Nuevas revelaciones sobre la antigua civilización peruana que sacrificó a más de 100 niños

Investigadores señalan que las matanzas habrían estado ofrendadas a la Luna, para detener un período de constantes lluvias.

Luego del hallazgo de los restos de 140 niños, de entre 5 y 14 años, sacrificados y sepultados, investigadores revelaron nuevos datos sobre las costumbres de la antigua civilización Chimú, que habitaba el actual territorio de Perú.

Enterrados mirando hacia el mar, con cortes en el esternón, las costillas dislocadas y el corazón extraído, los científicos expresaron que su sacrificio habría estado ofrendado a la Luna, principal culto de una sociedad que ocupó unos 1.000 kilómetros de extensión a lo largo de la costa del océano Pacífico, entre los años 1000 y 1200, publicó National Geographic.

"La gente sacrifica aquello que considera más preciado", explicó el profesor de antropología de la Universidad George Mason, Haagen Klaus. Por eso, la Luna "merecía a los menores de 5 años", ya que la consideraban más poderosa que el Sol, por ser capaz de alumbrar de noche, además de tener influencia sobre el crecimiento de las cosechas, marcar el tiempo y ser responsable de las mareas y las tempestades.

Hallan en Perú restos de víctimas de un ritual de sacrificio humano de más de 1.000 años (FOTOS)

En consecuencia, estiman que para detener un período de intensas lluvias, como sucede con el fenómeno hoy conocido como El Niño, la Luna merecía sacrificios que no fueran de adultos. Esa sería la causa por la que hace unos 550 años los Chimú decidieron sacrificar a los 140 menores, es decir, "un nuevo tipo de víctima", según Klaus.

Los cadáveres hallados estaban envueltos en mantas de algodón de colores y habían sido enterrados en las entradas a los templos, junto a frutas. Cerca de ellos, estaban unas 200 llamas jóvenes, que también fueron sacrificadas.

Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice May Be World's Largest

Victims of a desperate event, a child (left) and baby llama (right) were part of the sacrificial killing of more than 140 children and over 200 llamas on the north coast of Peru around A.D. 1450.

More than 140 children were ritually killed in a single event in Peru more than 500 years ago. What could possibly have been the reason?

EVIDENCE FOR THE largest single incident of mass child sacrifice in the Americas— and likely in world history—has been discovered on Peru's northern coast, archaeologists tell National Geographic.

More than 140 children and 200 young llamas appear to have been ritually sacrificed in an event that took place some 550 years ago on a wind-swept bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in the shadow of what was then the sprawling capital of the Chimú Empire.

Scientific investigations by the international, interdisciplinary team, led by Gabriel Prieto of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and John Verano of Tulane University, are ongoing. The work is supported by grants from the National Geographic Society.

While incidents of human sacrifice among the Aztec, Maya, and Inca have been recorded in colonial-era Spanish chronicles and documented in modern scientific excavations, the discovery of a large-scale child sacrifice event in the little-known pre-Columbian Chimú civilization is unprecedented in the Americas—if not in the entire world.

Preserved in dry sand for more than 500 years, more than a dozen children were revealed over the course of a day by archaeologists. The majority of the ritual victims were between eight and 12 years

"I, for one, never expected it," says Verano, a physical anthropologist who has worked in the region for more than three decades. "And I don't think anyone else would have, either."

The researchers are in the process of submitting a report on scientific results of the discovery to a peer-reviewed, scientific journal.

A Stunning Tally, and a Tragic End

The sacrifice site, formally known as Huanchaquito-Las Llamas, is located on a low bluff just a thousand feet from the sea, amid a growing spread of cinderblock residential compounds in Peru's northern Huanchaco district. Less than half a mile to the east of the site is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Chan Chan, the ancient Chimú administrative center, and beyond its walls, the modern provincial capital of Trujillo.

See massive ancient drawings discovered in the Peruvian desert.

At its peak, the Chimú Empire controlled a 600-mile-long territory along the Pacific coast and interior valleys from the modern Peru-Ecuador border to Lima.

Once one of the largest cities in the Americas, Chan Chan was the capital city of the ancient Chimú civilization. How long ago did the Chimú people live, and what brought about the fall of their civilization?

Only the Inca commanded a larger empire than the Chimú in pre-Columbian South America, and superior Inca forces put an end to the Chimú Empire around A.D. 1475.

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Human settlements along Peru's north coast are susceptible to climactic disruptions caused by El Niño weather cycles. 

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A satellite image shows the proximity of the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas sacrificial site to the sprawling ruins of the ancient Chimú capital of Chan Chan.

 

Huanchaquito-Las Llamas (generally referred to by the researchers as "Las Llamas,") first made headlines in 2011, when the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas were found during an emergency dig directed by study co-author Prieto. An archaeologist and Huanchaco native, Prieto was excavating a 3,500-year-old temple down the road from the sacrifice site when local residents first alerted him to human remains eroding from nearby coastal dunes.

