Disturbing the Ancestors: Interpreting Early Intermediate Period Commingled Remains at La Iglesia, Huanchaco Perú

Summary

While the Inca, Moche, and Chimu cultures boast grand sites along the north coast of Perú, much is to be learned about the earlier Gallinazo (50 BC/100 AD–500 AD) Salinar (200 BC–200 AD), and Cupisnique (ca. 1500–300 BC) cultures from small, coastal settlements. The 2017 field season of the Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco investigated these earlier Peruvian cultures during a five week excavation near the Iglesia de Huanchaco, approximately 15 km northeast of the Huacas de Moche. Initial ceramic analysis shows evidence for cultural occupation of Cupisnique through the Moche cultures. Within the lower strata of the Gallinazo occupation, two distinct contexts of layered, commingled human remains were discovered. Individuals are represented by varying degrees of completeness, from isolated fragments to crania and their associated cervical vertebrae, to fully articulated limbs. These two post-mortuary features provide evidence for Moche disturbance of Gallinazo burials. The excavation of these layered, commingled features will be described and basic demographic and health information will be presented. These data will allow for comparison of the two contexts and an examination of the implications of these features for understanding how Early Intermediate Period people interacted with their dead.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20113