Rituals of the Past: Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology - Hardcover

Silvana Rosenfeld

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1607325950 ISBN 13: 9781607325956

Publisher: University Press of Colorado, 2017

Synopsis

Rituals of the Pastexplores the various approaches archaeologists use to identify ritual in the material record and discusses the influence ritual had on the formation, reproduction, and transformation of community life in past Andean societies. A diverse group of established and rising scholars from across the globe investigates how ritual influenced, permeated, and altered political authority, economic production, shamanic practice, landscape cognition, and religion in the Andes over a period of three thousand years.

Contributors deal with theoretical and methodological concerns including non-human and human agency; the development and maintenance of political and religious authority, ideology, cosmologies, and social memory; and relationships with ritual action. The authors use a diverse array of archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic data and historical documents to demonstrate the role ritual played in prehispanic, colonial, and post-colonial Andean societies throughout the regions of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. By providing a diachronic and widely regional perspective, Rituals of the Pastshows how ritual is vital to understanding many aspects of the formation, reproduction, and change of past lifeways in Andean societies.

Contributors Sarah Abraham, Carlos Angiorama, Florencia Avila, Camila Capriata Estrada, David Chicoine, Daniel Contreras, Matthew Edwards, Francesca Fernandini, Matthew Helmer, Hugo Ikehara, Enrique Lopez-Hurtado, Jerry Moore, Axel Nielsen, Yoshio Onuki, John Rick, Mario Ruales, Koichiro Shibata, Hendrik Van Gijseghem, Rafael Vega-Centeno, Verity Whalen

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About this title

About the Author

Silvana A. Rosenfeldis assistant professor of anthropology at the University of South Dakota. Her research interests include ancient ritual, animal domestication, ancient foodways, and bone technology, and her work has been published inQuaternary International, Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences, Nawpa Pacha, andLatin American Antiquity. She has conducted most of her fieldwork in Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Chavin de Huantar (Peru), and her research has been funded by grants from the Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation. This is her first book.

Stefanie L. Bautistais completing her dissertation for the anthropology department at Stanford University. Her research interests include household archaeology, ceramic technology, and geographical information systems. While her research focuses mainly on the Paracas and Nasca cultures of the Rio Grande de Nasca Region, she also maintains active research interests on the presence of the Wari culture in Arequipa. This is her first book.

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Rituals of the Past

Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology

By Silvana A. Rosenfeld, Stefanie L. Bautista

University Press of Colorado

Copyright © 2017 University Press of Colorado
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60732-595-6

Contents

List of Figures, 
List of Tables, 
1. An Archaeology of Rituals Silvana A. Rosenfeld and Stefanie L. Bautista, 
2. The Nature of Ritual Space at Chavín de Huántar John W. Rick, 
3. Not Just a Pyramid Scheme? Diversity in Ritual Architecture at Chavín de Huántar Daniel A. Contreras, 
4. From Ritual to Ideology: Ritual Activity and Artistic Representations in the Northern Highlands of Peru in the Formative Period Yoshio Onuki, 
5. Architecture and Ritual Practices at Huaca A of Pampa de las Llamas–Moxeke Rafael Vega-Centeno Sara-Lafosse, 
6. Territoriality, Monumentality, and Religion in Formative Period Nepeña, Coastal Ancash David Chicoine, Hugo Ikehara, Koichiro Shibata, and Matthew Helmer, 
7. Ritual Practice at the End of Empire: Evidence of an Abandonment Ceremony from Pataraya, a Wari Outpost on the South Coast of Peru Matthew J. Edwards, 
8. From the Domestic to the Formal: A View of Daily and Ceremonial Practices from Cerro de Oro during the Early Middle Horizon Francesca Fernandini and Mario Ruales, 
9. The Demise of the Ruling Elites: Terminal Rituals in the Pyramid Complexes of Panquilma, Peruvian Central Coast Camila Capriata Estrada and Enrique López-Hurtado, 
10. Reconstructing Early Colonial Andean Ritual Practice at Pukara, Peru: An Architectural Approach Sarah Abraham, 
11. Ritual as Interaction with Non-Humans: Prehispanic Mountain Pass Shrines in the Southern Andes Axel E. Nielsen, Carlos I. Angiorama, and Florencia Ávila, 
12. Mining, Ritual, and Social Memory: An Exploration of Toponymy in the Ica Valley, Peru Hendrik Van Gijseghem and Verity H. Whalen, 
13. Rituals of the Past: Final Comments Jerry D. Moore, 
List of Contributors, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

