Death as a rite of passage: the iconography of the Moche Burial Theme

Transcription

1 Death as a rite of passage: the iconography of the Moche Burial Theme ERICA HILL* The application of van Gennep s Rites of Passage structure to iconography and mortuary contexts in the Late Moche period of Peru offers an original means of exploring prehistoric concepts of death. Key-words: Peru, Moche period, Rites of Passage, mortuary contexts, cosmology, iconography Archaeological and art-historical research on the North Coast of Peru has revealed a rich corpus of iconographic themes in metalwork, murals and ceramics from the Moche period, c. AD Iconography, with its wealth of representational imagery, in conjunction with archaeological evidence, indicates that a link exists between the images depicted and the ritual practices of the Moche (Bauer 1996: 333-4; Castillo 1993); in other words, the iconography is depicting certain aspects of Moche culture realistically, in particular, those aspects related to mortuary ritual (DeMarrais et : 24). This study examines one component of Moche iconography - the Burial Theme - using the tripartite rites of passage framework formulated by Arnold van Gennep (1960). Rites of passage occur cross-culturally during major events in the life-cycle and have three major components (discussed in greater detail below). In an interpretive analysis, I apply this framework to the iconography of the Burial Theme. The liminal, or transitional, states depicted in this image facilitate the renewal of the community following death (see IJceda C. 1997). The rites of passage structure provides the means for exploring prehistoric cosmology through iconography. Furthermore, this analytic structure can be employed as an alternative to analogical approaches and can be applied to the study of ritual and iconography beyond the bounds of the Andean world. Throughout, my focus is on death ritual, specifically as it relates to elite interments, but it draws on sev- eral sources, including Donnan & McClelland (1979), a vessel from the tomb of a high-status female at the site of San Jose de Moro (Castillo 1996), and a large sherd of another vessel published by Shimada (1994: 231). Finally, published examples of several vessels that contain either elements of, or related to, the Burial Theme itself are employed in this study (e.g. Benson 1972: figures 2-1,2-2; Hocquenghem 1987: figures ). All of the known contexts are mortuary, as are the contexts of most Moche ceramics and metalwork with iconographic content. Significantly, the Burial Theme first appeared during the Late Moche Period, characterized by both ecological and social upheaval. The Late Moche period (AD ) and the Burial Theme The Moche inhabited the arid river valleys of the Peruvian North Coast, relying heavily upon irrigation technology (Conklin & Moseley 1988), domesticated camelids (alpacas and llamas) (Shimada & Shimada 1985), marine resources and the fundamental cultigens cotton, maize, beans, gourds and squash. Evidence from glacial cores indicates that a severe drought with associated El Niiio events occurred between AD 563 and 594 on the North Coast (Shimada et al. 1991). These dates correspond to the transition from the Middle to the Late Moche Period (AD ). Bawden (1983: 235) applies A.L. Kroeber s term cultural reconstitution to changes in Moche architecture and iconography evident * Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM , USA. ehill@unm.edu Received 30 January 1998, accepted 20 March 1998, revised 23 April ANTIQUITY 72 (1998):

2 DEATH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MOCHE BURIAL THEME 529 in the Late Moche Period (c. AD ). Cultural reconstitution refers to the process of change that a polity undergoes as it fundamentally alters its basic structure in order to adjust to new conditions. As a result, the material record of the Late Moche Period (Phase V) included a diminished repertoire and use of traditional religious iconography, new ceramic forms... [and a shift] in ritual activities and paraphernalia (Shimada et d. 1991: 253). The style and composition of ceramic motifs also display marked changes during the Middle to Late Moche transition. The Burial Theme is one such example, appearing in integrated form for the first time during this period. Although this image is used as a case study, the interpretative approach presented here may be applied to any culturegroup with an extant iconographic repertoire. Such an interpretive approach would not be possible without the rich description provided by Donnan & McClelland s (1979) monograph on the Burial Theme. Their work utilised a total of seven unprovenienced vessels from museums and private collections in the United States, France and Peru. It was concerned with the identification of elements of the Theme, but did not attempt to locate the image within the context of Moche society, nor suggest why the Burial Theme became prominent during the Late Moche period. In contrast, my aim is to employ the rites of passage ritual structure formulated by van Gennep (1960) in order to situate the Theme within its prehistoric context. This is based upon transitional periods within the life cycle, or rites of passage. Van Gennep (1960) and later Turner (1967; 1969) applied the concept of rites of passage to the structure of ritual, breaking the process into three component parts. 