Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reorganizing Society: Cranial Modification and the Creation of Difference

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Bioarchaeology of Societal Collapse and Regeneration in Ancient Peru

Part of the book series: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ((BST))

  • 400 Accesses

Abstract

Kin-based collectives such lineages, ayllus, and ethnic confederations are notoriously difficult to identify in the bioarchaeological record because they are not limited to simple trait lists. Rather, these groups are nebulous, multi-scalar and materially and conceptually malleable. Nevertheless, the nature of these factions are strongly structured by oppositional interactions with non-members. Despite the panoply of intersecting identities that mark individuals, cases of state collapse tend to provoke the emergence of singularized affiliations. In Andahuaylas, newly prominent identities were conspicuously and permanently inscribed through a practice known as cranial modification. The meaning and motivation of head remodeling is evaluated using standard osteometric measures as well as three-dimensional geomorphometric analysis of digitized crania. The abrupt appearance of cranial modification in Andahuaylas and intra-population morphological variations signal the ethnogenesis of ranked kin categories known from ethnohistoric sources as the Wakcha and the Piwi Churi.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ackerman, R. (1996). Clothes and identity in the central Andes: Province of Abancay, Peru. In M. B. Schevill, J. C. Berlo, & E. B. Dwyer (Eds.), Textile traditions of Mesoamerica and the Andes: An anthology (pp. 231–260). London: Thames and Hudson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archivo General de Indias (A.G.I.) sixteenth to nineteenth century, Fondo Patronato 189, R. 40. Sevilla, Spain.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, D. Y., & Hastorf, C. A. (2008). Heads of state: Icons, power, and politics in the ancient and modern Andes. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arriaza, B., Allison, M., & Gerszten, E. (1988). Maternal mortality in pre-Columbian Indians of Arica, Chile. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 77(1), 35–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baca, M., Doan, K., Sobcyzk, M., Stankovic, A., & Weglenski, P. (2012). Ancient DNA reveals kinship burial patterns of a pre-Columbian Andean community. BMC Genetics. doi:10.1186/1471-2156-13-30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandelier, A. F. (1910). The islands of Titicaca and Coati. New York: The Hispanic Society of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastien, J. W. (1978). Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and ritual in an Andean Ayllu (The American Ethnological Society, monograph 64). St. Paul: West Publishing. Reissued by Waveland Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betanzos, J. (2004 [1557]). Suma y narración de los Incas. Lima: Polifemo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, V., & Kurin, D. S. (2014). Investigating the nature of cranial modification in late prehispanic Peru using contextualized mortuary analysis and 3D morphometrics. Manuscript under review.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blom, D. (2005). Embodying borders: Human body modification and diversity in Tiwanaku society. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 24(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calancha, A. (1974 [1638]). Coronica Moralizada del Orden de San Agustin del Peru, Con sucesos egemplares en esta monarquía, ed. de I. Lima: Prado, p. 138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casas, B. D. L. (1967). Apologética historia sumaria, cuanto a las cualidades, dispusición, descripción, cielo y suelo destas tierras y condiciones naturales, policías, repúblicas, manera de vivir e costumbres de lás gentes destas Indias occidentales y meridionales cuyo imperio soberano pertenece a los reyes de Castilla. E. O’Gonnan (Ed.), 2 vols. México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Autónoma de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chacon, Y. (2014). The contribution of Status Lineages in the rise of the state: A new theory of state formation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Columbia: University of South Carolina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cieza de Leon, P. (1996 [1553]). La Crónica del Perú, nuevamente escrita. Madrid: Crónices de America, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobo, B. (1964 [1653]). Historia del nuevo mundo. Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, tomos 91 y 92. Madrid: Ediciones Atlas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, A. G. (1992). The stone ancestors: Idioms of imperial attire and rank among Huari figurines. Latin American Antiquity, 3(4), 341–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flannery, K. V., Marcus, J., & Reynolds, R. G. (2008). The flocks of the Wamani: A study of llama herders on the punas of Ayacucho. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadison, D. N., Turner, B., Kurin, D. S., & Sharratt, N. (n.d.). Does cranial modification cause cranial pathology? Insights from late intermediate period Peru. Manuscript under review.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcilaso de la Vega, I. (1966 [1609]). Royal commentaries of the Incas and general history of Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geller, P. L. (2014). Sedimenting social identity: The practice of pre-Columbian Maya body partibility. In G. Wrobel (Ed.), The bioarchaeology of space and place (pp. 15–38). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goodenough, W. H. (1955). A problem in Malayo-Polynesian social organization. American Anthropologist, 57(1), 71–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, J. W. (1972). Early ceramic cultures of Andahuaylas, Apurimac, Peru. Berkeley: University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guaman Poma de Ayala, F. ([1616] 1980). El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno (Vol. 31). Mexico: Siglo Veintiuno.