By the time excavations concluded at Las Llamas in 2016, more than 140 sets of child remains and 200 juvenile llamas had been discovered at the site; rope and textiles found in the burials are radiocarbon dated to between 1400 and 1450.

Many of the children had their faces smeared with a red cinnabar-based pigment during the ceremony before their chests were cut open, most likely to remove their hearts. The sacrificial llamas

Evidence for the ritual killings includes a skull stained with red cinnabar-based pigment, a human rib bone with cut marks, and a sternum severed in half.

The skeletal remains of both children and animals show evidence of cuts to the sternum as well as rib dislocations, which suggest that the victims' chests were cut open and pulled apart, perhaps to facilitate the removal of the heart.

The remains of three adults—a man and two women—were found in close proximity of the children and animals. Signs of blunt-force trauma to the head and a lack of grave goods with the adult bodies lead researchers to suspect that they may have played a role in the sacrifice event and were dispatched shortly thereafter.

The 140 sacrificed children ranged in age from about five to 14, with the majority between the ages of eight and 12; most were buried facing west, out to the sea. The llamas were less than 18 months old and generally interred facing east, toward the high peaks of the Andes.

Archaeologist Gabriel Prieto, second from left, excavates the coastal lot where the ritual event took place more than 500 years ago. He trains local students to become the next generation of scientis. Kit

A Scatter of Footprints, Frozen in Time

The investigators believe all of the human and animal victims were ritually killed in a single event, based on evidence from a dried mud layer found in the eastern, least disturbed part of the 7,500-square-foot site. They believe the mud layer once covered the entire sandy dune where the ritual took place, and it was disturbed during the preparation of the burial pits and the subsequent sacrifice event.

Archaeologists discovered the footprints of sandaled adults, dogs, barefoot children, and young llamas preserved in the mud layer, with deep skid marks illustrating where reluctant four-legged offerings may have been forcibly coaxed to their end.

An analysis of the footprints may also enable the archaeologists to reconstruct the ritual procession: It appears that a group of children and llamas was led to the site from the north and the south edges of the bluff, meeting in the center of the site, where they would have been sacrificed and buried. The bodies of a few children and animals were simply left in the wet mud.

Local residents alerted archaeologist Gabriel Prieto to the sacrificial site in 2011, noting that human bones were eroding from the dunes around their homes.

Many of the 200 sacrificial llamas are so well preserved that after 500 years, researchers could recover the ropes they were bound with, stomach contents, and plant remains caught in their fur.

Many children show evidence of having their faces smeared with red pigment before death. DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were sacrificed.

A young llama (left) and shrouded child were buried in the same pit—a common phenomenon at Las Llamas, but a generally unusual find in the pre-Columbian Andes.

A child seems to hold a hand in its mouth as the remains of a llama curl around its skull.

Many of the cotton shrouds that wrapped the victims are well preserved. They have been carbon dated to between A.D. 1400 and 1450.

Both children and llamas were brought to the coast from far-flung corners of the Chimú Empire to be sacrificed, according to preliminary isotopic studies and analysis of skull modification.

An Unprecedented Event?

If the archaeologists' conclusion is correct, Huanchaquito-Las Llamas may be compelling scientific evidence for the largest single mass child sacrifice event known in world history.

Until now, the largest mass child sacrifice event for which we have physical evidence is the ritual murder and interment of 42 children at Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (modern-day Mexico City).

The discovery of individual child sacrifice victims recovered from Inca mountaintop rituals has also captured the world's attention.

Outside of the Americas, archaeologists at sites such as the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage debate whether child remains found there constitute ritual sacrifice and, if so, if such ritual events took place over the course of decades or even centuries.

Verano emphasizes that such clear-cut evidence for deliberate, singular mass sacrificial events such as those evidenced at Las Llamas, however, is extremely rare to find in archaeological contexts.

Analysis of the remains from Las Llamas shows that both children and llamas were killed with consistent, efficient, transverse cuts across the sternum. A lack of hesitant ("false start") cuts indicates that they were made by one or more trained hands.

"It is ritual killing, and it's very systematic. Lo

National Geographic grantees Gabriel Prieto, left, and John Verano, right, have spent several seasons excavating the sacrificial site of Las Llamas.

Human sacrifice has been practiced in nearly all corners of the globe at various times, and scientists believe that the ritual may have played an important role in the development of complex societies through social stratification and control of populations by elite social classes.

Most societal models that look at human sacrifice, however, are based on the ritual killing of adults, says Joseph Watts, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

"I think it's definitely harder to explain child sacrifice," he says, then pauses.

"Also, at a personal level."

Negotiation With Supernatural Forces

The mass sacrifice of only children and young llamas that took place at Las Llamas, however, appears to be a phenomenon previously unknown in the archaeological record, and it immediately raises the question: What would motivate the Chimú to commit such an act?

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate pattern that warms and cools the tropical Pacific Ocean. During an El Niño warm phase, surface temperatures (in red) stretch across the equator.

Prieto concedes that this is often the first question he encounters when he shares his research at Las Llamas with scientific colleagues and the local community.

