The Big Field Trip

The Chachapoyas were a group of people who lived in the northern part of Peru. They were feared fighters and their culture started around 800 AD. The Chachapoyas were conquered by the Incas around 1470 AD. Chachapoyas probably means either “people of the woods” or “people of the clouds”.  The Chachapoyas interacted with cultures from the South, East and West. We know this because they had feathers from the rainforest and seashells from the sea. Seashells were very rare to the Chachapoyas because they lived so far from the sea.

From the big field trip

Very little is known about the Chachapoya culture. This is because when the Incas took them over, they exiled some of the Chachapoyas to different parts of Peru. The Incas also influenced their pottery and clothing. We do know that the Chachapoyas honored things they saw in nature such as the sun, forest, moon, and animals. They also honored things that they imagined like a large cat that had a snake for the tail and sharp claws and teeth. We think that it represented a guardian or protector.

From the big field trip

We know little about the Chachapoya language. No one speaks it anymore. Some names of places in the Utcubamba Valley, like Kuelap, are from the Chachapoya language, but we do not know what these words mean. We also know that they did not use writing. Instead, if they wanted to leave a message, they would leave it by making a series of knots in colored string made of yucca roots. It was called a Kipu.

Chachapoya pottery was very simple. It was made out of clay from the riverbeds. They used coils to build the pots and stamps to make the designs. Inca pottery was more complex with different shapes, designs, and colors. On the other hand, the Chachapoyas made better textiles with finer weaves. Their clothing was very prized among other cultures including the Incas.

The Chachapoyas had lots of rituals to honor their dead. They mummified their family and put them in mausoleums very high above the ground. For example, in the Lake of the Condors, the Chachapoyas made mausoleums in an alcove on a cliff face. The Chachapoyas mummified their dead. First they took all of their organs out through their anus. Then they stuffed their insides with cotton. Next they put a type of lotion made of different types of plants on their skin to keep it from rotting. After that they put them in the fetal position, squatting down with their elbows on their knees and their hands on their faces.

From the big field trip

At Lake of the Condors the Chachapoyas would make a teepee-like frame out of sticks and tied together with rope made out of yucca roots. They would put the mummified people in the small frame and used it as a backpack to carry them up to the alcove to put them in the mausoleums. They also put food, precious artifacts, and pottery in the burial chambers. Because many of these tombs have been raided by grave robbers, artifacts were exposed to the weather and were destroyed. A lot of our knowledge about the Chachapoya people has come from the artifacts in these tombs.

From the big field trip

Karajia is an ancient Chachapoya burial place. It is a place where the Chachapoyas placed important people when they died. They would put them in decorative clay sarcophagi. They placed them almost 80 feet above the three foot wide trail. The sarcophagi are about six feet tall. The sarcophagi at Karajia are like the mausoleums at Lake of the Condors because they are built in cliffs to protect them from the weather and thieves. They are also similar because they contain mummies in the fetal position. The sarcophagi at Karajia also contain objects that were important to the person who died. On top of a few sarcophagi’s heads there were human skulls. They were the skulls of the mummified person’s enemies who were slain in battle.

From the big field trip

Kuelap is a fortress that was made by the Chachapoya people around 800 AD. The Chachapoya built this fortress to keep out the Huari and other fierce tribes. The Chachapoyas at Kuelap were defeated by the Incas. The Incas could not penetrate their fortress, but they cut off the water and food supply so the Chachapoyas had to surrender. As a result, the Incas built a few buildings in Kuelap, over important Chachapoya ceremonial buildings, to show their dominance. Inca buildings are rectangular not round like the Chachapoya buildings.

From the big field trip

Kuelap is built on very steep mountaintop. We walked up stairs for about a mile. When we reached it, I was amazed by its size. When you approach Kuelap, you come to a big wall. It is about 3 meters tall at its lowest point and 19 meters at it’s highest. Its walls are made of huge rocks. Some are over 3 feet by 5 feet. There are two entrances visitors can use. The entrance we went in was 3 meters at the entrance and it narrowed like a pie shape until it was about a meter. As we walked up the stairs, we saw some footprints. Our guide explained that over hundreds of years llamas had indented in the rock. We walked into the open sunshine.

From the big field trip

We were in the living sector. On top of the fortress wall there are more than 400 circular buildings. We walked around for a while and our guide told us a few things about Kuelap. For instance when we came upon a house with an eye made of stone on it. Our guide explained that the number of lines on the eye is the level of social status.  After that we walked up another level.

From the big field trip

This top level was divided into three sections. The top level was for the leaders. On the North end was the guarding sector. There was a tall guard tower, called La Atalaya, which was also made of rocks. Archeologists had found slings, small smooth rocks and sharpened rocks that looked like stars. In the center of the top level was the religious sector. There was a circular building that had human bones built into the walls. It was an important religious place and people wanted to be buried there, kind of like being buried in catacombs under a church. This was where a lot of rectangular Inca buildings were built. The south end of the top level was the living sector. We only saw a few homes. The other part was fenced off.

From the big field trip

Back on the lower level we walked south for a while until we found ourselves in the religion sector. There was a tall tower with a flat platform on top. There was a hole in the middle of the platform. Our guide told us that the Chachapoya priests had thrown animal sacrifices in the hole during celebrations. The hole led to a small chamber shaped like an ink bottle. That is why it is called the Tintero (tintero means ink bottle in Spanish). No one was allowed to go on the building except the Chachapoya priests.

From the big field trip

The Chachapoya were conquered by the Incas just before the Spaniards came. Sadly, we know little about their culture. I hope that archeologists will keep learning about the Chachapoya through investigating the ruins.

Tags:   Ancient Sites · Chachapoyas · Peru3 Comments