Mummies in aNew Millenium

Proceedings of the 4th WorldCongress on Mummy Studies.Nuuk, Greenland, September4th to 10 th, 2001 Prehistoric Burial Types, Political

Interaction and Ethnic Boundaries in theSouth Central Andes

Niels Lynnerup, Claus Andreasenand Joel Berglund, editors

Calogero M. Santoro, Álvaro Romero andVivien G. StandenCentro de lnvestigaciones del Hombre en elDesierto, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile

Greenland National Museum and Archives

and We will briefly discuss the political and economic

Danish Polar Center 2003 arrangement reached by different political entitiesfrom the coast and altiplano in the South Central An-des, a region in western South America that encom-passes southern Peru, northern Chile and the Boli-vian altiplano. The first political group may corre-spond to small-scale communities, the co le locatedin the lower semitropical and arid valleys close to thePacific, according to historical records of the XVI-XVIII century A.D. The other groups correspond tolarger scale societies, such as the caranga, with head-quarters in the high Andean plateau, or the altiplanoin the region occupied today by Bolivia (1) (fig. 1).The time span for this study is from the Xlth to theXVlth century A.D. just few centuries before the Eu-ropean invasion to the Americas.

We will present prehistoric archaeological data todiscuss the idea that these policies sanctioned and re-duced the tension involved in the political and eco-nomic interaction by using conspicuous funerarystructures made out of adobe bricks, known as chull-pa, a typical monumental funerary and ceremonialfeature in the altiplanic region (2). Ritualization ofsocial activities it is still a common issue among

Figure 1. Valleys of Arica region in the Shouth Central Andes, showing Molle Pampa and Caillama sites.

nowadays indigenous Andean people, who do noconceive economic and social activities without a cer-emonial activity (3). In our prehistoric case, we aredealing with a geopolitical expansion of Andeangroups that defended their rights in foreign territo-ries by using this ideological or religious symbol:aThe Chullpas, whose scale and visibility impress inthe landscape, are currently known for their funeraryfunction. We propose that chullpas served also asideological features to secure the territorial expan-sion of altiplanic people. In this way, the attempts tohave economic control over the territories was supported by a process of sacralization of the landscape.

This is part of an ongoing project that have ana-lyzed different lines of evidence such as settlementpatterns, pottery, chemical dietary analyses of hu-man bones, coprolite analyses, and rock art studies inmore than 100 archaeological sites that have beenmapped, excavated, and classified in the last tenyears. This with the aim to shed light on the processof cultural interaction among these people, and how

these processes shaped their way of life, and howthey maintained and/or transformed their culturaltraditions.

The Study Area

The western slope of the Andes is characterized bythe juxtaposition of different ecological floor, thatconform a very complex ecological mosaic from thecoast all the way up to the highland, over 4000 masl.This includes: (a) the arid coast with no rainfall,ephemeral vegetation consequence of an ocean fogthat typically overcast the littoral, specially in winter,(b) coastal valleys running from the Andes, throughthe desert, surrounded by hyper arid interfluvialpampas (c) the basin between the Coastal Cordilleraand the western slope of the Andes. This includedthe Lower sierra (3000 masl, 80 to 100 km from thecoast, rainfall = 50-60 mm per year, very dispersevegetation of cactus and small shrubs, few animal,low biomass production in general), (e) the upper

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sierra (ca. 3500 masl, rainfall 200-300 mm per year,larger biomass production associated with a great di-versity of plant community, small and large mam-mals in low concentration), and (e) the Andean highplateau (4500 masl, no permanent snow, volcanoes of6000 mast more, rainfall 300-350 mm per year, butcold desert conditions, that allowed less biologicaldiversity and biomass production than at the sierra).In sum, we deal with rather fragile and slim ecologi-cal resources for human activity, which are widelyspaced in the landscape.

General Statements about Andean PoliticalEconomy

The main characteristicof Andean culture, is that civ-ilization or social complexity was not based on mar-ket and tribute economy, with any group specializa-tion in one of the ecological floor described above. In-stead Andean people, according to a model proposedby John Murra early in the sixties, created a systemdefined as vertical or ecological complementarity,which means that each community tried to maintaindirect control over as many ecological possibilities aspossible, depending on the eizeof the community,and its ability to maintain colonial settlements out-side of their head towns, on the western and/or east-em sides of the Andes (4). This was not only an aspi-ration or a political economic desire of the altiplanopeople (the highlanders), as it has been emphasizedfrom the classic model of verticality or complemen-tarity. Marginal populations of the coast and lowervalleys may have also attempted to control economicresources toward the highland, as we have been dis-cussing elsewhere.

The Case of Northern Chile and Southern Peru

In this study we are dealing with the attempts of thecaranga to control ecological floor of the Arica re-gion. This is a political group, which maintainedtheir main center in the highland of Bolivia, south ofLake Titicaca. It is described by written Spaniardrecords of the XVlth to XVlllth century, as a groupthat maintained settlements in the Sierra of Arica (1).According to Durston and Hidalgo’s model (5), thecaranga tried to maintain colonial settlement in thesierra of Arica (labeled as secondary center). The ter-tiary centers, instead located in the lower or coastalvalleys were not directly controlled as caranga triedto establish political arrangement with the people ofthe valleys. In this way they did not take the risk of

sending their own people farther away from theirterritories. In any case, we are certain now that thesehighlanders, the caranga, managed to have direct orindirect control over the Arica region, during thecolonial period.

Local people from these valleys were organizedunder a non-centralized political structure duringprehistoric times. They are recognized as a politicalentity as the cole in the ethnohistorical records, gen-erated after the European invasion in the XVlth cen-tury. They also tried to maintain control over marine,valley and sierra resources, and in this enterprisethey ran into the highlanders, particularly in thesierra.

If this was the prehistoric political scenario, thequestion is how we identify the altiplanic people(sensu caranga) and the local groups (sensu Cole) inthe archeological records, disperse in the verticallandscape. We have used several lines of evidence toidentify and explain the system of interaction be-tween theses groups. Particularly, the pottery analy-sis and settlement patterns show heterogeneous ar-chaeological panorama: A palimpsest difficult to sortout. The Caillama and Molle Pampa sites located inthe sierra and lower valley respectivelly, are gaodstudy cases to shed light over our reserach question.Both sites list among its features the presence ofchullpas, rather uncommon outside of the altiplano.

Caillama

At Caillama (in the sierra of Arica at 3000 masl) wefound two types of tombs or burials: (a) Cysts:Above ground semi-circular stones chamber, com-mon in the region; (b) Chullpas: Above ground rec-tangular adobe brick structure (fig. 2). From a total of46 tombs inventoried, 27 (59%) are cysts, and 19(41%) are Chullpas (6).

Cemetery of Molle Pampa

At Molle Pampa Este (in the lover valley of Lluta, 20km from the coast, 500 masl), a Late Period settle-ment (1400-1500 A.D.), more than 70 tombs werefound. Among them there was just a small and badlypreserved adobe brick burial structure. The othertombs correspond to different kinds of stone cysts,common in the area. At Molle Pampa Medio next toMolle Pampa Este, a Late Intermediate Period settle-ment (1100-1400 A.D.), we found more than 50tombs, and one of them is also an adobe brick burialstructure (fig. 3).

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plan view

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profile

Figure 2. Display of an adobe brick chullpa at Caillama.

The statistical distribution of decorated pottery inthese sites shows a clear dominance of the local pot-tery, both at the lower valleys as well as at the sierrasettlements. We use decorated pottery as a mean ofcultural marker to identify the political groups men-tioned in the historical records.

At domestic domains the local decorated pottery wasa main commodity both in the sierra and in thelower valley settlements. This data offer the follow-ing possible political scenarios: (a) local population,the Cole, were able to control territories and resourcesfrom the coast all the way up to the sierra. In this sce-nario, caranga did not have actual settlements in thesierra, as suggested by the ethnohistorical records.The high presence of chullpas at Caillama tend todistort this scenario. (b) The caranga did have a sec-

ondary center in the sierra of Arica, possibly, at Cail-lama masked with an intense interaction with localcommunities through social or ceremonial activitiesthat required important use of locally made decorat-ed pottery. In this way the caranga did not make ma-jor efforts to defend their position in the sierra in thedomestic domains, thus they incorporated into theirdaily life the cultural material of the lower valleypopulation, the Cole. In another, possibly more inti-mate domain the caranga built their chullpas, for in-ternal social coherence, as well as to publicly showan idiosyncratic symbol of prestige, power. In thisway they used an ideological symbol to defend andmark their arrival into the region, through the chull-pas, which ideological impact is obvious in the land-scape. In the lower valley, in contrast, the impact ofideological control of the Caranga from the altiplanois very weak, as few Chullpas were built.

Furthermore, we think that local cole leader may

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A-

Figure 3. Display of an adobe brick structure at Molle Pampa

have been able to create certain political coalitionsbetween them to negotiate the entrance of theCaranga to the sierra.

This gave them the possibility to maintain theirown settlements in the sierra, about 60 km from thelower valleys. They may also have arranged to haveaccess to the high plateau or altiplano resourcesthrough exchange with the caranga or by sendingtheir own people up there, about 60 km from thesierra (i.e. pukara Visviri). In the same way, thecaranga were able to obtain coastal resources.

Acknowledgements

Study supported by grants of Fondecyt 1970597 and1000457.

References

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2. Hyslop J. Chulpas of the Lupaca zone of the Peruvianhigh plateau. Journal of Field Archaeology 1977; 4:149-170.

3. Van Kessel J. Tecnología aymara: Un enfoque cultural.En Tecnologla Andina Una Introducción, Medina J(ed.). La Paz, Hlsbol. 1990.

4. Murra J V. Los Iímites y la limitaciones del ‘archipiela-go vertical' en los Andes. En Homenaje al R. P. Gusta-vo Le Paige S.J. (Niemeyer, H. ed.). Santiago, Universi-dad del Norte, 1976.

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