Chimú-Era (AD 1000–1450) Child Sacrifices from Pampa la Cruz-Monticulo 1, Episode 3, and Pampa la Cruz-Monticulo 2: Biodistance Comparisions with Other Chimú Sacrifices and Regional Skeletal Populations

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ritual Violence and Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Andes: New Directions in the Field" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In recent years, hundreds of Chimú-Era child sacrifices have been discovered at locations to the north of the Chimú’s capital—Chan Chan—by the Programa Arqueológico Huanchaco. He we report on biodistance results for 22 recently excavated child sacrifices from Pampa la Cruz-Monticulo 1, Episode 3 (~AD 1220–1300), and 39 individuals from Pampa la Cruz-Monticulo 2 (est ~AD 1000). Population structure and biodistance analyses indicate that the children from these contexts, like those previously reported from Pampa la Cruz-Monticulo 1 Episodes 1, 4, and 5, are highly variable and unrelated to a local Chimú-era sample and seven additional comparative samples from the region. However, temporal tends in the data suggest that the children represented by these samples became increasingly variable through time. We discuss the implications of these results as they relate to the Chimú Empire’s expansion and their ritual expressions of power and dominance over conquered peoples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ritual Violence and Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Andes: New Directions in the Field   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38553.0