Requiem Aeternum Klaus-Tam

Between the Living & the Dead 1 Klaus and Tam
Requiem Aeternum Ms. Mrrope Burials
Requiem Aeternum dona eis, Domine: The Dead, the Living, and Pre-Hispanic Burial
Ritual in Colonial Mrrope, North Coast of Peru
Haagen D. Klaus1, and Manuel E. Tam Chang2
1
The Ohio State University/ Museo Nacional Sicn, Peru; 2Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Peru
Requeum aeternum, dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord are the words
that open the old Catholic requiem mass of the dead. Following the European conquest of
Andean South America, this prayer would have almost certainly been spoken during funerals in
the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope, northern Lambayeque valley, north coast of Peru.
Interaction between Andeans and Europeans beginning in the 16th century set forth a myriad of
biocultural changes driven by disease and forceful Spanish campaigns of ideological and
economic conversion. Perhaps one of the most alien aspects of the Colonial order involved the
idealized European treatment of the deceased, who should remain undisturbed and intact
awaiting the resurrection of the body with second coming of Christ quite distinct from ancient
and widespread Andean practices linking the living and the dead.
An archaeological window on colonial Andean mortuary practices previously
understood almost exclusively from south-central highlands ethnohistory has been opened by
excavations at the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope. Many of the Mrrope dead were interred in
apparent accord with Catholic doctrine, but not all shared in eternal rest. This chapter examines
taphonomic and osteological evidence detailing prolonged curation of the dead before burial,
burial alterations, and secondary burials of human remains at Mrrope. We argue that repetitive
manipulations of crania and long bones that parallel pre-Hispanic burial rituals in the
Lambayeque valley were successfully integrated into colonial mortuary patterns. We also offer
preliminary symbolic interpretations of these activities. Potential fertility-based symbolisms,
expressions of indigenous agency, cultural memory, and discourses of the colonial social order
were encoded within living-dead interactions at Mrrope. These observations underscore the
enduring significance of the Andean dead into colonial times but also illustrate the emergence of
hybrid Andean-European mortuary behaviors in postcontact Peru.
The Late Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Setting
The Lambayeque Valley Complex was a center of independent and influential cultural
development on the northern north coast of Peru for over 6000 years. The region contained up to
one third of Perus total coastal population and is the largest arable region (ca. 140,000 ha2) of
Perus entire desert coastline (Cook, 1981; Kosok, 1965). Diverse environments and natural
resources span an arid four-river valley complex from the Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, and
Reque river valleys that run from the Andean piedmont to the Pacific coast (Figure 1).
Archaeological studies have revealed complex cultural developments in the region, from
the formative Cupisnique chiefdom (1500-500 BC), to the Moche state (AD 100-750), the Sicn
theocracy (AD 900-1100), and finally, foreign Chim (AD 1375-1470) and Inka (AD 1470-
1532) imperial rule (Alva and Donnan 1993; Elera 1986; Heyerdahl et al. 1995; Shimada 1994,
1995, 2000). Over the last 15 years, the study of well-documented burials from the Middle Sicn
society (a.k.a. Classic Lambayeque culture) centered in the La Leche valley has led to a wide
range of findings regarding population heath, social organization, mortuary rituals, and ideology
(Shimada et al. 2004). One emerging understanding holds a major portion of the regions late
pre-Hispanic population were Moche descendants, forming a distinctive and remarkably
conservative Mochica ethnic group, reproducing aspects of their death rituals, material culture,
and technological styles under the surface of subsequent cultures (Klaus 2003). Also,the notion
that once buried, north coast dead were disposed of and forgotten is no longer tenable. Ritualized
manipulation of human remains much of it corresponding to the Mochica ethnic group has
been documented in a variety of tombs, cemeteries, and human sacrifices within the Lambayeque
valley, spanning Sicn, Chim and Inka-periods. These practices include four distinct patterns
with case studies discussed at length previously (Klaus and Shimada (n.d.) and Shimada et al.
(this volume).
1. Prolonged primary burial: following death, the some corpses were intentionally
curated. Taphonomic evidence of shifting and missing skeletal elements and entomological
evidence of empty maggot casings indicate the desiccation and intentional natural
mummification of the body, inferred in a range of Moche and Middle Sicn elite tombs,
commoner burials, and human sacrifices throughout the northern north coast (Bourget 2001;
Centurin and Curo 2003; Klaus et al. 2004; Nelson 1998; Shimada et al. 2004; Verano 1997).
2. Post-depositional removal: the subtraction of human remains from graves,
corresponding to secondary intrusive pits, has been best documented at the Middle Sicn
workshop of Huaca Sialupe, in Middle Sicn and Chim burials at Illimo, La Caleta de San Jos,
and cupe in the Zaa valley (Klaus et al., n.d.b.; Rodriguez 1995; Wester 1996) and in contexts
further south. Skulls and long bones are repeatedly the most frequently removed skeletal
elements. This practice appears to bear significant antiquity, probably first appearing during the
Cupisnique era (1500-500 BC) (Elera 1986, 1998; Larco Hoyle 1941).
3. Post-depositional removal and rearrangement: a more complicated activity involves the
opening of a grave, the removal of selected skeletal elements, followed by reburial of the bones
with the body subsequent to an unknown interval. Often, there appears to be an attempt to
replace the altered skeletal elements in anatomical position, with crania placed atop the shoulders
long bones placed in their original positions, albeit upside down or inverted. The best evidence
of removal and re-arrangement once again comes from Huaca Sialupe, with other likely
illustrations seen in skeletons from Illimo and La Caleta de San Jos.
4. Secondary burial: the exhumation and reinterment of skeletons appears to be the most
infrequent of living-dead interactions on the pre-Hispanic north coast. One case of secondary
burial of a complete single individual at Huaca Sialupe and an isolated skull at Illimo has been
documented.
Colonial Lambayeque
Knowledge of the postcontact Andes is dominated by ethnohistoric sources, often
affected by what Ramrez (1996: 152) calls layer after layer of European ethnocentric veneer,
bias, misdepiction, and misunderstanding of indigenous ideas and concepts. Documentary
sources are especially lacking on the north coast which did not have a dedicated Spanish or
indigenous chronicler.
Despite these limitations, ethnohistoric data outline a range of unprecedented changes
that unfolded the Lambayeque valley within 50 years of contact. The Spanish found the
Lambayeque valley divided into economically specialized polities organized by a dualistic form
of social organization they named parcialidad (Netherly, 1990) that were soon subverted and
dismantled. Feudalistic encomiendas were established in the Lambayeque region as early as
1534 (Mendoza, 1985: 179). Llamas and alpacas lynchpins of pre-Hispanic economy and diet
were eliminated in favor of large-scale husbandry of European livestock slaughtered for the
production of soap and leather (Ramrez, 1974, 1996). Reducciones were informally instituted in
the Lambayeque region as early as 1540, and created an indigenous labor and tribute pool by
forcibly uprooting and relocating traditional communities in nucleated settlements, and in doing
so, severed fundamental cosmological ties to ancestral lands. The Spanish transformed
indigenous curacas into cultural brokers and tribute collectors by the 1570s.
Communities sank into poverty, lost respect for their local leaders, and systems of
collective well-being disintegrated (Ramrez, 1996: 157). Disease and depopulation initially
ravaged the north coast of Peru, followed by transition from epidemic to endemic disease
including smallpox, measles, and mumps (Cook 1992; Dobyns 1963). The local ethnic Mochica
in the Lambayeque region would have endured these stressors. Unlike the south central Andes
that saw organized insurgency and millenarian movements like Taki Onqoy, resistance on the
north coast was never coherent. Indigenous resistance against the Spanish was often non-violent
