Autor(es): Bernardo Arriaza, Matthew Doubrava, Vivien Standen y Herbert Haas
Resumen: Chinchorro artificial mummification practices, starting at 6000 cal BC and declining around 2000 cal BC, reveal an intriguing and sophisticated socio-religious milieu for an early Andean preceramic hunter-gatherer fishing so- ciety (see, e.g., Allison et al. 1984; Arriaza 1995a, b; Schiappacasse 1994; Standen 1991; Rivera 1994; Wise 1994) On the basis of the burial patterns, Standen (1991, 1997) has argued that Chinchorro mortuary treatment was selective—that not everyone was mummified and that bodies with different treatment or different styles of mummification (e.g., natural versus artificial) found buried together were in fact contemporaneous. This thought-provoking proposition raises various issues. Does differential mummification reflect a family lineage, or, contrary to our preconceived notions, is it evidence of social hierarchy and inequalities on the Atacama coast during preceramic times?
Referencia: Arriaza, B., Doubrava, M., Standen, V., & Haas, H. (2005). Differential Mortuary Treatment among the Andean Chinchorro Fishers: Social Inequalities or In Situ Regional Cultural Evolution? Current Anthropology, 46(4), 662–671.
