Patrones funerarios de San Pedro de Atacama y el problema de la presencia de los contextos tiwanaku

Abstract

Funerary ritual in San Pedro de Atacama: evidence for Tiwanaku interment?

Given the homogeneous nature of mortuary practices among the Prehispanic residents of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, atypical graves have been interpreted as evidence for foreigners buried among the local dead in San Pedro cemeteries. This study reexamines graves generally attributed to colonizers from Tiwanaku (AD 500-1000). Emphasizing contexts with gold and silver, detailed comparison is made between the mortuary practices of San Pedro and Tiwanaku. These analyses and data coincide in challenging the efficacy of the colonization model, and support instead the model of indirect Tiwanaku presence that Berenguer (1998) termed "clientage". Confirmation of Tiwanaku tombs similar to the San Pedro graves is lacking, given the importance of Tiwanaku pottery in altiplano tombs, in comparison with the placement of individual Tiwanaku objects in San Pedro graves that otherwise contain only objects of local origin, as well as the possibility that gold and silver objects found in San Pedro graves came from places other than Tiwanaku, it is premature to assign Tiwanaku identity to San Pedro's atypical tombs.