Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T21:41:02.355Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Body Context: Interpreting Early Nasca Decapitated Burials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lisa DeLeonardis
Lisa DeLeonardis*
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, Catholic University, Washington, D.C 20064
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the most enigmatic aspects of decapitation practices among south coastal Peruvian Paracas and Nasca cultures (900 B.C.-A.D. 750) is the near absence of headless bodies in the archaeological record. Drawing on a case study of an Early Nasca, Phase 3 headless burial at Site PV62D13 in the lower Ica Valley, together with examples of headless interments reported in the literature, I examine the nature and disposition of headless burials. Three burial patterns, or forms, are proposed. The burial at PV62D13 is distinguished for its extended posture and interment in a non-cemetery setting and is proposed to be a dedicatory burial. Burial forms for disembodied heads are also examined, and over time, a notable increase in cached heads, buried without grave offerings is observed. Painted ceramic images of Nasca trophy heads and headless bodies are reviewed diachronically and a marked increase in decapitation scenes is noted for Late Nasca. Attention is drawn to the limited number of headless body images overall, and possible solutions to reconcile the visual imagery with the archaeological data are offered.

Resumen

Resumen

Uno de los aspectos más enigmáticos en las prácticas de decapitación humana entre las culturas Paracas y Nasca (900 a.C.-750 d.C.) de la costa sur Peruana, es la casi ausencia de enterramientos de cuerpos sin cabezas. Mientras las cabezas se las encuentran decapitadas o como cabezas “trofeo” y sus equivalentes iconográficos por todas partes, la escasez de cuerpos sin cabezas, y en efecto, la casi ausencia de imágenes visuales respectivas durante Nasca temprano son notables. Aquí examino la índole y método de enterrar los cuerpos decapitados haciendo uso de un caso de enterramiento Nasca temprano, Fase 3 de un cuerpo sin cabeza excavado a Sitio PV62D13 en el valle bajo de Ica, junto con ejemplos de otros enterramientos sin cabezas que se encuentran en la literatura. Se proponen tres patrones o formas de enterramientos. El entierro en el Sitio PV62D13, sugiere ser un enterramiento tipo ofrenda, que se distingue por su postura extendida y su ubicación que no corresponde a aquellos de un cemeterio. Dos fechas radiocarbónicas ubican el enterramiento en un rango de restos culturales de Nasca 3. Aquí se discuten las discrepancias entre estas dos fechas. También, se establecen y comparan las formas de enterramientos de cabezas trofeo a través del tiempo, encontrándose que existe un incremento notable en entierros de cabezas agrupadas sin ofrendas. Se examinan diacrónicamente la cerámica decorada con cabezas trofeo y con cuerpos decapitados, notándose un aumento en la presencia de escenas de decapitación en Nasca tardío. Llama la atención el número restringido de imágenes que muestran cuerpos decapitados y propongo posibles soluciones a fin de conciliar las imágenes visuales con los datos arqueológicos. Finalmente, se concluye que el análisis de enterramientos sin cabezas es un método valioso para aclarar el estudio de los sacrificios humanos y específicamente, la práctica de decapitación.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 363 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Allen, C. J. 1988 The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Amano, Y. 1961 Huacos precolombinos del Perú. Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Anawalt, P. R. 1984 Memory Clothing: Costumes Associated With Aztec Human Sacrifice. In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, edited by E. H. Boone, pp. 165–194. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Arriaza, B. O. 1996 Preparation of the Dead in Coastal Andean Preceramic Populations. In Human Mummies: A Global Survey of Their Status and the Techniques of Conservation, edited by K. Spindler, H. Wilting, E. Rastbichler-Zissernig, D. zur Ned-den, and H. Nhdurfer, pp. 131–140. Springer-Verlag, Austria.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aveni, A. F. (editor) 1990 The Lines ofNazca. The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Baraybar, J. P. 1987 Cabezas trofeo Nasca: nuevas evidencias. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 15:6–10.Google Scholar
Bastien, J. W. 1978 Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and Ritual in an Andean Ayllu. Waverly Press, Prospect Heights, Illinois.Google Scholar
Bass, W. M. 1987 Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual, Third Edition. Special Publication Number 2 of the Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia.Google Scholar
Blagg, M. M. 1975 The Bizarre Innovation in Nasca Pottery. Unpublished M. A. thesis, Department of Art History, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Blasco Bosqued, M. C., and Ramos Gomez, L. J. 1980 Cerámica Nazca. Seminario Americanists de la Uni-versidad de Valladolid, Valladolid.Google Scholar
Bloch, M., and Parry, J. 1982 Introduction: Death and the Regeneration of Life. In Death and the Regeneration of Life, edited by M. Bloch and J. Parry, pp. 1–44. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne, D. M., Silverman, H., and García, R. 1993 A Cache of Forty-Eight Nasca Trophy Heads from Cerro Carapo, Peru. Latin American Antiquity 4:274–294.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P. H. 1988 Nasca Mortuary Customs: Death and Ancient Society on the South Coast of Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Calgary. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P. H. 1994 The Life from Death Continuum in Nasca Imagery. Andean Past 4:81–90.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P. H. 1995 Nasca Burial Patterns: Social Structure and Mortuary Ideology. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by T. D. Dillehay, pp. 161–188. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P. H. 1998 Nasca Ceramics: Production and Social Context. In Andean Ceramics: Technology, Organization, and Approaches, edited by I. Shimada, pp. 213–231. Museum Applied Science Centerfor Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Cook, A. G. 1992 The Stone Ancestors: Idioms of Imperial Attire and Rank among Huari Figurines. Latin American Antiquity 3:341–364.Google Scholar
Cook, A. G. 1994 Investigaciones de reconocimiento arqueológico en la parte baja de Valle de lea: informe final (1988–1990), vol-umen I and II. Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima.Google Scholar
Cook, A. G. 1999 Asentamientos Paracas en el valle bajo de lea, Perú. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 25:61–90.Google Scholar
Cordy-Collins, A. 1992 Archaism or Tradition? The Decapitation Theme in Cupisnique and Moche Iconography. Latin American Antiquity 3:206–220.Google Scholar
Cordy-Collins, A., and Nicholson, H. B. 1979 Pre-Columbian Art from the Land Collection. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Cornejo, B., Berenguer R., L.,  , E.,  , J., Sinclaire A., C., and Gallardo I., F. 1996 Nasca: vida y muerte en el desierto. Museo Chileno Pre-colombino, Santiago de Chile.Google Scholar
Davies, N. 1984 Human Sacrifice in the Old World and the New: Some Similarities and Differences. In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, edited by E.H. Boone, pp. 211–226. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
DeLeonardis, L. 1991 Settlement History of the Lower lea Valley, Peru, Vth -1st Centuries, B. C. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Catholic University, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
DeLeonardis, L. 1997 Paracas Settlement in Callango, Lower lea Valley, First Millennium, B.C. Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University, Washington, DC. University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Donnan, C. 1997 Deer Hunting and Combat: Parallel Activities in the Ancient Moche World. In The Spirit of Ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, edited by K. Berrin, pp. 51–59. Thames and Hudson, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.Google Scholar
Dwyer, J. P., and Dwyer, E. B. 1975 The Paracas Cemeteries: Mortuary Patterns in a Peruvian South Coastal Tradition. In Death and the Afterlife in Pre-Columbian America: A Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 27, 1973, edited by E. Benson, pp. 145–161. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections and the Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Emery, I. 1980 The Primary Structures of Fabrics: An Illustrated Classification. The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Gayton, A. H., and Kroeber, A. L. 1927 The Uhle Pottery Collections from Nazca. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 24(1):1–46, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Harner, M. J. 1972 The Jívaro People of the Sacred Waterfalls. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Horié, D. M. 1990–1991 A Family of Nasca Figures. The Textile Museum Journal 29– 30:77–92.Google Scholar
Isla Cuadrado, J. 1992 La ocupación Nasca en Usaca. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 6(22):119–151.Google Scholar
Jiménez Borja, A., and Reid, J. W. 1986 Culturas precolombinas: Nazca. Colección arte y tesoros del Peru, creada y dirigida por J. A. de Lavalle. Banco de Crédito del Peru, Lima.Google Scholar
Kowta, M. 1987 An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Acarí Valley in the South Coast Region of Peru. California Institute for Peruvian Studies, Sacramento.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1956 Toward Definition of the Nazca Style. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L., and Collier, D. 1998 The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca, Peru: Alfred L. Kroeber's 1926 Expedition. Edited by P. H. Carmichael with an Afterword by K. J. Schreiber. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1996 Cloth and Metal. In Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks Volume I , edited by E. H. Boone, pp. 33–43. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Lothrop, S. K., and Mahler, J. 1957 Late Nazca Burials at Chaviña, Peru. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University L(2):1–61, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Massey, S. A. 1986 Sociopolitical Change in the Upper lea Valley, B.C. 400 to 400 A.D.: Regional States on the South Coast of Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Menzel, D., Rowe, J. H., and Dawson, L. 1964 The Paracas Pottery of lea: A Study in Style and Time. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Morgan, A. 1988 “The Master of Mother Fishes”: An Interpretation of Nasca Pottery Figurines and Their Symbolism. In Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, edited by N.J. Saunders and O. de Montmollin, pp. 327–360. BAR International Series 421(ii), Oxford, England.Google Scholar
Murphy, Y., and Murphy, R. F. 1974 Women of the Forest. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Murra, J. 1962 Cloth and Its Functions in the Inca State. American Anthropologist 64:710–728.Google Scholar
Mujica, E., and Isla, J. 1996 Nasca: Men, Gods and Colors of the Desert. In Nasca, pp. 13–32. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, Chile.Google Scholar
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 1996 Nasca. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, Chile.Google Scholar
Neira Avedaño, M., and Penteado Coelho, V. 1972–1973 Enterramientos de cabezas de la cultura Nasca. Revista do Museu Paulista 20:109–142.Google Scholar
Orefici, G. 1992 Nasca: Archeologiaper una reconstruzione storica. Jaca Book, Milano.Google Scholar
Paul, A. 1990 Paracas Ritual Attire: Symbols of Authority in Ancient Peru. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman and London.Google Scholar
Paul, A. 1991 Paracas: An Ancient Cultural Tradition on the South Coast of Peru. In Paracas Art and Architecture: Objectand Context in South Coastal Peru, edited by A. Paul, pp. 1–34. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Paul, A. 2000 Bodiless Human Heads in Paracas Textile Iconography. Andean Past 6, in press.Google Scholar
Penteado Coelho, V. 1972 Enterramentos de cabezas da cultura Nasca. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Communication and Arts, University of Sao Paulo.Google Scholar
Peters, A. H. 1991 Ecology and Society in Embroidered Images from the Paracas Necrópolis. In Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru, edited by A. Paul, pp. 240–314. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Pezzia Assereto, A. 1968 Ica y el Perú precolombino: arqueología de la provin-cia de lea, tomo I. Ojeda, Ica, Perú.Google Scholar
Phipps, E. J. 1989 Cahuachi Textiles in the W. D. Strong Collection: Cultural Transition in the Nasca Valley, Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York. University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. A. 1968 Local Differences and Time Differences in Nasca Pottery. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. A. 1970 Nasca Gravelots in the Uhle Collection From the lea Valley, Peru. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. A. 1989 Nasca Trophy Heads: Victims of Warfare or Ritual Sacrifice? In Cultures in Conflict: Current Archaeological Perspectives, edited by D. C. Tkaczuk and B. C. Vivian, pp. 73–85. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Chacmool Conference, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. A. 1994 Stylistic Variation in Proliferous Nasca Pottery. Andean Past 4:91–108.Google Scholar
Proulx, D. A. 1996 Nasca. In Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Volume I, edited by E.H.Boone, pp. 101–122. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Reiche, M. 1974 Peruvian Ground Drawings. Kunstraum Munchen E. V., Munich.Google Scholar
Reindel, M., Isla Cuadrado, J., and Koschmieder, K. 1999 Vorspanische Siedlingen und Bodenzeichnungen in Palpa, Süd-Peru. Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie 19:313–381.Google Scholar
Reinhard, J. 1988 The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on Their Origin and Meaning. Editorial Los Pinos, Lima.Google Scholar
Rivera, M. 1995 The Preceramic Chinchorro Mummy Complex of Northern Chile. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by T. D. Dillehay, pp. 43–77. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Roark, R. P. 1965 From Monumental to Proliferous in Nasca Pottery. Ñawpa Pacha 3:1–106.Google Scholar
Rodman, A. O. 1992 Textiles and Ethnicity: Tiwanaku in San Pedro de Ata-cama, North Chile. Latin American Antiquity 3:316–340.Google Scholar
Rossel Castro, A. 1977 Arqueología surdel Perú. Editorial Universo S.A., Lima.Google Scholar
Rowe, A. P. 1990–1991 Nasca Figurines and Costume. The Textile Museum Journal 29–30:93–128.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1946 Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest. In Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 2, edited by J. H. Steward, pp. 183–330. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 43, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1956 Archaeological Explorations in Southern Peru, 1954–1955: Preliminary Report of the Fourth University of California Archaeological Expedition to Peru. American Antiquity 22:135–151.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1995 Behavior and Belief in Ancient Peruvian Mortuary Practice. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by T. D. Dillehay, pp. 24–27. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rubini Drago, A. 1957 Catálogo de la colección arqueología de Aldo Rubini Drago, Hacienda Ocucaje. Ms. on file, Museo Regional de Iea, Peru.Google Scholar
Salomon, F. 1995 “The Beautiful Grandparents”: Andean Ancestor Shrines and Mortuary Ritual as Seen Through Colonial Records. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by T. D. Dillehay, pp. 315–353. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sawyer, A. 1966 Ancient Peruvian Ceramics: The Nathan Cummings Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Sawyer, A. 1979 Painted Nasca Textiles. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by A. P. Rowe, E. P. Benson, and A. Schaffer, pp. 129–150. The Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. 1929 Kunst und Kulture von Peru. Propylöen-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K. J. 1990 Informe final: exploración arqueológica del valle de Nazca 1989. Report submitted to the Institute National de Cultura, Lima, Perú.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K. J. 1991 Informe final: exploración arqueológica del valle de Nasca 1990. Report submitted to the Institute National de Cultura, Lima, Perú.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K. J. 1998 Afterword. In The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca, Peru: Alfred L. Schreiber, pp. 261–270. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K. J., and Isla Cuadrado, J. 1997 Informe final: exploración arqueológica de los valles de Nasca, Taruga y Las Trancas 1996. Report submitted to the Institute National de Cultura, Lima, Perú.Google Scholar
Schreiber, K. J., and Lancho Rojas, J. 1995 The Puquios of Nasca. Latin American Antiquity 6:229–254.Google Scholar
Seler, E. 1961 Die buntbemalten Gefasse von Nasca im siidlichen Peru und die Hauptelemente ihrer Verzierung. In Gessamelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach-und Altertum-skunde, Vierter Band, pp. 171–338. Akademische Druck, U. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1988 Nasca 8: A Reassessment of Its Chronological Placement and Cultural Significance. Michigan Discussions in Anthropology 8:23–32.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1990 The Early Nasca Pilgrimage Center of Cahuachi and the Nazca Lines: Anthropological and Archaeological Perspectives. In The Lines of Nazca, edited by A. Aveni, pp. 209–304. The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1991 The Ethnography and Archaeology of Two Andean Pilgrimage Centers. In Pilgrimage in Latin America, edited by N. R. Crumrine and A. Morinis, pp. 215–228. Greenwood Press, New York.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1993 Cahuachi In The Ancient Nasca World. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Silverman, H. 1997 The First Field Season of Excavations at the Alto Molino Site, Pisco Valley, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 24:441–457.Google Scholar
Silverman, H., and Browne, D. 1991 New Evidence for the Date of the Nazca Lines. Antiquity 65:208–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soustelle, J. 1984 Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica: An Introduction. In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, edited by E. H. Boone, pp. 1–6. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1957 Paracas, Nazca, and Tiahuanacoid Relationships in South Coastal Peru. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology no. 13, Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Tello, J. C. 1918 El uso de las cabezas humanas artificialmente momificadas y su representación en el antiguo arte peruana. Villarán, Lima.Google Scholar
Townsend, R. 1985 Deciphering the Nazca World: Ceramic Images From Ancient Peru. Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 11:117–139.Google Scholar
Ubbelohde-Doering, H. 1966 On The Royal Highways of the Inca. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Uceda, S., Mujica, E., and Morales, R. (editors) 1997 Proyecto arqueologica Huacas del Sol y de la Luna: Investigaciones en la Huaca de la Luna 1995–1996. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad National de la Libertad, Trujillo.Google Scholar
Uhle, M. 1914 The Nazca Pottery of Ancient Peru. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences 13:1–46.Google Scholar
Verano, J. W. 1986 A Mass Burial of Mutilated Individuals at Pacatnamu. In The Pacatnamu Papers, Volume 1, edited by C. B. Donnan and G. A. Cock, pp. 117–138. Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Verano, J. W. 1995 Where Do They Rest? The Treatment of Human Offerings and Trophies in Ancient Peru. In Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices, edited by T. D. Dillehay, pp. 189–228. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Wallace, D. 1979 The Process of Weaving Development on the Peruvian Coast. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by A. P. Rowe, E. P. Benson, and A. Schaffer, pp. 27–50. The Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Williams, C., and Pazos, M. 1974 Inventario, catastro y delimitación del patrimonio arqueológico del valle de Ica. Centro de Investigatión y Restauración de Bienes Monumentales, Instituto National de Culture, Lima.Google Scholar
Wolfe, E. F. 1981 The Spotted Cat and the Horrible Bird: Stylistic Change in Nasca 1–5 Ceramic Decoration. Ñawpa Pacha 19:1–62.Google Scholar