Pampa La Cruz: A New Mass Sacrificial Burial Ground during the Chimú Occupation in Huanchaco, North Coast of Peru

Abstract

This article describes six sacrificial events carried out during the Late Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Late Horizon at Pampa La Cruz (PLC), located in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru. The archaeological context and circumstances in which the children and camelids were sacrificed at PLC are different from the previously investigated site of Huanchaquito – Las Llamas. PLC raises the question of whether the nature and the purpose of human sacrifice among the Chimú was more diverse and complex than previously thought. We discuss possible scenarios for the various sacrificial events identified at this site. Eighty AMS dates published here for the first time constitute the largest and most precise series of absolute dates for Chimú society obtained from one site, and by extension for the Late Intermediate Period in the entire coast of Peru.

En este artículo describimos seis eventos sacrificiales llevados a cabo durante el Periodo Intermedio Tardío y el inicio del Horizonte Tardío en Pampa La Cruz (PLC), ubicado en el valle de Moche, costa norte del Perú. El contexto arqueológico y las circunstancias en que los niños y los camélidos fueron sacrificados en PLC son diferentes al sitio previamente investigado de Huanchaquito Las Llamas. PLC plantea la pregunta de si la naturaleza y el propósito del sacrificio humano entre los Chimú fue más diverso y complejo de lo que se pensaba en un principio. Aquí, discutimos posibles escenarios o causas para los diversos eventos de sacrificio identificados en este sitio, intentando amarrar estos eventos a la secuencia cronológica Chimú en general. Ochenta fechas AMS publicadas aquí por primera vez, constituyen la serie más grande y precisa de fechas absolutas para la sociedad Chimú obtenidas de un solo sitio en toda la costa del Perú y por lo tanto se vuelve en una herramienta útil para estudiar esta sociedad prehispánica.

Keywords:

• Ritual Violence
• Sanctified Violence
• Chimu Society
• North Coast of Peru
• Pampa la Cruz

Acknowledgements

The 2016–2019 field seasons were possible thanks to funding provided to the first author of this manuscript by the Peruvian government: INNOVATE PERU, contrato 354-15; Proyecto Concytec-Banco Mundial “Mejoramiento y Ampliación de los Servicios del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica” 8682-PE, a través de su unidad ejecutora ProCiencia [contrato número 07-2018-FONDECYT-BM-IADT-MU], as well as a grant from the National Geographic Society, Grant # 305R-18. Special thanks to Kurt Mutchler, Kristin Romey, Robert Clark, Mark Thiessen and Rebecca Hale, at National Geographic Society. The second author of this manuscript received support for the research at Pampa La Cruz from the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration, Grant #9830-15 (2018-2019), The Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies Summer Faculty Research Grants (2018, 2022) and the Tulane School of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Award (2019). The excavations at Pampa La Cruz were also supported in 2016 and 2018 by MOCHE INC, Dr. Brian Billman, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Field School Program. The conservation and study of the textiles presented in this paper were possible thanks to the National Geographic Society (Grant # EC-58047R-19) given to Luis Flores and to the 2019 Ambassador Funds for the Conservation of the Huanchaco Cultural Heritage given by The Embassy of The United States of America in Peru given to P.I. Prieto. Special thanks to former U.S. Ambassador in Peru Dr. Krishna Urs, Vanessa Wagner, Cultural Senior Specialist at the American Embassy in Lima, Peru as well as to Arabel Fernandez Lopez, Lisbeth Pariona and all the students from the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo who participated in this project. Archaeological excavations in 2021 and 2022 were supported by the University of Florida and the Study Abroad Program, UF in Peru: Archaeology and Traditional Cultures of Latin America. Radiocarbon dates were obtained by a multitude of funding sources especially from Start-Up funding given to Prieto from the Office of Research and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, the Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Fund of the University of Florida and Nilaya Productions (Especially to Marianne Jestaz and Jérôme Scemla). Special thanks to Dr. Yuichi Matsumoto and the team directed by Dr. Fuyuki Tokanai, Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, University of Yamagata. Similarly, special thanks to Dr. Brendan Culleton, Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories, Penn State Radiocarbon Laboratory and Laurie Eccles, Department of Anthropology, Penn State University. Special thanks to Manuel Lizarraga and Christian Moncada, supervisors of the Huanchaco Archaeological Program, as well as to all the staff and students (graduate and undergraduate) from the University of Florida and the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo who participate in the Huanchaco Archaeological Program between 2016 and 2022. We would like to acknowledge Dr. Andrew Nelson and Dr. Haagen Klaus for their excellent suggestions to improve this manuscript. Finally, special thanks to Daniel Hernandez who worked on formatting the extensive bibliography for this manuscript. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship program under Award #1842473 (JARP), and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (JARP). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Ford Foundation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 At the time this paper was finalized, during the 2022 field season, a total of 67 new sacrificial victims were documented, 47 of which were found on top of Montículo 2, located on the NE end of Pampa La Cruz.

2 During the 2022 field season, the excavations carried out on top of Montículo 2 have yielded 47 children with cuts on their sterna.

