Study Shows Head Lice Helped Preserve Ancient Human DNA
Human DNA can be extracted from the ‘cement’ head lice used to glue their eggs to hairs thousands of years ago, scientists have found, which could provide an important new window into the past.
In a new study, scientists for the first time recovered DNA from cement on hairs taken from mummified remains that date back 1,500-2,000 years. This is possible because skin cells from the scalp become encased in the cement produced by female lice as they attach eggs, known as nits, to the hair.
Analysis of this newly-recovered ancient DNA – which was of better quality than that recovered through other methods – has revealed clues about pre-Columbian human migration patterns within South America. This method could allow many more unique samples to be studied from human remains where bone and tooth samples are unavailable.
The research was led by the University of Reading, working in collaboration with the National University of San Juan, Argentina; Bangor University, Wales; the Oxford University Museum of Natural History; and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Dr Alejandra Perotti, Associate Professor in Invertebrate Biology at the University of Reading, who led the research, said: “Like the fictional story of mosquitos encased in amber in the film Jurassic Park, carrying the DNA of the dinosaur host, we have shown that our genetic information can be preserved by the sticky substance produced by headlice on our hair. In addition to genetics, lice biology can provide valuable clues about how people lived and died thousands of years ago.
A mummified adult man of the Ansilta culture, from the Andes of San Juan, Argentina, dating back approx 2,000 years.
“Demand for DNA samples from ancient human remains has grown in recent years as we seek to understand migration and diversity in ancient human populations. Headlice have accompanied humans throughout their entire existence, so this new method could open the door to a goldmine of information about our ancestors while preserving unique specimens.”
Until now, ancient DNA has preferably been extracted from dense bone from the skull or from inside teeth, as these provide the best quality samples. However, skull and teeth remains are not always available, as it can be unethical or against cultural beliefs to take samples from indigenous early remains, and due to the severe damage destructive sampling causes to the specimens which compromise future scientific analysis.
Recovering DNA from the cement delivered by lice is therefore a solution to the problem, especially as nits are commonly found on the hair and clothes of well preserved and mummified humans.
The research team extracted DNA from nit cement of specimens collected from a number of mummified remains from Argentina. The mummies were of people who 1,500-2,000 years ago reached the Andes mountains of the San Juan province, Central West Argentina. The team also studied ancient nits on human hair used in textile from Chile and nits from a shrunken head originating from the ancient Jivaroan people of Amazonian Ecuador.
The samples used for DNA studies of nit cement were found to contain the same concentration of DNA as a tooth, double that of bone remains, and four times that recovered from the blood inside far more recent lice specimens.
Dr Mikkel Winther Pedersen from the GLOBE institute at the University of Copenhagen, and first author, said: “The high amount of DNA yield from these nit cement really came as a surprise to us and it was striking to me that such small amounts could still give us all this information about who these people were, and how the lice related to other lice species but also giving us hints to possible viral diseases.
“There is a hunt out for alternative sources of ancient human DNA and nit cement might be one of those alternatives. I believe that future studies are needed before we really unravel this potential.”
As well as the DNA analysis, scientists are also able to draw conclusions about a person and the conditions in which they lived from the position of the nits on their hair and from the length of the cement tubes. Their health and even cause of death can be indicated by the interpretation of the biology of the nits.
Analysis of the recovered DNA from nit-cement revealed and confirmed:
The sex of each of the human hosts
A genetic link between three of the mummies and humans in Amazonia 2,000 years ago. This shows for the first time that the original population of the San Juan province migrated from the land and rainforests of the Amazon in the North of the continent (south of current Venezuela and Colombia).
All ancient human remains studied belong to the founding mitochondrial lineages in South America.
The earliest direct evidence of Merkel cell Polymavirus was found in the DNA trapped in nit cement from one of the mummies. The virus, discovered in 2008, is shed by healthy human skin and can on rare occasions get into the body and cause skin cancer. The discovery opens up the possibility that head lice could spread the virus.
