Izumi Shimada

Ancient DNA recovered from 57 individu- als excavated by Hiram Bingham at the rural communities of Paucarcancha, Patallacta, and Huata near the famed Inca royal estate and ritual site of Machu Picchu was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, and the results were compared with ancient and modern DNA from vari- ous Central Andean areas to test their hypothesized indig- enous highland origins. The control and coding regions of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 35 individuals in this group were sequenced, and the haplogroups of each indi- vidual were determined. The frequency data for the hap- logroups of these samples show clear proximity to those of modern Quechua and Aymara populations in the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, and contrast with those of pre- Hispanic individuals of the north coast of Peru that we defined previously. Our study suggests a strong genetic affinity between sampled late pre-Hispanic individuals and modern Andean highlanders. A previous analysis of the Machu ...

Las máscaras de oro de la cultura milenaria de Sicán Medio han sido un icono ampliamente reconocido del prominente patrimonio cultural prehispánico del Perú. Aunque casi todos ellos fueron saqueados, especímenes bien conservados y los pocos que fueron científicamente excavados comparten la característica de tener su superficie exterior pintada con pintura de cinabrio claramente rojiza. ¿Por qué estaban tan pintados? Esta presentación examina esta pregunta basada en (1) la consideración detallada del contexto y los rituales funerarios de los personajes masculinos adultos de las tumbas del Este (la llamada Tumba del Señor de Sicán) y del Oeste de Huaca Loro, y (2) los resultados del reciente análisis proteómico de la pintura de cinabrio en la máscara de oro que cubría el rostro del personaje de la Tumba del Este. No sólo sus máscaras, sino que todos sus esqueletos habían sido pintados con cinabrio. Que la pintura se aplicó después de que los cadáveres se habían descompuesto argumenta contra una opinión de que sirvió como conservante corporal. El descubrimiento de la sangre humana como un aglutinante orgánico importante de la pintura de cinabrio de la máscara de la Tumba del Este en cambio apoya la opinión de que la pintura rojiza simbolizaba la fuerza que da vida y la esperanza para el renacimiento de individuos socialmente importantes.


Gold masks of the millenarian Middle Sicán culture are a widely recognized icon of Peru’s prominent prehispanic cultural heritage. Although nearly all of them were looted, well-preserved specimens and the few that were scientifically excavated share the characteristic of having their exterior surface painted with distinctly reddish cinnabar paint. Why were they so painted? This presentation examines this question based on (1) detailed consideration of the funerary context and rituals of the adult male personage of the Huaca Loro East (the so-called Tomb of Lord of Sicán) and West tombs, and (2) results of the recent proteomics analysis of cinnabar paint on the gold mask that covered the face of the East Tomb personage. Not only their masks, but their entire skeletons had been painted with cinnabar. That the paint was applied after the corpses had decomposed argues against a view that it served as a corporeal preservative. The discovery of human blood as a major organic binder of the cinnabar paint of the East Tomb mask instead supports the view that the bright reddish paint symbolized life-giving force and hope for rebirth of socially important individuals.

We present a multidisciplinary summary vision of the natural and cultural contexts and impacts of an 11th century mega-El Niño event and the extraordinary social responses to and consequences of it. Evidence and impacts of torrential rains and associated severe flooding dated ca. 1050 CE have been documented at multiple sites along the Peruvian coast, particularly in the Lambayeque region. The flood buried the Middle Sicán capital of Sicán with fluvial deposits 1.0 to 1.5 m thick. During this calamitous process that may have lasted many months, three episodes of large-scale human sacrifice of well over 200 individuals who were overwhelmingly healthy young to adult males took place near the center of the Gran Plaza of Sicán. There are suggestions of possible live burials. Efforts aimed at the clarification of victim identities and life histories are ongoing, however, the abundance of serving vessels and food remains indicate correspondingly large-scale feasting events that were closely associated in time and space. Resultantly, we posit that these events may have been pleas for the return of normalcy. Within a span of one or two generations, the Middle Sicán polity underwent transformations, likely triggered by adverse effects of this mega- El Niño.

Simple cotton cloths primed as canvases and painted with complex imagery are the rarest group of fiber arts found in the Andes. Long-term excavations of Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE) elite cemeteries at the site of Sicán on the North Coast of Peru, however, have shown that high quantities of these paintings, often in polychrome and over 10m in length, decorated the interior surfaces of elite tombs. In this paper we present evidence for their manufacture and use, as well as approaches to preserving and reconstructing their rich iconographic content. The use of cane or wooden frames and supports, as well as the portability and varied imagery, size and shape of cloths suggest that they were used as situationally adaptable means of creating appropriate ritual spaces in the world of both the living and the dead. Additionally, using the documented examples from attached cemeteries of two major temple mounds at Sicán, we compare painted textiles from two distinct contexts as a new line of evidence for understanding how deceased individuals in tombs associated with each temple may have differentiated their socio-political station, economic roles, or familial ties through visual culture in death.

Our conventional conception of the prehispanic Andean religious center emphasizes a limited range of sacred, ritual activities, intermittent public gatherings, a relatively small resident population, and perhaps small-scale production of craft items for offerings. At the Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE) religious center of Sicán, however, the large central plaza was not only surrounded by a dozen monumental and minor platform mounds, but also at least two major metal workshops and a large food preparation area. One of the workshops we excavated in 2014 and 2018 measured at least m 20m E-W and 25m N-S, had 4 superimposed floors, food residues, and numerous burnt features including a series of large (over 1 m across), adobe-lined, open furnaces that remind us of the well-known Moche sculptural representation of at least four metalworkers surrounding a furnace. These features suggest a highly intense and permanent precious metal working involving well over a dozen artisans with a reliable support system, particularly high-quality charcoal fuel and food. Overall, the impressive scale and intensity of metalworking along with these factors force us to reconsider the significance of the Andean religious center.

Social reconstruction in the prehispanic Andes has been challenging to archaeologists as they struggle to overcome limited and biased material evidence. This chapter discusses our current understanding of (1) major social organizational forms and their origins, (2) the contexts and means that led to social integration and hierarchy, and (3) their diverse forms of expression in the prehispanic Andes. Given the breadth and complexity of the subject at hand and uneven information quality and quantity, discussion is selective and emphasizes societies that have been most well studied.

La metallurgie andine constitue l'une des principales traditions metallurgiques independantes du monde. La reconstitution experimentale d'un fourneau, liee aux donnees archeologiques, conduit a reviser notre vision, centree sur l'Ancien monde, de la metallurgie andine.

<p>Bioarchaeological study of human remains in the heartland of the Middle Sicán culture (A.D. 900–1100) in Peru's northern Lambayeque Valley Complex bring together many lines of biological and archaeological data drawn from 35 years of research. The authors demonstrate strongly institutionalized expressions of social hierarchy between elite ethnic Sicán lords and the lower status ethnic Muchik people living throughout the valley. Comparisons of skeletal stress markers between the two groups point to lower status Muchik enduring measurably greater morbidity, more physically demanding lifestyles, and lower quality diets. However, higher-status individuals revealed unique examples of interpersonal violence, perhaps related to risks associated with their political station. Analysis of mtDNA and tooth size variation indicates that social inequality also shaped their gene pool, such that elite Sicán and commoner Muchik groups did not widely intermarry. Klaus et al. propose these biological differences can be explained within the theoretical construct of embodiment, and that differences in resource access was one of several factors contributing to the collapse of the Middle Sicán political and religious system.</p>

