title: Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, United Kingdom. a.s.wilson2@bradford.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Emma L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lynnerup
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Healey
authors.forename: Maria Constanza
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ceruti
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reinhard
authors.forename: Carlos H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Previgliano
authors.forename: Facundo Arias
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Araoz
authors.forename: Josefina Gonzalez
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Diez
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001106:Archaeology; D001118:Argentina; D002048:Burial / Q000266:history*; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003041:Coca / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008297:Male; D009106:Mummies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000266:history; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Erythroxylum coca; South America; bioarchaeology; computed tomography; ice mummies
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