Artificial Mummies from the Andes

Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 141–157 UCD 572:903:614.64(=98) Original scientific paper Artificial Mummies from the Andes Sonia E. Guillén Centro Mallqui, The Bioanthropology Foundation Peru, Lima, Peru ABSTRACT In 1997 agricultural workers, turned into looters, found an intact funerary site in the cloud forest in northeastern Peru. A prompt archaeological rescue project permitted the recovery of an important collection of mummies and artifacts that are providing important insights about the archaeology of the Chachapoya people that established in this area around 900 AD up to the Inca conquest of this territory around the year 1475. The mummies recovered showed evidence of cultural practices devised and used to assure the preservation of the human bodies. Such practices are also reported for among Chin- chorro and Chiribaya mummies in the Andes. A cultural interpretation of these funerary activities is discussed connecting the practice of the cult to the ancestors to the access and management of resources and territory. Key words: artificial mummies, embalming, Andes, Chachapoya, Chinchorro, Inca Introduction The two most ancient traditions for ar- time the soul left the body, immediately tificial mummification in the Old and after death, and when the sem priest New World occur in dry environmental breathed life into the mummy’s mouth settings. Here, however, similarities in and thus restored soul to body2,3. The in- ritual and significance end. The earliest dividual, once more complete, then trav- Egyptian examples date to the 4th Dy- eled west to the afterworld. There was no nasty (2613–2494 BC), including cases worldly reincarnation, no cycle of regen- where the internal organs of the deceased erated human life. While the ancestors were removed and preserved outside the make had received ongoing attention body. Not until the New Kingdom (1550– from their immediate descendants and 1086 BC) was mummification standard- specialists, ancestral intervention among ized and broadly applied1. As part of an the living was not significant. Their prep- extended sequence of funerary behavior, aration was an elaborate funerary ritual procedures for artificial mummification or cult of the dead. In contrast, artificial occupied the liminal space between the mummies prepared in the Andes were Received for publication April 6, 2004 141 S. E. Guillén: Peruvian Mummies, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 141–157 part of ancestor cults, they carried a rich ronment conducive to preservation. Mum- community life after death mified remains from the highlands and The world’s oldest artificial mummies jungle areas have been restricted to cases are found, however, not in ancient Egypt, where the bodies were protected in bun- but rather in dry coastal environments of dles and deposited in dry contexts: caves, the south-central Andes in Perú and Chi- rock-shelters, or permanently snow-capped le. Small groups of Archaic fishers and mountains. Elsewhere, drastic changes hunters, termed today Chinchorro, began in temperature and humidity did not per- elaborate procedures during the 6th mil- mit the preservation of soft tissue. lennium BC that prepared bodies for long-term display. Though considerable The earliest Andean mummy has been variation occurred over the several thou- recovered from Acha 2, a Chinchorro site 9. This naturally mum- sands of years that the Chinchorro cul- in northern Chile mified body was dated at approximately ture persisted, fundamental body treat- 9000 BP. The most ancient artificial mu ments for a significant portion of the de- - mmy was also associated with a Chin ceased involved defleshing, cleaning, and - chorro context (7810 BP)5. Overall, the wrapping the bones with fiber, subse- best combination of factors for preserva quently replacing the skin. The artificial - tion of fragile human tissues occurs on body thus created was frequently covered the Atacama desert, in the extreme south with clay, painted with pigment, and there of Peru and north coast of Chile. is evidence for display of some Chinchor- ro mummies for an extended period prior After preceramic times, the number of 4–8 to final, casual disposal . It is argued mummified bodies increases. Previous, here that prior to final deposition, the an- intensive debates focused on the remains cestors continued to play an active role in from Paracas (400 BC – AD 300). Tello10 the economic and ritual lives of the living discovered more than 50 boot-shaped Chinchorro, conforming to our definitions tombs at the Cerro Grande site. Each of ancestor cult. The cases of Chiribaya tomb contained 30–60 bodies of different and Chachapoya-Inca mummies are dis- ages-at-death and both sexes were repre- cussed within this context. sented, filling the structure to the top of This paper, contextualizes artificial its circular entrance. Tello10 also reported mummies in Andean cultures to discuss funerary structures at the nearby Para- their significance for cults and ritual. It cas site of Cabezas Largas. Tello inferred also develops a typology of mummifica- that artificial mummification