"When people hear about what happened and the scale of it, the first thing they always ask is why."

The layer of mud found during excavations may provide a clue, say the researchers, who suggest it was the result of severe rain and flooding on the generally arid coastline, and probably associated with a climate event related to El niño.

Elevated sea temperatures characteristic of El Niño would have disrupted marine fisheries in the area, while coastal flooding could have overwhelmed the Chimú's extensive infrastructure of agricultural canals.

The Chimú succumbed to the Inca only decades after the sacrifices at Las Llamas.

Haagen Klaus, a professor of anthropology at George Mason University, has excavated some of the earliest evidence for child sacrifice in the region, at the 10th- to 12th-century site of Cerro Cerillos in the Lambayeque Valley, north of Huanchaco. The bioarchaeologist, who is not a member of the Las Llamas project, suggests that societies along the northern Peruvian coast may have turned to the sacrifice of children when the sacrifice of adults wasn't enough to fend off the repeated disruptions wrought by El Niño.

"People sacrifice that which is of most and greatest value to them," he explains. "They may have seen that [adult sacrifice] was ineffective. The rains kept coming. Maybe there was a need for a new type of sacrificial victim."

Researchers continue to unravel the events at Las Llamas, and they hope to eventually explain why and how humans appealed to the supernatural in an attempt to control an unpredictable natural world.

"It's impossible to know without a time machine," Klaus says, adding that the Las Llamas discovery is important in that it adds to our knowledge about ritual violence and variations on human sacrifice in the Andes.

"There's this idea that ritual killing is contractual, that it's performed to get something from supernatural deities. But it's actually a much more complicated attempt at negotiation with those supernatural forces and their manipulation by the living."

Future Histories for Past Victims

The scientific team investigating the Las Llamas sacrifices is now undertaking the painstaking work of unraveling the life histories of the victims—such as who they were and where they may have come from.

Although it is difficult to determine sex based on skeletal remains at such a young age, preliminary DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were victims, and isotopic analysis indicates that they were not all drawn from local populations but likely came from different ethnic groups and regions of the Chimú Empire.

Evidence for cranial modification, practiced in some highland areas at the time, also supports the idea that children were brought to the coast from farther-flung areas of Chimú influence.

Since the discovery at Las Llamas, the research team has discovered archaeological evidence around Huanchaco for similar, contemporaneous mass child-llama sacrifice sites, which are the subject of ongoing scientific investigation with the support of the National Geographic Society.

"Las Llamas is already such a unique site in the world, and it makes you wonder how many other sites like this there may be out there in the area for future research," .

Peru is built upon millennia of cultures and their histories.

When the words "ancient Peru" are mentioned, images of Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines come to mind. But Peru is built upon millennia of cultures and their histories.

The traces they left behind may not be as big as lost cities, but they are no less rare and mysterious. New mummies are breaking old beliefs and revealing new civilizations. Settlements show the realities of the time, invasions, brutal leadership, and even blood sacrifices from otherwise advanced people.

10 The Inca Tree

It was one of those discoveries that surprised everyone because the tree was large and everywhere. Researchers noticed the tall specimens for some time - some grew up to 30 meters (100 ft) tall - but only realized in 2017 that this was a whole new kind of rubber tree.

Relatives to this newcomer include poinsettias and other latex-leaking plants from the spurge family. But the latest addition is truly special - a new genus had to be created to fit the species. It is like finding oak or cabbage for the first time.

Called Incadendron esseri ("Esser's tree of the Inca"), they are a common sight along the Trocha Union, an old Inca road in Peru. The canopy tree carpets the landscape from southern Peru to Ecuador.[1]

Scientists do not fully understand why it appears to be so successful in a harsh environment. But the 0.6-meter-thick (2 ft) Incadendron is susceptible to the planet's rising temperatures and deforestation.

9 Elite Skulls

Around three centuries before the Incas arrived in Peru, the Collagua began to press their skulls into long shapes. This tradition began around AD 1300 and lasted for hundreds of years.

But skull squashing was not for everyone. In a bid to discover why anyone would deform their children's heads, a recent study looked at 211 skulls from two Collagua graveyards. It concluded that the cone people were mostly from elite graves. More surprisingly, skull binding did not develop overnight but was refined over many generations.

Starting in infancy, boards and cloth were used to press the head into increasingly narrow points. Researchers suspect that there was a bond between individuals who looked different from the norm - and that this united leadership was crucial to their survival against the Incas.

The latter arrived in 1450. But instead of going to war, the Collagua elite could have decided to be drawn peacefully into the powerful Inca Empire. Even so, nobody knows what happened to the Collaguas in the end. Similar to their neighbors, the Cavanas, they disappeared.[2]

8 The Paracas Lines

In 2014, archaeologists announced that they found the older cousins of the famous Nazca Lines. Created by the Paracas culture around 300 BC, they were three centuries older than the earliest Nazca design. They were found in the Chinca Valley as part of a complicated artificial environment.

The 71 rocky lines were accompanied by large mounds, pyramids, 353 stone cairns, and rocks stacked in circles or rectangles. Several geoglyph lines and mounds were aligned with the June solstice sunset.

