Death and the dead in formative perú

The treatment of the dead and the manner in which the social relationship between life and death may be rel ected in burial contexts (see Beck 1995; Bloch and Parry 1982; Duday et al. 2009; Gowland and Knüsel 2009; Hallam and Hockey 2001; Hamilakis et al. 2002; Parker Pearson 2002; Williams 2003) are subjects that are strangely neglected in studies of the Peruvian Formative Period. Although there are some notable early twentieth century studies in Formative 1 funerary archaeology (Larco 1941, 1945b, 1948), Tello’s focus on ceremonial architecture and associated art has had a much greater inl uence on later archaeologists. Tello’s popular yet rather general vision of a broad horizon (based on the imprecise concept of an all-encompassing Chav í n style) was, however, resisted by Larco, strengthened by i eldwork data from small north coast funerary and habitation sites coupled with monumental architecture. He proposed that these remains signii ed a series of small-scale societies with identities and contacts expressed by dif erent styles. Unfortunately, both Larco and Tello failed to present their data in full, thus setting a lamentable precedent for Peruvian archaeology in general up to the present day. Yet even the widely used chronology of the Ica Valley (Ocucaje style) established by Rowe and his co-workers (Menzel et al. 1964) is based mainly on pottery from burial contexts, although it is not presented as such. However, although data may abound, detailed analyses are both rare and under-published, permitting rather speculative interpretations to prevail. Projects designed to address these dei cits are rare and often unpublished. It therefore behoves us to reassess the Formative. The task of characterising a period of more than a thousand years (ca. 1500—200 b.c.) is certainly a challenging prospect, but very necessary if we are to have a clearer understanding of this period and also the manner in which it influenced post-Formative times.