Exploring the Mortuary Landscape at Kuelap, Peru, using Geographic Information Systems

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mortuary placement is one form of ritual action that communities undertake to remember the dead. The location of the dead is important for considering social memory, a source of collective knowledge and experiences that shapes social group identity. This allows anthropologists to ask questions about how human social relationships transform living landscapes. This research utilized a novel approach that combines geographic information systems (GIS) and stable isotope data to explore within-site mortuary variation within the Chachapoya site, Kuelap, in the northern Peruvian Andes (AD 800–1535). This study examined the spatial distribution of 440 individuals buried within the site through the variables of mortuary types, age-at-death, osteological sex, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope compositions. The results indicated age-at-death and osteological sex did not appear to have strong relationships with mortuary placement, suggesting group identity was emphasized over age or sex identities. Additionally, a relationship between spatial variation and carbon stable isotope data suggested possible chronological change in mortuary practices. By considering the spatial patterns of these data, this study explored the mortuary landscape at Kuelap and provided a deeper understanding of Chachapoya mortuary practices. This research successfully integrated different methodological approaches to answer anthropological questions regarding mortuary placement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37456.0