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| Anonymous |
 Posted: 17-04-2002 19:56 Post subject: Mummies In Peru |
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According to the BBC archaeologists have made a major find of mummified corpses in Peru (link here ):
'Archaeologists have discovered a collection of thousands of mummies in a shanty town close to the Peruvian capital Lima.
They date from the last years of the Inca civilisation, around 500 years ago.
The scientists describe the find as an unparalleled opportunity to learn more about Inca society.
So far, the archaeologists have retrieved about 2,200 mummies, though they believe there could be as many as 10,000 altogether.
The mummified corpses come from every part of Inca society - rich and poor, young and old.
Some are still wearing head-dresses made of feathers which marked them out as high-ranking people.'
Anybody remember that (Horizon?) program on a while ago about the corpses of mummified child sacrifice victims being found near the tops of mountains in South America? Really fascinating but I don't know much about the background or as much as I should about ancient South American civilisations. Any specialists out there? |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 18-04-2002 13:25 Post subject: |
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| This is probably no less than a revolution in our understanding of them. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 18-04-2002 15:59 Post subject: |
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| Very interesting. I just happened to watch a program on the Discovery Channel last night discussing the pyramids of Eygpt and Central America, and they briefly touched on the similarities of the cultures, including mummification. I can't wait to see if any new or major revisions have to be made to our current thinking of the Inca's in light of this discovery. |
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Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-03-2004 14:03 Post subject: |
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More Inca mummy finds:
| Quote: | Dozens of Inca Mummies Found on Outskirts of Lima
Fri 5 March, 2004 22:53
By Tania Mellado
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Dozens of mummies dating back more than 500 years have been discovered on the path of a proposed highway on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital, near an Inca graveyard, archeologists said on Friday.
Archeologists uncovered 26 burial bundles, each containing one or more adult and child mummies dating from 1472 to 1532.
In 1533, the Incas were defeated at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors.
"This (area) is part of the largest Inca cemetery in Peru and the largest excavated cemetery in the Western Hemisphere, that of Puruchuco-Huaquerones," said archeologist Guillermo Cock, who was contracted by Lima's town hall to comb the area for artifacts before construction could begin.
Cock said archeologists did not know the exact number of mummies at the site because they had not opened any of the bundles, which are still half-buried.
Some were already broken, exposing skulls and showing several hunched mummies with cloth bags tied to their bodies and offerings in their hands.
The mummies were once farmers and craftsmen and lived under the dominion of the Lati and Ishma Inca leaders, who ruled over the Rimac River valley, home to modern-day Lima, Cock said.
"These are local inhabitants, what we could now call middle class, belonging to the period of the Inca Empire, between 1472 and 1532," Cock told Reuters.
He said they were textile makers: "Ninety-nine percent of the tools in the tombs are used for such production, from dressmaking to cloth dying. There are needles and looms.
"The important thing about this discovery is that it is intact. ... The area around the mummies shows evidence of rituals prior to the burials. There are the remains of corn, beans, coca leaves and pots," Cock said.
Despite the finding, the town hall said the road -- an extension to a busy urban highway -- will go ahead.
"The works will not stop. They are an urban necessity. ... We will take the burial bales to a museum for conservation and for study. They could be plundered here," town hall spokesman Armando Molina said.
But archeologist Federico Kauffmann said Peru would be better off running the road through a tunnel under the site because it could yield further findings.
"In Peru, there is neither the money nor the techniques to preserve mummies, and there is no more space for mummies in the Puruchuco museum," he said.
Archeologists have uncovered thousands of mummies in Peru in recent years, mostly from the Inca culture five centuries ago, including about 2,000 unearthed from under a shantytown near the capital in 2002.
One of Peru's most famous mummies is "Juanita the Ice Maiden," a girl preserved in ice on a mountain. Last month, two mummies predating the Incas -- so well-preserved one had an eye intact -- were found under a school in southern Peru. |
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4509771§ion=news |
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| Kondoru Unfeathered Biped Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Total posts: 5719 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-03-2004 20:09 Post subject: |
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My cousin did a lot of digs in Peru.
He made no mention of Mummies though, and the wife he brought back was decidedly alive (although I have never met her, so I could be mistaken.)
Fancy going to Peru and seeing no mummies? every third person in that country is mummified! |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-05-2004 13:33 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Well-preserved mummies found in Peru
Archaeologists see signs of religious sacrifices
By Monica Vargas
Updated: 3:13 a.m. ET May 20, 2004
LIMA, Peru - A well-preserved graveyard possibly 1,000 years old has been discovered at an archaeological complex of Inca and pre-Inca temples on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital, experts said Wednesday.
Archaeologists this week unearthed the remains of 30 people, including 19 still intact as mummies, dating from between 1000 and 1500, making them some of the oldest mummies ever found in Peru.
They said that the discovery was “exceptional” because the site had not been plundered by grave robbers and that some of the dead were religious sacrifices.
