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A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru

Here we report the results of excavation and interdisciplinary study of the largest child and camelid sacrifice known from the New World. Stratigraphy, associated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicate that it was a single mass killing of more than 140 children and over 200 camelids directed by...

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Autores principales: Prieto, Gabriel, Verano, John W., Goepfert, Nicolas, Kennett, Douglas, Quilter, Jeffrey, LeBlanc, Steven, Fehren-Schmitz, Lars, Forst, Jannine, Lund, Mellisa, Dement, Brittany, Dufour, Elise, Tombret, Olivier, Calmon, Melina, Gadison, Davette, Tschinkel, Khrystyne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6402755/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30840642
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211691
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author Prieto, Gabriel
Verano, John W.
Goepfert, Nicolas
Kennett, Douglas
Quilter, Jeffrey
LeBlanc, Steven
Fehren-Schmitz, Lars
Forst, Jannine
Lund, Mellisa
Dement, Brittany
Dufour, Elise
Tombret, Olivier
Calmon, Melina
Gadison, Davette
Tschinkel, Khrystyne
author_facet Prieto, Gabriel
Verano, John W.
Goepfert, Nicolas
Kennett, Douglas
Quilter, Jeffrey
LeBlanc, Steven
Fehren-Schmitz, Lars
Forst, Jannine
Lund, Mellisa
Dement, Brittany
Dufour, Elise
Tombret, Olivier
Calmon, Melina
Gadison, Davette
Tschinkel, Khrystyne
author_sort Prieto, Gabriel
collection PubMed
description Here we report the results of excavation and interdisciplinary study of the largest child and camelid sacrifice known from the New World. Stratigraphy, associated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicate that it was a single mass killing of more than 140 children and over 200 camelids directed by the Chimú state, c. AD 1450. Preliminary DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were chosen for sacrifice. Variability in forms of cranial modification (head shaping) and stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen suggest that the children were a heterogeneous sample drawn from multiple regions and ethnic groups throughout the Chimú state. The Huanchaquito-Las Llamas mass sacrifice opens a new window on a previously unknown sacrificial ritual from fifteenth century northern coastal Peru. While the motivation for such a massive sacrifice is a subject for further research, there is archaeological evidence that it was associated with a climatic event (heavy rainfall and flooding) that could have impacted the economic, political and ideological stability of one of the most powerful states in the New World during the fifteenth century A.D.
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spelling pubmed-64027552019-03-17 A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru Prieto, Gabriel Verano, John W. Goepfert, Nicolas Kennett, Douglas Quilter, Jeffrey LeBlanc, Steven Fehren-Schmitz, Lars Forst, Jannine Lund, Mellisa Dement, Brittany Dufour, Elise Tombret, Olivier Calmon, Melina Gadison, Davette Tschinkel, Khrystyne PLoS One Research Article Here we report the results of excavation and interdisciplinary study of the largest child and camelid sacrifice known from the New World. Stratigraphy, associated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicate that it was a single mass killing of more than 140 children and over 200 camelids directed by the Chimú state, c. AD 1450. Preliminary DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were chosen for sacrifice. Variability in forms of cranial modification (head shaping) and stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen suggest that the children were a heterogeneous sample drawn from multiple regions and ethnic groups throughout the Chimú state. The Huanchaquito-Las Llamas mass sacrifice opens a new window on a previously unknown sacrificial ritual from fifteenth century northern coastal Peru. While the motivation for such a massive sacrifice is a subject for further research, there is archaeological evidence that it was associated with a climatic event (heavy rainfall and flooding) that could have impacted the economic, political and ideological stability of one of the most powerful states in the New World during the fifteenth century A.D. Public Library of Science 2019-03-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6402755/ /pubmed/30840642 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211691 Text en © 2019 Prieto et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Prieto, Gabriel
Verano, John W.
Goepfert, Nicolas
Kennett, Douglas
Quilter, Jeffrey
LeBlanc, Steven
Fehren-Schmitz, Lars
Forst, Jannine
Lund, Mellisa
Dement, Brittany
Dufour, Elise
Tombret, Olivier
Calmon, Melina
Gadison, Davette
Tschinkel, Khrystyne
A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title_full A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title_fullStr A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title_full_unstemmed A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title_short A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru
title_sort mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the huanchaquito-las llamas site, moche valley, peru
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6402755/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30840642
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211691
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