Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations: Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America 9781841712680, 9781407353340

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editors' Note
Contributors' Affiliation in Order of the Papers
Introduction
The Rise of Religious Routinization: The Study of Changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite
Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts from the Site of La Emerenciana, Ecuador
Fruitful Death: The Symbolic Meanings of Cucurbits in the Late Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador
Making Spiritual Contact: Snuff Tubes and Other Mortuary Objects from Coastal Ecuador
Manteño Ceremony and Symbolism: Mortuary Practices and Ritual Activities at López Viejo, Manabí, Ecuador
Gender Relationships and Symbolism in some Moche Sacrificial and Mortuary Contexts
Speculations on Moche Mountain Scenes
Religious Ideology and Mortuary Ritual at Machu Picchu
The Young Lord of La Falda, Markers of a Social Persona in Early Contact Tilcara
Ritual and Symbolism in Mortuary Behavior. Bio-Cultural, Chronological and Regional Facts in Northwestern Argentina

Citation preview

BAR  S982  2001   STALLER & CURRIE (Eds)  

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

MORTUARY PRACTICES AND RITUAL ASSOCIATIONS

Edited by

John E. Staller Elizabeth J. Currie

BAR International Series 982 B A R

2001

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America Edited by

John E. Staller Elizabeth J. Currie

BAR International Series 982 2001

Published in 2016 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 982 Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations

© The editors and contributors severally and the Publisher 2001 The authors' moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher.

ISBN 9781841712680 paperback ISBN 9781407353340 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841712680 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by Archaeopress in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd/ Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2001. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.

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Table of Contents

Editors' Note

iii

Contributors' Affiliation in Order of the Papers

1v

Introduction John E. Staller and Elizabeth J. Currie

1

The Rise of Religious Routinization. The Study of Changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo

5

Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts from the Site of La Emerenciana, Ecuador John E. Staller

19

Fruitful Death. The Symbolic Meanings ofCucurbits in the Late Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador Ellrn Weinstein

37

Making Spiritual Contact. Snuff Tubes and Other Mortuary Objects from Coastal Ecuador Karen E. Stothert and Ivan Cruz Cevallos

51

Manteno Ceremony and Symbolism. Mortuary Practices and Ritual Activities at Lopez Viejo, Manabi, Ecuador Elizabeth J. Currie

67

Gender Relationships and Symbolism in Moche Shamanic Contexts Daniel Arsenault

93

Speculations on Moche Mountain Scenes Douglas Sharon

109

Mortuary Pratice and Ritual Ideology at Macchu Picchu Lucy Salazar-Burger

117

The Young Lord of La Falda. Markers of a Social Persona in Early Contact Tilcara Maria Asuncion Bordach and Osvaldo Juan Mendonca

129

Ritual and Symbolism in Mortuary Behavior. Bio-cultural, Chronological and Regional Facts in N orthwestem Argentina Osvaldo Juan Mendonca and Maria Asuncion Bordach

137

ii

Editors' Note Although we have aimed for consistency in the presentation of the following papers, certain differences have nevertheless been preserved which readers may observe. The principal of these is the difference between the two forms of English in use in the UK and USA. We think it right that both should be allowed, according to the preference and custom of the individual author. The other main difference to note is in the spelling of the ethnic name 'Huancavilca', which may also be spelt, quite correctly, as 'Guancavilca'. Stothert and Cruz use the latter in their paper following local Ecuadorean custom, which also spells the names 'Guayas' and 'Guayaquil' with a 'G'. Currie uses the former 'Huancavilca' as this is also in common usage, and indeed many of the references cited in-text have also used this form. Since both forms are therefore technically correct, we have also decided to keep them here.

iii

Contributors' Affiliation in Order of the Papers Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Pennsylvania and Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. Elka Weinstein, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada. E-mail: [email protected] John E. Staller, the Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W. Harrison, Chicago, Illinois 6060, USA.E-mail:[email protected] Karen E. Stothert, The Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas, 78249-0658 USA. E-mail: [email protected] Ivan Cruz Cevallos, the Centro Cultural "Artes", Veintimilla 560 y 6 de Diciembre, Quito, Ecuador. Elizabeth J. Currie, the Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YOl 7EP, UK.E-mail:[email protected] Daniel Arsenault,, Departement d'histoire, CELAT (Centre d'etudes interdisciplinaires sur les Lettres, les Arts et les Traditions) Faculte des Lettres, Universite Laval, Quebec (Qc), Canada GlK 7P4. E-mail: Daniel.Arsenault@celat. ulaval. ca Douglas Sharon, the San Diego Museum of Man, 1350 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101, USA. Lucy Salazar-Burger. Department of Anthropology, Yale University. USA. E-mail: [email protected] Maria Asuncion Bordach, the Laboratorio de Osteologia y Anatomia Funcional Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisico-Quimicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. E-mail: [email protected] Osvaldo Juan Mendonca, the Laboratorio de Osteologia y Anatomia Funcional Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisico-Quimicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto - CONICET. E-mail: [email protected]

iv

Introduction John E. Staller and Elizabeth J. Currie

BACKGROUND TO THIS VOLUME

Although indigenous cultures use many different terms for such individuals and practitioners, the terms 'shaman' and 'shamanism' are used here to make these ideas more generally understandable. In many cases, individuals who used such esoteric knowledge for purposes of healing were probably distinguished from those who were more closely involved with divination and/or the communication with otherworldly reahns. Such differences infer both differentiation and hierarchy in the social organization of a culture, as well as differences between cultures. They also mark the versatility of the shaman in different cultural contexts.

Some of the motives and the goals for putting together an inquiry on shamanic elements in ancient mortuary practices and funerary objects stemmed from a symposium on South American Prehistory presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, March 24-28, 1999 Chicago, Illinois. The symposium was entitled "Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations: Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America" and therefore, some of the articles included in this volume were initially presented as papers at that symposium, which has also lent its name to the title of this book.

It is not the purpose of this introduction to attempt a comprehensive definition of 'shamanism', however. For that, readers are directed to those reference works cited here and in the different papers that follow, and each author of this volume also presents their own definition and the terms of reference which have guided them in their individual lines of research. The objective of this introduction is more to draw attention to the important role that ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources play in such lines of archaeological enquiry and their value in providing researchers with an interpretive framework within which to conduct their research. We have also sought to draw attention here to the importance of acknowledging the fundamental differences that exist between the world view and cosmology of traditional, indigenous cultures of the kind that characterize the pre-Columbian Americas and those of 'developed' societies of the Western world. These must always be taken into account whenever models for interpreting human behavior, particularly in prehistoric contexts, are being applied. To ignore or to dismiss attempts to include traditional ideology and cosmology from archaeological research on the basis that it is unknowable can only lead to gross distortions of the interpretive models derived from our data. We therefore aim to show here that existing folk traditions involving shamanism and cult practices in South America provide a valid interpretive cultural framework from which to build a more realistic understanding of the past. Unless we attempt to understand an ancient culture's world view in this way, our interpretations of the past will be largely biased by our own culture and history.

SHAMANISM AND ARCHAEOLOGY In the classic study on shamanism, Mircea Eliade (1964)

contended on the basis of compelling evidence that what he termed shamanic religion was widespread in northern Siberia and northeastern Asia in the last Ice Age, and that it spread into the Western Hemisphere with Paleo-Indian hunters. He further observed that remnants of a more pervasive pattern of shamanic practices could be observed in a wide variety of cultural settings, suggesting a common origin. Throughout the Americas, anthropologists and archaeologists alike increasingly recognise shamanic traditions within the belief systems of the societies they study and which survive into the present day as erratic blocks and islands of a once pan-continental phenomenon. Despite a wide diversity of individual expressions of shamanic systems of belief in the Americas, and indeed across the world, these can be demonstrated to be linked by a common sub-set of beliefs and practices which are essentially shamanic in character (Eliade 1964; Lewis 1989; Langdon 1992; Ripinsky-Naxon 1993). There is a tendency to equate shamanism with the tropical forest cultures which still endure east of the Andes mountains and to see any examples outside of this context either as direct imports from the selva or as a product of the recreational drug culture of 'New Age' tourists from the West. Some critics go further and contest the accuracy of using the terms 'shaman' and 'shamanism' outside of specifically Siberian, or sub Arctic cultures at all (e.g., Kehoe 1996). However, it is the view put forward by those contributing to this volume that, although certainly demonstrating a range of variability in cultural detail and practice, the overall basic tenets of shamanism can be readily demonstrated for the pre-Columbian period in certain mortuary practices and ritual associations of the archaeological complexes in question.

The archaeological investigations represented in this volume exhibit considerable chronological depth and cultural variability. Different field and excavation techniques have been utilized to deal with the range of different, often complex archaeological contexts in question. In combining both anthropological and technical data into the interpretation of mortuary remains and their associated accouterments, we attempt to demonstrate that it

1

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

is through a combination of various bodies of evidence that we can most effectively reconstruct the past. In some cases, the interpretations were partially derived from ancient iconography, or from ceramic motifs on elaborate, finely crafted funerary vessels from museum collections. But in all cases, the authors have attempted to take an anthropological approach to interpreting archaeological remains and have incorporated evidence from various related sub-fields, using a variety of ethnohistoric sources, ethnographic accounts, linguistic, and ecological data to afford a better understanding of the nature of ancient ritual and religious practices.

ethnohistoric accounts surrounding indigenous folk practices of healing, curing, and practices related to shamanic rituals. It is generally believed that such traditions have their roots deep in antiquity.

