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Exploring Peru's Cliff Cemeteries

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The Chachapoya people of northern Peru, who flourished in the tropical highland Andes from about 500 to 1500 A.D., created cliffside cemeteries to house their dead. With the support of local communities and landowners, University of Central Florida bioarchaeologist J. Marla Toyne has led a team that explored two of these sites, La Petaca and Diablo Wasi. To reach these cemeteries, the archaeologists worked with Asociación Ukhupacha, a Spanish spelunking group, to rappel down 300-foot cliffs. These images of the fieldwork are courtesy of J. Marla Toyne and were taken by Esteve Ribera.

  • Archaeologists J. Marla Toyne (left) and Frankie St. Amand investigate a cliffside tomb at the previously unexplored site of Diablo Wasi, which may have been in use for some 600 years.
  • Central Tomb 1 at La Petaca still retains traces of its original red paint and is one of some 125 such structures the team recorded at the site.
  • Tomb 6 at Diablo Wasi was made by the Chachapoya by enclosing a natural grotto on the cliff’s surface.
  • Toyne’s team investigates La Petaca’s Tomb 15, whose well-preserved chamber still holds human remains. Many other tombs at the site that have been destroyed by looters or by natural erosion.
  • Archaeologists J. Marla Toyne (left) and Frankie St. Amand descend to a tomb built on a natural ledge at Le Petaca.

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(c) 2024 Archaeology Magazine, a Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America