and symbolic, such as withholding tribute (Figuroa and Idrogo 2004). Such a response may have
been preconditioned by the periods of fundamentally different Chim and Inka rule, where it had
been advantageous to accommodate imposed socioeconomic systems (Ramrez 1991).
The Church was often a tool of social change, enforcing European religious and cultural
practices (Farriss, 1984: 91-92) and punishing those who resisted. Oral traditions recount natives
who were deemed heretics were burned alive atop the ruins of Tcume, which had been decreed
as the physical gateway to hell. Excavations by Hererdahl et al. (1995: 212-213) atop the Huaca
Larga pyramid may have documented direct evidence of such executions. Beyond recording the
dates for the establishment of various churches and chapels in Lambayeque (spanning the 1530s
to 1550s), very little is known about the role of the Church and its impact on indigenous Mochica
belief and ritual on the colonial north coast of Peru.
Colonial Mrrope
Mrrope (population 3500) is 803 km north of the modern capital of Lima, on northwest
perimeter of the Lambayeque valley complex at the southern edge of the Sechura Desert.
Mrrope is immediately east of the new Pan-American Highway near the termination of the
seasonal Motupe and Hondo Rivers. The town has its roots as a traditional Mochica village an
ethnic characteristic that remains to this day. Mrrope was one of the last bastions of the now
extinct Muchik language. The name of the town is derived from a pre-Hispanic water myth
involving a lizard, or murrup, in Muchik. Families with Mochica surnames Cajusol, Inoan,
Farroan, Llontop, Piscoya, Puriguaman, Siesquen and Tuoque still populate Mrrope and its
surroundings. Surveys by the Sicn Archaeological Project and the authors have identified
evidence of presumably continuous local population going back to at least Moche V (AD 550-
750). As in the past two millennia, the region is ill suited to farming, but the abundance of clays
led to a renowned community-level craft specialization in modern Mrrope using pre-Hispanic
paleteada ceramic technology (Cleland and Shimada 1998) supplemented by fishing and mining.
Tantalizing details about Colonial Mrrope emerge from an apparently unfinished 18th
century manuscript written by Mrropes priest, Don Justo Modesto Rubios. He chronicles the
succession of priests in Mrrope and indirectly points to a community rooted in the memory of a
pre-Hispanic past experiencing stressful conflicts with neighboring communities over sparse
water, land, and mining rights. Modesto states the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope was
constructed with the cooperation of a curaca named Caxusoli (Cajusol) and the first mass
consecrated on 29 June 1536 (1782 [1936]: 298).
While Cook (1981: 143-144) observes that Lambayeque populations rebounded with
minimal annual losses between 1570-1620, it is difficult to assess if Mrrope shared in this
broader rebound. Figures listed by Modesto (1782 [1936]: 306) for AD 1536, 1548, and 1645
indicate the number of souls in Mrrope at 697, 1,930, and 102 respectively. While the
accuracy of these counts can be debated on several levels, it raises other points. The nearly 276
percent increase in reported population size from 1536 to 1548 may owe to an influx of
individuals from the Reque drainage community of Eten, said to be out of favor with their
curaca. Population drop-off by 1645 may owe to disease, out-migration in pursuit of labor, or a
combination of these and other factors.
The significance of the dead is illustrated in at least one episode. The priest who served
both Mrrope and nearby Pacora fell ill and died in Pacora on 8 December 1685. Hours after his
death, Mrropaos spirited away the body to their community (Modesto 1782 [1936]: 325).
Motivations are unstated, but may have involved manipulating the dead priests presence in
Mrrope to augment community standing and legitimacy versus Pacora. This account also
mentions a funerary specialist in Mrrope, an ayudante del difunto.
The Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope was functionally abandoned on or about 23 May
1751 when the much larger Church of San Pedro was completed immediately to the west. After
this time, it was stated the only time the Chapel was opened was on the Day of the Dead, and in
the 20th and early 21st centuries, it served as storage space.
Research Questions
A cornerstone of Spanish religious policy involved extirpation of precontact belief related
to practices of ancestor worship, which brought the living and the dead into regular ritual and
physical contact in the Central Andes. Over time their efforts met varying levels of success but
were partly offset by a survival strategy of Andean Christianity that fused the Andean with the
European simultaneously incorporating parts of an imposed ideology while subtly preserving
traditional beliefs. Given the range of living-dead interactions in the pre-Hispanic Lambayeque
region, similar ideological conflict and hybridization would be expected to transpire.
With the above contexts established, we pose three linked questions. First, did
imposition of 16th Century Catholic burial cut off the living Mochica of Mrrope from their
dead? Did elements of precontact burial patterns persist or was there strict adherence to Catholic
ritual, such as in Spanish missions in the southeast United States and Central America (Cohen et
al. 1997; Larsen 2001)? Second, if living-dead interactions persisted, what forms did these
interactions take in Colonial Mrrope? Were these contacts accidental disruptions of burials or
were they patterned activities based on pre-Hispanic rituals templates? Third, if the living and
the dead continued ceremonial relationships in Mrrope, what might such connections reveal
about the Mochica experience of Spanish colonialism?
Archaeological Study
Andean Christianity has been widely described as syncretistic (MacCormack, 1991), and
the Chapel of San Pedro embodies this observation. The structure, located on the Plaza de
Armas, is known for a unique fusion of colonial external architecture, and internally a pre-
Hispanic building style using adobe bricks and algarrobo (Prosopis sp.) tree trunks as ceiling
beams and Y-shaped posts (Figure 2), just as depicted in first millennium Moche fineline
paintings (Donnan and McCleland 1999: Figs. 4.69, 4.92; Shimada 1994: Fig. 8.27). The chapel
is oriented on a north-south axis; the same orientation is shared by most pre-Hispanic Mochica
burials. The adobe brick altar is to our knowledge unique in all of Christendom: a three-
dimensional stepped pyramid an enduring secondary icon from Moche times to Contact,
probably an abstracted mountain or huaca representing supernatural power.
In 2002, the remains of the Chapel were in a state of imminent collapse following
damage from 1998 El Nio rains. Cesar Maguia and the Instituto de Conservacin y
Restauracin Americano (ICAM) organized an ongoing restoration effort and archaeological
beginning in late 2002 (Fernandez 2003). Large-scale, vertical excavations from floor to sterile
sand were undertaken during the June-September 2005 field season. Thirteen excavation units
covering and area of over 200 m2 were placed along and adjacent to the central axis of the
structure from sacristy to atrium with the goals to document architectural features, building
chronology, mortuary patterns, and the bioarchaeological study of an intact mortuary population.
Unlike the broader pattern of placing churches atop important pre-Hispanic structures,
this Chapel was built on a stabilized aeolian sand dune. The original foundation was composed
of compact clay masses periodically displaying small postholes. Associated fragments of clay
walls bearing reed impressions strongly suggest the original walls were not adobe but quincha
(wattle and daub). An earthen ramp some five meters in length was found leading up to the front
doors. Inside, multiple superimposed earthen and plaster floors were present. The massive
horcone posts may well be original to the structure, but at least one pair of empty post sockets
show some post repositioning or removal. The adobe brick stepped-pyramid altar rests on the
foundation of an earlier, smaller altar.
Evidence of Altered Burials
Burial pattern data were collected according to detailed data collection protocols,
documenting three-dimensional provenience, horizontal and vertical stratigraphy, coffin
construction and decoration, and cardinal orientation. Careful documentation of primary and
secondary burial pits, missing/disarticulated skeletal elements, and entomological activity aimed
to develop a nuanced reconstruction of various funerary programs at Mrrope. Visual

