My Heart in Their Hand: Inferring Psychosocial Stress from a Mass Child Sacrifice, Pampa La Cruz, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Child sacrifice has been practiced by many ancient societies over time although archaeological evidence is often lacking. Scholars have attempted to investigate the motivations behind intentional state-sanctioned killings; however, the missing archaeological context leaves these interpretations up for debate. Outside of modern-day Trujillo, recent excavations in Huanchaquito-Las Llamas (HLL) recovered the largest mass sacrifice event in the Americas dated to the terminal Late Intermediate Period (circa 1400 CE). These tributes were drawn from adjacent river valleys and sacrificed during the decline of the Chimú domination of the North Coast. This study draws on data derived from assaying endogenous cortisol in archaeological hair strands from human sacrifices (n=40) at a new sacrificial site north of HLL known las Pampa La Cruz. Hair grows approximately at a rate of 1cm a month and allows for reconstructing monthly patterns of stress leading up to sacrifice. Preliminary results suggest high cortisol levels indicate elevated psychosocial stress that was exacerbated by environmental catastrophe and social instability during the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries CE. This project aims to investigate how various social processes may have played a pivotal role in regulated cortisol production, social inequity, and overall health prior to sacrifice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33319