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Andalgala's Funerary Urns, province of Catamarca
One of the main interests of the Archaeological Museum of Andalgala are the funerary urns it preserves.
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A child's mummy Photo: Ivan Grondona
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Most of these urns were used for the burial of babies deceased during the seventh month of pregnancy due to lack of iodine.
Other funerary urns contain the remains of human sacrifices. These human sacrifices were performed during important natural disasters such as droughts or floods. In such occasions, people offered their most precious belongings to their gods. These offerings could even go to the extreme of scarifying a child.
The different sizes of the urns provide an estimated pattern for the calculation of the age of the deceased. In this sense, the bigger urns could have been used for adults, even when this was not the typical burial method. This size was intended to preserve the remains of the most remarkable celebrities who were introduced in the urns mummified and dehydrated.
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Funerary Urn of the Santamariana Culture. Ethnographic Museum.
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Another of the urns preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Andalgala contains a wrapping formed by three types of ponchos: the internal one made of vicuña (or vicugna), the middle one made of alpaca and the exterior one made of llama. The body was tied with a wool string made into a plait in a way which was contrary to the normal way and relates to their believes on life after death.
The urns of the Santamariana culture are higher than those of the Belen culture. Their paintings are also richer since they present geometric figures or abstractions of human or animal faces. The trace of the Suri, which was fundamental in their subsistence beliefs, can also be found in these urns.
The Belen culture flourishes before the Santamariana one. The funerary urns from this culture differ in shape and paintings from those of the Santamariana culture. The body and neck of these urns are lower. The snake was represented in most of the Belen urns. This snake is in general a two-head snake and represents death: snake and men underground.
About this article...
Author of the article: Grondona Olmi, Verónica
Sources employed:
"El País que no Miramos" ("The Country we have not Seen"), a series of documentaries for television produced by Ivan Grondona. Archivo General de la Nación ("Argentina's National Archive").
Translated by: Veronica Grondona
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