Mummies and Mortuary Monuments : : A Postprocessual Prehistory of Central Andean Social Organization / / William H. Isbell.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Isbell, William H.,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (391 p.)

Since prehistoric times, Andean societies have been organized around the ayllu, a grouping of real or ceremonial kinspeople who share labor, resources, and ritual obligations. Many Andean scholars believe that the ayllu is as ancient as Andean culture itself, possibly dating back as far as 6000 B.C., and that it arose to alleviate the hardships of farming in the mountainous Andean environment. In this boldly revisionist book, however, William Isbell persuasively argues that the ayllu developed during the latter half of the Early Intermediate Period (around A.D. 200) as a means of resistance to the process of state formation. Drawing on archaeological evidence, as well as records of Inca life taken from the chroniclers, Isbell asserts that prehistoric ayllus were organized around the veneration of deceased ancestors, whose mummified bodies were housed in open sepulchers, or challups, where they could be visited by descendants seeking approval and favors. By charting the temporal and spatial distribution of chullpa ruins, Isbell offers a convincing new explanation of where, when, and why the ayllu developed.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- Acknowledgments -- CHAPTER I On Knowing the Past -- CHAPTER II Royal Mummies of Inca Cuzco -- CHAPTER III Ancestor Mummies in Huarochirí -- CHAPTER IV Competing Theories of Ayllu Origins -- CHAPTER V The Open Sepulcher -- CHAPTER VI Distribution of Open Sepulcher Monuments -- CHAPTER VII The Open Sepulchers of Chota-Cutervo -- CHAPTER VIII Origin of the Ayllu and the Andean Past -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- AUTHOR INDEX