RESUMO
Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to obtain detailed genetic and diachronic isotopic information. This approach has allowed us to reconstruct aspects of individual identity and diet, make inferences concerning social background, and gain insight on the hitherto unknown processes by which victims were selected, elevated in social status, prepared for a high-altitude pilgrimage, and killed. Such direct information amplifies, yet also partly contrasts with, Spanish historical accounts.
Assuntos
Comportamento Ritualístico , DNA/análise , Homicídio/história , Indígenas Sul-Americanos/história , Adolescente , Argentina/etnologia , Criança , Feminino , Cabelo/química , História Antiga , Humanos , Isótopos , Masculino , Múmias , Peru/etnologiaRESUMO
Carbon-14 (14C) dating from mummies of the Alto Ramirez culture confirms that coca leaf chewing was an incipient practice among members of a population that peopled the valleys and coastal areas of Northern Chile by 3,000 years before the present (yr.B.P.). Out of eleven bodies from the burial site of Pisagua-7 (PSG-7, S 19 degrees 35', W 70 degrees 13') that were analyzed, two samples tested positive. Mummy 725-A C2 (dated 3,090 to 2,850 two sigma calibrated 14C years before the present) was shown to have a cocaine value of 13.3 nanograms/10 milligrams of sample (ng/10mg), and mummy 741 (2,890 to 2,760 two sigma cal yr B.P.), a 5.6 ng/10mg value.