documentation was accomplished via large-scale burial drawings (1:2 and 1:4 scale), plan and
profile maps, and digital photography.
A total of 311 funerary contexts were documented, of which 281 could be recovered for
bioarchaeological study. Initial analysis seems to validate a seriation of the burials by
stratigraphy, preservation, and coffin decoration into Early Colonial, Middle Colonial, and Late
Colonial Phases. A handful of intrusive Republican-era coffins are present, including one with
the year 1877 written on the coffin lid. Basic demographic data discussed below are based on
multifactorial estimations of age including dental development and eruption (Ubelaker 1999),
long bone growth and epiphyseal fusion (Schuer and Black 2000), morphology of the pubic
symphysis (Brooks and Suchey 1990) and auricular surface (Lovejoy et al. 1985), and cranial
vault suture closure (Meindl and Lovejoy 1985). Sex was estimated by the dimorphism of pelvic
and cranial morphology in individuals over 15 years of age (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994).
Many aspects of European burial customs, such as burial in wooden coffins and the
complete absence of traditional grave goods such as ceramics bottles, metal objects, or animal
offerings seem to have supplanted pre-Hispanic practices at Mrrope. Associated textile remains
indicate the dead were interred in non-elaborate dress. On the other hand, major elements of pre-
Hispanic burial rituals seem to have been integrated into the colonial burial pattern at Mrrope.
Contrasting the standard Christian east-west orientation, almost all burials were oriented on the
traditional Mochica north-south axis, either facing the altar to the south or looking north. The use
of red-pigmented textiles placed on the face was widespread, apparently an extension of pre-
Hispanic use of cinnabar anointing the face or body of the deceased. Areas of in situ burning at
the sides of a grave like those noted in Sicn burials in the Lambayeque valley (Shimada and
Klaus 2005) were also associated with at least two Early Colonial burials.
Burial U4 03-12 illustrates a typical Mrrope burial. This adolescent male between the
ages of 15-20 was placed in an extended position on his back with hands folded over the pelvis.
The body was interred on the traditional Mochica north-south axis facing the altar, and was
wearing a scarf, shirt, vest, pants, and leather shoes. Disarticulation of hand and foot bones and
collapse of the thoracic cage is consistent with the individuals decomposition within the coffin.
Along with 140 other burials at the site, all physical evidence indicates interment shortly
followed death. However, in many other cases, it is also clear some individuals experienced
protracted interactions with the world of the living following death (Figure 3).
Delayed Primary Burial
Unambiguous evidence of delayed primary burial was observed in 16 of 311 burials (or
5.1 percent), all appearing to date to the Middle and Late Colonial periods. In these cases mostly
empty muscoid fly puparia and ecdysial caps were associated with a few coffin burials (but no
adult flies) in every excavation unit. All of the delayed primary burials were children, ranging
from 9 months to 9 years of age; ten of these 16 individuals (or 62.5%) were between one and
two years old. Dozens to hundreds of maggot casings were identified under and to the sides of
coffin headboards. On the interiors, insect remains were commonly present in the upper body
region, in and under hair mats, and embedded in desiccated brain tissue. One of the last burials at
the Chapel featured extensive association of fly puparia (subadult Burial U6 03-25; probably
dating to the 19th century based on coffin style and stratigraphy). Ambiguous insect activity was
also noted in 25 other individuals (not counted here), including the only carapace remains of
beetles, many species of which are predacious on fly eggs and larvae.
Initial visual assessment reveals three varieties of puparia by size and morphological
characteristics, the majority probably corresponding to the genus Calliphoridae. Experimental
decomposition data suggests generally 20 to 35 days would have passed in the insects life cycle
to hatch an adult fly (Haskell et al. 1997). Unfortunately this is a highly generalized estimate
owing to the lack of forensic entomological studies in hyperarid environments (we plan to
redress this issue in a future project). On the north coast, scavenging animals arrive on a carcass
within minutes of death, and lacking signs of animal scavenging, it is clear these burials at
Mrrope were protected. One hint as to where was found along the southeast corner of the chapel
east of the altar. The base of a platform or crypt abutting the adobe brick wall was associated
with distinct layers of several hundred fly puparia, suggesting decomposing remains were
present at that location, possibly episodically, and then removed with no other traces remaining.
Evidence of delayed primary burial also was noted in three secondary burials (see below).
In Burials U3 03-1, U5 05-1, U3AO 05-30 multiple adult crania featured preserved brain tissue
with embedded fly puparia. In these examples, a more complex postmortem history is evident,
with individuals delayed primary burial and sometime later, exhumation and reburial.
The other major criterion for inference of delayed primary burial subtle disarticulation
or shifting of hand and foot elements was nearly impossible to discern. Unlike the stable matrix
that sand provides for a skeleton, hand and foot bones are free to shift, roll, and collapse inside
an empty coffin following decomposition (Roksandic 2002), especially as grave fill was often
unevenly packed and many coffins settled at various angles. However, the skeleton of an infant
(Burial U12 05-45) approximately one year in age was mostly disarticulated in its coffin. The
right calcaneous was resting by the left side of the cranium, and the right scapula was altogether
missing. Another infant, Burial U5 05-5, was mostly mummified. Though insect activity was
absent in this case, it is doubtful that natural mummification would have been physically possible
following burial in the semi-moist subsurface sands encountered at Mrrope.
Post-Internment Removal
Post-depositional removal of body parts was observed in 95 of 311 burials (or 30.5
percent). Removal of bones crosscuts age and sex groups. Frustratingly, outlines of secondary
intrusive pits (or even primary burial pit outlines) could not be discerned due to the extensively
homogenized and highly disturbed matrix under the Chapel, produced by extensive burial
activity over recent centuries. Intrusive activity, however, can be strongly inferred from other
evidence.
First, 34 earlier burials were disrupted by the placement of a later interment and bones of
the earlier burial removed. An example of such mortuary disruption and removal is seen with
Burial U10 05-6 (probable middle-aged female) (Figure 4). Only the upper body and surrounding
coffin of was present. Some 35 cm directly beneath this individuals missing mid- and lower
body was a primary coffin burial of another adult individual. Another similar instance occurred
with Burial U5 05-13, where only the lower third of the coffin (and the bones inside) remained
after being visibly cut or chopped to accommodate placement of Burial U5 05-7, an intrusive
Republican-era coffin. In one of the clearest cases of mortuary disruption, Burial U7 05-22 had
been disturbed by the placement of Burial U7 05-23 directly on top of it. Later, Burial U7 05-23
itself was disturbed by placement of an infant, Burial U7 05-24, on its right leg. It is highly
significant that in every case mortuary disruption, the living appear to have made the decision to
remove the disturbed parts of earlier burials and the bones disappear from the burial context. For
instance, most of the mid and lower body of Burial U7 05-22 had been removed, and the skull,
left arm, and right leg of U7 05-23 were missing.