1 the rite of separation ritualizes the removal of an individual from his or her usual position in life; 2 liminal rites emphasize transformation from one state into another; and 3 rites of incorporation focus on the reconstitution of the individual andlor the community in a new form (van Gennep 1960). The two lines of evidence used to evaluate the application of this tripartite conceptual structure to prehistoric iconography are 1 the Burial Theme itself; and 2 Moche burial evidence, which is discussed relative to the representation of interment depicted in the Theme. In the final section of this paper, van Gennep s tripartite structure is applied, with particular emphasis on the concept of liminality. Liminal periods are temporally bounded intervals in which an individual has ambiguous status relative to the larger community (Turner 1969: 94). Liminal entities may be disguised, masked (Napier 1986) or naked in order to demonstrate that they have no property, role or insignia of kin or community status (Turner 1969: 95). Liminal states may occur during the performance of a ritual, usually one in which an individual is moving from one state or status to another -for example from commoner to chief or from life to death (Metcalf & Huntington 1991). Cross-culturally, the rites of death and burial are generally associated with transitions and passages - essentially liminal states; these associations are arguably some of the few universals of human behaviour that have been identified by anthropologists (e.g. Metcalf k Huntington 1991). Such a transition, or liminal state, is evident in the iconography of the Burial Theme, which represents the performance of a ritual (Bawden 1996; Berezkin 1987; Donnan 1978). The iconography of the Burial Theme Donnan & McClelland (1979: 6) have argued that the Burial Theme is composed of four activities: conch-shell transfer, burial, assembly and sacrifice. They separate these activities on the basis of sets of parallel lines painted on each vessel. I have divided the Theme into three sets of activities, which I have identified as scenes: (Scene A) conch-shell transfer; (Scene B) burial and assembly; (Scene C) sacrifice. The Burial Theme depicts a series of figures engaged in each of these activities (FIGURES 1 & 2). Two figures usually re-occur in each set: Iguana and Wrinkle Face (or Aia Paec). In Moche art, the iguana is usually anthro- 1 My decision to divide the Theme into three scenes was based on iconographic content, rather than the presence of parallel lines. Sets of parallel lines occur throughout the images, not only surrounding the sets of activities identified by Donnan & McClelland (1979). Additionally, treating the burial and assembly activities together as Scene B yields a more integrated explanation of the scene than if these activities were separated.

3 530 ERICA HILL Scene C Aia Paec Aia Paec Iguana Iguana Aia Paec Scene A Scene B FIGURE 1. Roll-out of stirrup-spout vessel, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (RI).[Adapted from Donnan b McClelland 1979: 20, figure 6. Courtesy Donna McClelland.) Scene C Aia Paec Iguana Coffm Aia Paec Scene A Scene B FIGURE 2. Roll-out drawing of stirrup-spout vessel, Collection of Herbert Lucas, Brentwood [CA). (Adapted from Donnan 6. McClelland 1979: 21, figure 7. Courtesy Donna McClelland.) pomorphized and is depicted with a lined face, prominent muzzle, tail and bird head-dress (Donnan 1978: 41). The second figure also has a lined face, a characteristic for which Donnan and McClelland (1979) have labelled him Wrinkle Face ; however he will be referred to here as Aia Paec, following Larco Hoyle (1939: 142; Castillo 1989: 138). This figure also has a feline head-dress, as well as a distinctive shirt and a sash from which snakes extend (Berezkin 1980; Castillo 1989; Donnan & McClelland 1979: 6).z Scene A, located in the lower left half of FIG- URES 1 & 2, depicts the exchange of conch shells between Iguana and an attendant figure and a larger kneeling figure under a gabled roof struc- 2 Alternatively, Bourget (1994: 94) has suggested that the sash terminates with the heads of a snake-fox.

