Life And Death At Paloma: Practices In Peruvian Village

5. Discussion of Paloma Mortuary Practices

5. Discussion of Paloma Mortuary Practices General Character of Mortuary Practices It is remarkable that burial practices at the site were basically the same through the great span of time during which Paloma was occupied . Even if variations have been missed due to lack of evidence for ephemeral rituals of mourning or vanished due to the less than perfect preservation of artifacts, the general impression in viewing the data is of a conservative mortuary tradition. The standard practices of flexing limbs, tying the cadaver with ropes, wrapping it with a mat, and burying it with a few goods below a house floor continued through the occupation of the site. This is especially interesting given Benfer's (1 984) suggestion of population replacement at the site. Even if a different genetic group was at Paloma during the Level 200 and 300 period, it maintained mortuary rites similar to those of previous occupants. However, the cluster analyses (table 1) did suggest different frequencies of mortuary traits in the upper versus the lower levels at the site, providing some support for cultural as well as biological change. It is quite likely that many somewhat differing cultural groups occupied Paloma during the millennia of its existence and that some of the different mortuary rituals they carried out are masked by the coarse temporal units represented by the stratigraphy. Indeed, there was a tendency in the cluster analyses for burials from the same house to fall in the same cluster. Perhaps this reflects micro-styles of burial practices associated with family groups or very brief periods of site occupation. A false sense of normative mortuary behavior is thus produced-what appear to be variations of a IJtypical" burial may in fact be somewhat different traditions. Since this study represents an initial attempt at examining preceramic burial customs, the coarse focus is demanded; but future studies may help to see sharp distinctions where only blurred gradations can presently be discerned. For now, all the burials must be discussed in terms of a general Paloma mortuary tradition. A number of changes may be observed in the burial data. Of the fifteen burials with beads or shells, commonly strung as beads, two-thirds were found in the 400/500 Level. This seems significant considering that more 200 Level burials have been recovered through careful excavations than burials of any other level. A decrease in articles of personal adornment is surprising, given the assumed increase in complex social interactions in coastal Peru occurring during the late Paloma occupation (cf. Bender 1985). Perhaps status items changed to include objects which were curated or do not appear in burials for other reasons during the Level 200 period. Increased importance of textiles may be one change related to these events. Thus, the observed decrease in animal fur and hides may not be linked solely to depletion of animals due to lomas degradation but also to changing social values. Another change evident in the burial data 54 Discussion of Paloma Mortuary Practices is the use of fire in burial rituals. Of the twelve graves with evidence of fire, seven are in the (general) 200 Level, four were found in Level 300, and only one in Level 500. In addition, the practice of destroying a house and setting fire to it was unique to the late occupation of the site, as discussed below. Most of the burials found with evidence of fire were those little disturbed by pre-1976 excavations; it is likely that many of the earlier excavated graves had such evidence which was destroyed but not noted. Nevertheless, the change seems to be genuine and not the result of variations in excavation techniques. The household was the primary focus of attention in burial rites. Although some human remains were found without clear association with a house, the majority of burials were interred in association with a domestic structure. Those burials without association may represent victims of unusual circumstances , such as death away from home or some other misfortune. In some cases the house remains have left little trace over the millennia. Burial in or near houses rather than cemeteries suggests that loyalty to the household group outweighed any considerations of larger social units. An attempt to examine the body orientations of burials at the site (Quilter 1980) yielded no clear patterning except for a slight tendency for heads to point toward the west. Orientation to significant landscape features is not in evidence. Rather, as many burials as possible were included inside a...