https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8865-7055
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ABSTRACT
The site of Huanchaquito-Las Llamas, situated in the Moche Valley, Peru, dated to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1100-1470), represents a single event mass killing of children and domestic camelids of the Chimu society. Reconstruction of the life histories of 82 camelid individuals based on stable isotope analysis of bone collagen indicates that they originated from the lowlands. Isotopic inter-individual variability indicates diversity in dietary sources, consisting of wild plants and cultigens, grown in water-limited and non-water-limited conditions, as well as a large proportion of C4 plants, suggesting that the animals originated from various herds that were differently managed. In contrast, uniformity in terms of restricted coat colour and young age could suggest that the animals derived from specialised herds. It is possible that the requirement in a short period of time for a massive number of animals meeting certain criteria exceeded the capacity of these herds. This study presents the largest isotopic dataset measured at a single pre-Hispanic site so far and the first to record herding practices for the Chimú society. Comparison with previous isotopic datasets shows differences between ritual and non-ritual groups, as well as diversity in pastoralism practises through time in the Central Andes.
Acknowledgements
We thank Olivier Tombret and Marie-Amélie Petit (UMR 7209, MNHN, France) for technical assistance for sample preparation in the lab and Denis Fiorillo (SSMIM, MNHN, France) for stable isotope analysis. We also thank Amandine Blin (UMS 2700, MNHN, France) and Francisca Santana-Sagredo (Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile) for their advice on statistics, Belkys Gutiérrez Léon (BGL Arqueologia, Peru) for her administrative help, and Jean-François Cuénot (UMR 8096, Cnrs, France) for processing the spatial analysis on Argis. Suzanne Needs-Howarth greatly improved the quality of the English writing.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributors
Nicolas Goepfert is an investigator at the CNRS (the French national centre for scientific research). He is an archaeologist and zooarchaeologist specializing in the northern coast of Peru. His research deals with funerary and sacrificial practices linked to animals, especially South American camelids, and the adaptation of human and animals to the desert Pacific coast of Peru. He has published several articles on the topic, and he is co-editor, with S. Vásquez, C. Clément and A. Christol, of Las sociedades andinas frente a los cambios pasados y actuales: dinámicas territoriales, crisis, fronteras y movilidades (IFEA-LabEx DynamiTe-UNT, 2016).
Elise Dufour is an associate professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris. Her research deals with the relationship between humans and animals during the Holocene. She uses stable isotopes measured on different archaeological archives, such as bones, teeth and otoliths. In collaboration with Nicolas Geopfert (investigator at the CNRS) is currently involved in a program entitled Pre-Hispanic societies facing their environment: spatial and diachronic change in Andean pastoralism (100–1470 AD) “CAMELANDES” that studies pastoralism on the northern coast of Peru. The CAMELANDES project aims to bring new data on the adaptation to the coast of the complex pre-Hispanic human societies of Northern Peru. Stable isotope analysis (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) performed by Elise Dufour highlights the complexity and diversity in pastoral practices in the Mochica, Lambayeque and Chimú cultures (Life History and Origin of the Camelids Provisioning a Mass Killing Sacrifice During the Chimú Period: Insight from Stable Isotopes, Environmental Archaeology,2020).
Manon Le Neün is currently a PhD student at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris. Her thesis aims at documenting camelid domestication process in Central Andes. She uses geometric morphometry and the traditional approach of comparative anatomy to document the evolution of camelid diversity and abundance at Telarmachay, and to discriminate between phases of intensification of hunting strategies and those of a transition to greater herd control over time. Marion Le Neün was formerly involved in the stable isotopic analysis of domestic camelid remains of the CAMELANDES project entitled “Pre-Hispanic societies facing their environment: spatial and diachronic change in Andean pastoralism (100–1470 AD)”.
Gabriel Prieto is a professor in archaeology at the National University of Trujillo. Since 2010 he has been working on the northern coast of Peru, specifically at Huanchaco, excavating fishing settlements from different periods. His projects focus on understanding the social dynamics and social interactions of ancient maritime communities. Prieto has published articles and book chapters in different peer reviewed journals and books. Currently, he is co-editing, with Daniel Sandweiss, a book on ancient maritime adaptations on the South American Pacific coast.
John W Verano is a biological anthropologist who specialises in human osteology, palaeopathology, bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. Professor Verano’s primary research area over the past 30 years has been Andean South America, with a focus on prehistoric populations of coastal and highland Peru. His research interests include the study of disease in skeletal and mummified remains, trepanation and other ancient surgery, warfare, human sacrifice, and mortuary practices. He is co-editor, with Douglas Ubelaker, of Disease and Demography in the Americas (Smithsonian Press, 1992) and, with Andrew Scherer, of Embattled Bodies, Embattled Places: War in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and the Andes (Dumbarton Oaks, 2014). His most recent book is Holes in the Head: The Art and Archaeology of Trepanation in Ancient Peru (Dumbarton Oaks, 2016).