had been tion practices, based upon these cases, practiced in these Paracas sites. He be- but useful beyond the Andean world. The lieved that the bundles showed carbon- discussion will focus on the meaning for ization, beginning at the lowest levels this long-term Andean tradition. and extending upwards. He interpreted this as the result of incineration that did not affect soft tissues, bones, or hair, Andean Mummies while producing carbonized masses in- Most pre-Hispanic Andean mummy side body cavities. Tello argued that arti- remains have been recovered from coas- ficial preservation had been produced by tal environments. Arid conditions are be- smoke, heat, and chemicals. The rigidity neficial for soft tissue preservation and of the external wrappings was the result were enhanced by cultural practices, such of salty sea water sprinkled over the bun- as sealing tombs and wrapping bodies in dles while exposed to heat. He conclu- textiles and thus creating a microenvi- ded10 that all body cavities had been evis- 142 S. E. Guillén: Peruvian Mummies, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 141–157 ses following burial, or alterations in conditions after disinterment. Similar conditions have been observed in prehistoric mummies from northern Chile and Ica and even in modern autopsies of recently buried bodies (M. Allison, pers. comm., April, 1992). In several examples, all rec- ognizable organs were transformed into leathery, soft, resinous masses. Chemical studies14 suggest that this soft tissue con- dition could be caused by putrefaction pigments such as indican or bilrubinoid, but the exact cause is not known. Expo- sure after excavation might initiate or ac- celerate incipient enzymatic decay as suggested by the considerable number of amino acids observed in chromatograms of mummified tissues from northern Chile. Few mummies from the Peruvian north coast have been encountered, de- Fig. 1. Map of Peruvian mummy sites. spite hot and dry environmental condi- tions15. Three mummies were recovered by Ubbelohde-Doering16 at Pacatnamú, and a mummy from the Lambayeque val- cerated and that, in certain cases, the ley is displayed at the Brunning Museum extremities had also been de-fleshed. in Lambayeque. All the bodies were in As Vreeland and A. Cockburn11 indi- the extended position typical of the re- cate, Tello confused the effects of natural gion prior to the Late Intermediate pe- body decomposition with those of heat. riod. Mummy bundles from later periods Studies of Paracas mummies and bo- are usually characterized by poorly pre- nes12,13 have not provided evidence of ar- served textiles and skeletonized human 17 tificial preservation procedures in Para- bodies . cas. On the other hand, Vreeland and A. Mummies from the Middle Horizon Cockburn11 suggest that the leathery con- (AD 600–1000) and the Late Intermedi- sistency and dark brown skin color indi- ate period (AD 900–1476) have been re- cate intentional desiccation, based on mi- ported from the central and southern croscopic studies of tissues from a small coasts of Peru and from northern Chile. bundle that were burned in some parts Some of the best illustrated cases are and associated with charcoal. Manipula- those found in Ancón18. All reported ob- tion of the eyes and nose suggested to servations confirm that these were natu- these authors that although evisceration ral mummies, although undetectable ex- had not occurred, external methods might ternal procedures may have been used to have been used to preserve the body. Fur- promote the desiccation of the body19. ther study is needed, however, to convinc- There are several cases of human sac- ingly resolve the issue of artificial mum- rifices on snow-capped mountains, where mification in the Paracas example. The frozen bodies have been preserved. The leathery, dark skin color could have re- examples reported for Cerro Aconcagua sulted from natural degenerative proces- (Chile) and Cerro el Toro (Argentina)20,21, 143 S. E. Guillén: Peruvian Mummies, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 141–157 Cerro El Plomo (Chile)22, Cerro Esme- attract destructive electrical impact (Mi- ralda (Chile)23, Pichu Pichu (Peru)20,24,25, guel Zárate, pers. comm., 1996). and Ampato (Peru) and Llullaillaco (Ar- Ponce Sanginés and Linares Iturral- gentina)26–28 involve the deposition of de29 studied ten Late Horizon mummies young individuals as offerings at Inca from the Bolivian province of Carangas. mountain sanctuaries, associated with Three showed abdominal incisions, evi- other offerings. These sacrifices had been dence for evisceration. These observa- elaborately dressed and deposited in spe- tions confirm ethnohistorical references cially-prepared mountain peak shrines, about mummification procedures used by with metal and shell statues. The child the altiplano Pacaqes30. These sources re- recovered from El Plomo died of hypo- ported that Pacaqes of the Titicaca basin thermia, the body became freeze-dried eviscerated their dead, interring the vis- and the deeper soft tissue layers trans- cera in jars adjacent to the bodies.

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