Nonsacrificial violence at the Huacas de Moche, north coastal Peru

AbstractThe analysis of traumatic injuries provides bioarchaeologists with unique insight into patterns of violence among past human societies. This analysis explores antemortem and perimortem skeletal trauma and what it suggests about the experiences of violence among the Moche of north coastal Peru (A.D. 200 –900). Violence among the Moche has been well documented, both by the Moche themselves in their iconographic communications and through the analysis of the skeletal remains of those they sacrificed. These sources provided us with an incomplete view. What has not been studied are the patterns of tr aumatic injury that affect those who were not among the sacrificed and what these patterns can tell us about the risk of violence among other Moche dead. To this end, the skeletal remains of 96 individuals interred in the Huacas de Moche site were examined. Excavations at this paramount urban centre have recovered remains from tombs located in two distinct contexts, Huaca de la Luna and the urban sector. Given the material investment made into the construction of Huaca de la Luna and its ritual importance particularly as a space where violence was enacted and memorialized, it is hypothesized t hat those buried within its precincts would have different lived experiences of skeletal trauma than those buried throughout the urban sector. This work finds that although both groups experienced very little accidental trauma, individuals buried in Huaca de la Luna experienced signifi...

Source: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology - June 17, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Celeste Marie Gagnon, Santiago Uceda Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research