El ritualizado proceso funerario y el rol de las vasijas en miniatura en Huaca Loro, Valle de La Leche

Una costumbre funeraria común en las culturas prehispánicas tardías en la Costa Norte como la cultura Sicán, es la practica de depositar vasijas en miniatura hechas a mano y de rápida manufactura. Su numerosa cantidad, difusión extensa, y variación estilística, técnica y formal ofrecen una excelente oportunidad de extraer información sobre aspectos rituales y sociales del proceso funerario. Esta tesis se desarrolló dentro del marco del Proyecto Arqueológico Sicán (PAS) dirigido por el Dr. Izumi Shimada. Las excavaciones realizadas corresponden a la temporada de excavación del año 2006 denominada Proyecto Arqueológico SicánHuaca Loro 2006. Las excavaciones se concentraron en un cementerio intacto ubicado en la base noroeste del montículo piramidal de Huaca Loro en el sitio de Sicán, valle medio de La Leche. Durante las excavaciones de los contextos funerarios, se registró uno que presentaba ampliaciones en su estructura, modificando otros contextos funerarios, así como varios niveles superpuestos de objetos asociados. Un tipo particular de objetos llamó la atención por su pequeño tamaño y abundante número, las vasijas en miniatura. Este contexto funerario fue interpretado como la representación de un largo proceso funerario, al interior del cual estos objetos cumplirían una función particular. El objetivo principal de esta tesis radica en comprobar esta hipótesis y aproximarse a la reconstrucción del ritual funerario.Tesi

The Global Dynamics of Inequality (GINI) project: analysing archaeological housing data

The GINI project investigates the dynamics of inequality among populations over the long term by synthesising global archaeological housing data. This project brings archaeologists together from around the world to assess hypotheses concerning the causes and consequences of inequality that are of relevance to contemporary societies globally

URBAN LAYOUT AND SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN SICÁN, PERÚ

The Sicán polity (AD 750 - 1375) developed in the middle La Leche Valley on the north coast of Peru. This dissertation presents the results of a comprehensive program of full-coverage high-resolution pedestrian survey, with systematic surface collections and architectural mapping, covering 50 km2 in the capital city of the Sicán polity located in the current-day Bosque de Poma Historical Sanctuary in the La Leche Valley. My research was designed to address the urban and architectural layout of the Sicán city, its size and population density, the socioeconomic differentiation and economic activities of its residents, and continuity and change through time in residential patterns in the area. The results provide new evidence about the layout and sociopolitical organization of the Sicán city. The city was formed by the Sicán Core, a civic- center formed by the Platform Complex and Pyramid Complex with a central plaza, and a much larger surrounding area of low-density urban occupation I call Greater Sicán. Greater Sicán surrounds the Sicán Core and its formed by several demographic districts, each with its own civic-ceremonial nucleus of monumental architecture, and engaged in diverse economic activities such as craft production. Unlike other well-known centralized Andean cities, Sicán is a dispersed city with several separate nuclei that I propose corresponds to a segmentary form of sociopolitical organization. Sicán’s layout resembles the sprawling outline of a dispersed or garden city as originally defined for the Maya area and southeast Asia. Widespread distribution of wealth consumption objects such as finewares, metals and beads show that the Sicán city had a large middle class population. Evidence suggests that craft production, particularly metallurgy, was the critical source of wealth, prestige and power in the Sicán city. Finally, this research provides a complete social trajectory of the research area spanning the Formative, Moche, Sicán, Chimú/Late Horizon and Contact/Colonial periods

The Global Dynamics of Inequality (GINI) project: analysing archaeological housing data

The GINI project investigates the dynamics of inequality among populations over the long term by synthesising global archaeological housing data. This project brings archaeologists together from around the world to assess hypotheses concerning the causes and consequences of inequality that are of relevance to contemporary societies globally