The Afterlife of Pacatnamu: From Looting to Curanderismo

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Site destruction from looting, climate change, agricultural activities, and urban development threatens the preservation of cultural heritage more than ever before, particularly due to a lack of site monitoring in some regions during the pandemic. This has long been the case in the North Coast region of Peru since the Spanish Conquest. A significant amount of this ongoing destruction is brought about by looters, fueled by the global illicit antiquities trade, economic instability, political climate, and local curandero activity. The Prehispanic city of Pacatnamu, dating to the Moche, Lambayeque, and Chimú periods (CE 600-1475), presents a significant example of the ongoing threats to this region. While it is a massive 3 km wide city of adobe mounds and plazas, its size and remote location have defied organized conservation. Some efforts have been made to help preserve Pacatnamu from erosional destruction. However, parts of the site have been destroyed by road construction and continue to be a target for intensive looting. Our research documents some key changes and alterations to the site from modern looting and ritual practices, including new clusters of pits with scatters of human remains, curandero dolls placed on huacas, and bags of coca leaves placed within pits.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40148.0