Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes.

ABSTRACT: We present isotopic and morphometric evidence suggesting the migration of farmers in the southern Andes in the period AD 1270-1420, leading up to the Inka conquest occurring ~ AD 1400. This is based on the interdisciplinary study of human remains from archaeological cemeteries in the Andean Uspallata Valley (Argentina), located in the southern frontier of the Inka Empire. The studied samples span AD 800-1500, encompassing the highly dynamic Late Intermediate Period and culminating with the imperial expansion. Our research combines a macro-regional study of human paleomobility and migration based on a new strontium isoscape across the Andes that allows identifying locals and migrants, a geometric morphometric analysis of cranio-facial morphology suggesting separate ancestral lineages, and a

SUBMITTER: Barberena R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7712914 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature