[International team of researchers has uncovered the incredible
genetic diversity hidden within the ancient remains of those who once
called Machu Picchu home.]
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WHO LIVED AT MACHU PICCHU? DNA ANALYSIS SHOWS SURPRISING DIVERSITY AT
THE ANCIENT INCA PALACE  
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Roberta Davidson
July 26, 2023
The Conversation
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_ International team of researchers has uncovered the incredible
genetic diversity hidden within the ancient remains of those who once
called Machu Picchu home. _

, Eddie Kiszka/Pexels, CC BY-SA

 

Standing atop the mountains in the southern highlands of Peru is the
15th-century marvel of the Inca empire, Machu Picchu. Today, the
citadel is a global tourist attraction and an icon of precolonial
Latin American history – but it was once the royal palace of an
emperor.

Our international team of researchers has uncovered the incredible
genetic diversity hidden within the ancient remains of those who once
called Machu Picchu home. We detail our findings in a study published
today [[link removed]] in Science
Advances.

The puzzling remnants of a royal site

The Inca empire once ruled a vast 2 million square km across the
breathtaking Andes mountain range in South America. It was formed in
1438 by the first ruler, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui
[[link removed]], and reached
its height in 1533, before colonisation by the Spanish.

At the heart of the empire was the capital city of Cusco, and nearby
was Pachacuti’s majestic palace, Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu was visited by the royal family and guests during the dry
season of May to October as a place to feast, dance, sing and hunt.
Although these elite Incas were buried in Cusco upon their death, the
palace was maintained year-round by a few hundred servants who lived
on site. These servants were buried in cemeteries outside the palace
walls.

Following Spanish colonisation, knowledge of Machu Picchu was lost to
the Western world – only to be rediscovered by adventurers in the
early 20th century.

In 1912, the Yale Peruvian Scientific Expedition
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documented a staggering count of 174 individuals buried on site. These
burials were often shallow graves, or were concealed under large
boulders or natural rocky overhangs.

While many lacked grave goods, ceramic artefacts were discovered
buried alongside some people. These paint a vivid picture of cultural
diversity, with styles from coastal and northern regions of Peru, as
well as from the highlands of Bolivia near Lake Titicaca.

This was the first clue that Machu Picchu drew people from all reaches
of the Inca empire. It suggested the servants who lived at Machu
Picchu came from a variety of places, bringing ceramics from their
homelands.

However, the artefacts could have also ended up in the area through
trade. To find out where these people had come from, we would have to
analyse their DNA.

New findings from ancient DNA

We sequenced ancient DNA from the remains of 68 individuals – 34
buried at Machu Picchu and 34 buried in Cusco. Using carbon dating, we
dated the remains and found some of these people were buried before
the rise of Pachacuti and the Inca empire.

We then compared their DNA with that of Indigenous peoples living in
the Andes today (past research has found these genetic lines have
continued undisturbed for
[[link removed](20)30477-3] the
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ancestries from more distant regions of South America.

It’s worth noting these “ancestries” are based on DNA and
don’t necessarily overlap with the peoples’ cultural identities,
although they sometimes would.

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We sequenced ancient DNA from the remains of 68 individuals buried at
Machu Picchu and Cusco. The Australian Centre for Ancient DNA/The
University of Adelaide, Author provided

Were the people buried at Machu Picchu genetically similar to those
who had lived in the area since before Pachacuti’s reign? Or were
they related to ancestries from more distant regions?

If the latter was true, we could safely assume they (or their parents)
had come to Machu Picchu from faraway lands.

Journeying to a life of servitude

Of all the DNA samples we analysed, we found 17 individuals had
ancestry from one of the distant sources tested (coloured on the map
below). These included all regions of the Peruvian coast and
highlands, as well as the Amazon regions of Peru, Ecuador and
Colombia.

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This map of South America shows different genetic ancestries
represented in different regions. The black line shows the full extent
of the Inca Empire, while the inset shows Machu Picchu and other royal
sites. Salazar et al., 2023
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Only seven of the buried individuals had ancestry that could be linked
to Peru’s vast southern highlands where Machu Picchu and Cusco
reside. However, we can’t confirm they were local to Machu Picchu
itself.

The remaining 13 individuals had blended ancestry, including from as
far away as Brazil and Paraguay. They might have been the offspring of
individuals from different lands who met at Machu Picchu – or could
be linked to yet unknown South American ancestries.

As for close family relationships, we only discovered one pair: a
mother and daughter.

Remarkably, all the individuals were buried together in the major
cemeteries, irrespective of their ancestry. This could imply they were
considered equal in status to one another, which in turn would suggest
they were born elsewhere and arrived at Machu Picchu independently,
occasionally forming relationships and having children.

It’s likely these people were from a class of
[[link removed]] “chosen women” called
_acllacona_, and a similar class of men called _yanacona_. Individuals
in these groups were selected from their homes at a young age and
permanently assigned to state, aristocratic or religious service.

After arriving at Machu Picchu, they would have spent the rest of
their lives serving the royal estate.

Although we don’t know how much (if any) coercion was involved in
the process of these people coming to Machu Picchu, analyses of the
bones suggest they lived comfortable lives. Many lived to old age and
showed no signs of malnutrition, disease, or injury from warfare or
heavy labour.

A diversity hotspot

Importantly, the human remains we found that predated the Inca empire
did not exhibit high levels of diversity. This suggests it was indeed
the establishment of the Inca empire that led people from far and wide
to Machu Picchu.

Further, our examination of individuals from Cusco showed less
diversity than at Machu Picchu, but more than other regional sites.
This is probably because the extensive highland area had a long
history of interactions between different peoples before the rise of
the Inca empire.

Our findings paint a captivating picture of Machu Picchu as a true
hotspot of diversity within the Inca imperial realm – setting it
apart as a culturally rich hub within the ancient landscape.[The
Conversation]

Roberta Davidson
[[link removed]], PhD
candidate in Genetic Anthropology, _University of Adelaide
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This article is republished from The Conversation
[[link removed]] under a Creative Commons license. Read
the original article
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* Inca
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* diversity
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* DNA
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* Equality
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