COAL AND CREMATION AT CHAN CHAN, NORTHERN PERU--GEOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE

Coal is widely available in northern Peru’s Alto Chicama coalfield and was used by pre-Columbian craftsmen for mirrors and decoration. New research provides the first evidence of coal as a fuel in pre-Columbian Peru. Geochemical data from ashed algorrobo charcoal, a common pre-Columbian fuel, and Alto Chicama coal were compared with data from a fully combusted ash layer in an enigmatic 25 x 70 m burned structure at Ciudadela Tschudi, Chimu site of Chan Chan. Analyses indicate that the Tschudi ash is comparable to coal ash composition: SiO2% 5.8 (charcoal), 51.0 (coal ash), 52.9 (Tschudi ash); Zr ppm 8.5 (charcoal), 416.0 (coal ash), 200.0 (Tschudi ash). The Tschudi burned area was interpreted to have been used for Chimu metallurgy, however, the Cu, Ag, and Au content of the soil is low. An alternative explanation is indicated by reports of calcined human remains (Squier, 1877) and mortuary context (Lechtman and Moseley, 1975) that suggest cremation. Elements common to bone include Ca and P; geochemical analyses on soil in the burned area average 13,800 ppm Ca compared to average 8,700 ppm Ca outside the burned area and 1,800 ppm P in the burned area compared to 1,200 ppm P outside the burned area. These data support the interpretation that the Tschudi burn was used for cremation and provide the first physical evidence for this ancient, worldwide mortuary practice, in pre-Columbian Peru.