Death and Religion in the Southern Moche Periphery: Funerary Practices at Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru

AbstractThis article explores religion, death, and mortuary practices in the Southern Moche (A.D. 1-800) periphery as viewed through the excavation of grave contexts at the site of Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Moche influence reached Nepeña as is visible in the construction of religious buildings at the site of Pañamarca and the presence of Moche style ceramics at several sites. In 2003 and 2004, scientific excavations at Huambacho, an Early Horizon center mainly built and occupied during the first millennium B.C., yielded a series of intrusive graves containing Gallinazo, Virú, and Moche style objects. This contribution contextualizes these discoveries and focuses on the analysis of funerary patterns of burial, osteological evidence, and symbolic meanings with the objective of understanding local funerary practices and Moche religious and cultural expressions. Symbolic references to coast-highland interactions, inversions in body positioning, and possible human sacrifices bring insights into the complex and potentially tense sociohistorical cirmcumstances in Nepeña during the Moche phase.