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3. The Archaeological Discoveries at Paloma General Features of Burials The Paloma soil and midden preserved the bones of the dead in good condition. Small pieces of dried flesh and muscle were occasionally found in areas well protected from disintegration by mat or textile wrappings or at bone joints, but skin was not preserved in any great amount. Head hair, brains, and internal body organs were occasionally found, though body organs usually could be detected only as soil stains. The relative lack of soft body parts is typical of the less than perfect preservation in damp lomas which experience some water seepage below ground.3 Deeper burials tended to be better preserved because percolation of fog moisture was less. Almost all of the burials appear to have been primary interments. Cases of disturbed burials were noted, but disturbance was relatively minor. A typical burial was flexed by drawing the knees toward the chest. Hands were often placed in the pelvic or facial region, ropes were sometimes tied around the legs and shoulders, and the corpse was almost always wrapped in a twined straw (junco) mat. The funeral bundle was then buried below the floor level of a hut (fig. 11). Another variation 3. Well-preserved burials with flesh and other soft parts are found in desert sands and, occasionally, cold and dry locales high in the Andes. The fact that preservation in lomas areas is not complete and that some materials deteriorate means that the archaeological record of the fog oases, as is true elsewhere, is less than perfect. in mortuary treatment was to place the cadaver on the floor inside a house. This appears to have been carried out late in the occupation of the site (circa Level 200) and was accompanied by house destruction. A similar practice was found at the Chilca I site (Engel 1963; Donnan 1964), contemporaneous with the late occupation of Paloma. Burial pits were specially dug, except for one or two rare cases in which it appears that infants were placed in abandoned storage pits. Graves were usually oval in shape with flat bottoms and about 30 to 40 centimeters deep. The floors of the pits were often lined with maicillo , an unidentified grass. The bundles often had this grass on top of them. Benfer and Edward (1988) suggest that bodies may have been covered with salt before being buried. Coprolites found in some graves indicate that the dead were probably quickly buried. Broken cervical vertebrae, disjointed long bones, and cuts in hands and feet (Benfer, personal communication) suggest that corpses were sometimes forced into flexion. However, it was common for burials to spill out of their graves, especially the feet. Perhaps these represent burials made just before house or site abandonment. Indeed, the top of the skull of B. 101 (H. 100/101) protruded above the floor level of the house. But the dwelling was abandoned and destroyed shortly after the last interments were made in it. Burial goods were scarce. Many corpses had no artifacts with them other than a mat wrapping. Some graves contained one or two Archaeological Discoveries at Paloma 27 II. Typical subfloor burials (Burial 70 and Burial 143 in House 117). objects; articles such as ornaments or clothing were most common. Gourd fragments, shell disks and crescents, red pigment, grinding stones, burnt rocks, and a few cases of single valves of mussels filled with hair or other materials were typical goods found in graves. Single animal bones, usually of birds or sea mammals, were commonly found in graves (Brock 1981) and may have represented a bit of meat given to the dead. After the corpse had been flexed, tied with ropes, wrapped in a mat, and placed in a grave with one or two offerings, a funeral ceremony involving fire appears to have been occasionally performed. Hearth stones, still hot from the fire, were often placed on top of the funeral bundle, as evidenced by singed wrapping. A possible alternate or additional rite was the building of a small fire on the earth covering the burial. A smooth beach pebble was sometimes placed on top of the grave fill. One example (fig. 12) was found wrapped with a piece of fiber string. 12. Stone tied with string on top of grave fill of Burial 35. Length 6.3 em. Artifacts and Grave Goods The following sections discuss burial goods and other objects which, although not found in graves, shed light on Paloma society and culture. Most of the...

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