This was no casual worship of the seasons but likely markers to help people from all over find their way to Paracas-style trade fairs at a certain time of the year. It is also believed that the sites themselves held festivities, tracked time, and had other multiple uses instead of any singular purpose.[3]

7 The Atacama Mummies

It is not every day that one discovers 150 mummies from an unknown culture. But between 2012-2014, their simple graves were unearthed in the Atacama Desert.

The individuals were naturally preserved due to being placed directly in the sand, wrapped only in sheaths made of cotton, reeds, or fishing nets. They were not Inca or Tiwanaku because the bodies predated both civilizations by 500 years (4th-7th centuries AD).

Luckily, the grave goods were happy to talk. Most of the items were high quality and decorated. From domestic items, researchers could see how this civilization made jewelry, pottery, and weapons. They also learned what these people wore and that they caught fish and combed their hair.

The discovery of bows was an incredibly rare Peruvian find. Llama bones in another grave could also readjust the history books as to when the animal first arrived in the region.

Remarkably, right next to the cemetery was another graveyard filled with Tiwanaku burials. This later civilization was never thought to have spread their wings as far as the Tambo River delta, where the mummies were found.[4]

6 First Female Governor

In the Chicama Valley stands an ancient adobe pyramid called Cao Viejo. Inside, a mummy rested that changed a big detail about pre-Hispanic Peru. Scholars had believed that women held no power positions. But that changed in 2006 when the so-called Lady of Cao was discovered.

She belonged to the Moche culture, which flourished from AD 100 to AD 800. This woman ruled northern Peru 1,700 years ago. Among the grave goods were a crown, large war clubs, spear throwers, and artifacts of copper and gold. The mummy's face, feet, and legs bore tattoos of spiders and serpents, both magical symbols.

Since she was the first female political, religious, and cultural governor of Peru, researchers wanted the meet the Lady of Cao. The closest they could manage was a facial reconstruction. This happened through skull analysis, 3-D printing, and 10 months of painstakingly weaving all the details together.

The result was a handsome, capable-looking woman in her twenties. A medical examination showed that her cause of death was likely tied to pregnancy complications or childbirth.[5]

5 Flash Inca Invasion

Ayawiri, a town on a hill in the central Andes, was once called home by about 1,000 people. The citizens belonged to the native Colla civilization. When Ayawiri was recently excavated, archaeologists soon sobered up to the fact that the scene was abnormal. Too many valuables were strewn about. It appeared that the inhabitants had left so fast that there was no time to pack.

The amount of valuable metal tools and jewelry, as well as stone implements and useful pottery, is exceedingly rare for an abandoned town. It is believed that Inca warriors descended on the hill with such speed that the Colla dropped everything and ran.[6]

Findings suggested that the event happened around AD 1450 and not everyone was clueless about the impending attack. When excavations reached the homes of the wealthier families, several were almost empty of possessions. Aware of the invasion, they departed earlier. But, for some reason, they chose not to warn the rest of the town. Where the Colla people went after they fled the hill remains a puzzle.

4 Geoglyphs From Three Cultures

Early in 2018, National Geographic broke the news that about 50 new "Nazca" designs were found in Peru. However, these were different from the famous geometric and animal-shaped lines. They were smaller (about the size of a football field), only inches across, and mostly depicted human figures. Unlike the Nazca Lines, which spread across the flat earth, the new images crept up hills.

In 2017, the previously unknown artwork was spotted by drones during a project to conserve the known sites. Their value does not exist only in the visual differences but also in the fact that they were made by three successive civilizations. This showed that the Nazca (AD 200-700) did not invent the tradition.

Instead, they continued what the Paracas started and the Topara culture (500 BC-AD 200) maintained until the Nazca people showed up.[7] It remains a good question to ask: Why did this labor-intensive tradition survive across three cultures?

There are many theories, such as representations of constellations, an aid to pilgrims, or a ritual ingredient. The truth is that nobody knows what drove the ancient Peruvians to create giant images in their environment.

3 Prehistoric Hazing

At the ceremonial site of Pacopampa, skeletons with brutal injuries were found in 2017. Considering the history of the Andes, one could be pardoned for thinking that they were victims of war or sacrifice. But then researchers noticed several things that made it implausible.

Pacopampa had no defenses, which meant that the people there had no fear of being attacked. Their existence must have been peaceful as far as war was concerned. All the injuries showed healing, so nobody died from the horrific blows. Both sexes were equally bashed, none showed defensive injuries (they took the beatings), and the fractures showed up in the same places (skull, face, limbs, and dislocated elbows).[8]

The most important clue came from the fact that none of the skeletons came from elite graves. Everything pointed at a disturbing process. From the 13th to the 6th centuries BC, the ruling class used brutal rituals as a way to maintain their dominance over civilians. Previous excavations had already established that inequality existed at Pacopampa as well as a deep penchant for ceremonies.