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

Many scholars of South American prehistory and preColumbian art have studied iconographic symbols on temples and stone sculpture in an attempt to interpret their meaning and their possible religious and socio-political significance (Rowe 1967; Lathrap 1973, 1974; Burger 1992), whilst others have studied anthropomorphic and zoomorphic themes and associations on ancient ceramics in order to organize them into coherent ceramic phases and horizons. The innovatory approaches of some of these scholars have greatly illuminated our understanding of the ancient cultures of this continent as a consequence (Willey 1962; Lanning 1967; Lathrap 1974; Donnan 1976, 1978; Donnan and Castillo 1992; Roe 1982, 1995; Benson 1974, 1998; Donnan and McClelland 1999).

THE ROLE OF ETHNOGRAPHY AND ETHNOHISTORY

Ethnographic research and ethnohistoric documentation have cast a long shadow over archaeological interpretation in South America - a continent of immense cultural diversity, with an equally diverse and complex prehistory. This is especially the case in the Andean sub-region. The total absence of an historical context to any part of this continent's long cultural development up to the arrival of the Spanish towards the middle of the 16th century has imposed a particularly extended trajectory to the prehistoric period. This has been seen to be mitigated to some extent by the survival of indigenous cultures and traditions, however, which offer scholars an alternative body of information to historical sources to interpret archaeological data from the prehistoric past. Both Andeanists, as well as those working in the Amazonian lowlands, therefore have the advantage of indigenous societies surviving in their regions which have, to a greater or lesser degree, maintained their cultural traditions and concepts about their universe, and their languages have survived laregly intact.

More recently, scholars of Pre-Columbian South America have turned increasingly to the rich ethnographic record for the interpretation of Andean symbolism. They have sought and applied widespread universal themes and common mythological elements in an approach to the analysis of symbols which encompasses new cognitive approaches to cultural anthropology. This focuses on the ways that people from traditional societies have of perceiving themselves and their place in the universal scheme of things in contrast to a Western order and world view. All this attempts to go beyond mere culture description in order to gain a better understanding of the Native American perspective (Reichel Dohnatoff 1974, 1975; Roe 1982; Classen 1993; Helms 1977, 1993).

Some anthropologists contend that the large body ethnohistoric literature and the continued existence of indigenous cultures has therefore 'blessed' those of us involved in uncovering the past and placed a decided advantage for the archaeologist attempting to understand the still-existing currents of ancient traditions (Rowe 1967; Murra 1946, 1976). Others, however, have seen the ethnohistoric and ethnographic record as more of a tyranny, particularly in the Andes, where there has been a tendency for it to distort the true picture of the cultural development of this diverse region in antiquity into one biased towards and dominated by the Inca (Lathrap 1971; Roe 1994).

To gain an insight into the way pre-Hispanic societies conceptualized themselves, the universe, and the afterlife, the different authors contributing to this volume have used a variety of archaeological and anthropological data to interpret ancient funerary practices and objects found in mortuary contexts. The approaches taken here are therefore all noteworthy for their attempt to understand the record from a more indigenous point of view (see e.g., Helms 1991, 1993, 1998), based on the understanding that human behavior is predicated on the social and natural surroundings of a people, how they conceptualized their ecology and environment and our own interpretations drawn from this (Douglas 1966).

Those scholars who specialize in the early prehist01y of non Andean regions and sub-regions of the continent have often themselves had to depend upon anthropological and proto-historic documentation to provide an informed framework for their studies, through which they can then project the ancient past forward, as it were, to construct an intelligible picture of it. A particularly important body of literature has been generated from ethnographic and

NEW INTERPRETIVE MODELS

Despite comprehensive research upon shamanism and shamanic practices in other areas of the social sciences and humanities, archaeologists and anthropologists have tended to look upon such folk traditions and bodies of knowledge almost exclusively in terms of their significance to socio-

2

John E. Staller and Elizabeth J Currie: Introduction

cultural development. This is in contrast to other disciplines, such as ethnobotany, which has in recent years come to depend upon ethnographic data dealing primarily with shamanism to learn about plants important to curing, for example. In such studies, botanists have also recorded much about the bodies of knowledge associated with the application of medicinal plants. The imagery and symbolism recorded in myths, and found in a variety of different material cultural media, such as pottery, sculpture and petroglyphs, textiles, basketry and wood crafts (where they survive) and even ancient 'sacred' landscapes, can best be interpreted when one already understands the cultural and ideological significance of the ecology, social and natural environments pertaining within a particular cultural context.

world view that was once pervasive, perhaps even universal in antiquity. An example would be the Andean concept of the 'sacred landscape', a world view which continues to prevail to varying degrees among Quechua and Aymara speakers in the Andes, and is evident by offerings left at rural shrines, and by shamanic pilgrimages that continue to sacred places such as Las Huaringas and Huancabamba (Sharon 1978; Sharon and Donnan 1977). The content of such traditional practices continues into the present, often in an altered or syncretic form, and may be observed in a range of different foll( traditions found in rural contexts, such as the celebrations on the feast day of St. John the Baptist and traditional summer solstice rituals. In their attempt to understand how prehistoric cultures may have conceptualized their world, our authors therefore aim to interpret the archaeological record in the terms of indigenous world view and cosmology. The emphasis upon funerary contexts and material objects derived from prehistoric burials is made with the belief that archaeological contexts such as these are particularly revealing with regard to ancient cosmology, ideology, and beliefs regarding the afterlife. Funerary associations therefore have relevance, not only to socio-political and socio-economic domains, but may to a greater or lesser degree also reflect cosmological and ideological elements not readily apparent in other archaeological contexts.

In our attempt to understand different folk traditions,

Western culture has imposed a series of preconceptions regarding indigenous religious beliefs, biases which have predisposed some in the academic community to perceive shamanism as a static cultural phenomenon. Western Neoevolutionary scholars who have emphasized economic development as a prime mover in cultural evolution have generally perceived shamans as part-time specialists with little social power, or, where they occur in ancient cultures, to be generally associated with band and tribal level societies with simple economies based upon hunting and gathering and non-intensive kinds of agriculture. There is also a tendency amongst some in academic circles to make light of such practices altogether as being peripheral to a society's cultural, political and economic concerns. Because, by its nature, shamanism deals with the realms of esoteric knowledge, ritual practices and the occult, attempts on the part of researchers to take it more fully into account in scientific enquiry by addressing its role and significance within a society, are felt to be dubious in character and beyond the domain of proper scientific inquiry.

On the basis of many lines of evidence, the different papers presented here help to demonstrate that the role of shaman is a dynamic one and that shamanism is a dynamic foll( tradition of ancient origin that is to vaiying degrees embedded in the folk traditions of a wide variety of indigenous South American cultures. This includes symbolic elements and the so-called sacred plants associated with shamanic practices, which are readily apparent in the archaeological record, and are also of great antiquity. This has important implications for ancient South American cosmology and world view as a whole.

In contrast, we maintain that it would be much more

profitable from an interpretative standpoint to acknowledge the office of shaman as dynamic and multidimensional in scope. The shaman's role is a pivotal one as a repository of esoteric knowledge; within traditional societies, shamans are the corpus of their society's origin myths, history and spiritual welfare, with the greatest potential for preserving time depth (RipinskyN axon 1993:9). Such cultural data are particularly important in funerary contexts, wherein archaeologists must endeavor to interpret the whole cultural macrocosm represented in the mortuary microcosm being investigated in the archaeological remains.

From a range of different perspectives, using a diversity of archaeological data set within the context of ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogy, the papers reveal a pre-Hispanic world rich in metaphor and symbolism relating human beings to their origins and ancestral past, the wider natural world and their place within it. The timeless themes of birth, death and re-birth recur in a universe wherein death and burial anticipate re-birth and new life in the endless cosmic cycle. The shamanic world is one wherein symbols and symbolic behaviour - rituals - are actively employed in mediating with the 'Otherworld' and its visionary inhabitants - the dark realms of the unconscious mind which is the source of such infinite potential and possibilities. In the words of Joseph Campbell:

The process of investigating unusual cultural practices - in this case the preparation of the dead and their ultimate interment - requires some cultural breadth from archaeologists to give meaning to the archaeological record. Shaman and shamanism therefore embody 'ways of knowing' that are elementary to the indigenous mind set, and appear to be cultural remnants of a cosmology and

" The shaman, then, is not only a familiar denizen, but even the favored scion of those realms of power that are invisible to our waking consciousness, which all may visit briefly in vision, but through which he

3

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

roams, a master" [1964]:147).

