Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—Researchers reconstructed familial relationships among elite individuals buried around 500 CE in Peru, including two ritually sacrificed relatives. The Moche archaeological culture lived in sophisticated urban complexes along the north coast of present-day Peru from 300 to 950 CE. Kinship is hypothesized to have played a central role in the maintenance of political authority in Moche society. Jeffrey Quilter, Régulo Fanco Jordan, John Krigbaum, Lars Fehren-Schmitz, Erik Marsh, John Verano, and colleagues used archaeological, genetic, and isotopic data to characterize familial relationships between four adults and two sacrificed juveniles buried in a pyramid-like temple in Chicama Valley, Peru. The burial group included an adult woman known as the Señora de Cao, who was interred along with numerous offerings and a sacrificed juvenile individual. The results revealed that all six individuals were biologically related in a family tree spanning at least four generations. Isotopic analyses suggested that most of the individuals likely spent their childhoods in or near the Chicama Valley and had similar diets rich in maize and marine-derived proteins. The juvenile sacrificed and buried with the Señora de Cao was possibly her niece and had a distinct geographic origin and diet. The finding suggests a previously undocumented form of ritual sacrifice among Moche elites involving close relatives. According to the authors, the study* provides insight into the intersection of kinship, elite status, and ritual practices in Moche society.
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Enclosure of burials at the Huaca Cao Viejo temple at the El Brujo archaeological complex in Peru. Credit Jeffrey Quilter
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Huaca Cao Viejo temple at the El Brujo archaeological complex in Peru. Credit Jeffrey Quilter
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Article Source: PNAS news release
*“Family relations of Moche elite burials on the North Coast of Peru (~500 CE): Analyses of the Señora de Cao and relatives,” by Jeffrey Quilter et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 23-Dec-2024. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2416321121
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