2 Chimu Child Sacrifices

The adults at Pacopampa faced nonlethal ceremonies, but some children from the Chimu culture never survived theirs. They were not meant to. In 2017, construction workers were preparing to install pipes when they stumbled upon human remains. Realizing that the bones were ancient, archaeologists were called to the beach town of Huanchaco.

Soon, 77 burials were identified. They were a blend of pre-Inca nations such as the Chimu, Salinar, and Viru. At least 12 were children who died 1,500 years ago. All of the kids' chest bones showed cut marks, as if somebody had sawed at the ribs to remove their hearts.[9]

Apart from the dozen youngsters, there was also a newborn who had been sacrificed. The killings were likely performed by the Chimu culture (AD 900-1470) in a gruesome attempt to please the rain gods. The region was extremely dry.

In a stark contrast, the Chimu people are remembered for their advanced crafts and engineering. Their capital, Chan Chan, is recognized by UNESCO as an "absolute masterpiece of town planning."

1 Living Royal Incas

The last Inca emperor fell in 1533 when he was murdered by the Spanish. Atahualpa had ruled the biggest empire of its time and the culture that produced engineering treasures such as Machu Picchu and a 40,200-kilometer (25,000 mi) network of roads from Colombia to Argentina.

After the emperor's execution, the empire was obliterated. Dutch Historian Ronald Elward moved to Peru in 2009 and spent years looking for any royal descendants. He identified 25 noble family names directly linked to Atahualpa.

Remarkably, most living descendants showed up in the lower social groups. This could be because indigenous surnames are preserved in rural areas but frowned upon in the cities.

One woman traced by Elward was 40-year-old Roberta Huamanrimanchi Tupahuacayllo. During the day, she looks after other people's children. On her mother's side, Roberta inherited royal Inca blood. Her father collects family skulls, an ancient Inca tradition.[10]

Elward's research was supported mainly by parish records and interviews. In turn, it provided the groundwork for Peruvian geneticist Ricardo Fujita. Testing those who claimed descent from Atahualpa's father, Huayna Capac, DNA linked around 35 people to indigenous populations near Lake Titicaca. This supports the myth that the Inca originated in that region.

Primer estudio genético sobre los descendientes modernos de los linajes Incas imperiales

Un equipo multinacional sudamericano de Perú, Brasil y Bolivia, dirigido por la Universidad de San Martín de Porres en Lima, Perú, publicó el primer estudio genético sobre los descendientes modernos de los linajes Incas imperiales en la revista Molecular Genetics and Genomics.

Los incas llegaron al valle del Cusco, y en unos pocos siglos, establecieron el Tawantinsuyu, el mayor imperio de América. El Tawantinsuyu fue el climax cultural de 6.000 años de civilizaciones de los Andes centrales que se superponen a los países modernos de Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador, el sur de Colombia y el norte de Argentina y Chile. En contraste con la riqueza de la evidencia arqueológica y cultural, la historia precolombina se desvanece en el tiempo, ya que se entremezcla con los mitos debido a la falta de sistemas de escritura antes de la llegada de los cronistas europeos.

Se sabe muy poco sobre los orígenes incas, y la información genética podría ayudar a reconstruir parte de su historia. Desafortunadamente, las momias y los restos corporales de los emperadores incas, adorados como dioses, fueron quemados y enterrados en lugares desconocidos debido a la persecución religiosa y política de los conquistadores e inquisidores cristianos, por lo que no existe un material directo para el análisis de ADN. "Por lo tanto, por ahora, solo el análisis genético de las familias modernas de ascendencia inca podría proporcionar algunas pistas sobre sus ancestros", dice el genetista José Sandoval, primer autor, que trabaja en la Universidad de San Martín de Porres en Lima, Perú.
Hubo dos mitos fundacionales para el origen de los incas antes de que se instalaran en el valle del Cusco para construir su ciudad capital. Una es que Manco Capac y Mama Ocllo, considerados hijos del Dios Sol y fundadores de la civilización, vinieron del lago Titicaca a unos 500 km al sur de la frontera del norte de Bolivia y el sur del Perú, más o menos la misma región donde el imperio Tiwanaku existió unos siglos antes. El segundo mito dice que cuatro hermanos Ayar con poderes divinos salieron de las cuevas dentro de una colina en el área de Paccarictambo, a 50 km al sur de Cusco, y solo uno de ellos, Manco, llegó al valle del Cusco. Con respecto a la sucesión de los gobernantes, la mayoría de los cronistas mencionan solo una herencia patrilineal; sin embargo, otros autores piensan que la sucesión se basó en una compleja selección de habilidades militares y administrativas, no necesariamente al elegir al hijo de un Inca anterior.

"Se esperaría un grupo patrilineal único en el primer caso. En el segundo caso, dos o más patrones patrilineales serán evidentes", dice el genetista Ricardo Fujita, autor principal, también de la Universidad de San Martín de Porres. El equipo de investigación incluyó al historiador Ronald Elward, quien estudió la documentación de 12 familias nobles incas y realizó un seguimiento desde la época de la conquista hasta sus descendientes contemporáneos. "La mayoría de ellos que todavía viven en las ciudades de San Sebastián y San Jerónimo, Cusco, Perú, en la actualidad, son probablemente el grupo más homogéneo del linaje Inca", dice Elward.

