The Necropolis of Ancon

Fisherman occupied the Peruvian coastline back at least 3,500 years, and in the region around the Necropolis of Ancon, occupation dates to at least 2,000 BC. Projectile points on the lomas possibly date back to 6,000 BC. The more elaborate burials in the Necropolis of Ancon appear to have been made from 500 AD to the Spanish conquest. The word necropolis does not truly reflect the characteristics of the site, as burials intermixed with domestic architecture and production areas for pottery, metallic objects, and salt.

The food of the early Ancon inhabitants included potatoes, peppers, guava, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. Villagers subsisted on fishing and farming, on imported tubers from the highlands, oca (Oxalis tuberosa), ulluco (ullucus tuberossus), lucuma (a fruit), and Pacae fruit. (Moseley, 1992, p. 106) The inhabitants of the area interacted with other areas to a large extent, indicated by the large amount of imported items. (Kaulicke, 1997)

Even during this time of turmoil in Peru, the Necropolis of Ancon attracted the interest of both amateur and trained archaeologists. The extensive burial sites engendered innate curiosity, the thrill of treasure-seeking and opportunity to add to scientific knowledge, while the recently built railroad and the resort atmosphere provided accessibility and some degree of comfort after a long day of dust and dirt digging.

In the burial grounds, flying sand stung the faces of the grave-diggers and the hot sands burned their feet. Gravediggers often sought only the finest items. They often threw away damaged pieces, tossed the human remains in the sands, after stripping them of any valuable items. They littered the ground with pot sherds, used the fragments of woven cloth as packing for ceramics, and left the skulls scattered on the surface.

Similar to the fate of other valuable resources of Peru, collectors exported the artifacts to Europe or North America. The abundance of artifacts spawned substantial collections both in Peru and abroad. With Peru's absorption in the deteriorating economic situation and the approaching conflict, the collection and export of antiquities by both notable residents and foreign visitors met little resistance.

In 1874 and 1875, two German geologists, Wilhelm Reiss and Alphons Stübel, excavated at the Necropolis of Ancon. The grave goods extracted by Reiss and Stübel were placed in the Anthropology Museum in Berlin. (Kaulicke, 1997). Apparently, about 2,000 objects were archived there, including pottery, textiles, wood objects, gourds, plant materials, and three mummies. (Moseley, 1992, p. 106)

In 1878 J. Wasner purchased from Umlauff, a Hamburg dealer, 154 items (probably from Stübel's excavations) for the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Vienna. These included three mummies and grave goods. (Feest, 1987, pg. 72) The Austrian consul-general Christian Kruger donated items to the same museum in 1879. The collection included 276 items from Peru, including 191 ceramic items from Ancon, as well as other items from Trujillo and Casma (Feest, 1987, pg. 72).

In 1880, Charles Wiener of the French Ministry of Instruction arrived in Peru. He visited the antiquities collection of Mr. Jose Mariano Macedo and Espantoso and the Museum of Sr. Raimondi. Wiener excavated at Ancon with the help of his countryman of the French man-of-war. J. M. [Joseph Meadows] In 1884 he donated 53 items from Peru, including Ancon, to the Vienna Museum fur Volkerkunde.

A Peruvian collector, Dr. Jose Mariano Macedo, was a physician, "a mestizo with a high percentage of Indian blood...a notable surgeon, professor at the School of Medicine and founder of the Sociedad de Medicina in Lima." (Von Schuler-Schömig, 1987, pg. 171). The eminent naturalist, Antonio Raimondi, was a political refugee from Milan and had lived in Peru from 1850. He continued his contacts with countrymen in Milan and in 1858 he started a pre-Columbian collection for the Milan Civic Museum of Natural Resources, sending textiles and a mummy from Arica. In 1863 he sent needles, bones, and octopus eyes, that were used by the ancient Peruvians in the mummies as substitutes for human eyes.

Cowper who reviewed Wiener's book about the area was also familiar with the Necropolis of Ancon (Panama Star, April 23rd 1881). Cowper learned the business of gunpowder manufacturing in England. As appointed by the Peruvian government, he went to Peru around 1871 to run a gunpowder factory, and may have been associated with the railroads. He and his family left Peru after the outbreak of war with Chile and returned to Great Britain. While in Peru, Cowper visited Ancon. He described small square mats with an intricate pattern of men and animals, which he claimed were commonly encountered in walks over the Ancon plain. Small bags found in the graves contained haricots, coca and maize. Cowper found bags with coca leaves in the armpits of a mummy pressed between the arm and the body. In the bag, a small rag was tied around a small piece of earth the size of a pea.

The New York Times (August 26, 1901) reported that Spenser St. John, British minister to Peru, collected 400 pieces of Peruvian pottery, possibly found as grave goods. He planned to sell them at auction in the fall of 1901 or 1902 in London. The pieces included a panther suckling her cubs and sculptures of various fruits, animals, and human heads.

Resources:
Feest, Christian F. 1987. “Survey of the Pre-Columbian collections from the Andean highlands in the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna.” IN Pre-Columbian Collections in European museums. Edited by Anne-Marie Hocquenghem, et al. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest. Pg. 71-76.

Kaulicke, Peter. 1997. Contextos funerarios de Ancon. Esbozo de una sintesis analitica. Lima, Pontificia Universidad Catolica.

Moseley, Michael E. 1996. The Incas and their ancestors: the archaeology of Peru. London, Thames and Hudson. 272 pp.

Von Schuler-Schömig, Immina. 1987 “The Central Andean collections at the Museum für völkerkunde Berlin, Staatliche Museen preubischer Kulturebesitz - their origin and present organization” IN Pre-Columbian Collections in European museums. Edited by Anne-Marie Hocquenghem, et al. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest. Pp. 169-177

Young-Sanchez, Margaret Anna. 2000. Textiles from Peru’s central coast, 750-1100: The Reiss and Stubel Collection. Columbia University. PhD Dissertation.