Transformation of People and Things – Some Thoughts on the Formative Period Burial Pattern in Cochabamba, Bolivia Olga U. Gabelmann Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte Beiheft 3 (2024) https://doi.org/10.30819/mbgaeu.b45.2     pp: 29-53     2025-01-14

Stichworte/keywords: Bolivia, Formative Period, burials, settlement archaeology, pottery production

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Abstract
The Formative Period burial pattern in Bolivia (1500 BC–200 AD) has not been adequately investigated. Whereas the South-eastern valleys show cemeteries mainly with burials of individuals in extended posi- tion, in the highlands (altiplano) settlement burials with individuals in flexed position predominate. In the Cochabamba Valleys we find a more variable pattern including both types. This underlines the importance of the geographical corridor formed by the Cocha- bamba valleys as a preferred settlement area also for external groups. Most interesting are burials that were placed in possible storage pits, which indicate a spatial relationship between the dead and the domestic area in the settlement, thus conveying the religious percep- tion of continuous interaction between groups of the dead and the living.