An Archaeology of Rituals

Silvana A. Rosenfeld and Stefanie L. Bautista Every July 16, the people from the small town of Chavín de Huántar in Ancash, Peru, celebrate the Virgen del Carmen festival. A clear fusion between Catholic and Andean beliefs, the Virgen del Carmen celebration is a well-organized event that involves the entire community. Typically, two sponsors (mayordomos) are in charge of organizing the festivities, which include the procession of the Virgen (figure 1.1), a mass at the local church, a live music band, a potluck meal, and bullfighting. To prepare for this event, the community is divided to partake in particular activities, such as preparing chicha (a traditional alcoholic corn beverage), baking special breads, and sacrificing pigs and chickens for consumption. Some of the classic Andean principles of reciprocity, community, and duality can be seen during this celebration (Murra 1975; Rostworowski de Diez Canseco 2001). Locals and visitors clearly enjoy these days of praying, dancing, eating, drinking, and fireworks.

The Virgen del Carmen festival coincides with the beginning of the harvest season, the most important time in the agricultural cycle for farming communities. The celebrations, however, also renew ties with Catholic figures by attending mass, praying, and participating in the colorful procession while also strengthening relationships among local townspeople who must work together in preparing the food (e.g., meat, bread, and alcohol) for public consumption. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric studies have shown that the interplay of customary and collective actions among humans and between humans and non-humans or supernatural agents, through the ritual mixture of Catholicism and indigenous practices, has been central to many communities in both South America and Mesoamerica (e.g., Nutini 1988; Rostworowski de Diez Canseco 1992). This volume seeks to highlight, from different archaeological perspectives and contexts across the Andes, how ritual affected or was affected by the diverse groups of peoples in this region.

The practice of ritual across time has long fascinated anthropologists, as it can highlight some of the most integral, emotive, and elaborative practices of human life. The study of ritual can demonstrate the interconnections among the various aspects of society, such as religion, politics, and economy. Though ritual has long been important to anthropologists (e.g., Bastien 1978; Bolton 1979; Flores Ochoa 1977;Geertz 1973; Rappaport 1999; Turner 1967), archaeologists have only more recently recognized the importance of studying ritual and its role in past societies (e.g., Bauer and Stanish 2001; Benson and Cook 2001;Insoll 2004; Kyriakidis 2007). Ritual is now considered a major component in the development of some ancient sociopolitical systems, as it aided in their creation, maintenance, and change (DeMarrais, Castillo, and Earle 1996; Marcus and Flannery 2004; Moore 1996; Pauketat et al. 2002).

While there have been discussions of how different archaeological frameworks have approached the ideological dimensions of ritual (e.g., Hodder and Hutson 2003; Insoll 2004), a pertinent debate has also taken place over whether the practice of ritual is distinguishable from other everyday activities in the material record (e.g., Berggren and Stutz 2010). Whereas ritual can be very much interrelated with other everyday practices, it is clear that rituals can be studied from an archaeological perspective. The formal repetition of rituals can create patterns that materialize in the archaeological record, which archaeologists can trace using a variety of methods.

In the Andean region of South America, evidence of ritual activity can be seen in early Peruvian prehispanic sites such as Kotosh in the northern highlands of Huánuco. Beginning circa 2500 BC, the people of Kotosh built enclosed rooms with a central sunken space and a formal hearth to burn offerings. The walls of these rooms were usually plastered with fine clay and contained niches and reliefs (Izumi and Terada 1972). Kotosh residents then buried these rooms and constructed new temples over the interred structures. This practice of architectural renovation was key in the development of early Andean societies, as it served to integrate small communities during the relative absence of a centralized authority (Onuki,this volume). The numerous studies about ritual in the ancient Andes published since 2000 (e.g., Albarracin-Jordan, Capriles, and Miller 2014 ;Arkush 2005; Cutright, López-Hurtado, and Martin 2010; Dillehay 2004;Gamboa Velasquez 2015; Inomata and Coben 2006; Isbell and Groleau 2010; Jennings and Bowser 2009; Kantner and Vaughn 2012; Knobloch 2000; Moore 2005; Rick 2008; Rosenfeld 2012; Tantaleán et al. 2016;Swenson and Warner 2012; Tung 2007; Vaughn 2004) attest to the significance of ritual in the development of many past societies. All of these studies show the fruitfulness of studying ritual in various Andean archaeological contexts.

In the past few years, influential books have been published about Andean ritual that focus on a particular archaeological locality and time period, such as Inka (Meddens et al. 2014) and colonial ritual in Lake Titicaca (Bauer and Stanish 2001), or on certain rituals, such as sacrifice (Benson and Cook 2001), feasting (Klarich 2010), and the worship of Andean sacred entities, or wak'as (Bray 2015). The chapters in this volume address different dimensions and implications of ritual in the prehispanic, colonial, and post-colonial Andean world. Many contributors to this volume were inspired theoretically by studies in cultural anthropology (Alberti et al. 2011; Geertz 1973; Henare, Holbraad, and Wastell 2007; Rappaport 1999; Turner 1969), particularly those within the Andean realm (e.g., Allen 1988; Bastien 1978; Moore 1996; Weismantel 1988). The goal of this volume is to synthesize archaeological studies of ritual specifically for the Andes by (1) exploring the various methods (e.g., architecture, ceramic styles, Geographic Information Systems) with which archaeologists identify ritual in the material record and (2) discussing the influence ritual had on the formation of, reproduction of, and changes in community life in past Andean societies. This volume presents current research from various archaeological contexts and time periods in the Andean region of South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

RITUALS AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

The use of the plural term rituals in the title of this volume points to the variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of ritual in anthropology and archaeology. One approach to the study of ritual has been to follow a theoretical view based primarily on practice theory, which posits that the structure of daily life serves as a small-scale reflection of the broader organizational tenets of society (Bourdieu 1977). This perspective aligns with the argument made in religious studies byBell (1992) and later reinforced in anthropology by Moore (2005) that ritual action and ritual belief cannot be separated. Ritual is viewed as more than just action, but one wholly embedded within the larger social structure of the particular society. In this sense, this practice approach opened the platform for studying ritual from an everyday life perspective and away from an emphasis on monumental archaeological sites. Some of the case studies in this volume, while not necessarily following this theoretical perspective, do discuss ritual in a variety of non-monumental contexts, including mountain-pass shrines (Nielsen, Angiorama, and Ávila), quarry mines (Van Gijseghem and Whalen), and small architectural structures (Contreras).

The approach to ritual followed by many contributors to this volume is the one exemplified by Rick, who defines ritual as customary actions that are effective in obtaining outcomes over which the participants have little controlling power. In this sense, many of the scholars in this volume understand ritual as a specific set of practices conducted to legitimize certain power relations. For some of these scholars, ritual is interpreted as an important medium of integration (Onuki, Vega-Centeno Sara-Lafosse), resistance (Capriata Estrada and López-Hurtado), assimilation (Abraham), decentralization (Contreras), and competition (Chicoine et al.). Rituals are also approached in this volume as social action that addresses non-human agents (Nielsen, Angiorama, and Ávila). In this regard, ritual can be seen as an enactment of relationships tying humans to spirits, gods, ancestors, animals, and objects. Because these relationships are acted out based on personal experience, every ritual can be acted out in unusual ways (Houseman 2004:76). As argued bySwenson (2011), the study of ritual can be particularly valuable when it is engaged with the historical specificities of political organizations as structured by unique cosmologies. In this sense, some of the case studies in this volume discuss particular Andean meanings to show how ritual worked actively in the construction of distinctive landscapes and worldviews (see Nielsen, Angiorama, and Ávila; Onuki; Rick; Van Gijseghem and Whalen, this volume).

Scholars have debated whether ritual should be understood as religious (e.g., Bell 2007; Bradley 2003; Fogelin 2007; Renfrew 2007). Bell, for instance, argues that we can identify ritualization if we can distinguish how a society made such distinctions as those between sacred and profane or domestic and ritual (Bell 2007:284–85). If not, Bell argues that it would be a challenge for archaeologists to argue for the presence of ritual (ibid.: 285). Dualist models would separate religious from secular ritual (e.g., Renfrew 2007). Religious rituals imply the invocation of the supernatural, as when in a Catholic baptism God is invoked to bless the baptized. Secular rituals would not involve the supernatural; and they can be political (e.g., presidential inaugurations or monarch coronations), educational (e.g., raising the flag at school every morning), or social (e.g., civil marriage). As many scholars argue, however, the relationship between religious/sacred and secular/domestic is more complex, and each element cannot be disentangled from the other (Angelo 2014;Hastorf 2007:78; Hodder 2010:14; Iteanu 2004:99).

Bradley (2003), for example, argues that the opposition between ritual and everyday practice is not helpful in understanding later prehistoric European contexts. He understands ritual as an extension of daily life, a practice that affected the ways artifacts, food, and settlements were formally placed (ibid.: 21). The excavations and research at Neolithic Çatalhöyük have also revealed evidence of ritual in domestic houses, such as repetitive and formal installations of wild animal skulls, claws, and teeth on the walls of houses (Hodder and Cessford 2004). Hodder has recently argued that all of the buildings in Çatalhöyük show ample evidence of both ritual and quotidian activity (Hodder 2010:16). Similarly, ethnographic and archaeological research in the Andes shows that many communities experience ritual as part of their daily life, in part because their material world is perceived as powerful, animated, and subjective to human agency; therefore, many quotidian activities are embedded with acts of ritual (e.g., Allen 1988; Hastorf 2007; Sillar 2004). Bolin (1998)demonstrates this when she discusses the sacrificial offerings of llamas made to the earth (Pachamama), the mountains (apus), and the Thunder God (Qhaya) to increase the size of the camelid herd.

While the distinction between religious and secular may not have been clear in prehistory, most rituals seem to involve the invocation of a greater power. As many studies have shown (e.g., Allen 1988; Bolin 1998; Fernandini and Ruales, this volume; Rick, this volume; Van Gijseghem and Whalen, this volume), the entanglement between ritual and domestic does not preclude scholars from understanding ritual in a variety of ways in different Andean societies across time.

More recently, Aldenderfer (2011:24) has criticized archaeologists for focusing too much on ritual at the expense of religion, creating what he calls a "disembodied ritual." According to Aldenderfer, what archaeologists seek to understand is "religion in action" (ibid.) and what it did for specific societies. Aldenderfer is not concerned with a definition of religion but rather with what religion does. Similar to Bell's (2007) argument about explaining religion in archaeology, Aldenderfer (2011:28) talks about recognizing "contrasts" in the archaeological record. One way to do this is through careful documentation of changes in the archaeological data across time (see, for example, Abraham, Chicoine et al., this volume).

The identification of ritual depends on the society and the culture. Hodder (2010:14) has argued for a contextual and interpretative approach in archaeology. Particular spaces, particular configurations of artifacts or other archaeological material can point to the presence of ritual activity in a contextually situated society. As mentioned, while ritual can be intertwined with everyday practice, Hodder observed that "some events stand out" (ibid.: 16) in their context. From a different perspective, Handelman (2004:4) has claimed that it is possible and necessary to first separate ritual as a phenomenon from its sociocultural surrounding and then reinsert the ritual back into its environment to assess an interpretation. He has suggested thinking about ritual in its own terms. This perspective is not followed by most of the authors in this volume. For the most part it is argued here that ritual has been a motor of transformation in the past and present Andes in a variety of ways. This is also an interpretation seen in many ethnohistoric sources on the Andes. For example, provinces who rebelled against the Inka were punished, as the Inka would publicly insult the provincial gods until the rebellious group surrendered. At this time the non-Inka gods were restored to their places and properly honored (Cobo 1997 [1653]:3–4). Further, the Inka famously reordered and rebuilt ceremonial places during their conquests based on existing practices to facilitate the establishment of the new ideology and thus enact sociopolitical change through ritual practices (MacCormack 1991:88). This is not to say that ritual was always used to produce intentional outcomes; but in the Andean cases studies shown here, ritual is interpreted as more than ritual for its own sake.

At a methodological level, if ritual is understood as the performance of sequences of informal and formal acts (Marcus 2007:45; Rappaport 1999:24) to unfold action, its repetitive character should leave traces in the archaeological record and allow the identification of its performative location and related paraphernalia. Rituals can have a repetitive character because they tend to include formal aspects in terms of both action and time. Ritual participants may know the sequence of specific rituals and what to expect before they attend. The periodicity of ritual varies according to the specific practice, but participants usually know when to expect it. A ritual can be practiced daily (e.g., nightly prayer before bedtime), be seasonal (e.g., solstice festival), or be prompted by specific circumstances such as an individual's life cycle (e.g., birth, maturity, marriage, sickness, death) or extreme environmental factors (e.g., drought or flooding; see Fernandini and Ruales, Rick, this volume). Of course, not all repetitive activities should be interpreted as ritual, but repetition is one of the characteristics that helps archaeologists identify ritual in the archaeological record.

Since ritual is about social actions and performances, its recurrent patterns, while not static, can help archaeologists engage theory with evidence. There are at least three observations for the identification of ritual in the material record: (1) archaeologists can identify types of places where rituals tend to occur (e.g., burials under house floors or platforms in some Andean sites; see Onuki, this volume), and (2) archaeologists can identify the last ritual performed in an area in which the same type of ritual occurred multiple times. These areas may be key locations for ritual, but they may also be cleaned every time, leaving few traces until the last ritual is performed and the space is abandoned (e.g., open patios for sponsored state feasts, closure rituals; see Capriata Estrada and López-Hurtado, Edwards Fernandini and Ruales, this volume). Finally, (3) archaeologists can find an area of repetitive ritual performance that is used over and over again without being cleaned each time, and the archaeological material therefore accumulated over time (e.g., shrines; see Nielsen, Angiorama, and Ávila, this volume). Finally, we need to remember that archaeologists may only find a portion of the artifacts used in a ritual. Certain artifacts were probably used repeatedly but conservatively and were not left as dedication in the ritual area.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1607325950
• ISBN 13: 9781607325956
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344
• Editor: Silvana Rosenfeld, Stefanie Bautista