Differences in Kinship Structure between Chanka Moieties: An Ancient DNA Study

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Chanka were a cultural group that lived in Andahuaylas, Peru during the Late Intermediate Period (LIP, AD 1000-1400). At the beginning of the LIP, the Chanka moved into smaller communities at higher elevations and utilized an agro-pastoral lifestyle. Similar to other groups throughout the Andes during the LIP, the Chanka experienced high degrees of violence and built fortifications around their communities. While these behaviors indicate the Chanka communities may have been violent towards each other, researchers also say that the Chanka held alliances with marriage between the moieties of their multi-level kinship system. This study looks at the Chanka sites of Cachi and Ranracancha, the upper and lower moieties of the Chanka kinship system, to observe whether there is evidence of marriage between them. In addition, we look to see if there are similar patterns of kinship within and between burial structures and sites. Using ancient DNA, kinship patterns were observed using the degree of relatedness and runs of homozygosity in the Relationship Estimation for Ancient DNA (READ) and Kinship INference (KIN) programs. Results show no evidence of intermarriage between Cachi and Ranracancha, and instead identified significant kinship structure differences between the sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53650