Assessing Food-Based Trade and Mobility in the Chincha Valley (Peru) Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

Summary

Peru is commonly known for having the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, but comparatively little is known about the subsistence practices of the pre-Inca communities that existed in the inland valley of Chincha during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1476). The Chinchas formed a powerful socio-economic entity within the Chincha Kingdom in part of the southern region of Peru nearest to the Pacific Ocean. Our research tests the hypothesis that individuals relied more heavily on a food-based trade networking system with other coastal rather than highland populations, using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to measure strontium, barium, calcium, and other elements in twenty-six human bones from four tombs in the Chincha Valley as a case study. Although the use of a non-destructive pXRF has become a very beneficial tool for the analysis of archaeological materials, relatively little has been done on human bone to elucidate subsistence practices, mainly due to limitations of surface analysis on potentially degraded and/or contaminated material. In addition, newly created bone standards are used to calibrate and enhance the validity and reliability of our data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22403