4 DEATH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MOCHE BURIAL THEME 531 FIGURE 3. Scene B (Burial]. Detail of rollout drawing of stirrup-spout vessel, Collection of Oscar Rodriguez Razzeto, Chepe'n, Peru. (Adapted from Donnan 6 McClelland 1979: 24, figure 10. Courtesy Donna McClelland.) Iguana ture. This latter figure has an elaborate crescent-shaped head-dress and sits atop a flight of stairs, which are ascended by the attendant figures. This central character is surrounded by stylized conch shells and may be shown wearing ear spools, a nose ornament and an elaborate backflap. The detailed ornamentation and dress of this individual indicate that he is male (Hocquenghem & Lyon 1980). His high status is suggested by his large size (relative to the other figures) and his location above the attendant figures at the summit of the platform. Additionally, he kneels beneath a gabled roof structure, traditionally associated with high status among the Mo~he.~ In Scene B (which comprises the right half of FIGURES 1 & Z), Iguana and Aia Paec stand at the top of a pit filled with offerings in gourd dishes holding ropes in the zoomorphic form of snakes. A rectangular box shape is represented at the bottom of the pit, surrounded by offerings. The face depicted on the box may represent a mask (Berezkin 1980: 15), which is turned toward the viewer (FIGURE 3). The face (or mask) is surmounted by a stylized conch shell (Strombus galeatus) (Donnan 1978: 64; Shimada 1994: 230). This shell motif is also a prominent image in Scene A. Above the box or coffin, human and anthropomorphized animals stand in ordered rows, apparently attending the ritual that is being performed. Donnan & McClelland (1979) have identified these com- 3 Relative size and position as a visual marker of differcntial status is a well-established principle in Egyptian iconography (Shiifer 1974: 233-4) and has precedents in Near Eastern cylinder seals and Christian imagery as well. This principle is applied here to the Moche iconographic corpus. COKi ponents of the Theme as the burial and assembly activities. On the other side of the vessels, Iguana and Aia Paec appear again. At the top left, a complex scene of sacrifice (or possibly de-fleshing) (Scene C) is depicted in which a naked female figure is being pecked by birds about the face and genital area (Donnan & McClelland 1979). Schaffer (1983) has identified these birds as members of the vulture family based on the presence of stylized wrinkles, which probably represent the characteristic un-feathered neck and head of either the black (Coragyps atratus) or turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) (Schaffer 1983: 35-42). The woman is always depicted in a spread-eagled position, with clearly represented sexual characteristics (Hocquenghem & Lyon 1980: 38). Her face, like the face on the coffin, appears mask-like (Berezkin 1980: 14-15; Schaffer 1983: 39). In several examples of the Burial Theme (Donnan & McClelland 1979: figures 6, 7 & lo), she is depicted with only one eye intact. To the right stands Aia Paec, who is usually depicted above and/or larger than Iguana, who is next to him. Aia Paec holds what appear to be spears or harpoons in one hand and snakes in the other. The belt of snakes, shirt design and feline head-dress make Aia Paec distinctive. Relationship of the Burial Theme to burial evidence Whether the 'burial' being depicted on the stirrup-spout vessels conforms to the actual evidence for human interment from Moche sites in the Moche, Lambayeque and Jequetepeque Valleys can be tested against the archaeological record (Castillo & Donnan 1994: 115; Castillo