Analysis of the DNA of the nits, confirmed the same migration pattern for the human lice, from the North Amazonian planes towards Central West Argentina (San Juan Andes)
Morphological analysis of the nits informed that:
The mummies were all likely exposed to extremely cold temperatures when they died, which could have been a factor in their deaths. This was indicated by the very small gap between the nits and scalp on the hairs shaft. Lice rely on the host’s head heat to keep their eggs warm and so lay them closer to the scalp in cold environments.
Shorter cement tubes on the hair correlated with older and/or less preserved specimens, due to the cement degrading over time.
Archaeologists Discover 1,200-Year-Old Mummy Tied With Rope
Archaeologists excavating an underground tomb in Peru have uncovered a strange mummy preserved fully bound up in ropes, with its hands covering its face. The remains of the individual, whose sex has not been identified, was found at the Cajamarquilla archaeological site, some 16 miles from the capital city of Lima.
According to the team, the mummy dates back 1,200-800 years and belonged to the pre-Inca civilisation that developed between the Peruvian coast and mountains.
The excavation at Cajamarquilla is being led by archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen Luna of the California State University-San Marcos.
Archaeologists excavating an underground tomb in Peru have uncovered a strange mummy preserved fully bound up in ropes, with its hands covering its face, as pictured
‘The main characteristic of the mummy is that the whole body was tied up by ropes and with the hands covering the face,’ Professor Van Dalen Luna said.
This elaborate binding, he explained, ‘would be part of the local funeral pattern.’
The mummified individual, Professor Van Dalen Luna explained, would have lived in the high Andean region of what is today Peru — some 600–200 years before the rise of the Inca people.
‘Radiocarbon dating will give a more precise chronology,’ he added.
The underground tomb in which the mummy was found also harboured other funerary offerings. Among these discoveries were stone tools and ceramic pots within which were traces of vegetable matter, the archaeologists said.
The team added that the nature of the burial indicated that the region would have been multi-ethnic in the late pre-Hispanic period. Peru is home to hundreds of archaeological sites derived from cultures that developed both before and after the Inca Empire.
According to the team, the mummy (pictured) dates back 1,200-800 years and belonged to the pre-Inca civilisation that developed between the Peruvian coast and mountains
The Inca once dominated the southern part of South America, all the way from southern Ecuador and Colombia to central Chile, and first arose in the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th Century.
The Incan Empire fell at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors, who began their invasion in 1532 and seized the Inca’s last stronghold in 1532.
The mummified individual, Professor Van Dalen Luna explained, would have lived in the high Andean region of what is today Peru — some 600–200 years before the rise of the Inca people
The mummified individual, Professor Van Dalen Luna explained, would have lived in the high Andean region of what is today Peru — some 600–200 years before the rise of the Inca people. Pictured: the Cajamarquilla archaeological site, which spans some 167 hectares
WHY DID ANCIENT SOUTH AMERICAN CULTURES SACRIFICE THEIR CHILDREN?
Child sacrifice seems to have been a relatively common occurrence in the cultures of ancient Peru, including the pre-Incan Sican, or Lambayeque culture and the Chimu people who followed them, as well as the Inca themselves.
Among the finds revealing this ritual behaviour are the mummified remains of a child’s body, discovered in 1985 by a group of mountaineers.
The remains were uncovered at around 17,388ft (5,300 metres) on the southwestern ridge of Cerro Aconcagua mountain in the Argentinean province of Mendoza. The boy is thought to have been a victim of an Inca ritual called capacocha, where children of great beauty and health were sacrificed by drugging them and taking them into the mountains to freeze to death.
Child sacrifice seems to have been a relatively common occurrence in the cultures of ancient Peru. Among the finds revealing this ritual behaviour were the mummified remains of a child’s body (pictured), discovered in 1985 by a group of mountaineers
Ruins of a sanctuary used by the Inca to sacrifice children to their gods was discovered by archaeologists at a coastal ruin complex in Peru in 2016. Experts digging at Chotuna-Chornancap, in North Lima, discovered 17 graves dating to at least the 15th century. This included the graves of six children placed side by side in pairs of shallow graves.
Capacocha was a ritual that most often took place upon the death of an Inca king. The local lords were required to select unblemished children representing the ideal of human perfection.
