Bioarchaeological Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru

Summary

The Wari imperial mausoleum, discovered in 2012-13 at the site of Castillo de Huarmey, Peru brought to light remains of 64 individuals buried within the main chamber underneath and additional seven in the contexts directly associated with the mausoleum. The upper layers of the building also yielded a collection of human and animal remains. The collection of human remains brings a unique set of data for bioarchaeologists. The research performed so far include standard analyses like taphonomy, demography and health status, along with biogeochemical ones. Stable isotope analyses of strontium, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon provided insights into the geographical origins and potential mobility as well as dietary preferences of the individuals buried within that unique context. Preliminary DNA analysis widened the scope of information obtained. A lot more of analyses have to be performed to fully understand the character of the Wari presence on the north coast of Peru.

Cite this Record

Bioarchaeological Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru. Wieslaw C. Wieckowski, Kelly Knudson, Lars Fehren-Schmitz. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 431802)

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
South America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14913