5 532 ERICA HILL 1993). Below, I address the evidence for masking, the representation of the burial container and pit, and the presence of vultures, shells and food offerings. These lines of evidence demonstrate that the Burial Theme depicts actual prehistoric events. Masks The face surmounting the coffin at the bottom of the pit appears to be a mask; the face depicted is exaggerated, with fixed features. Facial coverings are a frequent component of Moche burial assemblages: often taking the form of gilded disks, as in the Moche IV burials at the pyramids of Moche (Donnan & Mackey 1978: , ; see Lapiner 1976 for several examples of masks). Another example from the same site is a copper sheet bent over the face of the deceased (Donnan & Milckey 1978: 154-8). A funeral mask with exaggerated features was recovered from the tomb of a priestess (sacerdotisa) at San Jose de Moro (Donnan & Castillo 1994). This copper mask was not applied to the face of the deceased, but rather attached to the coffin itself. In the SipBn Moche 111 burials, a sheet-gold mask covered the lower face of the individual in one of the primary interments. This mask had an indented space for the mouth and a cut-out space for the nose; the shape of the cheeks, chin and upper neck were also reproduced in hammered gold. In addition, two bands of teeth, a nose and eyes of hammered gold had been placed over the individual's face (Alva & Donnan 1993: 87-91). In one representation of the Burial Theme (Donnan & McClelland 1979: figure 21, the deceased individual is shown having only one eye. Two masks recovered at SipBn, each mask had only one eye of inlaid shell; the left eyes were missing. The investigators determined that left shell eyes had never been set into the masks, thus leaving the left sockets gaping (Alva & Donnan 1993: Method of interment Second, in the Burial Theme, the burial container represented is rectangular in shape, suggesting an extended burial (as the box is at least 4 As Bourget (pers. comm. 1998) has noted, larger circular copper disks have also been recovered at the Moche pyramids. These were probably part of a head-dress, rather than the masks discussed here. three times as long as it is wide). (Burial in a shroud wrapping or bundle would probably be represented as a rounded form, or at least with rounded ends, rather than as a rectangular one.) Archaeologically, Moche burials from Phases I-IV are almost always fully extended and supine with hands at the sides or over the pelvic area (Donnan 1986: 22; 1995: 123; Shimada 1994: 242). The face, or mask, faces the viewer in the representations. This may be the result of the artist rotating either the body or the box 90" in order to make the face visible (Donnan and McClelland 1979: 7). However, burial evidence from Galindo, a Moche V site in the Moche Valley, suggests that adults were frequently buried on their sides in an extended position (Shimada 1994: 241-2). Similarities also exist between the form of the box and the containers in which the Moche buried their dead. Donnan (1995) has identified seven distinct procedures used to encase the body for burial; two of these procedures correspond to the representational evidence: cane coffin and plank coffin burials. Only these two forms would produce a rectangular box form. The other five procedures produce rounded forms conforming to the shape of the body. Two plank coffin burials have been identified by Donnan (1995: 133). Both of these date to Moche 111, and are therefore much earlier than the period in which the Burial Theme appears. Tomb 1 at SipBn, now referred to as that of the Warrior Priest, contained a plank coffin lashed together with copper straps. Several other individuals in this tomb were interred in cane coffins surrounding the central burial (Alva & Donnan 1993: ). Donnan relates the use of cane and plank coffins to individuals of the highest social status in Moche society. Archaeologically, these forms of burial are associated with either rectangular or boot-shaped burial chambers (Donnan 1995: 122) several mebes deep. Rectangular burial chambers are generally rock-lined or constructed of mud brick with cane or wood roofing (Donnan 1995: 136-7). In the Burial Theme, the burial chamber is distinctly rectangular, which would appear to correspond with Moche treatment of high-status dead. Thus, the extension of the body, burial container and burial chamber as observed in archaeological contexts match the representation in the Burial Theme.

