Severed skulls and trophy heads from Medanitos Estación XI (Tinogasta, Catamarca, Argentina).

ARANDA, C.; LUNA. L.; RATTO, N.; DE STÉFANO, JULIA

Evora

Jornada; VII Jornadas Portuguesas de Paleopatologia; 2021

Universidad de Evora

The aim of this presentation is to discuss the traumatic lesions recorded at Estación Medanitos XI site (Catamarca, Argentina), a multiple secondary burial consisting of twelve skulls and mandibles with a chronology that refers to the first half of the XV century AD, during the Inca domination of the region. As some of them have earlier chronologies, it is inferred that they were exhumed from their primary location, reinhumated in a single event and resignified within the Inca strategies of conquest. The biological lesions identified are porotic hyperostosis and both porosity and subperiosteal reactions in the glabellar region. Three of them have circularperforations in the parietals and enlargement of the foramen magnum, which indicates the intention to insert a suspension cord. The location, shape and size of the holes suggest that they were made soon after death and that the skulls were used as ?trophy heads?. These anthropic modifications were produced by repetitive percussion using a sharp object and were not the cause of death of the individuals. This procedure was sometimes performed on the skulls of captured enemies during violent actions. As the skulls also show evidence of fire exposure and cut marks, anintentional and complex post-mortem rituality was inferred.