Practices in Life, Presence After Death: Style and Substance at the Paracas Necropolis

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With support from the National Science Foundation, Ann H. Peters will coordinate an international team of archaeologists and biological anthropologists to study the great Paracas Necropolis cemetery as a social community, kinship network, and cultural crossroads of the ancient Andes. This multidisciplinary effort brings together scientists from the United States and Peru to reconstruct and update the famous early 20th century studies of Julio C. Tello. Teams of professionals and students from both countries will work with collections in the American Museum of Natural History, Peru's National Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and History, and three Peruvian regional museums. The goal is to apply contemporary analytic techniques to the burials of 429 men and women, youths and elders, who died two thousand years ago, were wrapped in elaborately embroidered textiles and other artifacts, and set into a steep desert hillside looking north over the Bay of Paracas.Mortuary contexts contribute vital information to archaeological research on social roles and the emergence of social hierarchy. While the huge conical mummy bundles of Paracas have been called "lords", the research will test a hypothesis that they were the honored ancestors of powerful kinship networks led by warriors and elders, combining political and ritual roles. Biological anthropologists will combine studies of DNA, body modification, diet, health, activities in life and cause of death to understand the Paracas Necropolis population and the criteria associated with elaborate treatment after death. Specialists in the study of textiles, ceramics, foodstuffs, tools and weapons will delineate and track patterns in the grave goods associated with each individual. The excellent conditions of preservation and complexity of many burials at this cemetery provide an opportunity and a challenge to test the potential of statistical analysis to measure degrees of social relationship and the differentiated roles of men and women, both in different phases of life and as ancestral figures. It is expected that the data will reveal evidence of cultural diversity, including intermarriage between different social groups in the Paracas region and the presence of individuals from more distant parts of the Andes.Early 20th century archaeologists like Tello worked on sites that no longer exist or are no longer accessible to research. Institutional archives and storerooms provide important opportunities to test social theory and established historic narratives. While Paracas embroideries, modeled and painted vessels, gold and featherwork are often the highlight of exhibits on ancient Peru, new information on the social communities that produced these fine artifacts should help explain the capacity of Andean societies to create spectacular textiles, ceramics and metalwork - and their motivations for doing so. Tello's research drew on multidisciplinary teamwork and exchange of ideas with his colleagues in the United States and Europe. Following in that tradition, this research builds opportunities for further international collaborations among museums, archaeologists, biological anthropologists and students, leading to a conference in Peru that will bring together scholars working on Paracas from around the world.