Now that will send a shiver down your spine! Archaeologists discover nearly 200 HUMAN VERTEBRAE threaded onto reed posts in Peru to reconstruct the dead 500 years ago
Archaeologists working in Peru have found nearly 200 examples of human spines threaded onto reed posts
This unique treatment of the deceased took place around the time of European colonisation in 16th century
‘Vertebrae-on-posts’, created from 1450-1650, likely made to reconstruct dead in response to grave looting
The discovery in the Chincha Valley coincided with the end of Inca rule in region and the arrival of Europeans
Turbulent period saw Chincha Kingdom decline from over 30,000 heads of household in 1533, to 979 in 1583
Archaeologists working in Peru have found nearly 200 examples of human spines threaded onto reed posts, in what experts believe was a bizarre attempt to reconstruct the dead 500 years ago.
This unique treatment of the deceased, never before documented in the region, took place between about 1450 and 1650.
It coincided with the end of Inca rule of the region and the start of European colonisation, when looting of Indigenous graves for gold and silver was widespread across the Chincha Valley.
Radiocarbon dating suggests that the threading of vertebrae onto reeds was done after the initial burial in an attempt to reconstruct the dead, researchers said, perhaps after the graves were damaged by looters.
The 16th century was a turbulent period in the history of the region, which had been home to the complex Chincha Kingdom from 1000 to 1400, before they established an alliance with the Inca Empire and were eventually consolidated into it.
But the area on the south coast of Peru was devastated by the European arrival, with epidemics and famines decimating the local population and leading to a catastrophic population decline from over 30,000 heads of household in 1533, to 979 in 1583.
The international team of researchers discovered 192 examples of ‘vertebrae-on-posts’ in the valley, most of which were in large, elaborate indigenous graves known as chullpas, hundreds of which litter the region.
In almost every case, each appears to have been made from the remains of a single individual, with both adults and children selected for the practice.
‘Looting of Indigenous graves was widespread across the Chincha Valley in the Colonial period,’ said the study’s lead author Dr Jacob L. Bongers, from the University of East Anglia.
‘Looting was primarily intended to remove grave goods made of gold and silver and would have gone hand in hand with European efforts to eradicate Indigenous religious practices and funerary customs.’
Additional analyses of the vertebrae-on-posts suggested that these items may have been created to repair the damage done by this looting, with people returning to chullpas to reconstruct their dead.
‘These “vertebrae-on-posts” were likely made to reconstruct the dead in response to grave looting,’ said Dr Bongers, whose previous research had documented hundreds of looted graves in the region.
‘Our findings suggest that vertebrae-on-posts represent a direct, ritualised, and Indigenous response to European colonialism.’
Bodily integrity after death was important to many Indigenous groups in the region.
The nearby Chinchorro people developed the first known techniques for artificial mummification, millennia before Ancient Egypt.
When mummies in the Andes were destroyed by Europeans, Indigenous people salvaged what they could to make new ritual objects.
Researchers said the vertebrae-on posts may have been part of a similar effort to reconstruct bodily integrity after looting.
‘Ritual plays important roles in social and religious life, yet can become contested, especially during periods of conquest in which new power relationships become established,’ said Dr Bongers.
‘These finds reinforce how graves are one area where this conflict plays out.’
The new research has been published in the journal Antiquity.
Source: daily mail
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Now that will send a shiver down your spine! Archaeologists discover nearly 200 HUMAN VERTEBRAE threaded onto reed posts in Peru to reconstruct the dead 500 years ago