Burying the Dead at Ayawiri: Mortuary Diversity and Postmortem Manipulation at an Andean Hillfort (AD 1100–1450)

Abstract

This article presents results from the excavation and analysis of 11 slab-cist tombs associated with the site of Ayawiri, one of the largest hillforts in the western Lake Titicaca Basin during the Late Intermediate period (LIP; AD 1100–1450). These semi-subterranean tombs typically contain commingled human remains. Variation between and within tombs in the number of individuals, the body parts represented, and the degree of skeletal articulation points to a complex burial practice that likely involved tomb reopening, successive burial, and even the deposition of select body parts. Demographic and mortuary profiles suggest that burial practices were decentralized and flexible, structured by shared attitudes toward “the dead” and the dead body but also subject to the prerogatives and preferences of semi-autonomous corporate groups. This study advances our understanding of a lesser-known mortuary tradition in the Lake Titicaca Basin—one long overshadowed by more prominent burial towers (chullpas)—and sheds new light on the complex interactions that took place between the living and the dead during the LIP.