UC Santa Cruz

Gender is an important axis of social differentiation, yet archaeological studies often struggle to distinguish broad role expectations from variation in how individuals were represented at death. This study examines gender roles and gender identity at the Late Intermediate Period site of Chiribaya Alta (Ilo, Moquegua, Peru) using presence/absence data for grave good classes from 194 burials. We apply multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to identify structure in mortuary assemblages without using osteological sex as an organizing variable; sex estimates are included as a supplementary category during interpretation. Dimension 2 captures patterned differentiation consistent with normative gender roles: weaving tools and textile kerchiefs (pañuelos) are more often associated with burials sexed as female, whereas keros (beer cups), textile bags (chuspas), musical instruments (primarily zampoñas or panpipes), and harpoons are more often associated with burials sexed as male. The association of zampoñas with male-patterned burials highlights musical performance as a potentially underexamined dimension of gendered practice in Andean mortuary archaeology. At the same time, nineteen sexed individuals fall on the opposite side of Dimension 2 from the mean for their sex estimate, indicating overlap rather than exclusive associations. We interpret this cross-patterning as meaningful variation consistent with complementary and negotiated role expectations and socially sanctioned variation in how individual gender identity was expressed. More broadly, this study demonstrates how assemblage-first multivariate analysis can use imperfect mortuary and bioarchaeological datasets to investigate gendered representation without organizing interpretation around sex from the outset, excluding unsexed individuals, or treating grave goods as direct proxies for identity.