The I-shaped, standardized artifacts fashioned out of carefully hammered arsenical copper alloy sheets that occur in the form of a few loose specimens to thousands of bundles in elite Sicán tombs in the Lambayeque Valley Complex on the north coast of Peru have long been an enigma. Recognizing their standardized size and shape, local looters called them naipes, Spanish for playing cards. Today, we know them to be Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE; also known as Classic Lambayeque) in time and cultural origin and locally produced. The primary question that guides this paper is their functions and significance focusing on naipes’ production process out of arsenical copper sheet-metals, use contexts, spatio-temporal parameters, and levels of standardization. Given their extensive distribution, we adopt a nested-context perspective – from local and regional (Lambayeque Complex) to interregional (the Manteño territory and beyond in the north Andes) contexts. Based on a long-term holistic perspective, we argue that naipes served two context-dependent purposes as the key standardized medium of exchange in the Middle Sicán-early Manteño interregional trade (naipes in exchange for whole mullu and their beads) and as a prestige items for Middle Sicán elite rituals and tombs; that their economic role and significance in one context coexisted with those of social and symbolic character in another. Our study demonstrates that product standardization is neither restricted to a particular mode of production or type of product nor is it dictated by a technical-technological or economic factor. 239 words. Los artefactos estandarizados en forma de "I", elaborados a partir de láminas de aleación de cobre arsénico cuidadosamente martilladas y que aparecen desde unos pocos especímenes sueltos hasta miles de paquetes en tumbas de élite sicán en el Complejo del Valle de Lambayeque, en la costa norte del Perú, han constituido un enigma durante mucho tiempo. Tras observar su tamaño y forma estandarizados, los huaqueros locales los llamaron “naipes.” Hoy en día sabemos que corresponden al periodo Sicán Medio (900-1100 d.C; también conocido como Lambayeque Clásico) en el tiempo y origen cultural y que fueron producidos localmente. Hasta el momento se han documentado cinco tamaños distintos. La pregunta principal que dirige este artículo es el esclarecimiento de sus funciones y significado. Dada su amplia distribución, adoptamos una perspectiva basada en los contextos, desde los locales y regionales (Complejo Lambayeque) hasta los interregionales (el territorio manteño y más allá en los Andes del norte). Sobre la base de una perspectiva holística de largo plazo planteamos que los naipes sirvieron para dos propósitos de acuerdo con el contexto: a) como medio estandarizado clave de intercambio en el comercio interregional entre las entidades políticas Sicán Medio y Manteño Temprano (naipes a cambio de mullu enteros y sus cuentas); y b) como artículos de prestigio para los rituales y tumbas de la élite de Sicán Medio. Su papel e importancia económicos en un contexto coexistían con los de carácter social y simbólico en otro. Nuestro estudio demuestra que la estandarización de productos no estaba restringida a un modo de producción o tipo de producto en particular ni estaba dictada por un factor técnico-tecnológico o económico.

Paper presented at the symposium "Usar cerámica para responder preguntas. Aproximaciones interpretativas a los estudios de alfarería sudamericana" in the Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, Tucumán, Argentina. August 8-12, 2016. It examines how metallurgical and ceramic production and their products affect each other in tangible and intangible manners.

The use of one or more pairs of concave molds has been a major ceramic formation method throughout much of the world. This method has traditionally been seen as a rational solution to efficiently producing a large number of standardized products. This paper questions these views as being overly generalized or untenable in terms of data from excavated ceramic workshops and examination of products pertaining to Mochica and Sicán cultures on Peru's north coast and from the persistent figurine tradition of coastal Ecuador. For example, at the 1000-year old Middle Sicán workshop at Huaca Sialupe, vessels of the same size and shape were made using different sets of molds in contiguous rooms. This is antithetical to the commonly held view of molding associated with efficient production of standardized vessels. Figurines in these areas were predominantly produced using single press-molds. A key implication is that the molds were used to assure a faithful reproduction of important images or icons. Much the same can be said about the famed Mochica portrait vessels. Overall, our views of mold-based production need to balance producer and consumer's perspectives and take into account of the nature of products and use.

We analyzed a red paint sample from the surface of a gold mask excavated from a Middle Sicán elite tomb in Peru. The mask covered the face of the principal male and dates from ca. 1000 AD, a period when many painted precious metal objects were produced. The paint's inorganic pigment was identified more than 30 years ago as cinnabar (a mercuric sulfide scarlet-red to brown-red mineral), but the identity of the effective organic binder remained a mystery. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of the sample indicated a proteinaceous composition, and no lipids were recovered from an N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) derivatized extract of the sample analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Proteomics analysis by nanoLC-MS/MS identified unique peptides in the sample, which were matched to human blood and bird egg proteins via Uniprot database searches. These included immunoglobulin heavy chain, immunoglobulin G, serum albumin, and ovomucoid. Cinnabar-based paints were typically used in the context of social elites and ritually important items. The presence of human blood would support previous ideas that red cinnabar paint may represent "life force" intended to support "rebirth". As the red paint sample came from the first scientifically excavated Sicán gold mask, the results suggest a method to authenticate similar unprovenanced masks now in private and museum collections. Proteomics data set identifier https://doi.org/10.5287/bodleian:1ajYbBgQP.

Early techniques of making pottery can be investigated by 57Fe Mssbauer spectroscopy. Iron is generally present in unpurified clays in concentrations of several percent. During firing, the iron undergoes characteristic changes of its chemical and physical state, depending on the kiln atmosphere and on the maximum firing temperature reached. These changes can be followed by Mssbauer spectroscopy. Firing techniques can often be reconstructed when spectra of laboratory and field fired samples are compared with those observed in ancient sherds.

... Código, Am.Hist.2475. Título del artículo, "Perception, procurement, and management of resources: archaeological perspective". Autor del artículo, Shimada, Izumi. Libro, Andean ecology and civilization: an interdisciplinary perspective on andean ecological complementarity. ...

Within and between tombs at the site of Huaca Loro (ca. A.D. 1000) on north coastal Peru, biological relatedness based on 23 dental characters follows statistically significant patterns. mtDNA groupings that are based on lineages inferred from inherited derived D-loop bp sequences have also been traced among the individuals. The present study finds a significant, although rather poorly predictive, relation between mtDNA and dental interindividual linkages. When analyzing the individual dental traits for correspondence to mtDNA “lineages”, several significant relations are found and one trait in particular, buccal expansion of the maxillary distal premolar, corresponds highly to mtDNA patterning.

This is the English original of the Introducción: Detrás de la Máscara de Oro: la cultura Sicán in Cultura Sicán: Esplendor preincaico de la costa norte published in 2014 in Peru.  This English original is made available for those who do not read Spanish but wish to learn about the Sicán culture.

Material from field firing experiments using a 2,700-year old Formative kiln at Batn Grande, Peru, was studied by X-ray diffraction and Mssbauer spectroscopy. The experiments explore the technology involved in producing the gray and black reduced ...

The metal objects from the Museums of Sipán and Sicán were analyzed with a portable equipment which uses energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF). This portable equipment is composed of a small size X-ray tube and a Si-PIN thermoelectrically cooled X-ray detector. It was ...

The I-shaped, standardized artifacts fashioned out of carefully hammered arsenical copper alloy sheets that occur in the form of a few loose specimens to thousands of bundles in elite Sicán tombs in the Lambayeque Valley Complex on the north coast of Peru have long been an enigma. Recognizing their standardized size and shape, local looters called them naipes, Spanish for playing cards. Today, we know them to be Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE; also known as Classic Lambayeque) in time and cultural origin and locally produced. The primary question that guides this paper is their functions and significance focusing on naipes’ production process out of arsenical copper sheet-metals, use contexts, spatio-temporal parameters, and levels of standardization. Given their extensive distribution, we adopt a nested-context perspective – from local and regional (Lambayeque Complex) to interregional (the Manteño territory and beyond in the north Andes) contexts. Based on a long-term holistic perspective, we argue that naipes served two context-dependent purposes as the key standardized medium of exchange in the Middle Sicán-early Manteño interregional trade (naipes in exchange for whole mullu and their beads) and as a prestige items for Middle Sicán elite rituals and tombs; that their economic role and significance in one context coexisted with those of social and symbolic character in another.  Our study demonstrates that product standardization is neither restricted to a particular mode of production or type of product nor is it dictated by a technical-technological or economic factor.  239 words.

Los artefactos estandarizados en forma de "I", elaborados a partir de láminas de aleación de cobre arsénico cuidadosamente martilladas y que aparecen desde unos pocos especímenes sueltos hasta miles de paquetes en tumbas de élite sicán en el Complejo del Valle de Lambayeque, en la costa norte del Perú, han constituido un enigma durante mucho tiempo. Tras observar su tamaño y forma estandarizados, los huaqueros locales los llamaron “naipes.” Hoy en día sabemos que corresponden al periodo Sicán Medio (900-1100 d.C; también conocido como Lambayeque Clásico) en el tiempo y origen cultural y que fueron producidos localmente. Hasta el momento se han documentado cinco tamaños distintos. La pregunta principal que dirige este artículo es el esclarecimiento de sus funciones y significado. Dada su amplia distribución, adoptamos una perspectiva basada en los contextos, desde los locales y regionales (Complejo Lambayeque) hasta los interregionales (el territorio manteño y más allá en los Andes del norte). Sobre la base de una perspectiva holística de largo plazo planteamos que los naipes sirvieron para dos propósitos de acuerdo con el contexto: a) como medio estandarizado clave de intercambio en el comercio interregional entre las entidades políticas Sicán Medio y Manteño Temprano (naipes a cambio de mullu enteros y sus cuentas); y b) como artículos de prestigio para los rituales y tumbas de la élite de Sicán Medio. Su papel e importancia económicos en un contexto coexistían con los de carácter social y simbólico en otro. Nuestro estudio demuestra que la estandarización de productos no estaba restringida a un modo de producción o tipo de producto en particular ni estaba dictada por un factor técnico-tecnológico o económico.

