Late Prehispanic Coquina Quarrying and Tomb Construction in Coastal Southern Peru

Abstract

We document the quarrying and source of coquina stone used in elite tomb construction at two late prehispanic sites in southern Peru. Excavations document tomb construction that includes coquina slabs for chamber walls, doorway lintel stones, and large slabs used to seal tomb openings. At the Inca site of Tacahuay Tambo, we uncovered two massive coquina slabs covering the opening of an extended familial tomb. Smaller coquina blocks were used to create the burial chamber. At the Late Horizon and earlier fishing village of Pueblo Picata we document a tomb chamber for a single elite individual constructed of large coquina slabs. A short distance from the village area at Pueblo Picata is a marine terrace outcrop with extensive evidence of prehispanic quarrying. Macroscopic petrographic comparisons of geological samples from the marine terrace and a sample of the archaeological tomb contexts indicate that coquina at both sites derive primarily from the Picata quarry while one tomb slab is from an unknown locale. The study indicates that a significant labor investment was needed for the quarrying and transport of coquina slabs. Furthermore, the use of coquina exclusively for elite tomb construction at these sites, and not for domestic or administrative architecture, suggests a strong symbolic association between coquina and mortuary practices. Coquina quarries and coquina use

Late Intermediate Period Funerary Traditions, Population Aggregation, and the Ayllu in the Sihuas Valley, Peru

“…Important actors in many Late Intermediate period societies (Nielsen 2008:220), chullpas, and those buried within them, were often prominently displayed in the landscape (Bongers et al 2012; Rossi et al 2002). In contrast, single-inhumation burial in cists, walls, and floors was the dominant burial practice along much of the coast at this time (e.g., Arriola 2015; Bongers 2019; Buikstra 1995; Bürgi et al 1989; Chacaltana Cortez 2015; Conlee et al 2009; Sharrat 2011; Williams 1990), with chullpas only becoming more common after the Inca conquest (e.g., Bongers 2019; Bürgi 1993; deFrance and Olson 2013; Nuñez Flores 2013).…”