Second, cases of intentional post-interment removal were inferred in 14 burials despite
the lack of observable intrusive pits. For example, the coffins of two subadults (Burials U7 05-9
and U10 05-10) (Figure 5a) were found with their lids missing. The skulls of both children had
been removed. In Burial U7 05-9, more extensive activity was carried out with the removal of
the right hand, legs, and feet in addition to the head. Another subadult shroud inhumation (U3
AO 05-6) was also headless. Burial U7 05-2 (old adult female) was also found without its lid,
and the head, cervical vertebrae, upper limbs, and right foot of the woman was missing. Two
Early-Middle Colonial burials placed next to each other were both undisturbed except for
missing heads (Burials U4 05-28, -29)(Figure 5b). When Burial U12 05-23 was altered, parts of
the coffin including one sideboard and the lid removed, and the tibiae, fibulae, and feet were
removed. In these instances visual inspection of the bones did not find any evidence of sharp
force trauma ruling out perimortem decapitation or dismemberment; removal of body parts
followed decomposition.
At least three examples of intentional exhumation were clear. Inside the child-sized
coffin of Burial U3 03-11, (also missing its lid) only well-preserved fragments of the cranial
vault, remains of the immature permanent dentition, and a hair mat were present where this
childs body should have been. We infer the burial had been accessed, and virtually the entire
skeleton removed leaving behind only a modicum of remains. In Burials U3 05-20 and U3 05-
36, the coffins contained even fewer traces of the original occupant and were essentially empty.
Third and finally, 44 burials featured missing skeletal elements but lacked a clear source
of disruption. For instance, Burial U3 AO 05-33 (Figure 5c) was interred in sterile sand where
only the outline of the primary burial pit was visible. The entire right arm of the individual was
missing, but there was no evidence of ante- or perimortem trauma. In another setting, disturbed
group of closely spaced subadults (Burials U4 05-2, -3, - 5, -7, and -8) were found in Unit 4
missing crania, long bones, hand, and feet with no visible intrusions or potentially intrusive
primary burials (Figure 5d). Delayed primary burial and resultant loss of skeletal elements such
as that seen at San Jos de Moro is one possible explanation (Nelson 1998). Yet, the complete
absence of critical supporting evidence (insect activity and a lack of wandering bones) these
ambiguously contexts are best explained by some degree of deliberate removal of bones where
the stratigraphic evidence had been erased by intense pit digging and mortuary excavations.
Coffin Manipulations
Nine coffins (or 2.9 percent) appear to have been moved en toto. An assemblage of
evidently manipulated Late Colonial period burials (five subadults and one adult) were exposed
in Unit 4 (Burials U4 03-19, -20, -21, -22 -23, and -27) where intact coffins were piled atop each
other at various angles (Figure 6). All of the coffin lids were present but ajar or otherwise
unattached. The coffin of Burial U4 03-20 was found 90 degrees on its side, and Burial U4 03-23
was resting on its side at a nearly 75-degree angle. There is no evidence of any kind to indicate
flooding, bioturbation, or uneven settling of grave fill. The layers of overlaying plaster and adobe
floors were intact ruling out modern disruption. Burial U4 03-22 was articulated in anatomical
position despite the acute angle at which it rested due to the coffin having filled with sand. Other
skeletons in this group lacking such sandy support were significantly disrupted; Burials U3 03-
19 and -22 were significantly jumbled, possibly from movement.
Only in two other examples from the Chapel was there evidence of similar manipulation:
subadult Burials U10 05-12 and U10 05-30. Both coffins were resting nearly at 90-degree angles.
Burial 05-12 was perfectly articulated in a highly unusual extended-reversed (face down)
position within a sandy matrix that filled the coffin. Lacking such a matrix, the bundled contents
of U10 05-30 on the other hand shifted, bones jumbled, and all came to rest on the right interior
sideboard of the coffin.
Removal and Replacement
In only two cases was removal and replacement of human remains documented. In Burial
U4 03-22 (a manipulated coffin discussed above), the cranium was found sitting upright on its
base facing away from the body. While most of the skeleton was jumbled probably from being
moved, the position of the cranium was impossible via natural taphonomy. A person appears to
have removed the head and after an indeterminate period and replaced it. Also, nearly half of this
childs dentition was missing. Loss of teeth during the interval outside of the coffin is highly
likely. While much of Burial U7 05-23 (old adult female) was removed as noted above, this
individuals mandible was removed and replaced beneath and to the left side of the maxilla.
Secondary Burial -Ossuaries
Three modes of secondary burial were identified at the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope.
The first mode is ossuary burial, where disarticulated and incomplete remains from one or more
individuals were collected and re-interred. A total of 49 (or 15. 8 percent) secondary burials were
documented at the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope, and all but three could be excavated. Where
pit outlines could be observed or inferred, it was evident these deposits were placed in
irregularly-shaped pits ranged ranging from 20 to 94 cm in depth and contained anywhere from
four to 1,279 bones (Figure 7). Each secondary burial appears to have been formed in a single
depositional event, and placement of bones within each secondary burial was mostly haphazard.
In only a few instances were groupings of long bones aligned together on a north-south axis. An
initial assessment of the minimum number of individuals (MNI) based on the counts of left and
right femora and humerii indicate secondary burial MNIs ranged from one to 79 individuals, but
in most cases, between three and ten. The secondary ossuary burials collectively represent at
least 327 additional individuals (123 subadults and 214 adults). In addition to osseous remains,
many of the secondary burials included fragments of coffins, textiles, and clothing buttons
presumably debris from exhumation. In two cases, disarticulated faunal remains were present.
In almost all of the secondary burials bones were completely disarticulated and imply
complete skeletonization prior to reburial. A dramatic exception was noted in Burial U7 05-1,
where two to three partially articulated adult skeletons were commingled amongst the
disarticulated remains of at least 14 other bodies. At least two partial individuals consisting of an
articulated thoracic vertebral column, rib cage, and humerii, radii, and ulnae were encountered
atop the deposit, corresponding to in an inverted, face down position. One cranium was found
articulated with its mandible, first thru fifth cervical vertebrae, and the complete hyoid was in
anatomical position. An articulated, semi-flexed left and right set of legs and feet (wearing
remains of leather shoes) were identified immediately to the south at the same depth. Near the
bottom of this secondary burial, an articulated set of five left metatarsals was identified.
In the largest ossuary, Burial U3 03-1, a variety of cuts, chops, punctures, scrapes, crush
damage, and incomplete greenstick fractures were noted on multiple bones. Presumably such
damage was incurred when the skeletons were exhumed. On one level this shows far less
apparent care or rushed exhumation of these individuals. The characteristics of damaged bones in
Burial U3 03-1 would indicate they occurred in the perimortem interval, when the bones were
still relatively fresh and reburial shortly following primary interment.

When crania were present, teeth (especially single-rooted anterior teeth) were universally
missing from the crania and were not found elsewhere in the secondary burial. While no use-
wear (e.g., polish) was noted on any crania, some teeth may have been lost by extensive or
prolonged handling during the transition from primary to secondary burial.
Secondary Burial Superimposed on Primary Burials
A second mode of secondary burial observed in six contexts involved the placement of
disarticulated bones directly atop primary burials. The Middle-Late Colonial coffin of Burial U5
05-4 had been opened and the lid and right sideboard removed. Then, the multiple long bones
and three crania of at least five adults and one subadult were placed atop the upper body of
primary burial, a middle-aged adult male whose skeleton was undisturbed by the process.
Nearby, another coffin (probable late Colonial) was found without its lid: Burial U7 05-1 (Figure
8). In this case, several body parts of the primary burial (old adult female) had been removed
including her skull, arm long bones, and feet. Following the removal of bones, the crania of four
other individuals were set within the coffin one cranium atop the shoulders, another under the
right shoulder, one inverted cranium placed between the femora and another between the tibiae.
A left and a right femur originating from two distinct individuals were placed in the position of
the arms. A left and right radius, and an extra hand were situated in the upper body region.
Similar practices were observed among four Early-Middle Colonial burials. Directly
superimposing several shroud burials placed in sterile sand were found substantial secondary
burials. Multiple long bones and crania covered the primary interment Burial U4 05-31 from
head to foot. In Burials U12 05-42 and 43, multiple long bones and crania were piled atop the
mid and lower bodies. Considering the formation of these secondary burials, it is a distinct
possibility that when digging a new burial pit, earlier inhumations were disturbed and then
reburied atop the newly interred body. Conversely, the preservation of the primary burials was
poor and fragmentary while the bones comprising the superimposing secondary burial were far
superior. Either the primary burial had been damaged by the secondary deposition event (e.g.,
trodden upon) or the secondary burial was causally unrelated to the primary burial, subjected to
diagenetic factors for a markedly longer time.
Secondary Burial - Isolated Remains
A third mode of secondary burial involved the reburial of several thousand individual
skeletal elements. Throughout every stratigraphic level of each excavation unit, isolated skeletal
and dental elements were encountered during excavation and screening. Isolated bones ranged in
depth from several centimeters below the compact earthen floors down to sterile sand some two
meters below. The isolated remains bore no apparent relationships to each other or adjacent
burial contexts. In all, over 525 kg of isolated skeletal and dental remains were recovered.
Isolated remains represented all skeletal elements, with many complete long bones and crania.
Due to time limitations during the 2005 laboratory season, only isolated long bones were
inventoried and bioarchaeological data collected. A total of 2,569 long bones were documented,
with an MNI of 202 subadults and 77 adult individuals. The completeness of many of the
isolated bones may indicate careful reburial.
Distributional Analyses
A qualitative, impressionistic assessment suggests a high proportion of manipulated
crania and long bones at Mrrope. In quantifying the distribution of manipulated elements,
univariate and multivariate statistical description reveals non-random patterns pointing to
intentional ritual behavior.
For each altered primary burial, individual skeletal elements were coded as present or
absent, and counts for left and right bones combined as there were essentially no differences in
the number of missing bones by side. Bones were then grouped into element classes. The
resultant frequency distribution demonstrates long bones represent the most commonly missing
element, followed in frequency by pelvic elements, hands and feet, clavicles, vertebrae, scapulae,
and lastly, skulls (Figure 10). The regular focus on long bones in removal activity, even in cases
of mortuary disruption and ambiguous disruption may indicate systematic behavior.
Secondary burials represent more far more complex assemblages (e.g., Ubelaker, 2002).
Again, skeletal elements were scored as either present or absent, and the frequencies of the bones
present were calculated and grouped into element classes. As shown in Figure 11, it is clear long
bones are the most frequently represented type of human bone in the Mrrope secondary burials,
with lower limb long bones (femora, tibiae, and fibulae) most frequent, followed by upper limb
long bones (humerii, ulnae, and radii), skulls, and then non-long bones. The distribution of
skeletal elements by age group (subadult versus adult) was also examined using count data. In all
but two categories, adult remains are present in the secondary burials two to three times more
than subadults. The appearance of a greater representation of subadult crania elements however
is spurious, skewed by the high number of subadult cranial bones in Burial U3 03-1.
Correspondence analysis was used to explore multivariate patterns of bone association in
the secondary burials. The method resembles principle components analysis, and creates a two-
way contingency table to determine if the frequencies (vectors) of the rows are contingent on the
columns; distances are calculated between points in multidimensional space using the chi-
squared metric (see Bolviken et al. [1982] for details). Count data for skeletal element categories
were analyzed using a custom program using SAS 9.1 (SAS Institute 2003)(Figure 12; for visual
clarity, the 48 secondary burials [rows] were not plotted here). Long bones appear to group
coherently, especially with the close relationships between radii and ulnae, and femora, humerii,
fibulae, and tibiae. The lack of sterna and patellae in the burials is consistent with their status as
outliers. Crania are also represented as an outlier due to the structure of the data: unlike any other
element, crania are present in all but three secondary burials in a consistent range of numbers
(between two to five).
Another way of looking at the secondary burials is comparing the number of bones
present in the deposits versus the number of bones present in each original individual. Let us
assume a minimum number (nm) of individuals of 327. Each individual would have started out
with a skull (nm = 327), two humerii (nm = 654), 24 vertebrae (nm = 7,848), and so forth.
Comparing the number of bones present in the secondary burials to the number of bones
comprising the minimum number of original skeletons is revealing (Figure 13). Of all skeletal
elements, crania appear to be the most frequently or faithfully reburied element, with some 83
percent of the nm present. Femora are the next most commonly reburied element (58.2 percent)
followed in frequency by tibiae (38.8 percent). All other elements, such as humerii, os coxae, and
radii all fall below 30 percent. Concerning ribs (nm 7,848), 310 (or 3.9 percent) were presented
among the secondary burials. Of the original nm of 7,848 vertebral elements, 305, (or 3.8
percent) were present. The least represented are patella (1.2 percent present). From these data we
can make three inferences. First, the secondary burials at Mrrope do not represent complete
reburial of exhumed individuals nor does the total number of bones removed from altered burials
does not even come close to making up the shortfall. Second, crania and femora followed by
other long bones appear to be the most repeatedly selected bones to compose a secondary burial.
Third, a total of 2,992 cranial, long bone, and non-long bone elements were present in the
secondary burials, compared to the 55,590 bones that would have composed the nm of 327
individuals. Therefore, 94.6 percent of the original minimum number of bones 89 percent of
which are accounted for by non-long bones are missing. While the isolated burials of long
bones discussed above certainly could represent some of these missing bones, at least 1,000 long
bones remain unaccounted.
Discussion and Interpretations
Exhumation and redeposition of human remains in ossuaries are known in the colonial
churches of San Francisco in Lima and Quito (e.g., Ubelaker and Ripley 1999) and accidental
disturbance of older interments by new burials are well known in New and Old World
churchyards. If we view these data within the longue dure of the diachronic and regional
contexts of the Lambayeque valley and north coast, the practices of prolonged burial, removal of
