Multi-isotopic evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes.

RAMIRO BARBERENA; PETRUS J. LE ROUX; LUMILA MENÉNDEZ; ERIK J. MARSH; PAULA NOVELLINO; AUGUSTO TESSONE; GUSTAVO LUCERO; JULIE LUYT; JUDITH SEALY; MARCELO CARDILLO; ALEJANDRA GASCO; CARINA LLANO; CECILIA FRIGOLÉ; DANIELA GUEVARA; GABRIELA DA PEÑA; DIEGO WINOCUR; ANAHÍ BENÍTEZ; LUIS CORNEJO; FERNANDA FALABELLA; CÉSAR MÉNDEZ; AMALIA NUEVO- DELAUNAY; LORENA SANHUEZA; FRANCISCA SANTANA SAGREDO; ANDRÉS TRONCOSO; SOL ZÁRATE; VÍCTOR A. DURÁN; VALERIA CORTEGOSO

Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports' editorial

Año: 2020

We present isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers in the southernAndes in the period AD 1270-1420, leading up to the Inka conquest occurring ~AD 1400. This is based on the interdisciplinary study of human remains from archaeological cemeteries in the Andean Uspallata Valley (Argentina), located in the southern frontier of the Inka Empire. The studied samples span AD 800-1500, encompassing the highly dynamic Late Intermediate Period and culminating with the imperial expansion. This research combines a macro-regional study of human paleomobility and migration based on a new strontium isotopic landscape across the Andes, which allows identifying locals and migrants, a geometric morphometrics analysis of cranio-facial morphology suggesting separate ancestral lineages, and a paleodietary reconstruction based on stable isotopes that shows that the migrants had exceptionally high C4 diets. Hence, migrants? subsistence was largely based on maize agriculture. Significantly, this migration influx occurred during a period of regional demographic increase and would have been part of a widespread period of conflict and population movements that preceded the Inka expansion. These processes would haveincreased social diversity at certain regions and may have been utilized by the state to channel interaction with the local societies.