The Chachapoya region of northern Perú is characterized by a remarkable range of mortuary customs whose nature is incompletely defined and interpreted. The focus of this paper is to consider a single aspect of Chachapoya mortuary behavior: the presence/absence and method of mummification. Complex, anthropogenic mummy bundles have been recovered from the Laguna de los Cóndores while less well documented and described "cadavers" and bodies have been illustrated from pre-Inca contexts, some contained within anthropomorphic sarcophagi and others located in burial chullpas and open-air sites. In this paper, we provide a general synthesis of Chachapoya mortuary behavior and then present a case study from the mortuary site of Laguna Huayabamba, a Late Intermediate site where mummified remains have been recovered. The relationship between mummified bodies and skeletal remains at this site is viewed as stages within a more unified ritual landscape, structured by continued kin-based access to specific mortuary contexts.

La región de los Chachapoya ubicada en el norte del Perú se caracteriza por una gran diversidad de tradiciones y estilos mortuorios. El propósito de este artículo se centra en un solo aspecto del comportamiento mortuorio Chachapoya: presencia/ausencia de métodos de momificación. Complejos fardos funerarios antropogénicos han sido recuperados en la Laguna de los Cóndores, mientras que contextos preincaicos no bien documentados de cuerpos y restos esqueletales contenidos en sarcófagos, chullpas y campamentos abiertos han sido descritos. En este estudio entregamos una síntesis general del comportamiento mortuorio Chachapoya, y luego se presenta el estudio de caso del sitio funerario, Intermedio Tardío, Laguna Huayabamba, donde se han recuperado restos humanos momificados. La relación entre los cuerpos momificados y los restos esqueletales, de este sitio, se interpreta como diferentes fases de un mismo contexto ritual, estructurado por lazos de parentesco para permitir un acceso continuo a contextos mortuorios específicos.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that continues to take its toll on human lives. Paleopathological research indicates that it has been a significant cause of death among humans for at least five thousand years. Because of the devastating consequences to human health, social systems, and endangered primate species, TB has been the subject of many and varied research efforts throughout the world, efforts that are amassing an enormous amount of data concerning the causative agent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite sequencing of the M. tuberculosis genome and numerous molecular epidemiological studies, many questions remain regarding the origin, evolution, and future co-evolutionary trajectory of M. tuberculosis and humans. Indeed, the origin of pre-Columbian New World TB has been and remains hotly debated, and resolution of this controversy will likely only come with integration of data and theory from multiple disciplines. In this paper, we discuss the pre-Columbian TB controversy, and then use research from biological and biomedical sciences to help inform paleopathological and archaeological studies of this ubiquitous disease that plagued our ancient forbears.

Molecular study of Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) anciant DNA (aDNA) in the soft (nonskeletal) tissues of 283 naturally (spontaneously) mummified bodies from coastal sites located in southern Peru and northern Chile demonstrated a Chagas disease prevalence rate of about 41% over the past 9,000 years. This rate is similar to that of several endemic areas within this region prior to initiation of public health control programs. This report focuses on the presence of T. cruzi aDNA in the coprolites of some of these mummies. Review of the possible mechanisms that may explain the presence of this parasite in the coprolites indicates numerous antemortem and postmortem circumstances that conceivably could have been responsible. In given conditions, all of these may need to be considered. These considerations indicate that the presence of T. cruzi aDNA in mummy coprolites cannot categorically be considered as evidence of ingestion of the parasite

El estudio molecular del tejido blando de 283 de cuerpos momificados en forma natural proveniente de la costa del sur de Perú y norte de Chile revela la presencia de Tripanosoma cruzi a partir de 9.000 años atrás con una prevalencia de un 41%. Este valor es parecido a áreas de estas regiones donde la enfermedad era endémica, antes que se iniciaran los programas de control de la salud. Este ensayo discute la presencia de ADNa de T. cruzi en los coprolitos de momias y revisa los posibles mecanismos de estos parásitos en los coprolitos. La presencia de T. cruzi en los coprolitos de momia no necesariamente indica que hubo una ingesta de este parásito

The excavations of Chiribaya culture sites in the Osmore drainage of southern Peru focused on the recovery of information about prehistoric disease, including parasitism. The archaeologists excavated human, dog, guinea pig, and llama mummies. These mummies were analyzed for internal and external parasites. The results of the analysis and reconstruction of prehistoric life from the excavations allows us to interpret the pathoecology of the Chiribaya culture.