Los marcadores para los cromosomas Y y ADNmt se utilizaron para el análisis genético de estas familias y se compararon con una base de datos de 2400 individuos nativos de Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador y Brasil. "Los resultados muestran orígenes patrilineales distintivos de dos individuos fundadores que vivieron entre 1000 y 1500 d. C., un período entre la decadencia de los antiguos imperios contemporáneos de Tiwanaku (sur) y Wari (norte) y el surgimiento del imperio inca unos siglos más tarde, "dice el genetista Fabricio Santos de la Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais en Belo Horizonte, Brasil.

El primer haplotipo patrilineal llamado AWKI-1 ("awki" significa "príncipe heredero" en quechua) se encuentra en las familias putativas que descienden de dos Incas, Yahuar Huacac y Viracocha anteriores. El mismo patrón de descendientes incas también se encontró en individuos que viven al sur de Cusco, principalmente en Aymaras de Perú y Bolivia. El segundo haplotipo patrilineal, llamado AWKI-2, se encontró en un descendiente de un Inca más reciente, Huayna Capac, padre de los dos hermanos (Huascar y Atahualpa) que estaban librando una guerra fraternal sobre el imperio a la llegada de los conquistadores. "AWKI-2 también se encuentra en docenas de personas de diferentes lugares en los Andes y ocasionalmente en el Amazonas, lo que sugiere una expansión poblacional", dice el Dr. Santos.
"Además de San Sebastián y San Jerónimo, la mayoría de los lugares de AWKI-1, AWKI-2 estaban hacia el sur hasta Cusco, incluyendo la cuenca del lago Titicaca y la vecina Paccarictambo, de acuerdo con los dos mitos fundacionales del Inca, probablemente dos imágenes en diferentes veces del mismo viaje con destino final Cusco ", dice Ricardo Fujita.

"También es notable que en estas familias contemporáneas de la nobleza incaica, haya una continuidad desde los tiempos precolombinos", dice Ronald Elward. El análisis de su ADN mitocondrial sugirió un marcador matrilineal muy variado, cuyas contrapartes se encuentran en toda la región andina, lo que refleja un alto flujo genético. "Esto probablemente refleja las alianzas políticas por matrimonios arreglados entre la nobleza cusqueña y las hijas de señores de reinos y jefaturas en todo el imperio", dice José Sandoval.

Este trabajo es la continuación de varios estudios realizados por el equipo para reconstruir la historia de América del Sur a través de la genética. Dos trabajos publicados incluyeron las únicas raíces antiguas de los Uros, personas de las Islas Flotantes del Lago Titicaca y Quechwa-Lamistas en la Amazonía peruana. Los Uros modernos son hablantes de aymara, personas que se cree que pertenecen a la etnia aymara que se beneficiaron del turismo en las islas flotantes. Sin embargo, el equipo demostró que eran personas aisladas genéticamente que habían perdido su lengua Uro original, cambiando a la lengua aymara ampliamente utilizada. Por otro lado, los kechwa-lamistas son amazónicos que hablan la lengua quechua andina, presuntos descendientes de los andinos Chancas, antiguos enemigos de los incas, y fueron perseguidos por ellos hacia el Amazonas. El ADN demostró que en realidad son descendientes de personas amazónicas lingüísticamente diferentes que fueron reunidas por misiones católicas y se les enseñó el idioma quechua para una mejor evangelización.

"En algunos casos, la genética nos muestra algo diferente a la historia oficial. Lo que no está escrito o mal escrito en los registros históricos puede revelarse por lo que está escrito en nuestro ADN", dice Ricardo Fujita. "Este estudio es solo la punta del iceberg al tratar de resolver parte de varios enigmas de una de las civilizaciones más notables. El ADN de los restos corporales de un monarca inca o un descendiente directo que vivió al comienzo de la colonización española podría dar más certeza sobre el linaje Inca, y nuestro equipo lo está esperando ", dice José Sandoval.
José R. Sandoval et al, ascendencia genética de familias de ascendencia inca putativa, Genética molecular y Genómica

More than 50 Enormous Ancient Drawings Found in Peru Add to Nazca Mystery

More than 50 new geoglyphs have been added to the mysterious Peruvian desert carvings. Some are made by the same culture as the Nazca lines and others show unique designs predating them. Archaeologists made their discovery with an exciting blend of amateur eyes combined with expert on-site knowledge and exploration.

According to National Geographic , the newly found designs were identified in the Palpa province or Peru and include both the linear and polygon figures made by the Nazca culture between 200 to 700 AD as well as human figures carved into the earth by the Paracas or Topará cultures between 500 BC and 200 AD.

Human figures are more prominent in the Paracas geoglyphs. ( National Geographic )

Archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, the new geoglyphs co-discoverer, says the earlier Peruvian geoglyphs are not as visible as the Nazca lines, having been mostly laid down on the sides of hills and worn away over time. “Most of these figures are warriors. These ones could be spotted from a certain distance, so people had seen them, but over time, they were completely erased.”

The mysterious prehistoric geoglyph of the Paracas CandelabraGigantic 2,000-Year-Old Geoglyph of an Orca Is One of the Earliest in Peru

Newly discovered Nazca lines captured by a drone. ( Luis Jaime Castillo, Palpa Nazca Project ) Archaeologists believe these lines were made at different times and with different purposes.

GlobalXplorer, a crowdsourced archaeology project put forward by space archaeologist Sarah Parcak and manned by over 70,000 volunteers, used satellite imagery to flag hundreds of potential sites of interest in Peru around the Nazca lines. Peruvian archaeologists then took that information to explore the most probable places with high-flying drones.

Parcak explained GlobalXplorer as a service to aid archaeologists in locating and protecting sites, telling National Geographic, “We give the data to local experts: This is their cultural patrimony, they're the stakeholders. We're providing a resource.”

And the chief restorer and protector of the Nazca lines , Peruvian Ministry of Culture archaeologist Johny Isla says the help is immeasurable ,

“The data and information obtained with the GlobalXplorer project are extraordinary in quality and quantity, and above all in a relatively short period of time. This puts us at the forefront in the registry of archaeological sites and geoglyphs in particular.”

Head of the newly discovered geoglyph ‘the pelican’. ( National Geographic )

While satellite images can help to pinpoint some locations of interest, they can’t see all the details that lower-flying drones can. Castillo says drones flying at 200 feet (60.96 meters) or less provide more detailed views of smaller designs as “The [drone camera] resolution is incredibly high.”

The work is not done, there are still many more locations to explore and the fight to preserve the Nazca lines and the older geoglyphs continues. Castillo described the immensity of the battle for preservation by saying ,

“We're not fighting a looter with his shovel, running away when you're blowing a whistle; we're fighting an army of lawyers. This is a constant battle, so the work we're doing—documenting the sites, geo-referencing—is the best protection we can give the sites.”

Does Socos Pampa Geoglyph Reveal Nazca Lines Were Made Centuries Before Nazca Culture?Archaeologists uncover an imaginary creature among the Nazca lines of Peru

A ‘tupu’, a needle-like object used to hold pieces of clothing together. ( National Geographic )

The biggest threat is not necessarily looting, but unplanned urban and rural development pushing into the desert. There is always the concern of a desert protest getting out of hand or an unpredictable driver causing irreparable destruction as well.

The geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert are undoubtedly important to understanding the Pre-Hispanic cultures of Peru, awe-inspiring in appearance, and a fascinating mystery still waiting to be solved, but the battle for their preservation unfortunately never ends.

The complete geoglyph of the pelican. ( National Geographic )

Top Image: A depiction of a flying human tethered to a monkey. The geoglyphs pre-dating the Nazca lines show many more human designs. Source: National Geographic

The Secret Message Behind the Mysterious Nazca Lines

According to archaeologists, the mysterious Nazca Lines are believed to have been created by the Nazca people, which flourished in the region between the 1st and 8th century A.D. The lines were formed by the careful removal of the reddish iron-oxide pebbles that make up the desert surface. Once exposed, the underlying dirt, which contains high amounts of lime, hardened and resistant to erosion.

The reason these lines survived so long is that of the weather conditions in the region, there is little rain and wind is almost nonexistent so if you go to Nazca today, and draw something on the ground it will remain there for quite some time.

The mystery is if the ancient Nazca people created these drawings, to what purpose did they do it. You can truly appreciate the greatness of these figures from the sky, but at the time they created them, airplanes didn’t exist, so for who did they design this? They would have needed something or someone to guide them because these lines are precise, they are very accurate, and it’s hard to believe that the Nazca could achieve such accuracy in their drawings without having a way to observe what they were doing, they needed to be guided somehow.

Could have extraterrestrials been the reason for the Nazca lines? Some of the parts of Nazca have amazing designs highly accurate triangles that are a mystery. Some of the triangles look like they were made by something that pressed the ground down at least 30 inches with incredible force, now could the ancient Nazca have done this? With their feet? How would you press down a six-mile “perfect” triangle into the desert?

According to the myth recorded by Juan de Betanzos, Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca (or sometimes the cave of Pacaritambo) during the time of darkness to bring forth light. One of the most intriguing designs of Nazca, without a doubt, is the one which represents a Spider.

The Spider has one leg extended way out. Curiously, if you take that geoglyph and if you were to flip and turn it, so it displays the mirror effect, what you would observe is that the Nazca spider is representing the Constellation of Orion, and the long spiders leg is representing the brightest star in the sky, Sirius which is also one of Earth’s nearest neighbors.

What you have here is a depiction of a spider, which can only be seen from the sky, and that represents stars and constellations. Whoever designed these intricate geoglyphsat Nazca had an excellent knowledge of Astronomy and geometry, and like many other ancient cultures around the world, the Nazca also knew that Orion and Sirius were important, almost as if the geoglyphs was their way of paying respect to the stars.

