Title
Radiocarbon dating of the Peruvian Chachapoya/Inca site at the Laguna de los Condores
Date Issued
01 June 2007
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Wild E.
Kutschera W.
Seidler H.
Steier P.
The Bioanthropology Foundation Peru
Abstract
In 1997 a new archaeological site was discovered in the Peruvian tropical rain forest. The site is located in an area which has been occupied by the Chachapoya, a pre-Incan people, from about 800AD on. The site comprises a large funerary place with several mausoleums built in the cliffs next to the Laguna de los Condores. More than 200 human mummies and funerary bone-bundles together with numerous grave artefacts have been found there. Although the site has been ascribed to the Chachapoya, the mummification method used is very similar to the one applied by the Inca. As part of an ongoing multidisciplinary project to explore the history of this site and of the Chachapoya people, twenty-seven (27) 14C-AMS age determinations were performed. Samples, bones and textile wrappings as well as samples from a funerary bone bundle plus associated grave artefacts were dated. The 14C data show that the site originates from the Chachapoya pre-Inca period and that in addition, it was used as a funerary place during the subsequent Inca occupation era. The radiocarbon results indicate that the Chachapoya may have changed their burial tradition due to the colonization by the Inca. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Start page
378
End page
383
Volume
259
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Antropología Arqueología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-34248175682
Source
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
ISSN of the container
0168583X
Sponsor(s)
This multidisciplinary project is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Culture, Science and Education, and the Austrian Council for Science and Technological Development (GZ 200.049/2 - VI/2/2001and GZ 200.093/I - VI/1/2004).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus