Chapter 4 – Coal and Ancient Man: Cremation at the Tschudi Burn, Chan Chan, Northern Peru

Publisher Summary Ancient man first used coal as an energy source 73,500 years ago in Les Canalettes, southern France, and archaeologists initially thought that the coal was deformed charcoal. It was used by many ancient civilizations all over the world. Coal is widely available in northern Peru and was used by ancient Peruvians, such as the Moche and Chimu, for metallurgy, mirrors, and jewelry. Algorrobo charcoal is the acknowledged fuel for metallurgy in northern Peru, but the worldwide, centuries-old use of coal, its regional availability, and its use for jewelry and mirrors in ancient Peru suggest that it may have been used for other purposes. This chapter discusses the use of coal in cremation by ancient civilizations. The Tschudi burn was an exceptionally large, single-use fire, apparently for a specific purpose or ritual, and the fuel for this event was possibly chosen for a specific characteristic such as its property as a burning rock or its sulfurous, brimstone smell. Given that mass burials are common in ancient northern Peru, 200–300 bodies were found in burial platforms at Chan Chan, and the large size of the Tschudi burn, it is possible that a number of individuals may have been cremated at the Tschudi burn. A 14C date on carbonized plant material, interpreted as tinder, indicates that the Tschudi burn was pre-European contact and took place AD 1312–1438, toward the end of Chimu domination of the region. The presence of a calcined, human skull fragment that was heated to 525°C confirms, as Colonel La Rosa said in 1877, that the site was used for burning of the dead.