6 DEATH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MOCHE BURIAL THEME 533 Vultures In the upper left portion of the images, a naked woman is being pecked at by birds, which have been identified as vultures (Rea 1986; Schaffer 1983). Vultures are a common component of Moche art (Schaffer 1983). Although their remains have not been recovered in burial contexts among the Moche, vultures have been identified at later North Coast sites.5 Offerings of shells and food Finally, the Burial Theme is replete with stylized representations of shells and food offerings in gourd containers. High-status Moche dead are often interred with shells and food. At San Jose de Moro, for example, Spondylus shells were associated exclusively with highstatus individuals and were often placed on top of the hands (Castillo and Donnan 1994: 119, 124-5) or chest (Donnan & Castillo 1994: 419) of the deceased. At SipBn, Conus and Spondylus shells were found with some of the most elaborate burials ever excavated in the Moche area (Alva & Donnan 1993). However, Strombus shells, which are depicted in the Burial Theme, have no known association with actual Moche burials, although they may have an association with the dead by functioning as the medium through which requests for water are made. For example, shells may be offered to ancestors or spirits, both of which are associated with the provision of water resources to Andean peoples (Hocquenghem 1987: 82). Like shells, gourd dishes of corn and beans as well as other food items are commonly recovered archaeologically (Alva & Donnan 1993: 154, 189; Donnan & McClelland 1979: 7; 5 At the site of Pacatnamu at the mouth of the Jequetepeque Valley, two vultures were recovered in association with a human mass burial. The 14 individuals in the burial displayed trauma consistent with sacrifice as it is understood in Moche contexts [Verano 1986). Although this burial dates to the Chimd period (c AD), tremendous cultural continuity exists between the Late Moche and Chimu period. Settlement patterning, architecture and social structure demonstrate considerable continuity between the two periods [Conklin 1990; McClelland 1990: 92). Therefore the inclusion of vultures in a sacrificial burial at a Chimu site may he representative of Moche ritual behaviour in an earlier period. The behaviour of the birds depicted in the Burial Theme is also consistent with the known behaviour of vultures, which consume the eyes and genitalia first. This mass burial thus provides additional evidence that the naked woman in the Burial Theme is actually a sacrifice and that the birds pecking at her face and genitals are vultures. Gumerman 1997). In a comprehensive study of botanical remains from the site of Pacatnamu, Gumerman (1997) identified 17 plant species, most of which were edible. Among those plants were lima beans, peanuts, squash and lucuma. In sum, archaeological evidence for the burial of high-status individuals corresponds specifically with the iconographic evidence of the Burial Theme. For the purposes of this analysis, the assumption will be made that mortuary practice reflects social status (sensu Binford 1971). Therefore the individual being interred is of relatively high status, given the elaborate treatment of the body and the range of burial offerings. Having demonstrated that the Burial Theme depicts a ritual that was actually performed by the Moche, I present the Theme as a rite of passage below. Rites of passage and narrative art Several studies have observed that the theme of transition or transformation is a common component of mortuary ritual and symbolism (Badone 1989; Kan 1989; Metcalf & Huntington 1991: 32; Morris 1992; Parker Pearson 1993). Van Gennep s structure (1960: 10-11) describes certain events in an individual s life in terms of transitions or rites of passage, with three distinct stages in rituals: rites of separation transition rites (the liminal phase) rites of incorporation. All phases of a ritual or ceremony may not be developed to the same extent; thus in funerary ritual, the rites of separation (when present) may be minimal, whereas the liminal phase is often emphasized both in terms of duration and complexity (van Gennep 1960: 146). For example, I have observed many modern grave sites in the Southwestern US replete with the imagery of sleep -the deceased is neither dead nor alive, but rather is sleeping peacefully. Sleep itself is a liminal state - one is neither awake, nor unconscious, but rather somewhere in between. The general objective uniting rites of passage is to ensure the smooth transition from one state or condition to another. Thus birth, marriage and death are all states that may be culturally elaborated through a rite of passage. For example, marriage may be broken down into three periods during which an individual is 1 single, 2 engaged, 3 married.