(Campbell

1958 m

Jung

1978

pp. 115-158. Texas Tech University Museum, Lubbock. Lewis, I. M. 1989. Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism. Routledge, London and New York. Murra, J. 1946. The tribes of Ecuador. In Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 2, edited by J. H. Steward, pp. 785-822. Bulletin 143, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 1976. El 'control vertical' de un maximo de pisos ecol6gicos en los sociedades andinas." In Vistas de la Provincia de Leon de Huanuco, vol. 1. Edited by I. Ortiz de Zuniga, pp. 383-406. Universidad Hermilio Valdizan, Huanuco, Peru. Reichel Dohnatoff, G. 1974. Funerary Customs and Religious Symbolism among the Kogi. In Native South Americans:Ethnology of the Least Known Continent, edited by P.J. Lyon, pp. 289-301. Little Brown, Boston. 1975. The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs among the Indians of Colombia. Temple University Press, Philadelphia. Ripinsky-Naxon, Michael. 1993. The Nature of Shamanism - Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor. Albany State University of New York, Albany. Roe, P. G.1982. The Cosmic Zygote, Cosmology in the Amazon Basin. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, N. J. 1994. Ethnohistory and Archaeology. In History of Latin American Archaeology, edited by A. Oyuela-Caydedo, pp. 183-208. Avebury, Brookfield, U.S.A. 1995. Style, Myth, and Structure. In Style, Society, and Person: Archaeological and Ethnological Perspectives, edited by C. Carr and J. Neitzel pp. 27-77. Plenum, N.Y. Rowe, J. H. 1967. Form and Meaning in Chavin Art. In Peruvian Archaeology: Selected Readings, edited by J. H. Rowe and D. Menzel, pp. 72-103. Peek Publications. Palo Alto, California. Sharon, D. G. I978The Wizard of the Four Winds: A Shaman's Story. Free Press, New York. Sharon, D. G. and C. Donnan. 1977. The Magic Cactus: Ethnoarchaeological continuity in Peru." Archeology 30 (6):374-381. Willey, G. R. 1962. The Great Art Styles and the Rise of Pre-Columbian Civilization. American Anthropologist 64(1 ): 1-14.

REFERENCES

Benson, E. P. 1974. A Man and a Feline in Moche Art. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology 14. Dumbarton Oaks. Washington D.C. 1998.The Lord, the Ruler, Jaguar Symbolism in the Americas. In Icons of Power: Feline Symbolism in the Americas, edited by N ..J. Saunders, pp. 53 -76. Routledge, London and New York. Burger, R. L.1992. Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London. Campbell, J. 1958. The Symbol without Meaning. RheinV erlag. Zurich. Classen, C. 1993. Inca Cosmology and the Human Body. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City. Donnan, C.1976. Moche art and Iconography. Latin American Center, University of California, Los Angeles. 1978. Moche Art of Peru. Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles. Donnan, C. and L. J. Castillo. 1992. Finding the Tomb of a Moche Princess. Archaeology vol.45, no.6. The Archaeological Institutute of America, N. Y. Donnan, C. B. and D. McClelland. 1999. Moche fineline painting. Its evolution and its artists. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles. Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and Danger: An analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. N.Y. Preager. Eliade, M. 1964. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Bollingen Series Volume 76. Bollingen Foundation, NY. Jung, C. G. (editor). 1978 [1964]. Man and His Symbols. Picador, Macmillan Publishers Ltd, London. Kehoe, A. B. 1996. Eliade and Hultkranze: The European Primitivism Tradition. The American Indian Quarterly 20 (3 & 4): 377-392. Langdon, E. J. Matteson. 1992. Portals of Power. Shamanism in South America. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Lanning, E. P. 1967. Peru before the Incas. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs. Lathrap, D. W.1971. The tropical forest and the cultural context of Chavin. In Dumbarton Oaks Conference on Chavin, edited by E. Benson, pp. 73-100. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 1974. The moist tropics, the arid lands, and the appearance of the great art styles of the New World. In Art and Environment in Native America, edited by M. E. King and I. Traylor Jr.,

4

The Rise of Religious Routinization The Study of Changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo It is argued that the changes from shamanism to priesthood or institutionalized religion can be traced through the identification of processes of religious routinization that are absent in the shaman 's world. This routinization is expressed in the material culture, especially in the iconography or art styles and architecture. These expressions are typically a byproduct of the religious routinization generated by successful prophetic movements. The perspective and concepts offered in this paper allow us to rethink the impact of ideology. The routinization of religion as a process can account for most of the shared material culture in space (horizons and cultural areas) as religious complexes. Temporal changes in the routinization are radical and can be perceived in the archaeological record as distinctive phases. It is proposed that these processes are common in the Andes and Mesoamerica and explain why these locations are different from areas where shamanism is the dominant ideology. This conceptual approach allows us a better understanding of the nature of the religious sphere and its relationship to the material cultural world. As a case study, the archaeological evidence of the Tairona in northern Andes is presented.

"The secular fact remains that all religions begin with either a paranoid shamanistic self-impresario or shaman-priest impresario of his supernatural Spirit-Helper or animal familiar. All gods are at least as real as shamans' visions, although perhaps not any more so" (La Barre 1972:269-270).

THE IMPORTANCE OF ROUTINIZATION AND THE RISE OF PRIESTHOOD

The recognition of shamans in the archaeological record has been difficult. However, the real problem is to identify the changes from shaman to the rise of a priestly elite. This task falls to the archaeology of identifying prophets, and more importantly, it is not really the archaeology of finding a prophet himself, but is the archaeology of routinization. I argue that the prophet is the source of institutionalized religions and canons. He is the transformer from the numinous to the holy (see Otto 1958:110). This conclusion is not new. Several authors have made similar arguments (for example see Wallace 1956; La Barre 1972:265; Weber 1993:28; Hugh-Jones 1996:71-73). Max Weber (1993:46) refined the definition of the prophet by adding the important notion of charisma. For Weber the prophet is :

It is in periods of crisis of a political, economic, social or even enviromnental nature or of 'values' in relation to the 'other' (the 'other' being a different house, clan, moiety, or people) that the shaman can rise as a prophet. These periods of crisis have been traditionally interpreted as generating what has been called resistance religious movements, messianic or revitalization movements, and eschatological movements (see Wallace 1956; Sullivan 1988:551-614; Schaden 1989:39-60; Brown 1994; Clastres 1995; Hugh-Jones 1996; Wright 1998). The rise of a prophet can occur only in a very particular condition; this is that the religious system that he/she promotes encompasses a new set of principles that must be embedded in the idea of salvation. This discourse of salvation can take different forms, but all of them are considered under the term of eschatology (defined as a doctrine of last things, the end, a conception of the beyond that expresses the destiny of the individual after his death). His eschatological views, a product of revelations, and his /her personal ecstasies become important alternatives to the crisis. When the prophet confronts the crisis with revelations, he/she can succeed in winning permanent helpers; these may be disciples or followers. The followers form congregations for particular activities making communities of people who share the same eschatological view. In all cases they are personal devotes. The maintenance of these congregations has to be sustained by sacrificial offerings and gifts provided by the followers (Sullivan 1988:672-681; Weber 1993:60-79; Hugh-Jones 1996:51). The expansion in space of the movement is influenced by multiple factors, and depends heavily on the success of the discourse presented by the prophet and the form that it takes in relation to preexisting political

"a purely individual bearer of charisma, who by virtue of his mission proclaims a religious doctrine or divine commandment". He adds: "..the personal call is the decisive element distinguishing the prophet from the priest. The latter lays claim to authority by virtue of his service in a sacred tradition, while the prophet's claim is based on personal revelation and charisma. It is no accident that almost no prophets have emerged from the priestly class" (Weber 1993:46). He goes onto characterize the properties of the prophet as being able to practice divination, magical healing, and counseling. In other words the prophet is a shaman. For Sullivan (1988:387) the bases of religious authority are basically: possession, canon, and ecstasy. Of these it is ecstasy which accounts for most religious authority in South America under the specialist: the Shaman. I share the view of Weston La Barre in that:

5

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

structures. The structure of that relationship can be very diverse and complex (in terms of alliances and political support).

life by means of depicting his revelations and by showing his transformations into other beings such as jaguars, serpents, birds, or other animals (see Hugh-Jones 1996:7071). These representations, that are usually interpreted by archaeologists as being of shamans, are actually illustrations of the events that occurred in the past before the routinization took place. Temples and shrines are not places of shamanistic cults. These are places where the priest is in charge of the routinization and the maintenance of the holy. It is obvious that the representation of dances and other numinous experiences are very important to the reproduction of the religion of the shaman who becomes a prophet, and the transition of his eschatological beliefs (See Sullivan 1988:564,591-597,579; Hugh-Jones 1996:62-68).

Due to the limited temporal control that archaeology has where identified periods encompass events of several generations (with the exception of the Maya), we are not going to be able to recognize all the prophetic movements in the archaeological record. The record will be biased only toward illustrating the successful prophetic movements that generated religious routinization. In this sense we have to be satisfied with recognizing the patterns in the archaeological record that are generated by the successful religious paradigms of prophets. We can do this by looking for the repetitive iconography, artifact remains and changes in the settlement pattern that can be attributed to such movements in time and space.

By examining how the new religious system is tied to the political organization, we can also begin to recognize how the process of routinization is achieved (see Brown 1994; Wright 1998). Furthermore, by looking at the iconography and the symbolic context of the new cult, we will be able to recognize the 'crisis' that generated the rise of priestly 'horizons'. With this I make explicit reference to the development of horizons such as the one identified for Chavin, as an example, and early Moche in the Andes.

I define routinization as the critical threshold practice of the change from shamanism to priesthood. Weber termed the process of routinization ( Veralltiiglichung) as: "where the prophet himself or his disciples secure the permanence of his preaching and the congregation's distribution of grace, hence insuring the economic existence of the enterprise and those who man it, and thereby monopolizing as well the privileges deserved for those charged with religious functions "(Weber 1993:60).

