Comparison of carbon isotope variations on hair of two Inca mummies from Chuscha and Aconcagua mounts, Argentina.

PANARELLO, H.0.; VALENCIO, S. A.; SCHOBINGER, J.

Salvador Bahía

Congreso; IV South American Sympusium on Isotope Geology; 2003

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0mm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 30.0mm 70.85pt 30.0mm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> 13C content of hair in well-preserved mummies is an excellent tool to trace the palaeodiet of the so-called messengers of deities i.e. children sacrificed in order to calm the anger of gods.  Different behaviors are found in the diet of the Chuscha and the Aconcagua mummies.  The former shows a barely descendent pattern, while the latter exhibits a cyclical one. One probable explanation is the different place where mummies originally lived: near the sanctuary of sacrifice that of the mount Aconcagua and the Chuscha one in a distant zone. The discussion about the geographical origin of individuals continues. Taking into account that 13C of C4 plants can be indistinguishable from that of certain marine foods; futures studies involving δ15N and δ34S will help to determine the relative contribution of the different feeding sources.