7 534 ERICA HILL In this formulation, the period of engagement is a liminal phase in which the individual is no longer single, but not yet married. Like marriage, the cross-cultural elaboration of death may involve extensive ritual elaboration of the transition from life to after-life (Bloch & Parry 1982; Metcalf & Huntington 1993). Although the Burial Theme emphasizes the liminal state, rites of separation and incorporation are also depicted, albeit on a lesser scale. The Conch Shell Scene (Scene A) Scene A depicts the deceased while he was still alive. He is shown receiving conch shells while sitting under a gabled structure. His dress and ornamentation, size and elevation all suggest clearly defined status and role, which become masked (literally) in the burial scene (Scene B). Scene A represents a stable state in which Iguana has a central role, func:tioning as a harbinger of death. Iguana offers the shells, which in the scene of burial are associated with the interred individual. Iguana thus facilitates the rite of separation as defined by van Gennep; the shell imagery links the figure beneath the gabled roof with the deceased in Scene B. The Burial Scene [Scene B) Scene B depicts the interment of the high-status figure introduced in Scene A. In order to link the burial section of the Theme with this figure, stylized shell imagery is employed. Shells serve as visual cues, first surrounding the deceased in Scene A, and then being visually associated with his coffin in Scene B. Given its relationship to the conch-shell transfer scene and its explicit representation of interment and death, the burial scene represents the liminal phase of a rite of passage. Limfnal images have been identified elsewhere (e.g. Green 1997; Jonaitis 1981; Koehl 1986) and are usually associated with major life-cycle transitions. The primary characteristics of liniinal phases are ambiguity and the suspension of social norms. Hertz (1960), in his classic study of mortuary ritual and secondary burial, illustrated how this process works by focusing on the treatment of the body and the actions of the mourners or mortuary attendants. These activities function to disassociate the deceased from society (rites of separation) and to initiate the liminal phase using imagery of the passage, which serves not only [as] a denial of individual extinction, but also [as] a reassertion of society and a renewal of life and creative power (Bloch & Parry 1982: 5). Images of passage (Scene B), and thus of liminality, occupy half of the visual field of the Burial Theme. The lowering of the coffin through a pit or passageway in the earth is the most vivid example of passage in the entire Theme. The attendant figures, including Iguana and Aia Paec, serve to facilitate the transition. These figures mediate between the living world and the dead by being spatially situated between Iguana and Aia Paec, who are lowering the coffin (the living community), and the individual entering the world of the dead. Thus, the assembled figures are an integral component of the burial activity. Iguana and Aia Paec play a dual role in this scene, both lowering the coffin into the ground and heralding or accompanying the dead individual in the lower register. The appearance of these figures twice in Scene B suggests that burial and assembly are timeless events occurring in a non-linear fashion. As Netherly (1990) points out, the Andean world view does not distinguish between the past and the future. Furthermore, the dead in many cultures are associated with a different time structure than that operative in the living world. The dead may be in several locations simultaneously, if their location can be identified at all (Humphreys 1981: ). Thus, the presence of Iguana and Aia Paec repeatedly in concurrent activities is consistent within an Andean temporal framework (see also Quilter 1990)6 and further emphasizes the liminal qualities of the burial event. Liminality is essential in this context because in stratified societies, like that of the Moche, the death of an Blite may have a significant impa~t.~ Because the leader serves as an integrative symbol, his or her death may generate 6 The simultaneous representation of the same figure at different times has been observed in another Moche scene by Zighelhoim (1995), who suggests that the Mountain scene represents an individual simultaneously before and after falling from a precipice. In another example, Quilter (1997b) has noted different activities being depicted as though they were occurring simultaneously in the Revolt of the Ohjects Theme. His point that this treatment of time is a device of narrative art may well be applicable to the Burial Theme. 7 I am referring here to the removal, through death, of the living presence of an individual. It is as yet unclear how the Moche conceptualized the afterlife and the postmortem presence of an individual.

8 DEATH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MOCHE BURIAL THEME 535 a crisis and threaten the stability of the extant social and political order. The liminal phase of mortuary ritual permits adjustment to occur, lessening the possibility that social upheaval and uncertainty will overwhelm the community. In addition to the imagery of passage, two other elements signal liminality in Scene B: masks and mountains. A mask covers the face of the deceased, or is applied to the coffin, and a box of planks (or canes) hides the body. Napier (1986: 16-17) andmack (1994: 234) suggest that one of the primary functions of masks is to mark a period of transformation by expressing ambiguity. The mask motif is particularly powerful given the importance of external symbols of status in Moche society evident in Scene A. The second iconographic element of liminality in Scene B is the huaca mound in which the deceased (like Moche Blites) is being interred. Scene B, when taken in its entirety, represents the formal structure of a Moche burial mound - wider at the base, tapering toward the summit, and enclosing within itself a range of life forms both natural and supernatural. In Andean cosmology, objects and places, not just living creatures, are animated. Thus, huacas are not static mounds of earth, but rather dynamic components of the landscape, just as the mountains, whose shape they reproduce, are imbued with vitality (Bourget 1994). The images in Scene B convey this sense of an animated landscape. The interment is not merely the lowering of a dead individual into the earth, but rather a transition from the known world into a dynamic underworld. Just as mountains have caverns that function as entryways, the huaca has the burial pit, which functions as a passageway. Like mountains, the huaca becomes a permanent component of the landscape, transcending time and space. Two types of evidence suggest how mountainlhuaca imagery functions as a liminal image in Moche iconography. First, mountains are anthropomorphized both in origin stories and in modern ethnographies; as anthropomorphs, mountains exist in a liminal space between the human and natural world. Peruvian origin myths recorded ethnohistorically indicate that mountains functioned as the means of emergence and transition, as places of birth. Mythical founders are believed to have emerged (been born) from mountains and caves in the earth (Bauer 1991: 16; Urton 1990). Ethnographic fieldwork indicates that places on mountains are named for parts of the human anatomy - the slopes are the chest of the mountain, the heights are the head (Bastien 1985: 43-7). Mountains are also characterized as having familial relationships. For example, the mountain of Salcantay near Cuzco is considered the brother of a nearby peak, while in the 1800s the same peak was believed to be the husband of a nearby female summit (Reinhard 1991: 15). The second way in which mountains function as liminal entities is their role as dynamic otherworld landscapes inhabited by deities controlling water, fertility and meteorological phenomena (Reinhard 1993: 12-13). As such, mountains are venerated as sacred, especially by ritual specialists and those who either must cross them or who benefit from the water they provide (Reinhard 1991: 15-16). This sacredness is evident in the pre-incan custom of burying people on the slopes of mountains (Reinhard 1993: 12; 1995: 343). While the living are believed to have emerged from the lakes or water sources of a mountain, the dead reside within the mountain and travel through it via underground waterways to the uma pacha, the place of origin to which the deadreturn (Bastien 1985: 47, 171-4). Ethnohistoric and ethnographic examples, which are used to demonstrate how mountains function as liminal entities, are employed in order to furnish an explicitly Andean conceptual context in which to view Moche iconography. (These examples are not meant as analogies, as they are both spatially and temporally removed from the region and period under study.) Nevertheless, ethnographic data provides an interesting parallel to mountain imagery in Moche iconography. Benson (1972) discusses mountains in relation to sacrifice and presents an image in which a figure, which she identifies as the Moche creator or mountain god, emerges from a mountain cave (1972: 27-30, figure 2-2). This same figure is frequently shown on modelled pots depicting a mountain scene. This class of pots represents mountain peaks or crests (usually five) in which one or more figures with long hair are shown draped over the central peak (Benson 1972: figure 2-1; Hocquenghem 1987: figures ). A tentative interpretation of this image suggests that the draped figure is a sacrifice, perhaps related to the sacrificed female in Scene C of the Burial

9 536 ERICA HILL Theme. The draped figure may be female, based on the distinctive long hair, one of the criteria used to identify females in Moche iconography (Arsenault 1991: 315; Benson 1988). Sacrifices, like that in Scene C, are often depicted in mountain contexts elsewhere in Moche art (Berezkin 1980: figures 7,9; Bourget 1994; Hocquenghem 1987). Additionally, the hair treatment in both Scene C and the mountain scene is a prominent feature. The sacrificed female in the Burial Theme always has distinctive braids or streaming hair, while in the mountain scene, a figure is draped facefirst over the peak with hair streaming over the back of the head and down the mountain (Sharon &Donnan 1974: 57). Hocquenghem (1987: 183) has interpreted this figure as female,* an identification that potentially links this figure to the sacrificed woman in Scene C. The Sacrifice Scene [Scene C) The final scene of the Burial Theme - what Donnan & McClelland have termed the Sacrifice scene (1979: 9-10) - presents the aftermath of death and burial. This scene is set in the living world; the deceased individual is absent, as are the trappings of his status in life. In this scene Aia Paec assumes the dominant position, and Iguana appears to become an attendant figure. Birds likewise are an essential element, functioning as agents of sacrifice. In terms of van Gennep s schema, this final scene represents the rite of integration or incorporation. Reintegration of the community must occur before life can resume its normal course. Sacrifice, as a regenerative force (see Uceda C. 1997), provides the means for reintegrating society after the traumatic event of death. In Scene C, the woman being consumed by birds represents a sacrifice (Rea 1986: 143; Schaffer 1983: 39). The woman s body functions as a sacrificial gift, serving to restore order and balance in the community (Valeri 1985: 62-4; Werbner 1989: chapter 3) or to renew the land 8 Other scholars (e.g. Bourget 1994; Zighelboim 1995) have suggested that the figure draped over the mountain peak is male. While I have chosen to follow Hocquenghem (1987) on her interpretation of this figure as female, I feel that the identification has not been satisfactorily established either way. I would even suggest that the sexual identity of this figure is intentionally ambiguous, and thus that our attempts to demonstrate either a male or female sexual identification defeats the purpose (see Green 1997 on ambiguous sexual identity in iconography). (Hocquenghem 1987: ). Such beliefs are part of a holistic conception of the universe, in which the individual is an intrinsic part of both the community and the landscape. The sacrificed individual, in this sense, is a gift to those entities or forces that assure the well-being of the community (Hocquenghem 1987; Valeri 1985: 62-7). Through sacrifice, balance is regained, the life-cycle of the individual is complete and the continuance of the community is assured. Sacrifice in Andean practice has an intimate association with mountain beliefs. Reinhard (1996) has reported on recent evidence that adolescent females were left on mountain peaks as a form of sacrifice during the Inca period. He has interpreted these sacrifices as offerings to the mountains, which brought water and thus good harvests (1996: 66). Although the Inca period post-dates the Moche by as much as 800 years, considerable continuity probably existed in terms of cosmology (Bawden 1996; Isbell 1978).g Certainly Bourget s work (1994; 1997) in the Huaca de la Luna area suggests that sacrifices and mountains were an integral part of Moche ritual practice. Bourget recovered the remains of at least 40 individuals who had been sacrificed in direct association with the rocky outcropping of the nearby Cerro Blanco (Bourget 1997). By associating symbolically-laden mountains with the regenerative force of sacrifice, the Moche effectively completed both the lifecycle of the individual and, at the same time, the transition of the entire community through the rites of passage. Conclusions The wider application of the rites of passage framework is one way of avoiding both analogy-based arguments and the generation of description without interpretation. Both iconographically and conceptually, the images employed by the Moche in the Burial Theme merged the supernatural with the natural, the sacred with the mundane. Using the rites of passage framework, I have suggested that liminal states, as well as rites of separation and integration, are components of Moche iconography and, by implication, formed a part of the Moche ritual repertoire. 9 See Quilter 1997a for a critical appraisal of the concept of continuity in the Andes.

10 DEATH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MOCHE BURlAL THEME 537 Acknowledgements. I have benefited greatly from discussions with Jim Boone, Jane Buikstra, Luis Jaime Castillo, Robert D. Leonard, Todd Van Pool and Gordon Rakita; their insights have greatly improved this work. Steve Bourget generously shared both references as well as his detailed knowledge of Moche iconography. I am indebted to Garth Bawden, whose interest in all things Moche has fuelled my own research. Donna McClelland kindly granted permission to use her drawings of the Burial Theme. Without the detail provided by her illustrations, an analysis such as this would be impossible. Finally, I must acknowledge the generous fellowship support of the Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico from References A l ombre du Cerro Blanco Montreal: Universite de Montreal. Les Cahiers d anthropologie 1. ALVA, W. & C. DONNAN Royal tombs of Sipdn. Los Angeles (CA): Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA. 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