crania and long bones from graves, and secondary burials at the Chapel of San Pedro share
parallel-patterned, pre-Hispanic counterparts in the categories of living-dead interactions.
Further, colonial and modern Andeans often regard the dead with negative consideration
(Salomon 1995: 337) and at least some physical trace of material propitiation to the disturbed
dead might be expected if accidental intrusion was the case. So what might contact between the
living and the dead in Colonial Mrrope signify for the living?
Colonial burials at Mrrope are uniquely positioned, and may be informed by both pre-
Hispanic archaeological patterns and ethnohistory. Funerary customs in the pre- and postcontact
Andes can be viewed as a profoundly compelling domain rich in symbols and constituted from
history, politics, economy, and ethnicity in which the living actively negotiated ideology and
social reality (Bawden 2001, 2005). Attempts to elicit possible meanings via analogy must be
cautious. An apparent match between archaeological and historical data must be carefully
examined in terms of a relevant in-depth understanding of cultural context and other lines of
evidence, guarding against disjunctions between form and meaning, potential homologies, or
convergences (Shimada et al. 2004: 397). Salomon (1995: 340) states, The local understanding
of these constructions will always be hard to know, but perhaps not unguessable, and in that
stance, we now turn to a consideration of the meanings and motivations behind living-dead
interactions at Mrrope.
Soul Transfer
Maggot infestation of at least 16 children and eight adults were documented at Mrrope.
Recent finds independently identified fly pupae as evidence of delayed primary burial in Moche
and Sicn tombs and sacrifices as noted earlier. Moche iconography suggests a fly may have
symbolized the soul of the deceased (Hocquenghem 1981) paralleling the Quechua conception
present in the colonial Huarochir folklore from the Lima highlands; there, the living
intentionally colonized the deceased with fly larvae during a five-day pre-interment interval
(Salomon and Urioste 1991). In the Quechua mortuary, this process was seen to liberate the life
force or anima and the volatile, spiritual component from the hard, dry, permanent, and
ancestral body parts desiccated skin and bones (Salomon 1995: 330).
While distant deaths might be considered one alternative cause (with corpses naturally
colonized on the return home for burial), the fact that none of the affected skeletons were
disarticulated and the remains of a possible mortuary structure inside the Chapel of San Pedro de
Mrrope point to local and purposeful treatment of these bodies. Archaeological antecedents of
this practice are clear which also mirror ritual in colonial Huarochir. Does it imply parallel-
shared meanings of soul-transport? If so, why were these specific 24 people selected for
prolonged primary burial at Mrrope and all the others not? Does their prolonged primary burial
represent a special effort based in pre-Hispanic ritual to ensure proper separation of the soul from
corporeal remains? Was it a function of differential status or age? Was it a ritual response to
conditions surrounding the end of their lives, such as a bad death? While the answers may be
elusive, physical evidence of prolonged primary burial at Mrrope, Moche iconography, and
Huarochir folklore at the very least show a common intent to permit the body to putrefy and
decompose preceding burial, and ultimately might point to widespread practices of separating the
soul from the body throughout the Central Andes.
Altered and Secondary Burials: Rituals of Fertility?
On the north coast, living-dead interactions spanning the shaft-tomb/temple complex at
the Sicn capital and postdepositional funerary alterations of traditional Mochica burials have
been argued elsewhere as reflections of ancestor worship (Klaus 2003; Shimada et al. 2004).
Pre-Hispanic ancestor cults clearly continued (albeit modified) in the colonial Central and South
Central Andes (Doyle 1988; Salomon 1995). Do the altered burials at Mrrope reflect a form of
ancestor worship?
All of the living-dead interactions described above involve the skeletal remains of both
children and adults, often commingled in secondary burials. Andean ethnohistory and cross-
cultural comparisons show ancestor status is a highly specialized social role attained by adults
with offspring (Helms 1998; Salomon 1995; Sillar 1992; Whitley 2002). Andean ancestor
worship would likely involve a physical trace of direct periodic visitation, veneration, subsequent
offerings, fting, or even indirect contact, such as ushnu-like offering of libations (Shimada
1986), all of which appear to be absent in colonial Mrrope. These observations suggest an
ancestor cult was not being expressed in this Chapel.
Multiple ethnohistoric sources suggest the power of the Andean dead (including but not
limited to ancestors) involved their influence on fertility in the living world, a common theme
regionally and across cultures (Bloch and Parry 1982). One of the longest-lasting and widespread
aspects of Andean cosmology is a vegetal (rather than sexual) metaphor of the dead as the source
of fertility in the living world (Allen 1982; Duivols 1986; Szemiski 1993). Allen (1982:27)
documented modern expression of this concept where dried but life-giving parts of a plant
(seeds, tubers, rhizomes) are to be ritually nourished just as the dead, such that both may sustain
crops and fertility. Salomon (1995) illustrates the same idea was present in colonial Peru. Not
just bones or mummies but the anima itself also bore a vegetal-fertility connotation in the 16th
century Andes (Duviols 1986:171). After the fleshy, volatile parts of the body rotted away, bones
eventually emerge just as seeds fall from a dying plant, and the living are left with dried, hard,
durable, permanent human remains the dead become as a seed.
In the south central Andes, this quality was ascribed to mummies physically accessible in
caves, chullpas, and Inka royal cemeteries from pre-Hispanic to Colonial periods (Salomon
1995). The pre-Hispanic and Colonial conception of the fertile dead on the north coast of Peru
may be expressed in a different manner. On the north coast, the bones of the dead themselves
may have been seen to contain inherent powers of fertility, with apparent precedents in Moche-
era ritual transformation and burial of human body parts (Hill 2003; Verano et al. 1999) and
analogous to bones as the tools of agricultural magic practiced by the Laymi of modern Boliva
(Harris 1982). It is possible altered burials and exhumations reflect the intention of the living to
harness this characteristic of the dead. Following the collection of raw materials, subsequent acts
of secondary burial completed a process that embodied a metaphor of seed planting. The living
could manipulate the power of the dead to ensure fertility and communal well-being. The highly
repetitive removal and secondary burial of crania and long bones at Mrrope may reflect
something of a symbolic grammar regarding ideal body parts. In this volume, Mary Weismantle
explores concepts surrounding manipulation of the head and may well be applicable to Mrrope;
long bones may have been selected as the largest, most durable parts of the human skeleton.
If fertility rites were being practiced at Mrrope, it is worth further thought that the
manipulation of children and adults may have embodied different conceptions of fertility.
Ethnography and ethnohistory demonstrate very different cultural perceptions of children in the
Andes in that children were not human but were equated to the wild, uncontrollable, and fertility-
bearing mountain spirits from which they originate (Harris 1982; Sillar 1994). The first rains
bringing fertility following droughts in modern Bolivia are conceived as the tears of dead
children (Sillar 1994:55). As the act of childrens play is seen as a medium of communication
with the supernatural, unmarried teens that produce music invoke crops to grow (Stobart 1995 cf.
Sillar 1994). Manipulation of childrens remains may have similarly tapped into a liminal quality
that bridged supernatural and earthly domains and served as a potent conduit for the living to
appeal for water, productive fields, and the like. Connotations surrounding the remains of adults,
while not necessarily related to ancestors, may have embodied fertility-bearing properties of the
immutable type of existence of very old beings (Salomon 1995: 328).
Considering the quantity of missing bones in the Mrrope secondary burials discussed
earlier, perhaps some remains could have been removed from the church and curated, enshrined,
or buried within a household or workshop. Perhaps other bones were taken into agricultural
fields or other locations and quite literally planted.
The Dead and Social Experience of the Living
The living-dead interactions experienced Mrrope also possibly illuminate aspects of the
colonial social order, especially when viewed in terms of symbolism and agency (Bawden 2001).
Rituals linking the living and the dead practiced inside a Catholic chapel illustrate the
continuation and modification, rather than annihilation, of funerary customs and embedded
discourses of identity associated with the pre-Hispanic Mochica ethnic group. Arguably, the
agency of the colonial Mochica is reflected in the practice and reproduction of living-dead rituals
that appear to originate some 3000 years earlier (Klaus and Shimada n.d.). One also wonders
who is manipulating the reproduction these traditions: did European priests permit these
activities or did the Mochica carry on ancestral traditions surreptitiously when the priest was
visiting Pacora?
The interaction between the living and the dead at Mrrope may have been part of a
constellation of indigenous responses to negative consequences of colonialism. Beyond manifest
meanings of fertility, contact with and manipulation of the dead could have been a vehicle to
create intra-group cohesion to strengthen constructions of identity and ethnicity from the practice
of shared social memory. Symbols such as a disinterred cranium, a secondary burial, or reburied
femora could be shaped to codify experience, values, and ideology while conveying an
emotional force stimulating the reflexive construction of group identity (Bawden 2005).
Secondary burials have long been interpreted as the disaggregation of an individual body as
social collectivity and cohesion is asserted (Hertzs (1903[1960]). Creating a concrete physical
metaphor of group unity may well have been an intended symbolism of secondary burial at
Mrrope as traditional culture and identity fell under fierce assault. In other words, contact
between the living and the dead may reflect levels of a colonial Mochica practical
consciousness, habitus, and communitas (Bordieu 1977; (Giddens 1979; Turner )).
Bawden (2005:14) states that during periods of social instability and discord such as
Perus Colonial era, the beliefs and ideology of a people can become the embedded ideological
weapons of group conflict. Ritualized contact between the living and the dead based on ideas of
the pre-Christian past may have not just maintained aspect of indigenous tradition, memory, and
identity boundaries by communicating intentional juxtaposition with Christian rituals. Contact
between the living and the dead could have become a direct medium of symbolic resistance
against European colonization.
Interactions with the dead were fashioned by local cultural and historical trajectories.
Fusion of pre-Hispanic death rituals at Mrrope with the Catholic tradition can be noted by
incorporation of north-south burial orientation, use of red pigment, graveside fires, prolonged
primary burial, altered burials, and secondary burials. Such may be physical signs of a dynamic
process of ethnogenesis (Bawden, 2005; Schwartz and Salomon 1999), as a new kind of Mochica
emerged from interaction with Europeans and their culture. While destruction of indigenous
culture by the Europeans transpired, frequent fusion of Andean culture with the European is also
documented (Andrien 2001). Contact between the living and the dead may be the first glimpse of
a hybrid colonial Mochica culture that emerged from the wake of contact, bridging local and
European concepts of the sacred and the role of the dead in the living world.
Conclusions
Today, the dead find rest in Mrrope. A procession of mourners bring the deceased to the
Church of San Pedro, a short service is said, and the body is take to the modern cemetery about
one-half kilometer to the north where it is sealed in an above-ground crypt. At some point
between the 18th and early 20th centuries, millennia-old Mochica rituals linking the living and
dead at Mrrope seems to have faded into the past. However, the archaeological window opened
on colonial Andean mortuary patterns at the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope has provided
physical evidence of a period when of prolonged primary burial, alteration and removal of bones,
and secondary burials were practiced on the Colonial north coast of Peru. Similarities with other
Colonial Andeans regarding curation of corpses and metaphors of fertility were noted at
Mrrope, while one of the most significant divergences from written accounts involves the lack
of evidence of ancestor veneration. Ultimately, the physical interactions between the living and
the dead provided a means for the Mochica to negotiate social identity and assert group cohesion
during the most unprecedented period of upheaval and change of the Andean past.
Acknowledgments
This research has been generously supported by grants from the Wenner-Gren
Foundation for Anthropological Research, The Ohio State University Office of International
Affairs, and The Ohio State University Department of Anthropology over the 2004-2005 field
and laboratory seasons. We thank James Fitzsimmons and Izumi Shimada for the invitation to
participate in this volume. We would like to gratefully acknowledge Rosabella Alvarez-
Caldern, Victor Curay, Dr. Carlos Elera, Julio Fernandez, Gabriela Jakubowska, Cesar Maguia
and ICAM, Emily Middleton, Raul Saavedra, Juan Carlos Santoyo, Manuel Tams excellent
archaeology students, Carlos Wester, and the entire staff of the Museo Nacional Sicn in
Ferreafe for their many vital contributions too numerous to list here. The Museo Sicn also
graciously donated laboratory space and essential logistics. Clark Larsen, Paul Sciulli, Izumi
Shimada, and Daniel Temple provided helpful editorial comments. Any shortcomings are
entirely our own.
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List of Figures
Figure 1. Lambayeque Valley Complex
Figure 2. Interior/Exterior of Chapel
Figure 3. Altered Burial Map
Figure 4. Mortuary Disruption: Burial U10 05-6
Figure 5. Missing/Altered Burials
Figure 6. Manipulated coffins, Unit 4
Figure 7. Secondary Burials.
Figure 8. Burial U7 05-2
Figure 9. Isolated bone burial.
Figure 10. Altered Primary Burials: Missing Element Distribution
Figure 11. Secondary Burial Element count
Figure 12. Correspondence analysis of secondary burials
Figure 13. Secondary Burial present/ vs. expected.
Figure Captions
Figure 1: The north coast of Peru, including the locations of Mrrope and other major late pre-Hispanic
sites discussed in the text. Based on a map by Izumi Shimada, courtesy of Izumi Shimada.
Figure 2: The exterior (a) and interior (b) of the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope prior to initial
restoration in 2002. Notable are the pre-Hispanic styled stepped-pyramid altar and the plastered
horcone post-and-beam construction in the interior. Photos courtesy of Cesar Maguia/ICAM.
Figure 3: Plan view of the Capilla de San Pedro de Mrrope, illustrating locations of prolonged primary,
altered primary, and secondary burials.
Figure 4: Burial U10 05-6, a clear example of postdepositional mortuary disruption. The cut coffin
corresponded directly to the placement of a complete primary burial some 35 cm below.
Figure 5: Altered primary burial contexts: Burial U7 05-9 with head and long bone elements removed
(A); Burials U4 05-29 and 30 with crania removed (B); Burial U3AO 05-33 featuring inferred
postdepositional removal of the right arm (C); Burial U4 05-2, missing head and long bone
elements (D).
Figure 6: Manipulated coffin burials, Unit 4.
Figure 7: Secondary burials, including the two largest ossuaries, U3 03-1 (A) and U5 05-1 (B); a medium-
sized deposit, Burial U10 05-34 (C); the most simple secondary burial, U4 05-20 (D).
Figure 8: two views of Burial U7 05-2. The skull and upper limb bones of this old adult female were
removed and four crania and several long bones re-intered atop the altered primary burial.
Figure 8: Reburial of an isolated subadult frontal bone, Unit 4.
Figure 10: No caption.
Figure 1: The north coast of Peru, including the locations of Mrrope and other major late
pre-Hispanic sites discussed in the text. Based on a map by Izumi Shimada, courtesy of
Izumi Shimada.
Figure 2: The exterior (a) and interior (b) of the Chapel of San Pedro de Mrrope prior to
initial restoration in 2002. Notable are the pre-Hispanic styled stepped-pyramid altar and
the plastered horcone post-and-beam construction in the interior. Photos courtesy of Cesar
Maguia/ICAM.
Figure 3: Plan view of the Capilla de San Pedro de Mrrope, illustrating locations of
prolonged primary, altered primary, and secondary burials.
Figure 4: Burial U10 05-6, a clear example of postdepositional mortuary disruption. The
cut coffin corresponded directly to the placement of a complete primary burial some 35 cm
below.
Figure 5: Altered primary burial

