Peruvian Water Cult
Posted by Sane Spirit on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Under: In the News
"This is a very valuable finding," said Carlos Wester La Torre, head of the excavation and director of the Brüning National Archaeological Museum in the Lambayeque region—a region named after the little-known culture that built the stacked tomb. "The amount of information of this funerary complex is very important, because it changes [what we know of] the political and religious structures of the Andean region."
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Four sets of waterlogged human remains were found in the flooded tomb, one adorned with pearl and shell beads—indicators of wealth or status. The other three corpses likely were intended to accompany the body into the next world.
The faces of both elite individuals, in the lower and upper tombs, were covered with copper sheets, and wore earspools bearing similar, wavelike designs.
While other saturated burial sites have been discovered in the region, this is the first documented discovery of a stacked grave holding revered people, according to archaeologist Izumi Shimada, a Lambayeque expert at Southern Illinois University who was not part of the excavation team.
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According to folklore, their mythical founder, Naymlap, arrived on a raft from the sea and walked on crushed Spondylus shells—a ritual item treasured throughout the Andes. When he died he turned into a bird. (See "Pictures: 'Mythical' Temple Found in Peru.")
"These concepts—birds and water—are part of their beliefs and help them understand life and death," dig leader Wester La Torre said.
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The practice of a groundwater burial could also link the Lambayeque to that later Andean culture, the Inca, Wester La Torre said. "The Inca believed that the dead became a seed, which sprouted new life," he explained. "The way that this person was buried suggests the same process of fertilization, in which the seed, the person, is reborn."
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Stacked burials are highly unusual in Andean archaeology, according to Wester La Torre and Shimada. Typically elite tombs are found in isolation.
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Regardless of water levels, Shimada said, "the single most important aspect of this superimposed tomb is that both [burials] date to a time period that is still not well known. It is one of the very few elite tombs dating to the Late Sicán."
Ancient Tomb Built to Flood—Sheds Light on Peru Water Cult?
[,,,]
Four sets of waterlogged human remains were found in the flooded tomb, one adorned with pearl and shell beads—indicators of wealth or status. The other three corpses likely were intended to accompany the body into the next world.
The faces of both elite individuals, in the lower and upper tombs, were covered with copper sheets, and wore earspools bearing similar, wavelike designs.
While other saturated burial sites have been discovered in the region, this is the first documented discovery of a stacked grave holding revered people, according to archaeologist Izumi Shimada, a Lambayeque expert at Southern Illinois University who was not part of the excavation team.
[,,,]
According to folklore, their mythical founder, Naymlap, arrived on a raft from the sea and walked on crushed Spondylus shells—a ritual item treasured throughout the Andes. When he died he turned into a bird. (See "Pictures: 'Mythical' Temple Found in Peru.")
"These concepts—birds and water—are part of their beliefs and help them understand life and death," dig leader Wester La Torre said.
[,,,]
The practice of a groundwater burial could also link the Lambayeque to that later Andean culture, the Inca, Wester La Torre said. "The Inca believed that the dead became a seed, which sprouted new life," he explained. "The way that this person was buried suggests the same process of fertilization, in which the seed, the person, is reborn."
[,,,]
Stacked burials are highly unusual in Andean archaeology, according to Wester La Torre and Shimada. Typically elite tombs are found in isolation.
[,,,]
Regardless of water levels, Shimada said, "the single most important aspect of this superimposed tomb is that both [burials] date to a time period that is still not well known. It is one of the very few elite tombs dating to the Late Sicán."
Ancient Tomb Built to Flood—Sheds Light on Peru Water Cult?
In : In the News