I also argue that we have already identified those distributions of religious motifs dispersed in time and space in the iconography, the cultic artifacts, the temples and shrines, but we have erroneously called them 'cultural areas', or 'cultural periods'. The explicit distribution of iconographic motifs of a human transforming into an animal, humans with masks or masked dancers, or representations of gods are no more than the illustrations of such prophets and prophetic events of the numinous experience. These cultural areas and periods represent the distribution of a cult managed by a priestly elite. They are the result of the routinization process and this is what is occurring when the iconography in gold and ceramics is of 'shamans'. This iconography was previously used to define 'cultures', as for example the Tayrona culture, the Muisca culture, La Tolita culture, Valdivia, San Agustin, Chavin, the Nazca, and many others. As the many years of chiefdom studies have shown us, the distribution of the gold artifacts, in what we defined as cultural areas, are not in political units or economic units or ethnic groups. I repeat myself that such spatial distributions illustrate the temporal and spatial reach of religious cults of shamanistic origin, developed by a prophet or prophets and reproduced in a routinization of the sacred and the holy by a priestly elite.

Guidens (1986:216) reformulated the routinization concept in terms of reproduction of practices: "Routine action is action which is strongly saturated by the 'taken for granted' ... however much they involve a labor of reflexive attention, used to generate interaction over time, are latently accepted by the parties to that interaction" (Guidens 1986: 218). This transition toward routinization, that can be very gradual, is characterized by one key attribute. This attribute is the creation of fixed cultic centers that are associated with a cultic apparatus (Weber 1993:28-29). The rise of temples and shrines reinforces the message of the prophetic ecstatic experience. In archaeology this routinization is known as the Priest-Temple complex. It has to be clarified that the success of a priesthood elite does not mean the disappearance of shamanistic practice. Shamanism will always be present as an alternative form to the establishment and may even coexist in the religious sphere, as multiple ethnographic cases demonstrate (Lowie 1954:161-164; Clastres 1977:29-30; Hamayon 1996; Humphrey 1996; Chaumeil 1998).

The concept of religious complex must now be defined. I use the concept as the system of shared cosmological views that are expressed in low statistical variation in the religious material artifacts and religious architecture. This religious complex usually operates above the level of political units, languages and economic units. The foundation of the religious complex is shamanistic in origin and is proposed as an alternative to a crisis by a

The religious routinization generated by a priestly elite is expected to take advantage of the material culture to reproduce and maintain the new religious paradigm. The best way to do this is by transforming or changing the iconography and artifacts to reflect the new belief system. The illustration of events and new cultic artifacts become ideologically important in the routinization of the prophet's 6

Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo: The rise of Religious Routinization. The Study of Changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite

prophet. This prophet creates the agenda around eschatological views. During the development of the complex and expansion in time and space, the routinization of the rituals takes place in temples and shrines, as well as in the artifacts associated to these activities. The complex can expand and contract in space, depending on the rise of new crises and the success of the process of routinization in the landscape. This complex can be identified archaeologically and may demonstrate dynamic movement in space and time that can be independent from local variations of political and economic processes of complexity. Let me now go to a case study.

THE CASE STUDY OF THE SIERRA NEV ADA DE SANTA MARTA AND THE TAIRONA RELIGIOUS COMPLEX

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of the most complex ecosystems of the world due to its northern location in South America. It is a massive mountain with a pyramidal shape in front of the sea. It rises to a height of 5775 meters above sea level in just 48 kilometers from the sea. It is the highest mountain in Colombia and of the permanent glaciers of the Andes, as well as being the highest mountain in the world beside the sea. Two

Caribbean

Sea

Map 1. Northern Colombia with area of study marked: Northwest Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

7

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

religious complexes have developed there, that of the Tairona Religious Complex (AD 600 - 1600) and the Kaggaba Religious Complex (1600 - Present). The last one has its origins rooted in the first. It is expressed in a different form but has elements from the previous complex.

begins in the tenth century AD up to the seventeenth century AD (Cadavid and Herrera 1985; Herrera 1985; Oyuela 1983, 1986c, 1987a, 1995). The variation of the three sequences helps us understand the variation of the expansion of the Tairona Religious Complex.

Our knowledge of the archaeology of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is limited to three regions. These are characterized by being very different ecologically. The Parque Tairona is located at the coastal northern face of the Sierra. The Gaira region is located in the coastal northwestern side, and the last region is the Upper Buritaca on the northern side of the headwaters of the Buritaca River. The best chronological sequence of archaeological artifacts and settlement pattern is available for the region of Lower Gaira (Oyuela 1987b, 1989, 1995). The sequence of occupation of the area goes from at least 500 BC up to the present, with continual evidence of occupation. In the case of the region of the Parque Tairona, the availableevidence supports a record from around AD 500 to the present (see Bischof 1969; Oyuela 1985, 1986b). In the case of the Upper Buritaca, the evidence of occupation

THE TAIRONA RELIGIOUS COMPLEX: ORIGINS, CRISIS, DEVELOPMENT AND ROUTINIZATION Origins from ca. 500 BC to AD 600 The only evidence that we have for the origins of the religious Tairona Religious Complex is found at two type sites. These are Puerto Gaira in the Lower Gaira (Oyuela 1987b, 1989), and Cinto in the Parque Tairona (Oyuela 1984,1985, 1986b). The interpretation and data presented are based mainly on two reports for both areas produced by the author. The longest sequence is from Puerto Gaira, a site that reaches an area of 1.5 to 2 hectares at the end of its occupation around AD 600. This area can be interpreted as the location of a small village of a few dwellings of fishermen.

MarCaribe

AltoBurltaca

RioFrio

~~-_~ ___

._____

o_=r_2_ .._L..._6_K __________

~

Map 2. Location of the three areas of study: lower Gaira river drainage,the National Park Tairona and the Upper Buritaca river drainage.

8

Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo: The rise of Religious Routinization. The Study of Changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite

The associated artifacts change in time, and for this reason the chronology is separated into two phases. The first one (AD 500BC? - 200) is characterized by very elaborate ceramic vessels that have large pedestal bases with bulbar forms.

sometimes perforated. These were buried as offerings, a practice which continued during the whole sequence. Through time the vessels changed, not in form, but in quality. The well manufactured bichrome vessels changed to crude and low quality painted black vessels in the later periods. All this material seems to be peripheral to a religious complex developed somewhere else in the interior of northwest Colombia or the Guajira Peninsula.

During the second phase (AD 200 - 600), a clear pattern of association of these fisherman-agriculture populations to the lower Magdalena River and Cienaga Grande complex are observable, as well as is an association with ceramics from the Rancheria River in the Guajira (La Loma and Homo phases). The burial practices consist of the deposition of the body in a cooking vessel used as an urn with a different painted vessel used as a lid. Other small vessels were deposited as offerings (two burials like this were excavated). The ceramics that can be considered to have a ritual purpose are decorated with red or purple color over black, as well as of red over cream. All of these vessels usually have high bases or evidence of having been used under heating conditions to toast leaves in low quantities. The vessels seem to have been used in the toasting possibly of coca leaves. These very elaborate vessels and two gigantic rollers used for body or cloth painting with sigmoide and circular motifs are the only materials that suggest a worship of some kind, or ritual activities that are outside of fishing and food production. Evidence of offering jars with painted red over cream was also found. These are fme ceramic containers with lids that seal the container. They usually have been found to contain hundreds of volcanic crystal stone beads, which are

What kinds of crises can be identified to have caused a shift to local ceremonial centers and the development of a local new religious complex? Let us explore this aspect. Although the data are still very sketchy, it is too much of a coincidence that different authors have noted an environmental change in the area that might have triggered the rise of a prophet and the cult of the 'Father Sun' and the 'Great Mother ', figures that are even today maintained as key components in the religious belief system of the Kogi. The Crisis: An Environmental Change

I propose that a catastrophic environmental crisis took place ca. AD 500-550, just before the occupation of Mamoron in the Gaira valley, between AD 550-800. This time period also seems to be related to a dry period that coincides with the desertification of the Guajira at the end of the El Homo complex (see Reichel-Dolmatoff and Dussan 1951, Bray 1995, Oyuela 1996). There are also data to support a massive uplift of the Sierra Nevada de

12

DJo cie Ague.

t8

Areno.l del Sera).

23

Tohlti

26

Los Cocos

Map 3. Location of settlements during the Gaira phase of the lower Gaira region.

9

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

SIT1DS FAS[ 2

MAMOR □ N

El l'l.:iv;lla C:o.? □_

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clel

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/

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Map 4. Location of settlements during the Mamoron phase of the lower Gaira region.

SlTl □ S

FASE

P □Z □ S

C □ L □ RAD □ S 14

4

C(,.$'.UTv-bk ~:...c..,; 1k,:u::ui;£:. )':,,1,,:¢.{ t,:,~: Z? ·Lr)s

21 22

L-o.dl",M~r::., Pvente Ptir>t« cli?l ($tf

C:blvv;..;

13 Ho.r,,:,,1-t-10.\ tt tscor,d;cio

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2600

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2800

3000

3200

3400

Loma Alta Based on uncalibrateddates

(after Lathrapet al., 1975)

Table 1. Valdivia chronology is based upon the ceramic analysis by Hill (1972/74).

21

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

by 35 meters east - west is in the south east sector (Figure 3). Two elliptically shaped wattle and daub platforms were identified on the summit of the platform mound in the north west sector. The north platform measures 4 by 5 meters and was oriented east - west, while the south platform measures 3 by 2 meters with the longitudinal dimensions extending north - south (Figure 4). A series of four descending retaining walls were recorded in the Trench B excavations and were identified on the surface on the remaining sides of the artificial mound structure. Large-scale excavations included 4 meter wide trenches (A - D) of varying lengths, five meter square cuts (1-4, 6) and a 2 by 1 meter square cut (5) all excavated to sterile levels, as well as a 29 meter exposure of a continuous vertical section designated, Profile A.

