Pachacamac is a major pre-Columbian site located on Peru’s Central Coast. Covering approximately 6 km2, the site was occupied for over a thousand years before the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. In 2012, the Ychsma Project excavated a Late Intermediate Period (900 to 1470 AD) multiple tomb (Cx4) made of two funerary chambers covered by a vegetal roof, containing 89 deceased together with numerous grave goods. Over 60% of the individuals are subadults whose sex cannot be assigned based on osteological observations. Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis can be useful for sex determination, general mitochondrial lineage (haplogroup) and disease diagnosis. However, non-endogenous DNA contamination of archaeological material is a recurrent problematic, since excavation, handling and storage usually don't fit with the precautions recommended for ancient DNA analysis. Nevertheless, we obtained aDNA results from several human individuals recovered from the Cx4 context. Our objectives are to complete the demographic information and to characterize the health status of the population buried in this pilgrimage site dedicated to the eponymous healing god. Despite significant human modern contamination and low amounts of endogenous ancient DNA, our results show that sex could be assigned genetically in >80% of the cases, including subadults. Sex identification of infants, children and adolescents is crucial to fully understand this complex context and its funerary recruitment, and to perform an integrated and holistic analysis of all associated data. The genetic data were also used to estimate the presence of several pathogens using the KrakenUniq taxonomical classification tool.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