Not all «black» pottery was produced in the same manner just as their social and symbolic uses and reasons for production varied a good deal. Nor are many examples truly black. The Middle Sicán culture (AD 900-1100) on the north coast of Peru distinguished itself with the perfection and large-scale production of black pottery made of fine paste. Based on our «holistic» study of a Middle Sicán workshop (including experimental firing and detailed chemical analyses of both archaeological and experimental samples), we present a detailed characterization of the blackware production technology and organization. Our study revealed that the glossy Middle Sicán blackware resulted from various factors including firing under strongly reducing conditions in small semi-closed kilns, an even carbon deposition on the vessel surface as well as penetration into the body, and the formation of graphite crystals on the well-burnished surface. Chimú reduced ware, in contrast, is typically made of coarse...

In this presentation, I will discuss the Sicán-Chimú relationship and
dynamics based on data and insights gained from 30 years of fieldwork in the Lambayeque region by the Sicán Archaeological Project under my direction. Because of the large corpus of data and observations amassed over this span, I will focus on arguing two major points, that (1) the emergence of the Reino de Chimor may be best understood as a long-term consequence of the Middle Sicán demise sometime around 1050 C.E., and (2) the conquest of the Sicán heartland region of Lambayeque near the end of the 14th century represented a bonanza – a major influx of human and material resources as well as organizational knowledge and technologies - that catapulted the Reino de Chimor into into a position of unrivaled political power on the entire Peruvian coast.

This paper addresses the two basic and persistent questions of why Pachacamac was situated where it is and how its siting related to its significance and durability as a major pre-Hispanic religious center. Our fieldwork has revealed not only the presence of major pukios within the site and a permanent spring along the northeast edge of the site, but also that the major temples were constructed along the elevated seaward perimeter of the site so as to be oriented to major bodies of water: the Lurín River, the Pacific, and the Urpiwachak Lagoon. It is thus argued that the establishment of the site sometime around 400 CE was preconditioned by this extraordinary convergence of water sources with symbolic significance.  Additionally, the network of stone-lined and roofed ducts within the site attests to the importance of intra-site water management. Lastly, the elevated locations of these temples have served to protect them from severe surges and tsunamis that besieged the site and the surrounding coast during its existence. We suggest that various lines of empirical evidence garnered through our interdisciplinary research at Pachacamac point to a critical linkage between the natural features and the durable and notable ideological significance of the site. The connection between life giving water and cosmological conceptions of its circulation appears to have persisted into Inca occupation of the site, during which a new sacred landscape was created with white sand at the base of their Sun Temple symbolizing a great body of water.

The use of one or more pairs of concave molds has been a major ceramic formation method throughout much of the world. This method has traditionally been seen as a rational solution to efficiently producing a large number of standardized products. This paper questions these views as being overly generalized or untenable in terms of data from excavated ceramic workshops and examination of products pertaining to Mochica and Sicán cultures on Peru's north coast and from the persistent figurine tradition of coastal Ecuador. For example, at the 1000-year old Middle Sicán workshop at Huaca Sialupe, vessels of the same size and shape were made using different sets of molds in contiguous rooms. This is antithetical to the commonly held view of molding associated with efficient production of standardized vessels. Figurines in these areas were predominantly produced using single press-molds. A key implication is that the molds were used to assure a faithful reproduction of important images or icons. Much the same can be said about the famed Mochica portrait vessels. Overall, our views of mold-based production need to balance producer and consumer's perspectives and take into account of the nature of products and use.

Paper presented at the symposium "Usar cerámica para responder preguntas. Aproximaciones interpretativas a los estudios de alfarería sudamericana" in the Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, Tucumán, Argentina. August 8-12, 2016. It examines how metallurgical and ceramic production and their products affect each other in tangible and intangible manners.

Social reconstruction in the prehispanic Andes has been challenging to archaeologists as they struggle to overcome limited and biased material evidence. This chapter discusses our current understanding of (1) major social organizational forms and their origins, (2) the contexts and means that led to social integration and hierarchy, and (3) their diverse forms of expression in the prehispanic Andes. Given the breadth and complexity of the subject at hand and uneven information quality and quantity, discussion is selective and emphasizes societies that have been most well studied.