RESUMO
The Bioarchaeology of Care approach developed by Tilley is usually applied to skeletalized human remains, given the usual constraints of preservation bias that are seen with archaeological assemblages. However, other tissues, such as hair are sometimes preserved and can provide a wealth of information that can supplement the skeletal data. Archaeological hair has been analysed for drug compounds for almost thirty years. This article integrates data from hair analyses for coca metabolites, stable light isotope analysis and aDNA to expand the potential of the Bioarchaeology of Care approach using the example of a spontaneously mummified adult female from northern Chile.
Assuntos
Arqueologia , Doença de Chagas/história , Coca/química , Cabelo/química , Múmias/história , Adulto , Restos Mortais/química , Restos Mortais/patologia , Isótopos de Carbono/análise , Doença de Chagas/patologia , Chile , Tecido Conjuntivo/química , Tecido Conjuntivo/patologia , Dieta/história , Pessoas com Deficiência , Feminino , Serviços de Saúde/história , História Antiga , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Múmias/patologia , Músculos/química , Músculos/patologia , Isótopos de Nitrogênio/análiseRESUMO
Examination of three frozen bodies, a 13-y-old girl and a girl and boy aged 4 to 5 y, separately entombed near the Andean summit of Volcán Llullaillaco, Argentina, sheds new light on human sacrifice as a central part of the Imperial Inca capacocha rite, described by chroniclers writing after the Spanish conquest. The high-resolution diachronic data presented here, obtained directly from scalp hair, implies escalating coca and alcohol ingestion in the lead-up to death. These data, combined with archaeological and radiological evidence, deepen our understanding of the circumstances and context of final placement on the mountain top. We argue that the individuals were treated differently according to their age, status, and ritual role. Finally, we relate our findings to questions of consent, coercion, and/or compliance, and the controversial issues of ideological justification and strategies of social control and political legitimation pursued by the expansionist Inca state before European contact.