Tracing Childhood: Bioarchaeological Investigations of Early Lives in Antiquity

3. Chinchorro Mortuary Practices on Infants: Northern Chile Archaic Period (BP 7000–3600)

3 Chinchorro Mortuary Practices on Infants Northern Chile Archaic Period (BP 7000–3600) Vivien G. Standen, Bernardo T. Arriaza, and Calogero M. Santoro In this chapter we discuss the complex mortuary patterns, social implications , and values surrounding infants and children (this includes fetuses and newborns) in early Andean Chinchorro communities. The Chinchorro were hunters, fishers, and gatherers who inhabited the coast of northern Chile from BP 7000 to BP 3600 and developed early and complex mummification processes for their dead. In this context, we sought answers to the following questions: Did all infants receive the complex Chinchorro mortuary treatment? Was this treatment different from or similar to that given to adults? Are there segregated spaces for infants at burial sites? Was infant ornamentation similar to that of adults? Did infant burials bear the same type of associated artifacts? Answers to these questions will allow us to assess attitudes toward infants and children in this particular culture. The seminal work of Lillehammer (1989) opened a new window to infant mortuary studies in archaeology. Since then, substantial contributions have been made on this topic, mainly in the Old World (Chapa 2003; Lillehammer 2000; Sofaer 1994) and in North American archaeology (Baxter 2005; Kamp 2001; Park 2010). In South America, however, contributions to the archaeology of children are still scarce (Politis 1998). Compared to the meager archaeological data, ethnographic analyses show that among hunters and gatherers, infants play an important role in the production of material goods; they generate cultural materials and are active social agents within human groups (Lillehammer 1989; Politis 1998; Park 2010). Childhood studies in archaeology have been approached from two perspectives : (a) indirectly, through the study of material culture (Lillehammer 1989; Sofaer 1994; Politis 1998; Park 2010), and (b) directly, through Chinchorro Mortuary Practices on Infants: Northern Chile Archaic Period · 59 the study of remains and funerary contexts. The first approach includes objects produced by children for children, by adults for children, and adult recycled objects used in children’s games (Park 2010). The second approach includes bioarchaeological methods that encompass the study of bodies (i.e., paleopathology), mortuary treatments, and offerings associated with infants. This chapter will focus on mortuary practices performed on infants and children (including fetuses and newborns). As Kaulicke (1997) argued, the funerary context is the only archaeological instance where the individuals themselves are the protagonists. Men, women, children, and infants emerge not as objects but rather as subjects, expressing the material aspect of the funerary rites to which they were subjected. However, the ethnography of hunters and gatherers shows that individuals who die within a few days of birth and have not undergone certain rites of initiation are not always assigned a name or given a mortuary ritual, since they are not full members of their society (Hertz [1907] 1960; Lévy-Bruhl [1927] 2003). In contrast, the archaeological data show that in prehistory, infant funerary rituals received special attention, such as those reported by Einwögerer and colleagues (2006), for the European Upper Paleolithic. In the Andes, during the Archaic period, both on the coast and in the highlands, there is a particular mortuary treatment given to infants. In the La Paloma site (on the central coast of Peru), Quilter (1989) points out that infants bear a larger number of associated objects compared to adults. In Telarmachay (puna of Junín), infants were found with ornaments such as beads for necklaces and bone earrings (Julien et al. 1981). However, none of the early sites in South America showed Chinchorro-style burial practices. These practices included complex procedures on the bodies of infants and children (including fetuses and newborns) (Allison et al. 1984; Aufderheide et al. 1993; Bittmann 1982; Uhle 1917). In historic Europe, by contrast, a death during pregnancy or during childbirth was considered a bad omen; therefore, fetuses and newborns were hidden instead of being recognized socially (Scott 1992). The Chinchorro The Chinchorro were hunters, fishers, and gatherers who settled at the mouth of the small rivers that drain into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern Chile and southern Peru (Arriaza 1995; Standen et al. 2004). Because of the cold Humboldt Current that runs along the western coast of South America, the marine ecosystem is extraordinarily rich in diversity 60 · V. G. Standen, B. T. Arriaza, and C. M. Santoro and abundant in resources for prehistoric human societies (fish, shellfish, mammals, and seabirds). This condition favored Chinchorro adaptation...