Machays, Tombs, and Burials: The Complex Mortuary Landscape of Late Intermediate Period Sondor

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The site of Sondor in the south-central Peruvian Andes is famously known as an Inca ceremonial center in Andahuaylas, Peru. Prior to Inca presence, Sondor was occupied by cultures from the Formative period to the Late Intermediate period (LIP), with the largest occupation by the Chanka during the LIP (AD 1000–1400). Previous excavations targeting Inca structures discovered adults with fatal injuries and child sacrifices (capacochas). Additional excavations in the Chanka habitation sector uncovered capacochas on household floors. This project presents the results of the 2017 excavations with two units on the ceremonial hillside and one in the household sector. Each unit was unique in its mortuary style: one machay (rockshelter) in Unit 1, two cist tombs in Unit 2, and individuals buried outside and under the household floor in Unit 5. All units radiocarbon date to the late LIP with Chanka, Chanka-Inca, and Local Inca ceramics present. With the additional application of osteological, ancient DNA, and strontium and oxygen isotope analyses, the complexity of the late LIP Chanka only increases. We will discuss who the late LIP people were, if they were related, where they came from, and the style of their final resting place.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39096.0