Characterization of a multiple burial context from Pachacamac, Peru: complementarity between bioarchaeology and molecular archaeology

Pachacamac is a major precolumbian 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 sixteenth century. In 2012, the Ychsma Project discovered a unique Late Intermediate period (AD 900–1470) multiple burial (“Cx4”) made of two funerary chambers with a vegetal roof structure, containing over 110 intact and fragmentary deceased together with numerous grave goods. More than 60% of the individuals are subadults whose sex cannot be assigned using osteological observation. Among the adults, 23 females and 20 males were identified, and the sex of the remaining four individuals couldn’t be assigned with certainty. We aim to fully understand the sociobiology of the Cx4 population, including biological sex, using a combined bioarchaeology and molecular archaeology approach. Despite significant human modern contamination and low amounts of endogenous ancient DNA, our results show that sex could be assigned genetically in >70% 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.

EN, Open Access, PDF available, Abstract of an Oral Presentation or a Poster