Y-chromosome Peruvian origin of the 500-year-old Inca child mummy sacrificed in Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina)

FEDERICO MARTINÓN-TORRES; J. ROBERTO BÁRCENA; LAURA CATELLI; JACOBO PARDO-SECO; CARLOS VULLO; ALBERTO GÓMEZ-CARBALLA; ANTONIO SALAS

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Congreso; Extraordinary World Congress on Mummy Studies; 2018

Museo de Historia Natural y de Antropología

We present results of a Y-chromosome analysis of a frozen mummy found at ahigh altitude in Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina) in 1985. The mummy wasidentified as a seven-year-old Inca sacrifice victim living at the time of the IncaCivilization (~500 years ago). The Y-SNPs indicate that the haplotype belongsto the most common Native American branch in the highlands and lowlands ofSouth America (Q-M3) pointing to the continuity of the native settlement in theAndes. No matches were found in the Y-chromosome STR HaplotypeReference Database (YHRD; n=39414 haplotypes) when searching for the YSTRhaplotype. After collapsing this profile into its minimum haplotype (MHT),three 1-step mutational neighbors were detected in the YHRD (n=197102haplotypes); one was found in Peru (Q1a2-M3) and two in the US-admixedpopulation. Subsequently, haplotypes from South Americans were compiledand masked for their genuine Native American component. A probabilisticmodel indicates that the mummy?s profile most likely originated in the QuechuanAndean Peru (with the closest affinities to the Choppca). The results are ingood agreement with anthropological and archaeological evidence suggestingthat the Inca child could have been carried out from Peru to the Aconcagua (>2,600 km far) for sacrifice.