contexts: Burial U7 05-9 with
head and long bone elements
removed (A); Burials U4 05-29
and 30 with crania removed
(B); Burial U3AO 05-33 with
inferred postdepositional
removal of the right arm (C);
Burial U4 05-2, missing head
and long bone elements (D).
Figure 6: Manipulated coffin burials, Unit 4.
Figure 7: Secondary
burials, including
the two largest
ossuaries, U3 03-1
(A) and U5 05-1 (B);
a medium-sized
deposit, Burial U10
05-34 (C); the most
simple secondary
burial, U4 05-20 (D).
Figure 8: Two views of Burial U7 05-2. The skull and upper limb bones of this old adult
female were removed and four crania and several long bones re-intered atop the altered
primary burial.
Figure 8: Reburial of an isolated subadult frontal bone, Unit 4.

Figure 10: Morrope Altered Primary Burials -

Distribution of Missing Skeletal Elements
350
306 309
300
250
n missing
200
160
143 143
150
100 81 75
42 46
50
0
Long Bones-
Long Bones-
Vertebra
Clavicle
Elements
Elements
Elements
Scapula
Skull
Pelvic
Hand
Foot
Arms
Legs
Skeletal Element
Figure 11: Morrope Secondary Burials -

Skeletal Element Presence/Absence by Cl ass
200
178
180
160
140
119
120
n present
98
100
80 65
58
60
40 26
18 20 21
14
20
0
Hand Elements
Crania/Mandible
Foot Elements
Claviculae
Scapulae
Os Coxae
Long Bones-Arm
Long Bones-
Sacra
Vertebrae
Legs
Bones
Skeletal Element
Figure 13: Morrope Skeletal Elements Present in Secondary Burials vs. n present
Minimum Number (nM) of Skeletal Elements nM
700
600
500
400
n
300
200
100
0
Mandibulae
Os Coxae
Femora
Scapulae
Man/Stern
Fibulae
Crania
Ulnae
Tibiae
Humerii
Sacra
Radii
Patellae
Claviculae
Skeletal Element

Requiem Aeternum Klaus-Tam

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Between the Living & the Dead 1 Klaus and Tam

Requiem Aeternum Ms. Mrrope Burials

An archaeological window on colonial Andean mortuary practices previously

preliminary symbolic interpretations of these activities. Potential fertility-based symbolisms,

hybrid Andean-European mortuary behaviors in postcontact Peru.

The Late Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Setting

pre-Hispanic population were Moche descendants, forming a distinctive and remarkably

2. Post-depositional removal: the subtraction of human remains from graves,

3. Post-depositional removal and rearrangement: a more complicated activity involves the

illustrations seen in skeletons from Illimo and La Caleta de San Jos.

Knowledge of the postcontact Andes is dominated by ethnohistoric sources, often

bias, misdepiction, and misunderstanding of indigenous ideas and concepts. Documentary

Despite these limitations, ethnohistoric data outline a range of unprecedented changes

dismantled. Feudalistic encomiendas were established in the Lambayeque region as early as

been advantageous to accommodate imposed socioeconomic systems (Ramrez 1991).

belief and ritual on the colonial north coast of Peru.

led to a renowned community-level craft specialization in modern Mrrope using pre-Hispanic

consecrated on 29 June 1536 (1782 [1936]: 298).

combination of these and other factors.

mentions a funerary specialist in Mrrope, an ayudante del difunto.

the 20th and early 21st centuries, it served as storage space.

A cornerstone of Spanish religious policy involved extirpation of precontact belief related

European simultaneously incorporating parts of an imposed ideology while subtly preserving

region, similar ideological conflict and hybridization would be expected to transpire.

about the Mochica experience of Spanish colonialism?

probably an abstracted mountain or huaca representing supernatural power.

Restauracin Americano (ICAM) organized an ongoing restoration effort and archaeological

foundation of an earlier, smaller altar.

Evidence of Altered Burials

documenting three-dimensional provenience, horizontal and vertical stratigraphy, coffin

to develop a nuanced reconstruction of various funerary programs at Mrrope. Visual

profile maps, and digital photography.

bioarchaeological study. Initial analysis seems to validate a seriation of the burials by

Delayed Primary Burial

characteristics, the majority probably corresponding to the genus Calliphoridae. Experimental

following burial in the semi-moist subsurface sands encountered at Mrrope.

left arm, and right leg of U7 05-23 were missing.

Second, cases of intentional post-interment removal were inferred in 14 burials despite

19 and -22 were significantly jumbled, possibly from movement.

sideboard of the coffin.

Removal and Replacement

Secondary Burial -Ossuaries

still relatively fresh and reburial shortly following primary interment.

prolonged handling during the transition from primary to secondary burial.

Secondary Burial Superimposed on Primary Burials

diagenetic factors for a markedly longer time.

Secondary Burial - Isolated Remains

isolated bones may indicate careful reburial.

A qualitative, impressionistic assessment suggests a high proportion of manipulated

univariate and multivariate statistical description reveals non-random patterns pointing to

intentional ritual behavior.

of mortuary disruption and ambiguous disruption may indicate systematic behavior.

Correspondence analysis was used to explore multivariate patterns of bone association in

(between two to five).

bones remain unaccounted.

Discussion and Interpretations

parallel-patterned, pre-Hispanic counterparts in the categories of living-dead interactions.

soul from the body throughout the Central Andes.

Altered and Secondary Burials: Rituals of Fertility?

On the north coast, living-dead interactions spanning the shaft-tomb/temple complex at

ancestor cult was not being expressed in this Chapel.

durable, permanent human remains the dead become as a seed.

immutable type of existence of very old beings (Salomon 1995: 328).

fields or other locations and quite literally planted.