Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks 12th and 13th October 1991

by Dillehay, Tom D.

• ISBN13: 9780884023746
• ISBN10: 0884023745
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-14
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

In the Andes, a long history of research on burial records and burial context exists for the purpose of reconstructing cultural affiliation, chronology, socioeconomic status, grave content, and human body treatment. Less attention is paid to the larger question of how mortuary practices functioned in different cultures. Tombs for the Living: Andean Mortuary Practices (originally released in 1995) examines this broader issue by looking at the mortuary practices that created a connection between the living and the dead, the role of wealth and ancestors in cosmological schemes, the location, construction, and sociopolitical implications of tombs and cemeteries, and the art and iconography of death. By examining rich sets of archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric data, the thirteen essays continue to enrich our understanding of the context and meaning of the mortuary traditions in the Andes.

Author Biography

Tom D. Dillehay is professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Behavior and Belief in Ancient Peruvian Mortuary Practice	p. 27
The Preceramic Chinchorro Mummy Complex of Northern Chile: Context, Style, and Purpose	p. 43
Mortuary Practices in the Alto Magdalena: The Social Context of the "San Agustin Culture"	p. 79
Moche Funerary Practice	p. 111
Nasca Burial Patterns: Social Structure and Mortuary Ideology	p. 161
Where Do They Rest? The Treatment of Human Offerings and Trophies in Ancient Peru	p. 189
Tombs for the Living … or … For the Dead: The Osmore Ancestors	p. 229
Mounds of Social Death: Araucanian Funerary Rites and Political Succession	p. 281
"The Beautiful Grandparents": Andean Ancestor Shrines and Mortuary Ritual as Seen Through Colonial Records	p. 315
The Mountain/Body Metaphor Expressed in a Kaatan Funeral	p. 355
Death in the Andes	p. 379
Andean Mortuary Practices in Perspective	p. 391
Index: Prepared	p. 407
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