University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2015 Regional Perspective of Recuay Mortuary Practices: A View from the Hinterlands, Callejón De Huaylas, Peru Victor Manuel Ponte University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis Commons Recommended Citation Ponte, Victor Manuel, "Regional Perspective of Recuay Mortuary Practices: A View from the Hinterlands, Callejón De Huaylas, Peru" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 1074. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1074 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF RECUAY MORTUARY PRACTICES: A VIEW FROM THE HINTERLANDS, CALLEJON DE HUAYLAS, PERU by Victor M. Ponte A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Anthropology at The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee December 2015 ABSTRACT REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES OF RECUAY MORTUARY PRACTICES: A VIEW FROM THE HINTERLANDS, CALLEJON DE HUAYLAS, PERU by Victor M Ponte The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Jean Hudson Archaeological investigations of burial chambers in the north-central highlands of Peru constitute the corpus of this thesis. Most of the stone structures correspond chronologically and culturally to the Recuay Tradition, a time span of 100 to 800 CE. The study area is located in the Cordillera Negra of the Callejón de Huaylas basin (Ancash Department). CRM projects developed in the impact zone of the Pierina mine have contributed valuable information on the mortuary practices of a Recuay agro-pastoral community. This thesis relied on grave goods inventories, osteological analysis, and types of stone architecture in the burial chamber. Data from this community is compared to a sample from the Cordillera Blanca, situated at the eastern side of the Callejón de Huaylas. While the Cordillera Blanca tombs show evidence of high quality tomb construction and grave goods associated with chiefly groups, the Cordillera Negra tombs do not. This thesis investigates the possible explanations of the differences. After 700 CE, both areas suffered transformations with the intrusive presence of Wari-related materials and the increase of interregional interaction. At the same time, cultural change occurred in tomb construction to above-ground mausoleums (chullpas). Since the pioneering studies of J.C. Tello (1929) and W.C. Bennett (1944), no other study of Recuay burial practices has been carried out at regional scale. Basic information per burial chamber reaffirm mortuary customs in the area, and help to define the characteristics of Recuay funerary practices. ii © Copyright by Victor M. Ponte, 2015 All Right Reserved iii Dedicado a mi mamá, Gloria iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…….. …………………………………………………………………………….. ……...ii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………vi List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………….............viii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction……………………….……………………………………………………………. 1 2. Background……………………………………………………………………………………..9 2.1. The Geographic Area of the Recuay Culture…………………………………………9 2.2. The Region of the Pierina Minesite………………………………………….............12 2.3. Recuay Society in the Context of Andean Archaeology………..…………………..15 2.4. Recuay Sociopolitical Organization.………………………………………………..17 2.5. Recuay Settlements in the Callejón de Huaylas.……………………………………22 2.6. Recuay Settlements in the Pierina Mine Influence’s Area…………………………..28 2.7. Social Complexity of Mortuary Practices in the Andes………………………………30 2.7.1. Recuay Burial Patterns First Epoch (200 – 700 CE)……………………..32 2.7.2. Second Epoch (700 – 1,000 CE)………………………………………….39 2.7.3. Chullpas in the Callejón de Huaylas……………………………………….40 3. Methods……………………………………………………………………………….……….46 4. Results…………………………………………………………………………………………52 4.1. Recuay Mortuary Chambers in the Cordillera Negra and Cordillera Blanca…..........52 4.1.1. PAn 5-34 Amá…………………………………………………………….55 4.1.2. PAn 5-35 Quitapampa A…………………………………………………...56 4.1.3. PAn 5-42 Quitapampa B……………………………………………………57 4.1.4. PAn 5-50 Quitapampa C……………………………………………………58 4.1.5. PAn 5-49 Amá II A………………………………………………………...59 4.1.6. PAn 5-49 Amá II B………………………………………………………...60 4.1.7. PAn 5-49 Amá II D………………………………………………………...61 4.1.8. PAn 5-38 Horno Jirca……………………………………………………...62 4.1.9. PAn 5-43 Cochapampa…………………………………………………….63 4.1.10. PAn 5-64 Marca Jirka…………………………………………………….64 4.2. Preliminary Review of the Bioarchaeological Data…………………………………66 4.3. Tomb Construction, Grave Goods, and Ceramics…………………………………...74 5. Discussion: Recuay Burial Patterns…………………………………………………………...91 6. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………99 7. Bibliography.…………………………………………………………………………..……..101 Appendix A: Description of Recuay Settlements in the Pierina Mine Area……………………115 Appendix B: Evidence of the Funerary Chambers in the Cordillera Negra and Blanca……….139 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Physical features of the Ancash territory………………………………………………4 Figure 1.2.The location of archaeological sites in the Pierina Mine Impact area …….................. 8 Figure 2.1. The highest mountain peak Huascarán and the valley of Callejón de Huaylas……...10 Figure 2.2 Distribution of Archaeological Sites in the Pierina Mine influence Area……………..12 Figure 2.3. At 4,000 masl grasslands in the Quebrada Llancash, Cordillera Negra……………..13 Figure 2.4. Approximation of agriculture zones and its relationship with archaeological sites…14 Figure 2.5. Stone tenon-sculpture of warrior chief with a club in sitting position. This statue formed part of a wall. (Museo Arqueológico Ancash) ………………………………………...18 Figure 2.6. Recuay kaolinite flask housed in the Milwaukee Public Museum……………………19 Figure 2.7. Crown pin with gold surface found in the chamber of Marca Jirka site PAn 5-64….20 Figure 2.8. The mound of Mareniyoc (square) and the location of mortuary chambers (circles)..22 Figure 2.9. Principal archaeological sites in Callejón de Huaylas. Sites 1 = Chonta Ranra Punta, 4 = Maquellouan Punta, 5 = Ancosh Punta, 5-F = Balcón de Judas, 37 = Mareniyoc, 64 = Marca Jirka, 66 = Quellee Pallanan……………. …………………………………….27 Figure 2.10. Grave offerings from Pashash. Grieder 1978: plates 3-7…………………………….36 Figure 2.11. View of an unexcavated subterranean gallery located in the region of Willcawain…38 Figure 2.12. Detail of the masonry of the Willcawain mortuary monument, northwest corner…41 Figure 2.13. Image inside third floor of Chullpa in Willcawain. Note the slanted roof…………43 Figure 2.14. Distribution Chullpa burial buildings in the middle part of Callejón de Huaylas…..45 Figure 4.1. Mortuary structures in the Cordillera Negra located between 3,600 to 3,400 masl…54 Figure 4.2. Cotojirca V vessel shapes found in Quitapampa C. Bowl is Cotojirca III…………….58 Figure 4.3.Imagen of the overhanging boulder. Simple burial Amá II A………………………...59 Figure 4.4. The deposition of the highly disarticulated skeleton. Skull and limbs……………….60 Figure 4.5. Detail of big jar cántaro and metal pin next to it inside chamber Amá II D……………61 vi Figure 4.6. Marca Jirka in the Cordillera Blanca, residential sites = squares, tombs = circles…….65 Figure 4.7. Percentage MNI by Sex & Age………………………………………………………69 Figure 4.8. A. MNI and Sex Total Individuals. B. MNI and Sex Individuals minus PAn5-43…...70 Figure 4.9. Cochapampa PAn 5-43. Bar Chart……………………………………………………70 Figure 4.10. Frontal and Back view of Wari-related personage found in Yarcok PAn 5-41………78 Figure 4.11. Box and-dot plots of depth in stone boxes (meters). Bennett’s sites (left) and Marca Jirka (right)…………………………………………………………………………...80 Figure 4.12. Weight and Length Tupu Copper Pins……………………………………………...90 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Chronological Chart Area of Study (Pierina)…………………………………………..7 Table 2.1. Recuay Settlements in the Pierina Mine Influence Area………………………………28 Table 2.2. Jancu Tomb Grave Goods……………………………………………………………..34 Table 2.3. Stone Box Graves Dimensions (cm)……..……………………………………………37 Table 2.4. Subterranean Galleries: Dimensions (m)……………………………………………...38 Table 4.1. List of excavated tombs and their principal characteristics……………………………53 Table 4.2. Minimum Number of Individuals per burial chamber………………………………...67 Table 4.3. MNI and Sex Distribution by Burial Chamber ………………………………………..68 Table 4.4. Counts and percentage Age of Death…………………………………………………72 Table 4.5. Frequencies of recurrent pathologies…… …………………………………….73 Table 4.6. Comparison Burial Chambers in the Cordillera Negra………………………………..74 Table 4.7. Dimensions in meters. Funerary structures at Marca Jirka……………………………76 Table 4.8. Total Counts Grave Goods from Burial Chambers……………………………………81 Table 4.9. Percentages chemical composition from metal objects at Pierina sites………………..90 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis was due long time ago. Working in CRM made me delay its writing, and also graduate school coursework. To be a parent, have a job, and find time for graduate school requires balance and calculated thinking. This thesis contains the results of the fieldwork I developed in Peru during 1997 to 2002. Many archaeology students in that time collaborated with me. I can mention Henry Tantalean, Carmen