Three distinct occupation surfaces were identified in the excavations (Floors 1-3), however the primary occupation was associated with Floor 2. A total of 332 square meters of the prehistoric living surface Floor 2 was exposed during excavation and numerous archaeological features were identified. A total of 139 archaeological features were found at La Emerenciana overall. These consist primarily of ritual offerings, as well as features involved in the platform mound construction, and four human burials. All four Valdivia VII-VIII burials at La Emerenciana are primary interments, associated with Stratum 5 (Floor 2), 14c

which pertains to a Valdivia Phase VII-VIII occupation and AMS dated to between ca. 3860-3650 years ago (Tables 2a and 2b ). The material culture as well as floral

\ t N

Pond

0

50 Contour intervals are in meters

meters

Figure 3. Site plan showing the area excavated in black. The artificial mound on the SE portion of the site is under the buildings south of the site datum indicated by the triangle.

22

John E. Staller: Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts.from the Site of La Emerenciana

WII I I I 11111111111111111111;~t 00

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M

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LA EMERENCIANA (OOSrSr-42) EL ORO PROVINCE NW Sector

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38 36

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34 32 30 28 26 24 meter grid

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Datum

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Retaining wall

Figure 4. Excavation Trenches (A-D), Units (1-6), and Profile A indicating the locations of the North and South Platforms and the associated burials.

and faunal remains associated with these Valdivia VII-VIII burials will provide the basis for analyzing the funerary practices. The application of ethnographically documented South American mythologies is incorporated into the analysis to understand their symbolic and cosmological significance.

process of clearing exploratory Profile A. Only the lower lumbar vertebrae, innominate bones, and upper portion of the femur remained intact, but small inclusions of a red pigment were found around the remaining skeleton (Ubelaker and Jones 1996). A concentration of burnt sediment, faunal remains, and sherds were located above and 120° south east of the remaining skeleton, which was surrounded by oyster shell. The partial skeleton representing Burial 1 indicates that the interred was covered with a red, iron oxide pigment, perhaps ocher, and buried in an upright, tightly flexed position. The position of the lower lumbar vertebrae to the upper portion of the femur suggests Burial 1 was probably wrapped.

LATE VALDIVIA BURIAL PRACTICES AND FUNERARY RITUALS AT LA EMERENCIANA The following analysis of mortuary practices at La Emerenciana is based upon four Valdivia VII-VIII burials. All of the burials are associated with the primary occupation of the site, the Stratum 5 layer. An incomplete human skeleton designated as Burial 1 was identified in the

The three remaining Valdivia burials at La Emerenciana were identified on the summit of the north west platform 23

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

Table 2a. RADIOCARBON DATES FROM LA EMERENCIANA (OOSrSr-42)

14c Laboratory No.

Measured

Calibrated

(material)

14c Age

2 Sigma, 95%

14c No. SMU-2225 (charcoal)

3707 ± 148 B.P.

2203 ± 215 B.C.

14c No. SMU-2226 (charcoal)

3400 ± 220 B.P.

1690 ± 310 B.C.

14c No. SMU-2241 (charcoal)

3361 ± 246 B.P.

1679 ± 300 B.C.

14c No. SMU-2563 (charcoal)

3775 ± 165 B.P.

1846 ± 165 B.C.

(after Staller 1994:table 15) Table2b. ACCELORATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY (AMS) DATES FROM LA EMERENCIANA (OOSrSr-42)

Sample Data

Measured

Conventional

14cAge

14c Age

a.) Beta-125106 Sample A Cat. #: 5480 Analysis:StandardAMS Material/pretreatment: (organic material/acid washes)

3720 ± 40 B.P.

-25.8 o/oo

3700± 40 B.P. (Calibrated 2310B.C.)

b.) Beta-125107 Sample B Cat. #: 5623 Analysis:StandardAMS Material/pretreatment: (organic material/acid washes)

3810 ± 50 B.P.

-21.9 o/oo

3860 ± 50 B.P. (Calibrated 2310B.C.)

mound under both the north and south platforms in the excavation of Trench D (see Figure 4). A circular concentration of hard packed clay located directly under a prepared clay floor, directly beneath the SW edge of South Platform sealed the burial pit containing a primary interment designated as Burial 2. The burial pit was circular in shape measuring approximately 47 cm in diameter (Staller 1994:306-309). An analysis of the Burial 2 skeleton indicated it was an adult female between 40-45 years of age (Ubelaker and Jones 1996). The skeleton was oriented SW azimuth 225° and tightly encased in the burial pit with oyster shells, partially burned sherds and faunal remains concentrated above the interred. Like Burial 1, this burial was found in an upright and tightly flexed position (Ubelaker 1989) and covered with a red pigment.

The legs were placed together on the right side of the torso, the knees drawn up at such an acute angle that the cranium rested against them with portions of the femurs covering the right half of the face. The arms were folded over the ribs just under the mandible, and the upper arms were tightly pressed against the sides of the torso inferring it was probably a bundle burial wrapped in a textile or perhaps fishing net, although no evidence of wrapping material was preserved (Staller 1994:308). Burial 3 was also uncovered in a circular burial pit filled with oyster shells and pot sherds, and consisted of a fully articulated juvenile skeleton between 5 and 6 years of age interred in an upright and flexed position. The legs crossed at a 60° angle as though it was seated. The cranium,

24

John E. Staller: Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts.from the Site of La Emerenciana

cranium of the skeleton was tightly encased in oyster shell. A dark organic stain was found on the inside edges and bottom of the pit suggesting it was possibly lined by an organic matting, again possibly junco grass (ibid:313-314).

oriented NE azimuth 32°, faced down into the torso. The right arm was placed forward and bent at the elbow in a 90° angle, so that the radius and ulna were in front and above the left side of the torso and cranium (Staller 1994:310-312). The skeletal remains of juvenile Burial 3 give the impression the body was held underneath the arms before being placed into the pit. Directly above the cranium, at the opening of the burial pit there was a concentration of burnt sherds, faunal remains, and bivalves. The burial pit fill consisted of 18 complete bivalves, potsherds, and faunal remains surrounding the skeleton. Color distinctions in the edges, base, and sides of the pit suggest it may have been lined with an organic matting, possibly junco grass, although all of it had decomposed.

VALDIVIA FUNERARY PRACTICES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR BELIEFS IN THE AFTERLIFE The Valdivia funerary tradition is one of the most intensively documented in the archaeological record of the northwestern Andes. Valdivia burial practices pertaining to the early and middle portion of the cultural sequence have been reported from a number of different preHispanic sites and from a variety of contexts (Meggers et al. 1965; Lathrap et al. 1975; Marcos et al. 1976; Marcos 1978). However, the funerary practices of the final portion of the Valdivia sequence are not well documented. Besides the four burials from La Emerenciana, only one other Valdivia VI-VIII skeleton has been reported from securely excavated contexts (see Zeidler et al. 1998).

Another kidney shaped burial pit was found just south east and below Burial 3. Burial 4 is a fully articulated female adult skeleton between 36 - 41 years of age (Ubelaker and Jones 1996). Burial 4 was oriented NW azimuth 325° and buried in an upright tightly flexed position, with the knees drawn up to the cranium so that the mandible rested on them. The top of the right knee was in front of the detached mandible (Staller 1994:312). The lower extremities were positioned to the right of the torso, at an angle of less than 10°. The hands were folded over the chest, with the upper arms pressed tightly against the sides of the torso. It appears that like Burials 1 and 2, Burial 4 was also wrapped in a bundle although the wrapping material was not preserved archaeologically. Burnt potsherds from an Anadara sp. shell-impressed cambered jar, oyster shells, numerous fish bone, and evidence of fire were concentrated at the pit opening, and all but the

Earlier Phase I -VI Valdivia burials from other areas of the coast are variable with regards to orientation and positioning, and include both primary and secondary interments, in flexed or extended positions, lying on either side. In contrast, at La Emerenciana all of the interred were positioned upright and apparently wrapped in either textile bundles or fishing nets (Table 3). All but juvenile Burial 3 were in a tightly flexed position (see Ubelaker 1989). The funerary rituals at the aperture or opening of the burial pit involved the ritual termination of funerary

Table 3 Characteristics of Valdivia Funerary Practices and Rituals at La Emerenciana (OOSrSr-42) Mortuary Characteristics at La Emerenciana: a.) Shallow graves circular or oval in shape lined with a hard clay or a organic matting.

b.) Positioning of interred: Upright, tightly flexed, flexed (Burial 3), wrapped in funerary bundles of either textiles or fishing nets.

c.) Interred are covered with a red pigment probably ocher (exception: subadult Burial 3). All the skeletons were tightly encased in the burial pits with oyster shells, sherds, and fauna! remains. d.) Funerary offerings: local consumables, oyster shell, terrestrial, maritime fauna, aquatic fauna (estuarine), bird fauna, plants (organics), and ceramics.