“It is an exceptional discovery that shows the remains of several cultures buried on top of each other. According to our calculations they date from between 1000 and 1500,” archaeologist Peter Eeckhout of Brussels Free University, who led the excavation project, told reporters Wednesday.
It was not clear to which cultures the mummies belonged, but they were likely to have been farmers and craftsmen who lived before the Inca empire five centuries ago.
The graveyard, which stretches over a 220-square-yard (200-square-meter) area, is within the boundaries of the Pachacamac archaeological complex, 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of Lima. Its discovery follows weeks of digs by archeologists.
The Pachacamac temple complex has been looted for valuable artifacts many times over since the first significant discoveries of mummies there over a century ago.
In the latest discovery, four of the mummies probably died as sacrifices and were either buried alive, killed by blows to the head or strangled, archaeologists said.
Holding up the remains of a 2-year-old boy, British archaeologist Lawrence Owens said: “The position of the body and the remains of his feces indicate he tried unsuccessfully to free himself from the burial bundle and was buried alive.”
Another of those sacrificed was a 12-year-old boy whose skull was cracked at the front, probably by a heavy blow.
“We found a tumi knife close to the body, and its size corresponds with that of the skull fracture,” Owens said.
“If you ask me if this was a ritual sacrifice, I would say yes,” he added. A mummified 35-year-old man with a rope around his neck was also among the four sacrificed, Owens said.
Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of mummies in recent years that mostly date from the Inca culture, including about 2,000 unearthed from under a shantytown near the capital in 2002. In February, two mummies predating the Incas were found under a school in southern Peru. |
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5018275/ |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 20-10-2005 14:56 Post subject: Peru finds headless mummy predating Incas in Lima |
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| Quote: | Peru finds headless mummy predating Incas in Lima
By Marco Aquino
Archeologists have uncovered the remains of the oldest mummy ever found in Peru's capital, Lima -- a high-ranking official of the Huari tribe who lived about 1,300 years ago, researchers said on Wednesday.
The headless mummy was found in September in Lima's Huaca Pucllana ceremonial complex after studies and exploration at the site.
"He was decapitated and belongs to the Huari culture that invaded Lima," said archeologist Isabel Flores, director of the Huaca Pucllana museum, adding the Huaris predated the Incas, who dominated South America from Colombia to Chile until being toppled by Spanish conquerors in the 1530s.
"Judging by the clothes he is wearing, we're talking about a senior official who was buried wrapped in cloth and tied with rope made of vegetal fiber," Flores added.
The Huaris, a warrior society that conquered Peru's central Andes and coastal regions between 600 and 1000 A.D, were known for their high-quality textiles and pottery styles.
They were supplanted by Ichmas, who Flores said were likely responsible for decapitating the Huari official well after he was buried in an attempt to erase all vestiges of a tribe that dominated them for years.
"It was an act of rebellion against the Huaris. Without doubt, this gives us valuable information about ancient inhabitants of what is now Peru's capital," she added.
The mummy, which was found surrounded by tunics and food such as corn and beans, is not well preserved because of the humidity of Peru's coast. Its dried skin and bones are badly chipped and many of its ligaments are visible.
Peru has made some striking mummy discoveries in recent years. In February last year, two 700-year-old mummies were found in southern Peru by construction workers under a school. Thousands of Inca mummies were found at an ancient cemetery under a shantytown near Lima in 2002.
Mummy |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-08-2008 14:21 Post subject: |
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Another pre-Incan mummy. Full text & picture at link.
| Quote: | Archeologists working at Peru's Huaca Pucllana ruins pulled a mummy from a tomb on Tuesday, thought to be from the ancient Wari culture that flourished before the Incas.
A mummy of the Wari prehispanic culture is seen inside a recently discovered tomb in Lima's Huaca Pucllana ceremonial complex August 26, 2008. Archaeologists working at the ruins of Huaca Pucllana in the country's capital pulled a mummy from a tomb on Tuesday, thought to be from the ancient Wari culture that flourished in modern-day Peru before the Incas. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil
Besides the female mummy, the tomb contained the remains of two other adults and a child. It is the first intact Wari burial site discovered at Huaca Pucllana in the capital Lima, and researchers believe it dates from about 700 AD.
"We'd discovered other tombs before," said Isabel Flores, director of the ruins. "But they always had holes, or were damaged. Never had we found a whole tomb like this one -- intact," she said, standing on the ancient plaza, a huge partially excavated mound of rocks, bricks and dirt.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/n26365875-peru-archaeology/ |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 26-07-2012 13:15 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Ancient mummy had lung infection, according to novel proteomics analysis
July 25th, 2012 in Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
The children of Llullallaico. Image: PLoS ONE 7(7): e41244. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041244
A 500-year-old frozen Incan mummy suffered from a bacterial lung infection at the time of its death, as revealed by a novel proteomics method that shows evidence of an active pathogenic infection in an ancient sample for the first time. The full report is published July 25 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
Detecting diseases in ancient remains is often fraught with difficulty, especially because of contamination. Techniques based on microbe DNA can easily be confused by environmental contamination, and they can only confirm that the pathogen was present, not that the person was infected, but the researchers behind the study, led by Angelique Corthals of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, found a way around this problem. They used proteomics, focusing on protein rather than DNA remains, to profile immune system response from degraded samples taken from 500 year-old mummies.
The team swabbed the lips of two Andean Inca mummies, buried at 22,000-feet elevation and originally discovered in 1999, and compared the proteins they found to large databases of the human genome. They found that the protein profile from the mummy of a 15-year old girl, called "The Maiden," was similar to that of chronic respiratory infection patients, and the analysis of the DNA showed the presence of probably pathogenic bacteria in the genus Mycobacterium, responsible for upper respiratory tract infections and tuberculosis. In addition, X-rays of the lungs of the Maiden showed signs of lung infection at the time of death. Proteomics, DNA, and x-rays from another mummy found together with the Maiden did not show signs of respiratory infection.
"Pathogen detection in ancient tissues isn't new, but until now it's been impossible to say whether the infectious agent was latent or active," says Corthals. "Our technique opens a new door to solving some of history's biggest mysteries, such as the reasons why the flu of 1918 was so devastating. It will also enhance our understanding of our future's greatest threats, such as the emergence of new infectious agents or re-emergence of known infectious diseases."
"Our study is the first of its kind since rather than looking for the pathogen, which is notoriously difficult to do in historical samples, we are looking at the immune system protein profile of the "patient", which more accurately tells us that there was indeed an infection at the time of death." or "Our study opens the door to solving many historical and current biomedical and forensic mysteries, from understanding why the plague of 1918 was so lethal, to finding out which pathogen is responsible for death in cases of multiple infections."
More information: Corthals A, Koller A, Martin DW, Rieger R, Chen EI, et al. (2012) Detecting the Immune System Response of a 500 Year-Old Inca Mummy. PLoS ONE 7(7): e41244. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041244
Provided by Public Library of Science
"Ancient mummy had lung infection, according to novel proteomics analysis." July 25th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-07-ancient-mummy-lung-infection-proteomics.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-07-2013 12:39 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Inca mummies: Child sacrifice victims fed drugs and alcohol
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23496345
Tests on the 13-year-old's hair revealed she was given large amounts of alcohol
Related Stories
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Tests on three mummies found in Argentina have shed new light on the Inca practice of child sacrifice.
Scientists have revealed that drugs and alcohol played a key part in the months and weeks leading up to the children's deaths.
Tests on one of the children, a teenage girl, suggest that she was heavily sedated just before her demise.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr Emma Brown, from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, said: "The Spanish chroniclers suggest that children were sacrificed for all kinds of reasons: important life milestones in the lives of the Incas, in times of war or natural disasters, but there was a calendar of rituals too."
Frozen in time
The mummified remains were discovered in 1999, entombed in a shrine near the summit of the 6,739m-high Llullaillaco volcano in Argentina.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
They've been called the best preserved mummies in the world”
Dr Emma Brown
University of Bradford
Three children were buried there: a 13-year-old girl, and a younger boy and girl, thought to be about four or five years old.
Their remains date to about 500 years ago, during the time of the Inca empire, which dominated South America until the Europeans arrived at the end of the 15th Century.
"The preservation is phenomenal - they've been called the best preserved mummies in the world," explained Dr Brown.
"These three children look like they are asleep."
The international team of researchers used forensic tests to analyse the chemicals found in the children's hair.
They discovered that all three had consumed alcohol and coca leaves (from which cocaine is extracted) in the final months of their lives.
Historical records reveal that these substances were reserved for the elite and often used in Incan rituals.
Death from exposure
An analysis of the teenage girl's hair, which was longer than the hair of the younger victims, revealed more.
The girl, known as the "Llullaillaco maiden", was probably considered more highly valued than the younger children, because of her virginal status.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
With the combination of being placed in the grave with the alcohol and the cold... she would have passed away quietly”
Dr Emma Brown
University of Bradford
Tests on her long braids revealed that her coca consumption increased sharply a year before her death.
The scientists believe this corresponds to the time she was selected for sacrifice. Earlier research also reveals that her diet changed at this point too, from a potato-based peasant diet to one rich in meat and maize.
Dr Brown explained: "From what we know of the Spanish chronicles, particularly attractive or gifted women were chosen. The Incas actually had someone who went out to find these young women and they were taken from their families."
The results also revealed that the girl ingested large amounts of alcohol in the last few weeks of her life.
It suggests she was heavily sedated before she and the other children were taken to the volcano, placed in their tombs and left to die.
"In the case of the maiden, there is no sign of violence. She is incredibly well looked after: she has a good layer of fat, she has beautifully groomed hair, beautiful clothes," said Dr Brown.
"In this case we think with the combination of being placed in the grave with the alcohol and the cold - the mountain is over 6,000m above sea level - she would have passed away quietly."
The mummies are now housed in the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Salta, Argentina. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-07-2013 12:44 Post subject: |
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| I put the above in this thread as it relates to the previous post. Incas were predominately associated with Peru. The posts could be moved or the thread renamed I guess. |
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