Ruins of a sanctuary used by the Inca to sacrifice children to their gods was discovered by archaeologists at a coastal ruin complex in Peru in 2016. Experts digging at Chotuna-Chornancap (pictured), in North Lima, discovered 17 graves dating to at least the 15th century
Children were married and presented with sets of miniature human and llama figurines in gold, silver, copper and shell. The male figures have elongated earlobes and a braided headband and the female figurines wore their hair in plaits.
The children were then returned to their original communities, where they were honoured before being sacrificed to the mountain gods on the Llullaillaco Volcano.
The phrase Capacocha has been translated to mean ‘solemn sacrifice’ or ‘royal obligation.’
The rationale for this type of sacrificial rite has typically been understood as commemorating important life events of the Incan emperor, to send them to be with the deities upon their death, to stop natural disasters, to encourage crop growth or for religious ceremonies.
An important archaeological find has been made by researchers from San Marcos University (UNMSM) in the Chicama Valley, located in the La Libertad region.
A new archaeological landscape of the Chimu Culture —between 500 and 600 years old— has been discovered in this area.
San Marcos University reported that the archaeological site discovered in El Oso ravine, within the framework of the Chicama Archaeological Program, is believed to demonstrate the agricultural orientation of the Chimu Culture.
With this discovery, previous research and the San Marcos team suggest that the site was mainly used for agricultural production purposes, which is inferred because the channel that connects the Chicama River waters and various areas of the Moche Valley flows very close to the settlement.
According to Henry Tantalean, the archaeologist leading the San Marcos team, the site belongs to the Chimu period and comprises three buildings that are very similar to one another, albeit on a smaller scale than the Chan Chan citadel.
In addition, he explained that it has around 40 hectares of cultivated fields that used to be irrigated using an ancient technique involving a series of channels.
For her part, archaeologist Carito Tavera affirmed that the importance of this discovery and the interest in continuing the works at the site is because this demonstrates the long tradition of the Chicama Valley to allocate spaces for cultivation and large-scale agricultural production for the sustainability of people in this area of northern Peru.
In this way, the establishment of a settlement in this place shows that the Chimu people were interested in managing the area of the valley and did great construction works to expand their agricultural frontiers, something that they are doing even nowadays.
During the excavation process, after removing large rocks, archaeologists found traces of what was a great wall —at least two meters high— that surrounded the site, as well as a fairly preserved and compacted floor covered with sand that the wind brings.
Children’s Teeth Reveal Breastfeeding Practices in Ancient Peru
For thousands of years, breastfeeding habits have remained almost unchanged in the Peruvian Andes, according to an unprecedented research project at an archaeological site in Caral, the oldest civilisation in the Americas and the origin of Andean culture.
There, in a cemetery filled with the bodies of children believed to be buried around 500 B.C., researchers discovered that the way these kids were breastfed was akin to how mothers do it in modern-day rural communities in the Andes.
Tooth analysis of the remains of 48 children showed that the majority were breastfed exclusively for the first six months and were not completely weaned until 2.6 years of age, which is still the case in the most rural and traditional Andean populations.
“We expected a younger age, like in modern times, where due to work issues and social pressures, children are weaned practically at 9 months,” Luis Pezo-Lanfranco, the Peruvian bioarchaeologist leading the study, tells Efe.
Pezo-Lanfranco says that it is very likely intermittent breastfeeding occurred in Caral, the civilization that developed 130 kilometres (over 80 miles) north of Lima between the years 3,000 to 1,800 B.C.
To be sure, researchers need to find a cemetery from that period. A few burial sites from that time in Caral have been recovered but the preservation of bones was too poor to find stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, which reveal breastfeeding patterns.
Researchers are nevertheless confident that those breastfeeding habits found in infants buried in Chupacigarro ravine cemetery, just a kilometre from the sacred city of Caral, were inherited from the Americas’ first civilization.
“In Caral, many cultural forms were created that are traditional for the Andes,” says Pedro Novoa, deputy director of Caral research and conservation of materials.
