A Bioarchaeological Study of Coca Use and Coca Leaf Chewing at Puruchuco-Huaquerones, Peru Melissa S
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Andean Past Volume 10 Article 10 4-15-2009 A Bioarchaeological Study of Coca Use and Coca Leaf Chewing at Puruchuco-Huaquerones, Peru Melissa S. Murphy University of Wyoming, [email protected] Maria Fernanda Boza Syracuse University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Murphy, Melissa S. and Boza, Maria Fernanda (2009) "A Bioarchaeological Study of Coca Use and Coca Leaf Chewing at Puruchuco- Huaquerones, Peru," Andean Past: Vol. 10 , Article 10. Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past/vol10/iss1/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Andean Past by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF COCA USE AND COCA LEAF CHEWING AT PURUCHUCO-HUAQUERONES, PERU MELISSA S. MURPHY (University of Wyoming) and MARÍA FERNANDA BOZA (University of Wyoming) INTRODUCTION lia from burials recovered from two spatially distinct cemeteries (Huaquerones and 57AS03) During the Inca imperial expansion and within the archaeological zone of Puruchuco- conquest, coca production was reorganized and Huaquerones. Using these bio-archaeological the ownership of coca plantations was redistrib- data, we examine who had access to coca, uted in some regions (Espinoza Soriano which members of this community chewed coca, 1963:18-20; Julien 1998; Murra 1980:32, 90-91, and whether or not commoners had access to 156, 177; Rostworowski 1972:261, 1973). On the plant. The bioarchaeological results are the central coast, members of the Ychma macro- tempered with insights from archaeology, ethno- ethnic community living in the middle and history, and ethnography to understand more lower Rímac and Lurín Valleys lost control of fully the prehistoric practice of coca leaf chew- their coca plantations to the Yauyos of Huaro- ing, and its biological consequences, among Late chiri (Rostworowski 2002:90, 174). Ethno- Horizon residents of the central coast of Peru. historians and scholars have explored and debated access to coca during the Inca empire. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOHISTORICAL Some have argued that the Incas restricted coca EVIDENCE OF COCA AND COCA LEAF CHEW- use and prohibited its consumption by common- ING ers. Other scholars counter that everyone had access to coca and that Inca control over coca Archaeological evidence demonstrating the chewing would have been difficult to accomplish presence and importance of coca and coca leaf (Murra 1986, 1991:575; Parkerson 1983). Few chewing in the Andean region is extensive, and archaeological studies have investigated the some of the earliest evidence has been recovered practice of coca chewing during the Late Hori- from the western slopes of the Andes (Dillehay zon and explored the consequences of Inca et al. 1989:744-746). Depictions of individuals re-organization and re-distribution of coca chewing coca and preparing a coca quid are plantations. known from ceramics, including those from the Nasca, Moche (Donnan 1978:118, figure 183; The present study explores coca access and Donnan and Benn 1990:23; Menzel 1977: figure use in the Late Horizon community at 146; Moseley 1992: figure 13), and ancient Puruchuco-Huaquerones. We examine the Ecuadorian cultures (Lathrap et al. 1975: figure dental evidence of coca leaf chewing and the 66). Some scholars have argued that coqueros, mortuary offerings of coca and coca parapherna- the ceramic figurines or vessels that depict ritual ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012): 171-193. ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012) - 172 specialists or shamans chewing coca, evince the Administrative and court documents also con- restricted access of commoners to coca and coca tain references to coca consumption and pro- consumption (Calatayud and Gonzalez 2003: duction, but they, too, should be critically ques- 1504; Martin 1970:424-426; Naranjo 1981:163- tioned because they present static perspectives 166). Coca bags, stone sculptures, lime, lime of what were arguably dynamic and dramatic gourd containers, and coca itself have been processes of cultural change and these docu- recovered from coastal and highland sites from ments “may just as easily strive to conceal as to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.1 Several reveal” (Julien 1993:178-179). mummies from coastal sites have been recovered with coca quids in their cheeks (Arriaza et al. Several mid- to late sixteenth century ac- 1995:39; Aufderheide 2003:157; Cartmell et counts describe the high value of coca, its re- al.1991:161, figure 1). While the archaeological stricted access, and the role it played in religious evidence associated with prehistoric coca leaf rites.2 In his historical examination of coca chewing is diverse and the practice appears prohibition, Gagliano reveals that the Inca ubiquitous before the Late Horizon, few studies nobility were not the only people who consumed have specifically addressed the access to coca coca, because the military, chasqui (couriers), and the frequency of coca chewing in different the elderly, and anyone who received imperial regions during the Inca empire and the sanction were reportedly permitted to chew it bioarchaeological evidence for coca chewing (Gagliano 1994:16). Together, these ethno- remains largely unexplored. historic sources present a picture of coca chew- ing as a revered practice that was restricted to Much of what we know about coca chewing the Inca elite or those with their permission, and during the Inca empire comes from ethno- suggest that coca may have been prohibited for historical sources, written from both Spanish the bulk of the Andean population. and indigenous perspectives. However, each written source offers accounts of different expe- Information contained in regional adminis- riences, with different agendas, and with differ- trative documents typically describes the ubiq- ent, but pervasive, prejudices about indigenous uity of coca plants and coca fields (Murra 1986). peoples (Silverblatt 1987:xxii-xxv). Further- As a result, coca is interpreted as having been a more, many of these accounts of Andean culture staple in many highland communities and, were written several decades after the Spanish therefore, accessible to all (ibid.). Citing survey conquest, and after the devastating effects of data collected in 1539 from the Pillkumayu depopulation, Christian conversion, and colo- Valley in what is now the Huánuco Region of nial resettlement programs, all of which had Peru, Murra asserts that every highland village severely altered the lives of Andean people. possessed individuals responsible for managing Therefore, scholars caution against the literal and cultivating tropical products, including reading of these ethnohistorical sources because coca, and that “these goods were part of the they are likely to be distorted by the experience normal peasant repertoire in the Andes” (ibid.: of conquest and invasion, as well as the biases of 51). Furthermore, in 1572, for Sonqo, north of their authors (Julien 1993:187; Urton 1990). modern La Paz, Bolivia, ethnohistorical docu- 1 Cassman et al. 2003:151; Engel 1963:77; Hastorf 1987; 2 Acosta 2002 [1590]:210-211; Betanzos 1996 [1557]:42- Indriati 1998:17-19; Kolata 1993:146; Lathrap 1973:180- 53, 56; Cobo 1964 [1653]: 473-474, 1990 [1653]:64, 181; Lathrap et al.1975: figures 61, 62, items 434-466; 65-66, 94, 119, 128, 137; Matienzo 1967 [1567], chapter Menzel 1977: figure 128; Murphy 2004:119. 44, p. 163; Pizarro 1969 [1571]:262, 265. 173 - Murphy & Boza: Coca Chewing at Puruchuco-Huaquerones ments report that everyone had access to food This brief review of the ethnohistorical and to coca fields (ibid.; Murra 1991:572). literature reveals different perspectives on the However, Juan de Matienzo, a Spanish adminis- consumption of, and access to, coca during and trator familiar with coca production around after the Inca empire, with variability by region Cusco and nearby regions, asserts that the Incas in the type and exertion of Inca control of coca permitted only the nobility and members of the cultivation, distribution, and access possible. military access to coca and commoners were After the Spanish conquest, some accounts of proscribed from using it (Julien 1998:129; Inca coca use were colored by the controversial Matienzo 1967 [1567]:163). colonial dialogues over whether or not the stimulant should be eradicated because of its With variable strategies, the Inca assumed association with indigenous religious practices, control of, and regulated, the numerous coca or promoted because of the economic opportu- plantations that were widely distributed along nities it provided in trade, and in its role in the some of the middle and upper reaches of the exploitation of Andean farmers and the miners Peruvian coastal valleys (e.g. Chillón, Chancay, at Potosí (Cieza de León 1984, La crónica del and Ica) and in the highlands (e.g. Chuquioma, Perú [1553]: Chapter 96, p. 121; Gagliano 1994; a lowland valley on the eastern slopes of the Murra 1991:566; Parkerson 1983). Coca pro- Andes northeast of Pocona, Bolivia, and south- duction and consumption grew dramatically in east of modern Cochabamba (Julien 1998; conjunction with the Spanish intensification of Murra 1980:32, 90-91, 144, 156, 177; Netherly agriculture and silver mining (Stern 1982:37).