seen here, the mortuary practices in nearby prehispanic mortuary complexes, and direct historical antecedents, such as at Malata, an early colonial Franciscan doctrinal settlement that was resettled to Mawchu Llacta.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Archaeological Microhistory at a Planned Colonial Town in Highland Peru

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16013