While the discovery of a cemetery that would confirm the Caral researchers’ hypothesis has evaded them, indications of the significance that breastfeeding held in this primitive society have been found in several nearby urban centres.
It can be seen in a series of clay statuettes representing women breastfeeding their infants and others who hold their babies in their laps, in an allegory of motherhood discovered in Vichama, one of Caral’s 12 urban centres.
According to the study, it is still not clear whether that long breastfeeding period was a nutritional supplement or was due to food shortages.
Ruth Shady, the director of Caral archaeological investigations, says the high infant mortality may have been due to drought and famine.
“The drought is the main problem they faced, and it is very possible that this was what caused death among these children,” adds Shady, who has been studying Caral since 1994.
Peru: Skeletal remains of 25 people found at Chan Chan archaeological site
According to an Andina report, the remains of 25 people and some 70 artefacts and ceramic vessels have been uncovered in a raised area near the southern wall at Chan Chan, the 1,100-year-old Chimu capital on the coast of northern Peru.
It was located in Trujillo Province (La Libertad region) – archaeologists behind this important find have reported.
According to Jorge Meneses —head of the archaeological research project— this find is unusual due to its characteristics and location in a raised area of the Utzh An (Great Chimu) walled complex.
“Most of them (the remains) belonged to women under 30 who were buried with objects used in textile activities, a couple of children, and a couple of teenagers.
It is a very specific population, not too young considering the average human lifespan was 40 years, “I have remarked.
Meneses said that this discovery took place three weeks ago during the fourth season of works on the southern wall at Chan Chan.
The skeletal remains were found in an area of 10 square meters, arranged in two levels of the embankment, along with approximately 70 vessels and objects used in textile work.
“This is something new to us because, in spite of this, we are finding individuals and not simple ones, but of a more relevant category due to the number of objects placed with them as an offering. We may be walking over more remains, “Cave stated.
“We have found several individuals in the western part (of the site) since 2020, and we expect to continue to do so across the eastern sector in the coming seasons. That’s why we suggest that all this raised area could be a pre-Hispanic cemetery, “she added.
Over the millennia, people in many places across the globe have reported the existence of giants. Some of these alleged giants were supposedly six or seven feet tall, while others were considerably taller – 10 feet or more. However, many of these accounts are considered mythical or legendary. But even if such giants existed, were they simply the result of disease or genetic abnormalities? And were there just a few of them?
The Cardiff Giant
But these sightings have continued into the modern era. Many people in America, for instance, have reported seeing giants – or at least the bones of giants. Given these accounts, one may think there were many thousands, if not millions, of these giants roaming ancient America – a race of giants, in fact. However, most of the evidence is anecdotal rather than scientific. Mistakes could have been made too, especially by people who know little or nothing about science, particularly archaeology or anthropology. Also, there have been plenty of hoaxes through the ages. Some people love to fool others.
So, have giants ever existed in America? Let’s see if we can answer that question. First, this article will provide a recap of the existence of giants through the ages and then finish the investigation with more recent information.
David and Goliath
King Arthur squares off against a giant
Giants in Mythology and Legend
Over the centuries, the existence of giants has been reported in many parts of the world. The word giant comes from the Greek word Gigantes, and of course, in the old days, the Greeks wrote about the existence of giants in much of Greek mythology. For instance, the Olympian gods fought a war with the Gigantomachy, and they weren’t victorious until Heracles decided to join the Olympians. According to Hindu mythology, the Daityas were a race of giants who fought against the Devas, because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers. Power-hungry people, the Daityas often allied themselves with other races. Supposedly, female Daityas wore jewels as large as boulders.
The Old Testament of the Bible includes tales of giants too. The Book of Genesis mentions the Nephilim, who existed before and after the biblical deluge. And David battled the Philistine giant Goliath, who reportedly was about ten feet tall. Goliath’s brothers were also considered giants.
European Giants
In Norse mythology, most of their various monsters were giants. In the eventual battle of Ragnarök, a kind of end-of-the-world tale, the giants will lay siege to Asgard, which will bring about the destruction of the world. Moreover, the Norse gods are related to giants. The chief god Odin was the great-grandson of the first giant, Ymir.
In medieval folklore, people believed giants were responsible for many ancient civilizations. Their reasoning was that only giants could have built the immense walls, fortifications, temples and statues now attributed to the Greeks, Romans, Celts or Druids. Giants are also mentioned frequently in fairy tales, particularly Jack the Giant Killer, Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon and Young Ronald. In 1890, bone fragments discovered by an anthropologist in France, and dating from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age, came to be known as the Giant of Castelnau. Judging from the size of these leg and arm bones, it’s been estimated this “giant” was anywhere from 10 to 15 feet tall!
Paul Bunyan
Bigfoot
Skulls found at Lovelock Cave
Artist’s depiction of Cahokia
Monk’s Mound
Creek Mound
Miamisburg Mound
The Case for Giants in America
Most Americans have heard of Paul Bunyan, who, according to American folklore, was a giant lumberjack who was so big and strong he could bat cannonballs with his huge hands. In more recent times, Paul Bunyan has become a cartoon character of note. And then there’s Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch, a hominid-like, ape-man that purportedly lurks in the woods of North America.
But these giants are just silliness, right?
Well, many authors have written about the possible existence of giants in America. Certainly, one of the better books in this genre was penned by Richard J. Dewhurst, who wrote The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America, published in 2014. The following text will pertain to the discoveries Dewhurst writes about in this very interesting book.
Red-Haired Giants Found in Nevada
According to Paiute oral history, red-haired giants known as the Si-Te-Cah (the “tule eaters”) cannibalized people in what is now central Nevada. Eventually, the Paiute tribes rebelled against these giants and eradicated them. Then, in 1911, a group of bat guano miners discovered the remains and artefacts of some of these giants in Lovelock Cave. Certainly, the greatest of these discoveries were some mummies of the Si-Te-Cah, which had been wrapped in elaborate textiles. During subsequent excavations by scientists in Lovelock Cave, numerous artefacts and some human remains were collected, but experts dispute the claim that giants once lived in the cave. Interestingly, archaeological samples taken from some duck decoys found in the cave showed that using a dating technique known as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, the decoys were from 2,000 to 2,500 years old.
Unfortunately, the mummies of the Si-Te-Cah have been lost; only the skulls of these alleged giants have been kept at the Humboldt Museum in Winnemucca, Nevada.
Mound Builders of America
Throughout Dewhurst’s book, he writes about the discovery of giants interred in burial mounds in parts of the United States. These accounts, dozens of them, in fact, cover a time period from the late 1700s until well into the twentieth century. According to Dewhurst, thousands of these burial mounds were discovered over this time period and many still exist, particularly the larger ones. But the remains of the supposed giants discovered in the burial mounds disintegrated shortly after discovery, were lost, or stored away – without scientific investigation – and then forgotten. A typical account from the book goes like this:
GIANT EIGHT FEET, SEVEN INCHES TALL UNEARTHED
Ohio Science Annual, 1898
A rare archaeological discovery has been made near Reinersville in Morgan County, Ohio. A small knoll, which had always been supposed to be the result of an uprooted tree, was opened recently and discovered to be the work of the mound builders. Just below the surrounding surface, a layer of boulders and pebbles was found. Directly underneath this was found the skeleton of a giant 8 feet, 7 inches in height. Surrounding the skeleton were bones and stone implements, stone hatchets, and other characteristics of the mound builders. The discovery is considered by the scientists as one of the most important ever made in Ohio. The skeleton is now in the possession of a Reinersville collector.
Cahokia, One of America’s Greatest Mound Builder Sites
The Cahokia mound builder site is one of the largest in North America. Located in southwestern Illinois, near Collinsville (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis), the site is near the confluence of three rivers, so the ancient people of the area must have loved this place. About a thousand years ago, Cahokia was a city larger than London, and there were 120 earthen mounds, though only 40 remain today. But the largest still exists, and it’s called Monks Mound, which is comparable in height and surface area to the largest pyramids built by the Egyptians, Maya, Aztecs and Toltecs.
Interestingly, also located near the Cahokia site, is what’s called Woodhenge, a structure that includes 48 wooden posts arranged in a 410-foot diameter circle. Woodhenge has many geological and celestial alignments. At the Cahokia site, built by the Mississippian culture, hundreds of human skeletons have been found, including the bones of many sacrificial victims and, of course, the remains of giants.
Blond-haired Giants of Santa Catalina Island
During the 1920s on Santa Catalina Island, which is off the coast of Southern California (considered one of the Channel Islands), scientists dug up the skeletal remains of more than 3,700 people. Alleged to be from a race of blond-haired giants, one of the skeletons was over nine feet in length, though the average length of the skeletons was about seven feet. In those days, this discovery generated lots of excitement. The ruins of a temple were also found at the Catalina Island site, where the remains of many sacrificial victims were unearthed. Investigated by the Spanish as long ago as the middle 1500s, the people of this civilization worshipped the Sun God. Subsequent radiocarbon dating indicated that at least some of the skeletal remains found on the island were as old as 7,000 years.
Dewhurst claims that most of these skeletons were taken by the University of California and the Smithsonian Institute, though the Smithsonian denied it had the remains for 50 years. However, in 2011, the Smithsonian admitted they had the skeletons in a restricted-access room. Be that as it may, 200 skeletons from the site can be found at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.
Evidence for a Smithsonian Cover-up?
Throughout the book, Dewhurst asserts that the Smithsonian Institute has engaged in a cover-up regarding the existence of a race of giants in America, but he provides no proof in his aforementioned book and, of course, the Smithsonian hasn’t admitted there ever was – or is – such a cover-up. According to the online article, “Big Buried Secrets: Giant Skeletons and the Smithsonian” written by Micah Hanks, if the Smithsonian can be blamed for anything regarding the lost bones of giants, it’s that the Institute’s recordkeeping is not perfect. A quote from the article could summarize this issue:
Of course, the knowledge that such skeletons may indeed have been found at times, paired with the Smithsonian’s apparent inability to keep very good records about their discovery, no doubt helps to fuel the conspiratorial speculation. With all the unknown quantities present here (and whether they are largely fact, or merely fiction), at times it does become difficult to know whether the entire truth is really being told.
Was a Cover-up Ever Needed?
Adrienne Mayor, in her book, Fossil Legends of the First Americans, published in 2007, writes that the existence of giants in America is little more than the subject of persistent rumours. She claims that the presence of bones of large extinct mammals such as mammoths, mastodons, cave bears, sabre-toothed cats and other Ice Age megafauna could have been mistaken as human bones. Moreover, she writes that hair pigment is not stable after death and that atmospheric conditions and different soil types can turn dark hair rusty red or orange.
Robert Wadlow and his father
Conclusion
There’s no incontrovertible evidence that any man or woman has ever been taller than eight feet 11 inches – the height of the world’s tallest human, Robert Wadlow. Other men and women have reached heights of above eight feet. Most, if not all of these people suffered from gigantism or acromegaly, that is, abnormal medical conditions. Moreover, some people, having no recognizable medical abnormality, have become taller than seven feet. (Many of these people play on basketball teams, in fact). Acromegaly affects about 60 out of every one million people, so over the ages there may have been thousands of so-called giants.
This begs the question: How tall is a giant? Is it anybody who suffers from gigantism – or anybody who’s taller than seven or eight feet? Who’s the authority to answer such a query?
Would he or she please step forward!
Anyway, in times past, there may have been quite a few giants, but what evidence is there that an entire race of giants – red-haired, blond-haired or otherwise – existed at some time and place on earth? Perhaps the Smithsonian Institute really has such evidence, but the organization insists that it does not. Without the bones of many such giants, people must assume that a race of giants has never existed on earth. But, in the coming months or years, that conclusion could change – by the author and many other people – so keep your mind open to all possibilities.
Workers digging gas pipes in Peru find the 2,000-year-old gravesite
The AFP reports that workers laying a new gas pipe in the La Victoria district of the city of Lima discovered a 2,000-year-old grave containing some 40 ceramic vessels.
A work crew laying a natural gas pipe under a street in Lima, Peru stumbled across a 2,000-year-old burial site, including the remains of six people and ceramic vessels.
Workers laying gas pipes on a street in the Peruvian capital Lima stumbled on the remains of a pre-Hispanic gravesite that included 2,000-year-old ceramic burial vessels, an archaeologist said Thursday.
“This find that we see today is 2,000 years old,” archaeologist Cecilia Camargo told AFP at the site.
“So far, there are six human bodies that we have recovered, including children and adults, accompanied by a set of ceramic vessels that were expressly made to bury them.”
Experts believe the site in the Lima district of La Victoria may be linked to the culture known as “Blanco sobre Rojo,” or “White on Red,” which settled on the central coast of Peru in the valleys of Chillon, Rimac and Lurin, the three rivers that cross Lima.
“So far, we have recovered about 40 vessels of different shapes related to the White on Red style,” said Camargo, head of the cultural heritage department at the natural gas company Calidda.
“Some bottles are very distinctive of this period and style, which have a double spout and a bridge handle,” Camargo said.
As finds of ancient artefacts and remains occur frequently in Peru, all public service companies that do excavations have in house archaeologists, including Calidda, a Colombian-funded company that distributes natural gas in Lima and in the neighboring port of Callao.
Specialists work around the ancient burial site found by a crew laying a natural gas pipe under a street in Lima, Peru on November 04, 2021.
New Horrifying Secrets of Peru’s Ancient Civilizations Unearthed in The Andes
The foothills of the Andes mountains are revealing their bloody secrets: the ancient skeletons of sacrificed children. Archaeologists have unearthed 29 human bodies entombed approximately 1,000 years ago at Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucalá, an archaeological site in the Lambayeque region of northwestern Peru.
An overhead view of the excavation site.
Four of the skeletons – belonging to two children, a teenager and one adult – date to the Wari culture.
These four skeletons represent the region’s first known examples of human offerings from the Wari civilization, Edgar Bracamonte Lévano, the excavation’s director and research archaeologist with the Royal Tombs of Sipán museum, told Live Science in an email.
In addition to human remains, the excavation uncovered skeletons from eight guinea pigs, as well as several alpacas and llamas, all of which were likely sacrificed. They also uncovered pots, bottles, and a knife with a half-moon-shaped blade.
Bracamonte Lévano recognized the tombs as Wari because they were surrounded by three distinctive, D-shaped enclosures typical of the culture’s religious spaces.
The human offerings may have been “part of a possible ritual carried out at the time of starting the construction of these Wari-style religious spaces,” he said.
In addition to the four human offerings, the archaeological team uncovered a fifth individual who had undergone secondary burial. “That is to say, he was buried elsewhere and [then] reburied inside the D-shaped enclosure,” Bracamonte Lévano said.
A human skeleton unearthed at Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucalá
The Wari civilization flourished along the mountains and coasts of modern-day Peru from around AD 500 to 1000.
Wari people were known for their finely woven textiles and sculpted pottery, as well as their roads and terraced agriculture, according to the World History Encyclopedia. These roads would later be incorporated into parts of the Inca Empire.
While the exact structure of Wari society remains open to debate, archaeologists have found evidence suggesting that religion was deeply intertwined with politics and that women were included at the highest levels of governance, as Live Science previously reported.
The other 25 skeletons found buried – though not sacrificed – at the site belonged to the Mochica, or Moche, culture. This civilization thrived in what is now Lambayeque from around AD 100 to 700, and would later be supplanted by the Wari.
Unlike Wari art, which tends toward abstract shapes and patterns, Moche art is famous for its more literal, naturalistic style. That makes artefacts from the two cultures easily distinguishable, Bracamonte Lévano said.
Among the most significant Moche discoveries in recent years is the Lady of Cao mummy, a tattooed noblewoman whose forensic reconstruction was the subject of a 2017 National Geographic documentary.
The Lord of Sipán, another famous Moche mummy discovered in 1987, resides in the Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum under Bracamonte Lévano’s watchful eye.
