Cerro Colorado and the Necropolis of Wari Kayan: Changes in the significance of the individual, the cemetery and the landscape

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Landscapes of Death: Placemaking and Postmortem Agencies" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Paracas site, on the bay and peninsula of that name, has deep history as a fishing center where ritual linked the Paracas ceramic tradition to the Early Horizon. On Cerro Colorado, Tello and colleagues excavated womb-like, crowded shaft tombs of the Paracas Cavernas mortuary tradition (450 – 250 BCE). On the steep slope of Wari Kayan, living and storage areas were reused for pit tombs of the Paracas Necropolis mortuary tradition, associated with Topará tradition ceramics (300 BCE – 100 CE). Most of the textile-wrapped individuals faced north over the bay. Their textiles and regalia include artifacts and evidence of practices that characterize the early Nasca tradition. What is the strategic importance of these cemeteries, and why were they established here? Why was there a radical shift in tomb forms and their relationship to the landscape? Why do funerary and post-mortem rituals for some Wari Kayan tombs consume vast amounts of labor and expertise, constituting the principal evidence for the concentration of social power during the Paracas-Nasca transition? Are changes in demography, bundle structure and tomb assemblage sufficient to indicate a shift over time in the political role and significance of mortuary ritual at the Paracas site?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Landscapes of Death: Placemaking and Postmortem Agencies

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50391