Bioarchaeology of human skeletons from an elite tomb at Pacopampa in Peru’s northern highlands

Abstract

The Pacopampa site is one of the largest Formative Period sites in Peru’s northern highlands. This study describes newly excavated human remains from the site, compares them with previous findings, and provides bioarchaeological approaches to assess social stratification in Formative Period Andes, leading to an understanding of how social stratification emerged in the Andean civilization. The human remains studied were two individuals from an elite tomb (the ‘Serpent-Jaguar Priests’ tomb) at the ceremonial center of the site. At the bottom of the tomb, a middle-aged female was laid over the remains of a young male. The central position of the tomb and the rich repertoire of grave goods suggest that these individuals had symbolic importance and belonged to an elite social group. The possible presence of artificial cranial deformation in the female suggests that the buried individuals were socially different from the other burial individuals of this site. There is no dental caries in these two individuals. The comparison of caries frequencies between these two individuals and non-elites showed lower caries frequencies in the former than in the latter. Taking into consideration existing isotopic data of Formative Period sites, the social differences in the caries frequencies can be attributed to the elites’ dietary patterns—which contained fewer cariogenic foods. Thus, this study revealed the emergence of social stratification in Peru’s northern highlands and its possible pathological impacts.