Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.1.5
14
C date on carbonized plant material (Tillandsia latifolia) from the Tschudi burn,
Chan Chan, northern Peru.
Calibrated C-14 dates of carbonized plant material
13
C/
12
C
†
14
C
Calibrated (AD)
Calibrated (AD)
Sample
Description
Years (BP)
Ratio
1 Sigma
2 Sigma
+
+
B0401
Carbonized Plant Material
plant material
1467 AD +/
-
25%
1326
-
1343
1312
-
1358
34 years
1394
-
1426
1387
-
1438
†
13
C/
12
C is deviation in parts per thousand of the sample relative to the standard. BP, before present.
the dead
and the elevated calcium and phosphorus content of the soil pointed to evaluation of cremation as the
next working hypothesis (Brooks, 2004).
”
Cremation is a global mortuary practice that dates to 40 000 years ago at the Mungo Man site in the coal-producing
region of New South Wales, Australia (Bowler et al., 2003). As early as 3000 years ago, providing niches for
cremated ashes was a profitable business in Greece and Rome. The Romans reserved cremation for Julius Caesar,
Nero, and others of high social standing; however, the Israelites considered cremation as befitting only the
despicable (Prothero, 2002, p. 6). Cremations were described in the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the
first millennium (Universidad Complutense Madrid, 2001). And by AD 400, earth burial had replaced cremation in
Europe except in instances of widespread disease; for example in 1656, in Naples, when 60 000 victims of the
Black Death were cremated in 1 week (Australian Museum, 2003).
Cremation, which has been used throughout the world, is not considered to have been a mortuary practice in
ancient Peru (Rowe, 1991, p. 29). Secondary cremations of human skeletal remains in ancient Peru have
been described; these are cremations of bone that were not covered with flesh at the time of burning as
indicated by cracking or
“
checking
”
on the surface and longitudinal splitting (Ubelaker, 1978, p. 35; Verano,
1991, p. 200).
Fuel for Cremation
C
oal or wood are the common cremation fuels used throughout history
both are available in northern Peru. In
Great Britain, coal is abundant and was used by inhabitants of southern Wales to cremate their dead during the
Bronze Age. Coal was also used to fuel the first legal cremation in South Wales in 1884 (Cassidy, 1973, p. 1;
Freese, 2003, p. 16). In North America, the Tolkotins, a Native American group in Oregon, practiced open-air,
wood-fueled cremation long before the first US crematorium, which used coal, opened in 1876 in the coal-
producing region of Washington, Pennsylvania (Prothero, 2002, p. 28). During World War II, coal from nearby
mines was used to fuel the crematoriums at Auschwitz (Mattogno and Deana, 1993). Coal is used for cremation in
the coal mining regions of China.
—
The decomposing bodies of many of the victims of the deadly tsunami that struck southeast Asia in 2004 were
cremated in wood-fueled pyres (Nakashima, 2003, p. A17). In 1960, three lives were lost to a 9m, earthquake-
generated tsunami that struck near Chimbote, northern Peru. Then, in 1996, 12 people, some of whom were
children, were killed by a 5m tsunami that struck the same area (Tsunami Research Group, 2005). Natural hazards
such as El Niño floods, mudflows (huaycos or aluviones), and earthquakes have affected Peru for centuries
(Stillwell, 1992; Brooks et al., 2005) and the victims of these ancient disasters may have been cremated using
locally available fuel. But regardless of the reason for cremation, soil and ash chemical data and temperatures from
the Tschudi burn all pointed to coal as the fuel.
