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From the Dead to the Living: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Open Sepulchres in the Cordillera Negra, Peru (800 – 1532 CE)

par Flammang, Amandine
Président du jury Saripanidi, Vasiliki
Promoteur Eeckhout, Peter
Co-Promoteur Polet, Caroline
Publication Non publié, 2025-10-09

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

Open sepulchres, communal tombs in which the dead were deposited allowing post-mortem access for the living, are an integral part of the Andean highland landscape. These funerary structures vary in both location and construction: whether positioned above or below ground, partially or completely constructed, or situated within natural cave formations. Yet what all these monuments have in common is their geographic ubiquity in the highlands during the late pre-Hispanic period (800 – 1532 CE), ranging from the North of Peru to the Northwest of Argentina. Spanish chroniclers stated that pre-Hispanic Andean populations put more care into the construction of their sepulchres than their own houses. Moreover, based on ethnohistory, open sepulchres have long been interpreted through the lens of ancestor veneration and social organisation hinging on kinship. However, despite their prevalence, it is only recently that these tombs have been systematically excavated, mainly because they have suffered from hundreds of years of looting resulting in decontextualized and complicated commingled assemblages. This doctoral research focuses on the open sepulchres in the Upper Nepeña Drainage (Ancash, Peru); more precisely, with the aim of understanding the use and funerary practices related to them in the Chaclancayo and Uchupacancha valleys during the late pre-Hispanic period, as well as the people who used these funerary structures. Combining several lines of evidence, the methodology developed in this work is threefold: 1) surveys and landscape archaeology, 2) archaeological excavations of three tomb structures and the study of cultural material therein, and 3) the bioarchaeological study of the human remains they contained. In total, ninety-eight funerary structures were recorded and mapped, and three were excavated (Rac-8 T7, Puk-20 T12, and Cj-3 T5) and their content studied. Cultural material, architecture, and radiocarbon dates allowed for clarification of the occupation and chronology of these monuments. Additionally, the study of the human remains, including an assessment of taphonomy, biological profiles, dental pathology, and stable isotope analyses, shed light on funerary selection and funerary practices, including variation in deposition and post-mortem manipulation of the remains. These results in turn lay the foundation for future bioarchaeological work in the region. This study shows that an interdisciplinary approach can provide a comprehensive and holistic understanding of these contexts, the funerary practices associated with them, and the populations living in the region at the time, despite the physical challenges presented by the many looting episodes to which they were subjected.