According to statements, experts from the University of Dresden studied the Nazca lines. They measured the magnetic field and found changes in the magnetic field under some of the geoglyphs at Nazca. Electrical conductivity was also measured by scientists at Nazca where tests were performed at the Nazca lines, and next to them and the results showed that electric conductivity was 8000 higher on the lines than next to them.

What makes Nazca so special? Well, Nazca has everything. It is a mineral-rich environment. Nitrates and various things that we use in our modern propulsion are found in abundance. The Nazca were located in a nitrate-rich environment, but as far as research has shown, they did not need it.

The the question might be, whether nitrate was of special importance to “otherworldly” visitors that could have visited Nazca in the past. In today’s technology, nitrate is used in a lot of interesting things; technology is perhaps number one as even today we have certain interest in nitrate because it is used in space travel.

Nazca holds infinite mysteries, we still need to explore this gigantic display of creativity and geometry. One thing is certain, this area of Peru will continue to be an area of huge interest to archaeologists, scientists, and historians.

Flying Over The Nazca Lines In Peru

It’s another one of those bucket list things that you just have to do. Even if you hate flying. Even if you get air sick. Even if you just spent an evening reading all the news articles of planes which had recently crashed over the Nazca lines killing everyone on board. It’s just one of those things.

Not going to say I didn’t have a small panic attack first though.

You may have read our recent post about traveling from Cusco to Huacachina and how to do it safely. Haucachina is a beautiful little tourist enclave around a lagoon and surrounded by majestic sand dunes. But that wasn’t the reason why I spent so much time getting us from one side of Peru to the other. The reason for the effort was the Nazca lines.

There are two ways that you can see the lines; from the air, or from a viewing platform. If you choose the viewing platform you need to drive quite a distance from Huacachina and then you can only really see one or two of the lines – and not even the most famous ones. They really are meant to be seen from the air – that is the reason the ancient Nazca culture created them right? As a homage to their gods (or aliens, or whatever), they certainly did not create these massive etchings in the desert for their own enjoyment. In fact, the existence of the lines was forgotten until flights started to operate in this area. They are so indistinguishable from land that a highway was even constructed through one of them.

So we chose the flying option. But wait – there are another two options. You can either fly out of Nazca airport, or from Ica airport. The Nazca option is the cheapest. You take a bus from Huacachina to Nazca airport (2 – 3 hours depending on traffic), go up for your 40 minute flight, and then bus home again. It ends up being a pretty full day, as you may end up waiting some time at the airport as well, but it will save you about $100.

The quicker option is to fly out of Ica airport. With this option you only need to take a taxi to the airport (20 minutes), and then you go up for a 1.5 hour flight (additional time to get from Ica to the Nazca line site), then you taxi home again. This option however is more expensive.

We were definitely not going to take a baby and a 4 year old up on one of the little airplanes – no matter what their safety record was. So Simon and I decided to split up our time and visit the lines separately. Simon went first. It was his job to suss out the air sickness and death probabilities. He survived. Simon went via Nazca airport and went up in one of the smaller planes – a little 4 seater plane.

He reported back that it wasn’t too bad – some people got sick, but the g force wasn’t too bad. Ok so. I can do it, right? It’s just the whole crashing and burning thing I need to worry about.

After much talking, worrying, and hyperventilating, I decided I had to do it. I mean, we had come all the way to Huacachina from Australia right? So on our last day in town I decided to do it. I couldn’t be away from Z for more than 2 – 3 hours since he is still breastfed, so I decided to spend the money and do my flight out of Ica. I also requested one of the 12 seater planes which are slightly more stable than the smaller ones.

When it came time to depart I got in a taxi which the travel agent had organized and went off to Ica airport. Ica airport has two counters – one for each company which operates Nazca flights, and there were two planes on the tarmac. After getting weighed (I had lost some weight too, yay!), I was given my boarding pass (which I took a photo of so that if I crashed that Simon would know which seat to find my remains in) I was sent to a small room where they were playing a documentary about the lines. Before the film was over (boo! It was interesting!) we were ushered to start the boarding process. We were given some safety briefings and then we boarded. We had been assigned seats according to weight, and luckily I was assigned one of the seats above the wing which is probably the more stable part of the plane.

And then we took off. The plane ride wasn’t that bad. There were a few points, yes, where my stomach rose into my throat. But generally it was OK. The plane did do some tight twists and turns to allow everyone on both sides of the plane to have an equal opportunity to see each line, and that was probably the worst of it. Although I must say, by the end of it, I was keeping my eyes firmly on the horizon and counting down the minutes until landing.

So did I puke?

NO! Half of the plane did though, so I was one of the lucky six who didn’t.

Safety standards have been improving in Peru due to some of the Nazca crashes in recent years, but things can change quickly here. I recommend doing your own research before getting on a Nazca line plane. But if you do decide to do it, the views are pretty incredible. Just what compelled these ancient people to etch lines into the desert? Hopefully some day we will know.