Revitalization and Acts of Renewal at the Kareycoto Mound: The Terminal Early Horizon at the Cosma Complex, Ancash, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Peering into the Night: Transition, Sociopolitical Organization, and Economic Dynamics after the Dusk of Chavín in the North Central Andes" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper examines the Upper Nepeña Valley, along the Jimbe River branch and its tributaries. Numerous Early Horizon centers were documented throughout the upper valley, with a distinctive settlement pattern and construction at sites within the lower and middle valley. Survey and excavation at the Cosma Complex highlighted a localized tradition of renewal rites and infant interments occurring between 700 and 300 BCE. Re-utilization of the large Late Preceramic mound known as Kareycoto for feasting activities in conjunction with juvenile and infant interments are distinct markers for Cosma. Carbon dates have pointed to a lull in use of Kareycoto, from the Initial period until approximately 700 BCE, corresponding to the transitional time period after Chavín’s collapse. At this point, Kareycoto is reinterpreted as a center for revitalizing rituals associated with infant and other votive offerings. The reuse of this Preceramic mound to inter juveniles as the last construction phase may indicate the effort of the prehistoric Cosma community to retain and return to earlier localized traditions. Work in Cosma contributes to our understanding of post-Chavín activities in the central Andes, and how local people may have returned to former religious monuments in order to establish regional claims to local landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Peering into the Night: Transition, Sociopolitical Organization, and Economic Dynamics after the Dusk of Chavín in the North Central Andes

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32800