The Bioarchaeology of the Human Head: Decapitation, Decoration, and Deformation

9. Marking Ethnicity through Premortem Cranial Modification among the Pre-Inca Chiribaya, Peru

9 Marking Ethnicity through Premortem Cranial Modification among the Pre-Inca Chiribaya, Peru María Cecilia Lozada Human cranial modification represents an extremely labor-intensive process that requires sustained molding of the cranium for long periods of time during infancy—a time when the bones of the cranial vault are relatively plastic. Given the considerable investment of time and energy required to produce permanent alterations in head shape, as well as the considerable risks of injury associated with this practice (Lekovic et al. 2007), it is natural to ask which groups of people would engage in this practice and why, and what served as the inspiration for specific head shapes. Since cranial modification depicts identity at different levels, I examine how an analysis of cranial modification can be used to complement other forms of research to reconstruct and assess group differentiation among the pre-Inca Chiribaya of southern Peru. In particular, I focus on the use of head form as a visual cue to ethnicity, differentiating one group of “insiders” from another, as well as differentiating “insiders” collectively from “outsiders.” I also explore the sociopolitical environment that may have promoted the use of symbols of group membership such as cranial modification among the Chiribaya. Given that cranial modification is performed during infancy, it represents an irreversible symbol of ascribed corporate membership that would have accompanied a person throughout life. Although clothing, body adornment, and other material accessories could also be used to symbolize group membership , these practices are generally self-selected and, by their very nature, subject to change. By contrast, families and/or corporate groups imposed cranial modification on individuals at birth. It could not be altered later in life, and as such, head shape served as an easily visible symbol of ascribed identity, as the very location of the human head is ideal for displaying cues to an individual ’s identity (Croucher 2008). Premortem Cranial Modification among the Pre-Inca Chiribaya, Peru 229 Bioarchaeological studies of premortem cranial modification in prehistoric populations throughout the world have become increasingly more common, with considerable differences in methodological approaches. As a result, interpretation of this custom includes themes such as identity and gender construction , body transformation, social permeability, power relationships, social status, and group membership (Andrushko 2007; Blom 2005; Croucher 2008; Hoshower et al. 1995; Lorenz 2008; Lozada and Buikstra 2002; Tiesler 1998; Torres-Rouff 2002; see also Bonogofsky this volume, Geller this volume, and Sharapova and Razhev this volume for examples from the Neolithic Near East, New World Maya, and Iron Age Eurasia, respectively). In the Andes, researchers have moved away from the very traditional typological classification of modified skulls to a more contextualized analysis. In these studies, cranial modification is distinct from most categories of material culture that are commonly used to distinguish among different sociocultural, political, and economic groups. From case studies in the Andes, it is clear that in pre-Hispanic societies, head shape was mostly used as an emblem of personal identity or group membership. In their seminal study, Hoshower and colleagues (1995: 146) state that in the Andes, “proper interpretation of deformation patterning is not intuitively obvious because differences in head shape may signal group membership at any one of a number of levels: regional, community, and/or lineage.” The Chiribaya consolidated their power in the coastal portion of the Osmore Drainage in southern Peru (AD 700–1359; figure 9.1). Following a similar pattern to that described in colonial ethnohistorical accounts, the Chiribaya culture was made up of distinct communities of specialists such as fishermen (pescadores) and agriculturalists (labradores). Differences between these two economic groups cut across nearly every category of cultural production, from ceramic and spoon styles to mortuary patterning, and suggest a fundamental cultural divide within Chiribaya society (Lozada and Buikstra 2002; Nigra 2008). Furthermore, dietary analysis conducted by Tomczak (2003) indicates that food consumption differed between these groups. Agriculturalists consumed the greatest amount of terrestrial resources, while the diet of fishermen was based primarily on marine items. Collectively, these data provide compelling evidence that the Chiribaya culture was organized as a coastal señorío, which is defined as a large sociopolitical unit made up of groups of specialists under the power of lords (Rostworowski 1970). In this study, as stated above, I determine whether the pescadores and the labradores of Chiribaya also inferred ethnic distinctions through premortem cranial modification styles, and 230 María Cecilia Lozada Figure 9...