Mummies are a fascinating way to learn more about the past. Ancient mummies contain evidence that betrayed us, eating habits, diseases, and sometimes even the religious beliefs of the cultures that have long since disappeared. The thought of mummies usually brings the ancient Egyptian tombs with grave goods and spirit. However, some of the oldest mummy in the world not found in Egypt at all and they were not buried in graves. The Chinchorro people of Chile and Peru made mummies thousands of years before the Egyptians and they were royalty.The mummified Chinchorro people, not only the region of the Atacama desert occupied at the border with Peru and Chile, before the coast of the Pacific, thousands of years. Their was a simple society, which relied largely on fishing for food. They obviously had a tremendous respect for their dead and mummified would even their children. Unlike the Egyptians would mummify the corpses, only the social elite. The Chinchorro mummies of the deceased even saved the time for unknown and would like to include in daily activities such as sitting with the family for dinner. They would eventually Chinchorro mummies are buried.Nearly three hundred have been found in the Atacama desert since the late eighties. Many of them are the mummies of children and infants. This has researchers to believe that there is a high mortality rate among the children of the Chinchorro. They also estimated that the average life expectancy of the Chinchorro people was around 25 years. They began their dead mummified around 5050 BC, so that the oldest Chinchorro mummies of about 7000 years old. The oldest of these mummies were the black style of mummification, although the process progressed in a much simpler style style.Black MummificationIn the black style of mummification, the Chinchorro were the body of the deceased completely apart. They would carefully remove the skin and then the skeleton of all stripes, and dispose of tissues and organs. The skeleton would then be in layers of materials such as clay, reeds and sticks. The skin would then be replaced and missing or ill-fitting bits would be replaced with the skin of a sea lion. The deceased then with a clay mask with small slits over the eyes, the black manganese and covered with a wig made from human hair.Red Style MummificationIt is estimated that the black style of mummification style gave way to the red by 2500 v . Chr mummified bodies that were not using the red style completely apart, as they were taken with the black style. Instead, the brain was extracted by removing the head. The tissue, muscle and internal organs were carefully opened by cutting away the skin and remove the contents of the site. The body was then filled with about the same materials as before. Then the slices in the skin were stitched with a cactus spine and human hair. They were also given masks and wigs, but the eye holes in masks are large and there was a hole for the mouth. They were finished with red ocher, instead of black-manganese.Mud MummificationAround end of the third millennium Red Style mummification gave way to mud coated Coated. This was by far the easiest of the mummification process used by the Chinchorro. The body would be easy and dries out completely then it was covered in a layer of mud. The body was then the high mortality rate among children buried.Because the Chinchorro, the researchers were able interested to find out whether there is a reason behind it. They also found that some of the adult mummies had strong bones porous and asked me if there is a link. A parasite was able to cause some of the mummies that such a severe anemia that the bones had been found porous. It may have also contributed to infant mortality. Another interesting thing that has discovered, is a high level of arsenic in some of the hair on the mummies. Nothing is final, the infant mortality rate, porous bones, connected or short-life expectancy of the Chinchorro, but these results are interesting, nonetheless.SourcesArriaza, Bernardo T. & Hapke, Russell A. & Standen, Vivien G., Making the Dead Beautiful : mummies as Art, accessed 08/29/2009, archaeology.org / chinchorroPringle online / features /, Heather, the illness of the mummies, Discover Magazine, December 1998, mc.malicopa.edu/dept/d10/asb / Chinchon / parasites . html

The exact definition of an empire has long been debated. You may decide that the word “empire” refers to a culture that meets a set of specific criteria or advanced their development to a certain level as compared with other cultures around the world. Despite this, I feel that the enforcement of an existing culture in a globally defined category or a comparison to a set of precise rules to see whether there is life on the prestigious title of “Empire” is incredibly restrictive and leads to a very distorted perception of culture. Because each state has developed advanced from different origins, in different environments and in response to different regional dynamics, one must “Empire” at the local, to define fluid scale. So, for the purposes of this discussion, I think it is acceptable to define loosely is an empire in the Andean cultures, like a state, a range of ethnic and / or linguistic groups, a homogeneous spread of the religion or also expanded set of cultural beliefs as well as technology and state-scale production, and the iconography that go along with them. With this definition, one could make an argument that several early societies in the Andes could be classified as empires. Given the scope of its expansion, I will limit this argument to the Wari and Tiwanaku cultures. With this definition, and compared to each other, I feel that these two groups in fact can be considered contemporary empires. In the Tiwanaku sphere of influence, we see quite a bit of archeological evidence for the spread of the state and the integration of culture, a number of different local groups. According to Alan Kolata in the Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean civilization “Tiwanaku a predatory, expansionist state company” (40) was. While we found little direct evidence of the violence, head trophy images on the