3 PRALLO (Proyecto de Rescate Arqueologico Las Lomas de Huanchaco) and PEALLO (Proyecto de Evaluacion Arqueologico Las Lomas de Huanchaco) refers to the Salvage Projects sponsored by the City Hall of Huanchaco in 2012 and 2017-2018.

4 Previously, it was noted that during Event 1 and 2, a few individuals with occipital flattening and annular modification were reported.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gabriel Prieto

Gabriel Prieto is at the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ([email protected]). Prieto (PhD in Anthropology, Yale University 2015) is the Director of the Huanchaco Archaeological Project.

John Verano

John Verano is at the Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA ([email protected]). He got his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California Los Angeles in 1987. He is a biological anthropologist who specializes in human skeletal anatomy, paleopathology, bioarchaeology, and forensic anthropology.

Ann Pollard Rowe

Ann Pollard Rowe is at The George Washington University Museum, The Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA ([email protected]). Ann Pollard Rowe spent most of her career as Curator of Western Hemisphere Textiles at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and is now Research Associate there. She has curated many exhibitions and written catalogues for Warp-Patterned Weaves of the Andes, A Century of Change in Guatemalan Textiles, Costumes and Featherwork of the Lords of Chimor, and Hidden Threads of Peru: Q'ero Textiles (with John Cohen).

Feren Castillo

Feren Castillo, Escuela de Arqueologia, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Castillo is an archaeologist focused on the social complexity in the North Coast of Peru and particularly in the Viru Valley.

Luis Flores

Luis Flores, Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Flores is an Andean archaeologist with experience in the North Coast of Peru.

Julio Asencio

Julio Asencio, Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Asencio is a Bachelor in Social Sciences with experience in the archaeology of the North Coast of Peru.

Alan Chachapoyas

Alan Chachapoyas, Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Chachapoyas is an Andean archaeologist with experience in the North Coast of Peru.

Victor Campaña

Victor Campaña, Proyecto de Rescate Arqueologico Las Lomas de Huanchaco, Huanchaco, Peru. ([email protected]). Campaña is an Andean archaeologist with experience in the North Coast of Peru.

Richard Sutter

Richard Sutter is at the Department of Anthropology, Indiana University – Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, USA ([email protected]). Professor Sutter interests include the Peopling of the New World, South American Archaeology, Mortuary Analysis, Prehistoric Ethnicity, Bioarchaeological Theory and Methods, and Human Behavioral Ecology. He has ample experience in investigation human remains of the north coast of Peru.

Aleksalia Isla

Aleksalia Isla, Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Isla is an Andean archaeologist with experience in the North Coast of Peru.

Khrystyne Tschinkel

Khrystyne Tschinkel is at the Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA ([email protected]). Tschinkel obtained her Ph.D. at Tulane University, investigating the health and social dynamics of Chimu-Inca and Contact Period populations in the North Coast of Peru.

Rachel Witt

Rachel Witt is at the Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA ([email protected]). Witt has recently defended her Ph.D. thesis. Her dissertation research combines bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry to reconstruct trauma, diet, and migration patterns to examine how policies and practices of ancient societies impact the life histories of child sacrifices in prehistoric Peru.

Andres Shiguekawa

Andres Shiguekawa, Programa Arqueologico Huanchaco ([email protected]). Shiguekawa is a conservator with vast experience in Archaeological artifacts of the Central Andean región.

Jordi A. Rivera Prince

Jordi A. Rivera-Prince is at the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ([email protected]). Her research focuses on the emergence of social inequality in small-scale ancient maritime communities in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru. Specifically, her work employs a bioarchaeological and mortuary archaeology perspective to study the La Iglesia site, a Salinar cemetery excavated in Huanchaco.

Celeste Marie Gagnon

Celeste Marie Gagnon is at the Department of Anthropology, Wagner College, Staten Island, NY, USA ([email protected]). Gagnon is an anthropologist specializing in examining skeletal indicators of diet and disease and interpreting these data within archaeological and biocultural contexts. She investigates the dietary and health consequences of sociopolitical change and how changes in diet and health affect economic, social, and political lives. Her research areas include the Moche Valley of North Coastal Peru and the Susquehanna Valley of New York and Pennsylvania.

Carlos Avila-Mata

Carlos Avila-Mata is at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ([email protected]). Avila-Mata is a former undergraduate student at the University of Florida.

Fuyuki Tokanai

Fuyuki Tokanai is at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, University of Yamagata, Yamagata-shi, Japan ([email protected]). Tokanai is an expert on processing Mass Spectrometry at Yamagata University, Japan.

Claver W. Aldama-Reyna

Claver W. Aldama-Reyna is at the Laboratorio de Óptica y Láseres, Departamento Académico de Física, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru ([email protected]). Claver W. Aldama-Reyna is a Research Professor and Group Leader of the Optics and Lasers Laboratory at the National University of Trujillo. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the National University of Trujillo.

José M. Capriles

José M. Capriles is at the Department of Anthropology, Penn State University, State College, PA, USA ([email protected]). Dr. Capriles is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in environmental archaeology, human ecology and zooarchaeology. Before joining Penn State University, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh (2012-2013), a Chilean FONDECYT Postdoctoral Researcher (2013–2015) and an Assistant Professor at Universidad de Tarapacá (2015–2016).