Typology and Contexts of Funerary Structures during the Late Intermediate Period in the Puccha River

 Why tombs matter here

Tombs from the Late Intermediate Period (LIP, c. AD 1000–1550) are among the most abundant archaeological remains in the Peruvian highlands. Archaeologists nonetheless describe them with inconsistent vocabulary, which makes comparison across sites and regions difficult. This study addresses that problem for the Puccha basin, in the eastern highlands of Ancash, a region also known as Conchucos. The basin is formed by the Huaritambo, Mosna, and Puccha valleys. Ethnohistorical sources place two ethnic groups there at the time of Spanish arrival: the Huari north of the Puccha River and the Pincu to the south. The study proposes a standardized tomb typology and examines how burial practices responded to settlement shifts.

A central observation frames the work. During the LIP, residential settlements relocated to hilltops, often in defensive positions, but cemeteries did not follow. Many tombs lie on slopes at lower elevations, away from any village, forming isolated cemeteries. Burial patterns are therefore harder to read than settlement patterns, which calls for a regional strategy. The research combined systematic survey, mapping, and excavation at several late settlements, supported by radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis of human teeth.

The proposed typology

The classification rests on three criteria: physical appearance, construction technique, and the labor invested in building each tomb. Five main types are defined.

Funerary caves involve minimal modification of the landscape. Some are built beneath large natural boulders, with small walls closing the spaces between rock and ground. Others are tunneled into rock outcrops, which requires little labor but depends on the outcrop's extent. Chullpas are aboveground chambers with three or four walls and an artificial roof. They are divided by roof type: lightweight false-vault chullpas, typical of the LIP, and flat-roofed chullpas made of heavy slabs, sometimes supported by columns or dividing walls, which are characteristic of the earlier Recuay period. Cists are small vertical tombs, 40 to 50 cm wide, built either from flat slabs (box cists) or carved into bedrock. Rock-shelter tombs are built against cliffs or large boulders, using one to three walls and thin stone roofs, and are described by sixteenth-century chroniclers. Subterranean tombs are built below ground with single-faced walls, in single-chamber, multi-chamber, or gallery forms.

The Quechua term machay (cave) is applied loosely to almost any tomb with a small entrance, so it cannot serve as a precise category. The typology is a basic framework to be expanded; other forms exist, such as pit, house, and offering burials and semi-chullpas.

Case studies of isolated cemeteries

Ñawpamarca de Huachis is a large hilltop settlement with 57 structures and clear Inca architectural influence, including rectangular buildings and double-jambed doorways. It nonetheless has no chullpas. Its twelve tombs, eight caves and four cists, lie outside the core area. The bones are mostly bleached and disarticulated, indicating repeated movement and sun exposure. Isotope results indicate maize consumption and a common geographic origin, and a tooth dated to cal. AD 1423–1456. The author concludes that ceremonies here were public rather than centered on the dead, who were kept apart from the living.

Jato Viejo, 1.2 km away, is a rock formation shaped like a tower, with fourteen caves, four of them containing remains. Cave 1, facing the sacred mountain Wiñaj, held at least twelve individuals and is fronted by a small plaza strewn with fine ceramics. Dates of cal. AD 1310 and 1439 make it contemporary with Ñawpamarca. Because the caves are too small to have served the whole settlement, the author interprets Jato Viejo as a burial place for a small privileged group, likely members of a dominant ayllu, claiming descent linked to Wiñaj.

Canec has sixteen tunneled caves in a half-hectare area, grouped in clusters. Eight contained disarticulated, sun-bleached bones, and one date falls at cal. AD 1397–1442. The clustering suggests that related people wished to be buried together, and the author reads Canec as another isolated, multigenerational cemetery.

Ushcugaga is the most isolated cemetery in the valley, divided into a lower sector of 21 caves beneath fallen granodiorite boulders and an upper sector of two rock-shelter tombs. Three to seven individuals lay in each excavated cave, and dates fall between 1320 and 1434. Bones inside the caves were bleached by sun, implying they were removed and exposed. Nearby are rock art and a Recuay ceremonial structure, which probably influenced the choice of place. A Catholic chapel dedicated to Tayta Huancayo may point to Huanca populations resettled by the Inca, though no pre-Hispanic sacred site is recognized there.

Chullpas and rock-shelter tombs

Chullpas began in the Recuay period and continued until the Spanish arrival. The largest concentration is at Marcajirca, with 37 examples on the southern slope of the sacred mountain Llamoq. At Gantu de Huaripampa, six chullpas stand on a ridge outside the residential area, face east toward the settlement, and preserve red stucco. Gantu de Masín has a single chullpa with the same construction and orientation, while Ranrajirca and Waracayoc each have one, built outside their core areas. Their eastward orientation suggests people there disregarded Llamoq, unlike at Marcajirca.

Rock-shelter tombs appear at Huaganku, where four tombs lie beneath 21 Inca storehouses. They also appear at Gantu de Cajay, where four collective tombs may date to c. AD 900–1110, and at Shushu, where about twelve tombs sit partway up a cliff over 200 m high. Shushu's location resembles sites near the Marañón River, and the tombs may belong to resettled people from the Huánuco region.

Conclusions and contribution

The study shows that LIP cemeteries moved differently from villages, with chullpas as the main exception, built near or inside settlements. It proposes that caves in isolated cemeteries could belong to small or declining ayllus that lost the right to bury in regional cemeteries, or to resettled groups from elsewhere. Chullpas clustered around Llamoq, by contrast, appear to preserve the lineage and descent of particular ayllus rather than simply hold bodies. The paper also offers a shared descriptive vocabulary and a regional dataset of previously unreported tombs, a basis for comparing funerary practices across the Ancash highlands.