pottery at the site of Tiwanaku see to point out that violence and war is an accepted part of culture (Kolata 124) were, and headless mummy bundles buried within the city of physical evidence to give practice of taking trophy heads (Kolata 127). Since there is little evidence of violence in the territories, the Tiwanaku dominated, it is quite possible that a victim brutally as they did on the pyramid buried Akapana were a show of strength to conquer groups bring in template (Kolata 122). Kolata also suggest that in the Tiwanaku elites’ best interest was to find a “balance between strength and conviction” progressive in their control of the surrounding areas (231). A number of different techniques were used convincingly likely, but the acceptance of local beliefs in the state religion and the abduction of foreign huacas displayed in the capital city conquered territories left no other choice but to submit the rule of the Tiwanaku (Kolata 142). The expansion of Tiwanaku is shown in a number of ways to dominate sites. It seems that policy for the Tiwanaku elite the “export of state cults” was, and indeed we see the proliferation of images, such as the Gateway to God in the entire region (Kolata 248). In some remote locations, as in the Moquegua Valley, ceramics found imported directly from the heartland of Tiwanaku (Kolata 263) are. State craft production is evidenced by production line with state iconography, textiles and individual skill, and found from areas such as the massive ceramic workshop in the capital of the Tiwanaku (Kolata 170). We also see a mix of local and national cultures in a number of different locations, as discussed for example, in San Pedro de Atacama, as in the lecture. After a while, local styles begin to State Styles (Kolata 248 to emulate). Other evidence that we can see for the expansion of Tiwanaku and the control of local populations, collected in the field of agricultural technology found throughout the region controlled by the state. Labour-intensive projects such as this would be the planning and organization of a higher authority (Kolata 182) have been necessary. This massive construction projects were most likely mobilized by a similar principle as the mit’a form of reciprocity in the Andes during the reign of the Incas, and found today (Kolata 223). The increased production was probably due to the elites in the cities as a form of tribute to support. While Wari was a larger state than Tiwanaku, there is less to society as a whole, partly known because it has only recently been recognized as an independent unit of Tiwanaku (Silverman 155). However, as discussed with Professor Kelly Knudson, there are a number of websites that show Wari were extended and various controls in the area of the capital. Several sites have been found with a similar architecture of the Wari Center and interpreted as being specially for the purpose of the administrative tasks for the immediate areas built. Conchopata is a very large site, and is considered secondary to the Wari. Jincamocco is an administrative spot halfway between the coast and the capital of the Highlands, which may be constructed to ensure that sites have been further from the center are managed in an appropriate manner. In addition to the standardized management websites, there are also sites like Beringa not Wari architecture. Wari textiles found on the site show the residents participated in the Wari culture state, but significant trauma in skeletal remains possible war with the mainland shows around the area to bring it under control. There are also a number of sites, such as Cerro Baul are in Moquegua Valley, close to the Tiwanaku sites (Knudson 2008). The Moquegua Valley is the perfect environment for the cultivation of maize, which had become a very important commodity in the Highlands (Silverman 165). Tiwanaku presence in the valley not to stop the country are claiming from Wari. In fact, Cerro Baul was built on a mesa that was visible throughout the valley. This could have been a show of force to keep the Tiwanaku, or a path to the competing group from the acquisition of valuable agricultural land. Wari iconography is very similar to the Tiwanaku, although the textile style is very different. More Wari textiles have been found as Tiwanaku, mostly due to the arid climate of coastal regions in the Wari influence. State and religious iconography were captured in the daily lives of people accepted by their textiles, even at sites such as Beringa, which were brought under control Wari. If one accepts that the definition is for Empire at the beginning of this essay is an acceptable compromise as it applies to the Andean countries, it should not be too difficult to conclude that Tiwanaku may indeed be coming as a kingdom. There is excellent evidence for the involvement of existing groups in the Tiwanaku state, and the adoption of state iconography and technology. The available evidence for Wari is a bit less convincing. There is evidence of the Wari introduction of state infrastructure of existing populations and the spread of the state iconography, but show a little more on the nature of the relationship between the capital and the hinterland locations. One might ask whether the spread of Wari iconography with a less expansive state as a generally accepted religion, or if the territories had to do in the interpretation could have been easy management websites, groups from the capital moved to suitable areas for the different forms agriculture were. However, it is my opinion that because of the number of the areas they share Tiwanaku and Wari sites in close proximity and the apparent lack of mixing of the two cultures, Wari had a state with at least as much electricity as Tiwanaku, an independent and remain independent state. I feel that to be found with further archaeological research in this area, sufficient evidence to believe that Wari was indeed an empire as much as Tiwanaku Cited was.Works Kolata, Alan L. The Tiwanaku support: Portrait of an Andean civilization . Blackwell Publishing, Cambridge, MA: 1993. Silverman, Helaine, ed. Andean Archaeology. Blackwell Publishing, Cambridge, MA: 2004.