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Sillustani is a pre-
Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
on the shores of Lake Umayo near
Puno Puno ( Aymara and ) is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It is the capital city of the Puno Region and the Puno Province with a population of approximately 140,839 (2015 estimate). The city was established in ...
in
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The tombs, which are built above ground in tower-like structures called
chullpa A ''chullpa'' is an ancient Aymara funerary tower originally constructed for a noble person or noble family. ''Chullpas'' are found across the Altiplano in Peru and Bolivia. The tallest are about high. The tombs at Sillustani in Peru are th ...
s, are the vestiges of the
Qulla people The Qulla ( Quechuan for ''south'', Hispanicized and mixed spellings: ''Colla, Kolla'') are an Indigenous people of western Bolivia, northern Chile, and the western portions of Jujuy and Salta provinces in Argentina. The 2004 Complementary ...
, most likely a Puquina-speaking people, conquered by the Inca Empire in the
15th century The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 (represented by the Roman numerals MCDI) to 31 December 1500 (MD). In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Re ...
. The structures housed the remains of complete family groups, although they were probably limited to nobility. Many of the tombs have been dynamited by grave robbers, while others were left unfinished.


Chullpa

Veneration of the dead The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a afterlife, continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fo ...
and kinship were integral parts of Aymara culture, and the huge chullpas or "chupa" at Sillustani were built to house the Aymara elite of the immediate pre-Inca and Inca period. The word was used in the 19th century and comes from the ''Dictionary of Ludovico Bertonio'' (1612). Bertonio referred to the basket burials of the semi-nomadic pastoralists as "chulpas" and actually referred to stone towers as ''uta amaya'' "houses of the soul". However, the term "chullpa" remains used today for the towers. Many of the chullpas at Sillustani show pre-Inca characteristics that were later redressed with Inca stone blocks. Similar chullpas are found throughout the entire south Central Andes with the above ground burial styles going back at least to the mature Tiwanaku period (c. 500–950). The insides of the tombs were built to hold entire groups of people, most likely extended families of the Aymara elite. Corpses were not intentionally mummified, but in the dry environment created by the closed tomb, they survived for centuries. Most mummy bundles indicate burial in a
fetal position Fetal position (British English: also foetal) is the positioning of the body of a prenatal fetus as it develops. In this position, the back is curved, the head is bowed, and the limbs are bent and drawn up to the torso. A compact position is ...
. Some of the tombs also have various animal shapes carved into the stone. The only openings to the buildings face east, where it was believed the
Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
was reborn by Mother Earth each day. File:Urna funeraria, Sillustani, Perú, 2015-08-01, DD 99.JPG, Chullpa from Inca epoch File:Urnas funerarias, Sillustani, Perú, 2015-08-01, DD 113.JPG, Chullpas from the Tiwanaku epoch File:Urna funeraria, Sillustani, Perú, 2015-08-01, DD 94.JPG, Inside of a chullpa File:Petroglifo, Sillustani, Perú, 2015-08-01, DD 114.JPG, Stone with carvings at the entrance


Architecture

While ''chullpas'' are not unique to Sillustani and are found across the
Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish language, Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechuan languages, Quechua and Aymara language, Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla people, Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extens ...
, this site is considered the best and most preserved example of them. A large ramp on one of the chullpas demonstrates how stones would have been stacked upon the walls during construction. Father Cobo saw Inca builders using a similar ramp in the construction of the Cusco Cathedral.


References


External links


Tripideas.org: Ancient Sillustani and environs, in Peru
— ''images of landscapes and Lake Umayo, stone burial tombs and setting, and current indigenous peoples.'' {{Authority control Cemeteries in Peru Tombs in Peru Monuments and memorials in Peru Aymara people Archaeological sites in Peru Ruins in Peru Archaeological sites in the Department of Puno