Natural Resources, School of

 

Date of this Version

2008

Document Type

Article

Citation

Chungara, Revista de Antropologia Chilena 2008

Abstract

Two small mummy bundles, found in a tomb at the Chillon River Valley, Lima Plains, Peru exist in the collections of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were donated to the collections at the beginning of the 20th century. A multidisciplinary team is now curating and studying them. CT scans confirmed both skeletons were of individuals less than one year old at death. One of the bundles is intact and will be preserved and displayed. The other one was partly decomposed and the authors received permission to unwrap it to analyze the bones in details. Mites and pollen analysis were performed and the bones and artifacts were described. The cranium of a four to six month-old child, had a perforated necrotic occipital bone that possibly related to cause of death. Endosteal new bone reaction, a flattened area at the occipital squamae and a parietal sulcus associated with a zone of frontparietal resorption were also found. A pathognomonic periosteal reaction at the occipital and parietals, along the lambdoid suture, pointed to the compression of the skull that could explain the trauma, ischemic necrosis and subsequent infection. The cultural context suggests that the bundle could belong to a late Inca burial.

Dos Jardos de inJantes hallados en una tumba en eL valle deL Rfo Chill6n (Lima, Peru) Jueron incorporados a La coLecci6n del Museo NacionaL de Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, a comienzos deL sigLo XX. ActuaLmente, un equipo muLtidiscipLinario esta encargado de La curadurfa y deL estudio de Los Jardos. EL anaLisis realizado por tomograjfa computadorizada confirm6 que ambos esqueLetos tienen menos de un ano de edad. Uno de Los Jardos esta intacto y sera preservado y exhibido. EL otro estaba parciaLmente deteriorado y se obtuvo permiso para desenJardarLo y hacer eL analisis de Los huesos. Se realiz6 analisis de acaros y de polen, ademas de La descripci6n de Los huesos y de Los arteJactos. EL CraneD present6 una peiforaci6n necrosada en eL occipitaL, interpretada como La posibLe causa de muerte. Se observ6 tambien una reacci6n endosteaL de hueso nuevo, un area allanada en La escama occipitaL y un surco en eL parietaL asociado a una zona de reabsorci6n Jrontoparietai. Una reacci6n patognom6nica deL periostio en el occipitaL y en Los parietaLes a Lo Largo de La sutura Lambdoide apuntan a una compresi6n deL craneo, Lo que podrfa explicar el trauma, La necrosis isquemica y la subsiguiente inJecci6n. El contexto cultural sugiere que el Jardo pertenecerfa a un enterratario de epoca incaica.

Share

COinS