Associated Funerary Rituals: e.) Ritual preparation of corpse: Interred is covered in a red pigment probably ocher (exception: subadult Burial 3). f.) Corpse is encased in oyster shell in the burial pit. g.) Ritual Offerings: Offerings oflocal consumables including various flora and fauna usually in ceramic containers at the opening of the burial pit.

h.) Termination Rituals: Ritual termination of associated ceramics and consumables by smashing in place at the opening of the burial pit ..

i.) Evidence of frre: Fire clouded sherds, burnt fauna! remains and organics. Ritual offerings at the opening of the burial pit are burned. j.) Ritual Feasting: Burials 2 and 3 have large associated pit offerings in the immediately vicinity of the burials consisting of smashed plates, cups, and bivalves (primarily oyster shell), which may be a result of communal ritual feasting in the context of funerary practices.

25

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

offerings consisting of broken pottery, local flora and fauna that were ultimately consumed by fire. In the lower portions of the burial pits all the Valdivia skeletons were encased with oyster shells. A red iron oxide pigment perhaps ocher - was associated with all but the juvenile Burial 3 skeleton.

(Staller 1994:316-317). The distinctions that characterize Valdivia VI-VIII mortuary practices and their contextual associations may be seen as a significant body of data for interpreting developmental changes in the social organization. Both of the complete adult La Emerenciana burials are female and all are primary interments associated with ritual-ceremonial contexts, implying that some females in the society had social status. A funerary pattern of primarily female burials in association with ceremonial architecture has also been reported from the Charnel House at the site of Real Alto (Marcos 1978). The associated funerary rituals appear to be communal, a practice consistent with what had been reported elsewhere for Valdivia culture. The associated non-sumptuary offerings probably represent a means by which the society could symbolically channel their productive surplus to communal or spiritual objectives. There are good contextual reasons to suppose that such ritual practices have significance regarding generative power in the afterlife.

The funerary practices at La Emerenciana reflect what may be seen as a more formalized treatment of the dead than what has been reported for Valdivia burials from earlier periods in other areas of the coast. In previously published reports, investigators have stated that Valdivia sites with earlier occupations (Phases I-V) do not appear to indicate a consistent pattern with regard to funerary rituals and the treatment of the dead (see e.g., Meggers et al. 1965; Lathrap et al. 1975; Marcos et al. 1976; Marcos 1978). The burial pits are shallow circular or kidney shaped graves, dug to a depth of no more than a half a meter and apparently lined with either hard clay or organic matting. Archaeological research on the ceremonial mound at Real Alto has revealed a rather elaborate female burial associated with what are interpreted as several sacrificed males, but this is the only example of such funerary practices in the archaeological record for Valdivia (Marcos 1978). The late Valdivia funerary practices and associated rituals appear to be unique to La Emerenciana, however, similar burial practices and funerary rituals have been reported from coastal sites to the south in Peru associated with Late Preceramic contexts. Similar funerary practices have been associated with occupations dated to between 2000 - 1850 BC at sites such as Paloma and at the Huaca Prieta and during the Initial Period at nearby Huaca Brujo in the Chicama River valley (see Bird et al. 1985; Quilter 1989; Bischof 1999). It is at this point premature, given the small sample size, to state that such burial practices are characteristic of the final portion of the Valdivia culture sequence, however some of these patterns have been identified with Machalilla Phase burials in other regions of the coast (Norton et al. 1983). Given the similarities with funerary practices to the south they also have interesting implications for long-distance interaction along the coast. It is during this time (ca. 1850 - 1650 BC) that ceramic innovations, presumably associated with an increased dependence upon plant cultivation, spreads through the desert coasts to the south and into the Ecuadorian and Peruvian highlands to the northeast and southeast, associated with the early rise of complexity.

COSMOLOGY, ECOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY

Many scholars of South American prehistory have sought to interpret Andean cosmology. Their analysis and identification of iconographic symbols on temples and stone sculpture, as well as anthropomorphic and zoomorphic themes and associations, and stylistic attributes on ceramic motifs, have illuminated our understanding of the past (Willey 1962; Rowe 1967; Lathrap 1970, 1973, 1974; Lathrap et al. 1975; Stahl 1986; Donnan 1976; Donnan and McClelland 1999; Sharon 2000). More recently, scholars have focused upon the interpretation of Andean symbolism and have increasingly turned to the rich ethnographic record in search of universals, widespread mythological themes and symbols, and ethnohistoric accounts of indigenous populations existing in the post-conquest world (Zuidema 1964; LeviStrauss 1973; Reichel Dolmatoff 1974, 1975; Helms 1977; Wilbert 1977, 1987; Roe 1982; Classen 1993). The funerary practices at La Emerenciana appear to reflect communal ritual practices focused upon generative power in the afterlife. In order to gain insight into the possible cosmological and ideological significance of such beliefs one must tum to what is known in the South American ethnographic literature regarding fertility and generative power among existing native populations. It is therefore significant in this regard that aspects of beliefs surrounding generation and regeneration are embodied in the widespread mythology of the World Tree (Eliade 1964:269-274; Roe 1982:136-162).

Funerary associations at La Emerenciana indicate a total absence of sumptuary goods and the presence of local consumables from the inside center. On the basis of these contextual associations, we may infer that the Valdivia funerary practices reflect what in other areas of the Andes has been referred to as an ideology that held certain strictures against material accumulation and the sanctification of individual power or ascribed status (Burger 1992). On the basis of the evidence from La Emerenciana, we may further infer that the distinctions in funerary practices and associated rituals are primarily related to differences in age, sex, or personal achievement

The World Tree is a variant of the pervasive South American mythological concept of the House Pillar or great Food Tree. Its roots emerge from an aquatic underworld while the leaves symbolically eclipse the celestial realm mediating the layers of the universe - the earth, water, and sky. The World Tree symbolizes generation and fecundity, the source of all life - vegetable, 26

John E. Staller: Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts.from the Site of La Emerenciana

animal and human - as well as death and regeneration through catastrophic floods (Roe 1982: 136-146). It is, according to Ortner (1973), one of the key symbols of the entire South American cosmology. Given that the World Tree myth is still pervasive in a wide range of native cultural contexts, there is strong reason to suspect that it may have ancient origins (Eliade 1964).

terrestrial, celestial and underworld realms, with the central pillar or post of the maloca linking the various cosmic layers as axis mundi (Figure 5). Since the communal house or maloca is a central place, its center or central part is associated with the center of the female body, the belly (Reichel Dolmatoff 1975:141; Roe 1982:137). In South American mythology, it can be anthropomorphically or naturalistically symbolized as pregnant with a fish, or as hollow and filled with water (Figure 6a-c, e). The anthropomorphic symbolism of the cosmology surrounding the World Tree mythology is often expressed in iconography or symbolically by representations of the nude female form (see Figure 6b-f). Such symbolism is therefore inherent and directly relevant both from an anthropomorphic and naturalistic standpoint to Valdivia culture.

It has been suggested that the indigenous world view

surrounding the World Tree mythology is focused around the concept of the 'center', which in this case is represented by a maloca or communal house (Roe 1982:136). The central post of the maloca is an axis mundi or projected to represent the 'center of the world' (Eliade 1964:264-265; Dumont 1976:77; Whitten 1976:67). In the World Tree mythology, the universe is conceptualized as a series of concentric rings symbolically representing the

Yellow Ancient Eagle (KING VULTURE

ZENITH

~::..

Giant Eagle .. ~RPY

EAGLE)

~-~ White

E

Left

~

w

Black

Green

Blue Schematic

Rendering of the Model

(from Roe 1982: 128)

Figure 5. A composite of the World Tree with associated symbolism based upon ethnographic data from various Native cultures from the Amazonian lowlands. The time dimension is limited to a single day. Note that the basis of the symbolism is on the one hand, based upon a horizontal dimension the cardinal directions and on the other the vertical, as the cosmic layer cake. In this case, the layers are held together by the ceibo, which represents the axis mundi.

27

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

THE WORLD TREE

~f."'---Permutations of the World Tree as Key Symbol: (a) Dragon Tree, (b} Fish Woman, (c) Phallic World Tree with Woman Shaman Guardian, (d) First Woman and the Ambulatory Phallus, (e) Botanical Tree with the Dragon (Frog Variant) on the Inside, and (f) Woman Tree, Alias the Wooden Bride. (from Roe 1982: 142) Figure 6. Various permutations of the World Tree and the symbolism that surrounds the myth. Note that c.) has the ceibo as World Tree in a phallic shape representing male sex. This pattern is similar to Valdivia "Venus Style" figurines which have a phallic shape but are represented as nude females.

A strong symbolic association between the female form and ideas surrounding fertility and fecundity is a reoccurring theme of the myth and is also a hallmark of the Valdivia ceramic figurine tradition, particularly the socalled 'Venus Figurine' style (Estrada 1958; Evans et al. 1959; Marcos and Garcia de Manrique 1988). The vast majority (over 90%) of the thousands of anthropomorphic figurines excavated thus far from Valdivia sites are female representations and they are generally depicted as nude (Staller 1997/99). Moreover, a number of the Venus style figurines are pregnant, reinforcing their symbolic association to concepts surrounding fertility and fecundity. The nude Venus figurines of the Valdivia tradition have been interpreted by various archaeologists as being

associated with a fertility cult (Estrada 1956:8, 1958:26; Zevallos and Holm 1960:9-10; Porras 1973; Lathrap et al. 1975:39; Zeller 1975). Others have extended the notion of fertility to symbolize agricultural fertility (Zevallos 1971:23; Marcos et al. 1999). It was Lathrap et al. (1975) who first made the observation that many female figurines are phallic in shape, with the hair or coiffeur explicitly forming the glans, reflecting a symbolic combination of both sexes. The Valdivia figurines therefore portray the female form in a representational manner, however their phallic shape reflects an abstract hidden dimension to the artistic expression and a symbolic reference to both sexes (Staller 1997/99). Lathrap et al. have observed that:

28

John E. Staller: Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts.from the Site of La Emerenciana

"The union of both sexes is indicated in the earliest elaborate clay figurines and strongly supports the conventional interpretation of these objects as fertility symbols" (Lathrap et al. 1975:39).

Mountain. The symbolic referent of the sacred mountain is the temple center, which was sometimes imagined as a celestial column (ibid). In the case of La Emerenciana, the platform mounds would have been perceived in this light. In South America, all the symbolism associated with the House Pillar Tree Qaguars, sun, yellow etc.) has masculine connotations, in contrast to the feminine attributes of the hollow, water-filled ceibo as World Tree (Roe 1982:137). Roe suggests House Pillar Tree is the masculine compliment to the World Tree in that it symbolizes the trunk of the central World Tree, uniting the three cosmic realms. The World Tree as House Pillar Tree also has symbolic connections to sacred mountains, which are also conceptualized as hollow and entered through caves into the aquatic underworld realms (Reichel Dolmatoff 1978).

Also noting their phallic shape, Marcos and Garcia de Mamique (1988:40) suggest that the Valdivia style figurines before Phase III (ca. 2400 BC) have a dualistic stylistic dichotomy signifying both fertility and virility. Such inherent dualism and the recombination of categorical pairs of opposites is also present in the World Tree mythology. In order to gain an understanding of indigenous South American mythology it is necessary to have some degree of familiarity with the plant and animal ecology in which such societies exist. It has been widely demonstrated that the symbols and meanings of such beliefs are ultimately derived from a close relationship with and understanding of the natural environment (Reichel Dolmatoff 1976; Benson 1998). Levi Strauss (1973:394) and Mary Helms (1977:64) have identified the tree species most often associated with the World Tree mythology as a silk cotton species, a member of the Bombaceae family ( Ceiba insiginia) commonly referred to as ceibos, which include yuchan (Chorisia insignia), as well as, the closely related Tiliaceae family (Roe 1982:141). Ceibo trees are ideal metaphors for mythological symbolism and associations because they are biologically 'anomalous'. The tree species in the family of Bombaceae are anomalous in that instead of having a straight trunk as is common with most tree species, the trunk of the ceibo is bulbous. Rather than being solid, the trunk of the ceibo is hollow and filled with water, and the wood is soft rather than hard. According to Helms (1977), such anomalous characteristics make ceibos a perfect vehicle for myth. Ceibos have symmetrical thorns or spines on their trunks. These thorns have been conceptualized in Amazonian South America as symbolically analogous to the sharp teeth of the vagina dentada, and in the Andes, to the spines on the thorny oyster (Spondylus princeps), a shell species of central importance to pre-Hispanic religious cosmology and ideology. The anomalous characteristics of the ceibo tree therefore are conceptualized in various traditional South American cultures as having strong female associations (Roe 1982:141).

AxisMundi

Celestial Realm

Terrestrial Realm

Underworld Realm

Figure 7. Simplified model of the House Pillar Tree, representing the central post of the maloca or communal house connecting the various layers of the cosmic layer cairn.

The inherent cross-gender related symbolism of House Pillar and World Tree mythology is to some degree consistent with the representational and abstract attributes inherent to the Valdivia figurine tradition. That is, although the figurines are represented as females, their overall shape is phallic, combining the attributes of both sexes, the female in a representational manner, the male in abstract form. Is it possible that the inherent dualism of these ritual objects and their associated symbolism are reflecting the ancient origins of a tripartite cosmology in the Valdivia Phase? In order to demonstrate such relationships additional ecological and archaeological evidence must be brought into the analysis.

The mythology surrounding the World Tree also has masculine connotations as the World Pillar or House Pillar Tree (Eliade 1964:259-266). The House Pillar Tree is a phallic entity, representing the central post of the maloca or communal hut (Figure 7). Like the World Tree, it is conceptualized as connecting the three layers of the cosmos, yet it is solid, not hollow (Roe 1982:137). It has been referred to as a universally disseminated idea among ancient cultures, associated with the belief that a shaman can, through soul travel, directly communicate with celestial and underworld realms through the center or axis mundi (Eliade 1964:264). Access into the celestial and underworld realms is often linked with a sacred or Cosmic

The possibility that ceibos may have been vehicles for the ancient integration of a tripartite model of the universe is consistent with their environmental distribution, since they are common throughout coastal Ecuador. It is of particular ethnographic interest in this regard, that in southern coastal El Oro, local villagers appear to have a cultural taboo or at least an aversion to cutting down such trees. In fact, a

29

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

majestic ancient ceibo, said to be over four hundred years old, and over fifty feet tall was growing on the northern periphery of the prehistoric midden at La Emerenciana (Staller 1994:Plate 7). In southern coastal El Oro Province, two distinct genera of ceibo are found in abundance, what coastal villagers refer to as 'ceibo' (Ceiba trichistandra) and another related genus Cavanillesia platanijlora, referred to as 'lupuna bruja' (Staller 1994:Table 8). The local reference to this tree as 'lupuna bruja' has striking implications to the mythological and cosmological associations being proposed in this analysis. The word 'bruja' of course is commonly a reference to a female shaman or healer (curandera). According to Roe (1982:118) the word 'lupuna' 1 refers to a sacred species of tree associated with the Meliaceae family of the species Trichilia guadrijuja called sh6no by tribes along the middle Ucayali River in Peru. One such group, the Shipibo, uses these trees as landmarks and give them shamanic and mythological importance, in that they believe the lupuna contain an indwelling spirit (ibid: 119). They use the sap of this species with other psychotropic species for shamanic purposes, to attain altered states of consciousness. Is it therefore possible that the tree commonly referred to as 'lupuna bruja' may be indicating a similar importance and significance to villagers in coastal El Oro as the other species called lupuna or sh6no does to the Shipibo? In southern coastal El Oro Province, the mighty ceibos are also revered by coastal villagers as natural landmarks, and according to anecdotal sources are commonly thought to grow only above or in the immediate vicinity of pre-Hispanic graves (Staller 1994). In this region, ceibos only have leaves during the three month long rainy season. Since the thick winding branches are bare most of the year, some locals in coastal El Oro have related that, during the dry season, they perceive the tree as inverted or turned upside down, with their roots reaching to the sky.

symbolizes the sacrality of the world, its fertility and perenniality, to ideas of fecundity, creation, and initiation, and finally to ideas of absolute reality and immortality (ibid). World Tree cosmology is therefore significant as a symbolic continuum because as a conceptual ideology, it incorporates an inherent duality by transforming static oppositional duality into a dynamic complimentary one (Doyon 1998). An aquatic association with the underworld realm is embodied in the roots, which are symbolic as the origins of the world flood. Although the World Tree is considered to symbolize the source of life, when severed it is believed to deal death by producing world flood. Peter Roe (1982) cites Anderson (n.d.) in relating the lupuna tree to rain and to celestial waters through tobacco smoke. He states: "During rain-making ceremonies, the shaman smokes a pipe called shinitapo. He crouches under the sacred lupuna tree, blows tobacco smoke to the ground, and weeps. The smoke rises to the clouds and provokes rain. His tears symbolize rain." (Roe 1982:119) The association of the lupuna tree and shamanic rituals involving tobacco smoke and celestial rain symbolically refers to the life-giving force, to aspects of fertility and fecundity inherent to the World Tree mythology. Such mythological connotations are particularly intriguing for southern coastal El Oro, since this region of coastal Ecuador is prone to climatic extremes, with a long history of large-scale flooding, often induced by El Nifio Southern Oscillation (ENSO) storm events (Staller 1994:144-153; Rodell et al., 1999). Therefore, cosmological beliefs surrounding the World Tree would have been ideally suited to these environmental and climatic conditions, providing a more compelling case for the possible ancient origins of the mythology and its associated cosmology in this region. Moreover, ritual practices such as those just mentioned involving the lupuna tree and tobacco, are also appropriate to this region since it is also prone to periodic drought. In a classic synthesis of tobacco and tobacco shamanism in South America, Wilbert (1987) has stated that both subgenera of tobacco Nicotiana rustica, and N tabacum have very ancient origins in this part of the Andes. In fact, wild and domesticated varieties of both of these subgenera of tobacco are commonly found in the region today (Wilbert 1975, 1987; Staller 1994:Table 10). The variety most often associated with shamanism is the more potent Nicotiana rustica, where it is often consumed in association with the mescaline-active San Pedro Cactus (Echinopis pachanoi) - another plant species that occurs throughout the lowlands of coastal El Oro Province (Sharon and Donnan 1977; Staller 1994:Table 10; Sharon 1978, 2000). A Campa myth 'Jaguar Mistress of Tobacco' indicates such symbolism crosses gender lines and is therefore consistent with female Valdivia ritual artifacts, tobacco, and by extension the San Pedro Cactus (Wilbert 1987; Staller 1997/99).