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holguín, D. G. (1901). Arte y diccionario qquechua-español. Lima: Imp. del Estado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoshower, L. M., Buikstra, J. E., Goldstein, P. S., & Webster, A. D. (1995). Artificial cranial deformation at the Omo M10 Site: A Tiwanaku complex from the Moquegua valley, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 6(2), 145–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyland, S. (2015). Chankas and the priest: A tale of murder and exile in Highland Peru. Penn State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, R. A. (2005). Archaeology of the body. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 139–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Julien, C. (2009). Reading Inca history. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurin, D. S. (2012). The bioarchaeology of collapse: Ethnogenesis and ethnocide in post-imperial Andahuaylas, Peru (AD 900–1250). Dissertation, Vanderbilt University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latcham, R. (1929). Creencias religiosas de los antiguos peruanos. Santiago de Chile: Bacells.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lozada, M. C., & Buikstra, J. E. (2002). El senorio Chiribaya en la costa sur del Peru. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peru.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, T. G., & Stanley, A. M. (2011). Boards and cords: Discriminating types of artificial cranial deformation in prehispanic south central Andean populations. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. doi:10.1002/oa.1269.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Higgins, P., & Jones, N. (2006). Tools for statistical shape analysis. Hull: Hull York Medical School. http://hyms.fme.googlepages.com/resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oakland, R. A. (1992). Textiles and ethnicity: Tiwanaku in San Pedro de Atacama, North Chile. Latin American Antiquity, 3(4), 316–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proulx, D. A. (2008). Paracas and Nasca: Regional cultures on the south coast of Peru. In H. Silverman & W. H. Isbell (Eds.), The handbook of South American archaeology (pp. 563–585). New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Purizaga Vega, M. (1991). El rito del nacimiento entre los incas. Lima: Universidad de San Martín de Porres.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roosevelt, C. V. S. (1935). Ancient civilizations of the Santa Valley and Chavin. Geographical Review, 25(1), 21–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santa Cruz Pachacuti, J. (1995 [1613]). Relación de antigüedades de este Reino del Perú. Lima: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (2008). Violence in identity. In I. A. Karawan, W. McCormack, & S. E. Reynolds (Eds.), Values and violence (pp. 3–14). New York: Springer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverblatt, I. M. (1987). Moon, sun, and witches: Gender ideologies and class in Inca and Colonial Peru. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. C. (2010). Rwandan genocide: Toward an explanation in which history and culture matter. In P. A. McAnany & N. Yoffee (Eds.), Questioning collapse: Human resilience, ecological aftermath of empire (pp. 239–268). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiesler, V. (2013). Informe del studio realizado en el sitio arqueológico Yaxuná, Yucatán. Unpublished report on file at Universidad de las Américas, Cholula, Puebla.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiesler, V. (2014). The bioarchaeology of artificial cranial modifications: New approaches to head shaping and its meanings in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and beyond. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Torquemada, J. (1969 [1615]). Monarquía Indiana (Vol. 2). México: Editorial Porrúa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Rouff, C. (2002). Cranial vault modification and ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Current Anthropology, 43(1), 163–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Rouff, C. (2003). Oral implications of labret use: A case from pre-Columbian chile. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 13(4), 247–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres‐Rouff, C. (2008). The influence of Tiwanaku on life in the Chilean Atacama: Mortuary and bodily perspectives. American Anthropologist, 110(3), 325–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Rouff, C., & Yablonsky, L. T. (2005). Cranial vault modification as a cultural artifact: A comparison of the Eurasian steppes and the Andes. HOMO-Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 56(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urton, G. (1997). The social life of numbers: A Quechua ontology of numbers and philosophy of arithmetic. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urton, G. (1999). Inca myths. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verano, J. W., Uceda, S., Chapdelaine, C., Tello, R., Paredes, M. I., & Pimentel, V. (1999). Modified human skulls from the urban sector of the pyramids of Moche, northern Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 10(1), 59–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wobst, H. M. (1977). Stylistic behavior and information exchange. In C. E. Cleland (Ed.), For the director: Research essays in honor of James B. Griffin (Anthropological papers, Vol. 61, pp. 317–342). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yaya, I. (2012). The two faces of Inca history: Dualism in the narratives and cosmology of ancient Cuzco. Leiden: Brill.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zuidema, R. T. (1964). The ceque system of Cuzco: The social organization of the capital of the Inca. Leiden: EJ Brill.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Danielle Shawn Kurin

Authors
  1. Danielle Shawn Kurin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kurin, D.S. (2016). Reorganizing Society: Cranial Modification and the Creation of Difference. In: The Bioarchaeology of Societal Collapse and Regeneration in Ancient Peru. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28404-0_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28404-0_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28402-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28404-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation