Stable Isotope Analysis of the Inca Mummy from Nevado de Chuscha (Salta, Argentina)

KILLIAN GALVAN, V.A.; TESSONE, A.; VALENZUELA, L. O.; SHARP, Z. D.; PANARELLO, H.O.

ARCHAEOMETRY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2019

0003-813X

This paper presents the carbon (13C/12C), nitrogen (15N/14N), oxygen (18O/16O), hydrogen (2H/1H) and sulfur (34S/32S) stable isotope values measured in the hair of a female individual from Northwestern Argentina. The analysis of segments of this tissue allows recording diet and migratory changes with a short time resolution. The sample is from a mummified young female individual discovered in the Chuscha mount, Salta province. It was found more than 5000 masl, in a mountain sanctuary of the Inca expansion (capacochas). We discuss the paleodiet and mobility patterns ofthis individual in the period before death, focusing on the isotopic variations in a limited time scale. The results indicate that the individual moved from a different region to the place where it wassacrificed. Furthermore, in the last year the individual was alive, a shift in the isotopic compositionof the food consumed is detected: a variation in the importance of C4 over C3 resources is evident. The results are compared with the isotopic estimations for other children and young people recovered in archaeological contexts associated to capacochas to infer variability in the geographical trajectories covered during their last months of life.