Inherent to both the World Tree and House Pillar Tree mythology is a conception of the universe as layered, with the World Tree or World Pillar representing the nucleus or axis mundi. Several world views are implied by the symbolism of the World Tree. On the one hand, it conceptualizes the universe in continual regeneration, as the inexhaustible spring of cosmic life, and because of the concept of the center or axis mundi, the reception of the celestial, therefore the planetary heavens (Eliade 1964:271). In a number of ancient cultures the World Tree 1 In the Vocabulario de las Nombres Vulgares de la Flora Peruana (Lima, Colegio Salesiano 1970) Jaroslav Soukup, SDB states, on p. 192 "Lupuna see Chorisia, Trichilia." For Chorisa HBK (p.80) the refers me to, "Bombacaceas" the family name which includes the Ceibos and related species. Jaroslav Soukup then states that the genus "Chorisia" is dedicated to J.L. Choris, a Russian lithographic illustrator who lived between 1795-1828. Other names given this genus include, barrigon, guito-algodon, huimba, and lupuna. Other scientific designations of this genus include C. integrifolio Ulbr., called huimba colorado, and lupuna. F.P. Volume III-A.2:605. Jaroslav Soukup indicates that there are five known species, two in Peru. The word lupuna generally refers to a tree of the genus Chorisa, not a true Ceiba, but another tree in the same family (Bombacaceas). (translation by author)

30

John E. Staller: Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts.from the Site of La Emerenciana

Valdivia funerary rituals and offerings found above the interred, represent locally-available consumables from the inside center, presumably placed in a ceramic container, which was ritually transformed by smashing the pot and ultimately burning it and its contents - a kind of termination ritual. In World Tree mythology, food, usually fruit and birds, are often symbolically represented as emanating from the branches (Roe 1982). As offerings, such consumables symbolize the resources necessary to sustain life, their ritual transformation by fire may be seen as symbolizing the mediation of a duality of forces in opposition embodied in life and death, as well as the earthly, celestial and underworld realms. Ritual termination of such offerings recreates the conditions of ultimate sacred beginnings, both generation and regeneration, presumably to recreate fecundity and fertility in other worldly realms.

CONCEPTUALIZING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PATTERNING AT LA EMERENCIANA

In analyzing the funerary contexts from La Emerenciana, I have applied a symbolic correlate to the communal remains associated with the interred (Figure 8). In terms of faunal remains, my symbolic correlate is in reference to their ecological niche. In the case of pottery, I have broken down such objects to their essential component parts by referring to how they attained their final physical properties. Conceptualizing the funerary remains in this manner facilitates our understanding of how such elements have a symbolic referent to a tripartite model of the cosmos. By conceptualizing the archaeological patterning as a set of ritual actions, the distributions of the various funerary offerings illustrated in the schematic diagram take on a wholly different significance than if analyzed in merely descriptive terms. And since they are ritual actions, by definition they ultimately have reference to sacred dimensions. I am assuming, for contextual reasons, that the ritual actions and funerary associations were conceptualized as analogous to something beyond the mundane affairs of daily existence. Seen in this way, as ritual actions carried out in association with a repeated set of activities, it is apparent that the funerary patterning in essence reflects a symbolic reconstructing of a layered universe. Since such symbolism is embodied in the World Tree mythology, I contend that the origins of such a cosmology is of great antiquity, reaching back to the final portion of the Early Formative Period. Since it is essentially apolitical and generally involves a manner of conceptualizing the universe, its potential integration into a variety of cultural contexts is enhanced. The antiquity of this cosmology with the Valdivia culture of El Oro Province is a particularly compelling interpretation when incorporated with the ecological data already outlined for this region of coastal Ecuador and the ethnographic data reported from other regions of the continent.

Schematic of Mortuary Remains from Valdivia VII-VIII Burials at the Site of La Emerenciana, El Oro Province, Ecuador and their Cosmological Implications

Tripartite Universe

World Tree axismundi

Fire = Celestial

Celestial

Ceramics = Earth, Water, and Fire Bird Bone= Celestial Terrestrial Fauna= Terrestrial Floral Remains= Terrestrial

Terrestrial

Oyster Shell = Aquatic

Underworld

At La Emerenciana, the interred are all buried in an upright and tightly flexed position covered in a red pigment and presumably wrapped in burial bundles. According to anecdotal accounts from local villagers in southern El Oro, the color red has symbolic associations with female gender and the Pitahaya Cactus (Cereus cartwrightainus), and is culturally associated with summer solstice rituals (Staller 1994:Plate 1). All three adult burials at La Emerenciana are female, as are the vast majority of Valdivia burials excavated from ceremonial or ritual contexts, however in this case they imply a reference to World Tree cosmology in its feminine manifestation. It is also possible that in ancient times the color red may have had symbolic associations with the thorny oyster, which is known in various pre-Hispanic cultural contexts to have symbolic and ideological associations to female gender (Burger 1992). The skeletons are all surrounded by oyster shell. In ancient times, such oysters would have been attached to barrier reefs and therefore have obvious aquatic associations, which in this case have symbolic reference to the underworld and the afterlife (see Figure 8). The

Material Constituents and Symbolic Connotations

Burial Pit and Layers

of Funerary Offerings

Note:All FuneraryOfferingsare Local Consumablesfrom the InsideCenter

Figure 8. Conceptualizing the funerary offerings in terms of a tripartite model of the universe. Ceramics in this case embody all three elements since they are made of clay (earth or terrestrial), and water (underworld), which is fired (celestial). The offering conflates the various elements directly above the burial bundle, which symbolizes the center or axis mundi.

The inherent duality evident by the two earthen mounds at La Emerenciana, on opposite ends of the site has intriguing implications for their significance in connecting other cosmic realms. As Roe (1995) indicates, any double set implies a third set or tripartite structure, what is called 'Dual Triadic Dualism' (cf. Doyon 1998:7). In the case of the World Tree mythology, a possible resolution to the 31

Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations. Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America

third set is the vertical dimension, involving a symbolic connection of the celestial, and underworld layers to the earthly terrestrial realm through the axis mundi (ibid). In this case it is represented by the symbolic correlate of the sacred mountain or temple - at La Emerenciana, the platform mounds.

(Helms 1991, 1993; Doyon 1998). Persons of rank act within the vertical dimension by acquiring esoteric knowledge through presumed contact with supernatural realms and along the horizontal plane via long-distance interaction through sponsorship (Figure 9). That is to say, that everything that is spatially distant, is not socially or politically equivalent, but morally either superior or inferior to the inside center. In addition, objects from distant realms are often identified as associated in some manner with primordial places of origin or with ancestral heroes or original creative events (Helms 1991, 1993). Social power in this case would have been culturally defined by an ability to switch the axis according to circumstance or need (Doyon 1998).

DEFINING SOCIAL POWER DURING THE EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD OF COASTAL ECUADOR

The significance of horizontal and vertical dimensions to native concepts of distance and ecstatic trance communication with supernatural realms has been eloquently expressed in the research of Mary Helms (1991, 1993). The implications of the cosmological, funerary and ethnographic data presented in this analysis suggests that social power in late Valdivia culture is closely related to the acquisition of esoteric knowledge. Such knowledge would have most likely been obtained through the sponsorship of long-distance exchange and the acquisition of sumptuary items related to status and rank. Another possibility is through personally carrying out such exchange to distant realms away from the cultural center, a kind of rite of passage. In the Andes, direct access to goods from distant localities has always been favored over indirect access through secondary sources (Murra 1976; Salomon 1986). Helms (1991, 1993) has introduced a spatial and hierarchical model focused upon the qualitative nature of ritual exotics and sumptuary goods and their acquisition. Her research has also considered in some detail the role of esoteric or sacred knowledge as the primary basis for the legitimization of power - a qualitative distinction differentiating persons of status from all others. The basic hypothesis is that the symbolism and meaning associated with things obtained from distant places by acts of longdistance trade are comparable to the symbolic associations that accompany finely crafted objects created by acts of skilled craftsmanship (Helms 1993:91). A second point is that acquisition, especially long-distance acquisition as a type of appropriation, can reach beyond exchange in a cosmological or cosmographic sense. In other words, physical travel horizontally across a spatially/temporally, morally distinct outside region may be regarded as ideologically or symbolically comparable to tranceinduced travel vertically up and down the sacred dimensions of the celestial and underworld realms (Helms 1991).

Indirect evidence of such long-distance interaction is reflected in the Valdivia VII-VIII material culture by a sudden proliferation of finely crafted ritual artifacts in various mediums, including stone, ceramics and exotic shell (Marcos et al. 1999). The appearance of such finely crafted sumptuary objects coincides with the introduction of ceramic innovation outside of coastal Ecuador, particularly the adjacent highlands, the northern Peruvian sierra, and the north and central coast (Zeidler 1988; Staller 1992/93; Marcos et al. 1999).

The link is that both types of activities ongmate in the realms or conditions defined as cosmologically outside the bounds of settled, ordered society. Acquisition on the other hand, occurs between the cultural heartland or inside center and the contrastive universe or outside periphery (Helms 1993 :92-95). The spatial dynamic is based upon an alternative axis of exchange - traders moving across a horizontal landscape, while the vertical plane is in the realm of persons of rank - the artisan and the shaman

In his research on Andean verticality or complimentarity, Salomon (1986) introduced linguistic and ethnohistoric evidence that indicates that specialized traders or mindalaes were primarily women who resided in areas important to transport and centralized exchange in the intermontane valleys, often living some distance from their home communities (Salomon 1977/78). Such positions were considered to be hereditary, or based upon status. Is it possible that the repeated association of female burials in

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