It seems remarkable that the Chinchorro people, though unfamiliar with complex tools and artifacts such as ceramic vessels, metal knives, or looms, mastered the art of mummifying the dead. Normally, we expect to see complex mortuary practices in politically
Figure 3.6. Chnchorro artifacts. (Bernardo Arriaza)
Complex societies such as the Egyptians or Incas for example. The long lasting (nearly four millennia) Chinchorro practice was obviously central to their religious experience and their human existence. The Chinchorros left no written records so the central question about why they developed this practice is open to discussion. Children and adults of both sexes were mummified. In 2001, we debated whether social differentiation could be one explanation, where only a faction of the community, such as higher-ranking individuals, was mummified (Arriaza et al. 2001). However, only four bodies with natural mummification, out of a total of thirty-six, cluster within the artificial mummy period (5000-1700 BC). If artificial mummification honored the elite, one would expect that bodies with complex
Artificial mummification would be in the minority, but this is not the case. Belief in the afterlife, religion, and social issues are certainly at play.
Mummification, in a way, brought back the deceased individual, not as a decomposing and smelly body, or even a dehydrated body, but rather as an effigy pleasant to gaze upon. As such, mummification provided a canvas to display the body as a religious or family icon, similar to viewing embalmed bodies in a wake today. As Huntington and Metcalf (1985: 63) have suggested: “The corpse is feared because, until its reconstruction in the beyond is complete, part of its spiritual essence remains behind, where it menaces the living with threat of further death”. Arriaza and Standen (2002: 40-41) observe that many cultures believe “the soul of the deceased runs the risk of losing its existence if the body decomposes, or the living would lose contact with the soul of the deceased should the body decompose”.
The death of a loved one, or an important person, creates social shock and uncertainty. What is going to happen to the cadaver? Who is going to take care of it? Chinchorro people minimized social uncertainties by transforming the dead into a durable icon thanks to the morticians. After accomplishing the mummification, Chinchorro mourners likely feasted with the dead, just as the Incas did thousands of years later parading mummified ancestors, giving them drink, food, clothes, and other offerings. The mummy represents a new beginning, continuity of life and stability, the dead and living become part of a new social intercourse.
Regarding the origin of this unusual mortuary practice Uhle (1919) believed that artificial mummification had its roots in Peru, and Rivera (1975) postulated a jungle origin for this practice. Arriaza (1995) and Standen and Santoro 2004 (among others) have postulated a local origin, in the Camarones area.
Why the Chinchorros went the extra mile to mummify their dead is debatable, but that they invested a great deal of energy in mummifying their dead is unquestionable. Our previous studies have pointed out that these mummies are a unique phenomenon in the world for various reasons. We now know the following:
• The mummies were produced by a preceramic fishing culture whose antiquity pre-dates the advent of agriculture, pottery, metallurgy, the loom and socio-political complexity.
• Chinchorro culture has a large geographic territory and long chronology.
• These mummies represent the earliest evidence of religious icons in the Andean area and a complex mortuary practice for preceramic people.
• Chinchorro morticians had anatomical and technical knowledge, and undertook careful planning to accomplish their elaborate mummification process.
• The mummies provide clues to decipher ideological concepts of these early fishing populations. Due to the nature of the preceramic record (minimal crafts and grave goods), often our studies are biased toward subsistence strategies and mobility.
World History
