Published ethnohistorical accounts of the Spanish conquest (A.D. 1532) in Andean South America depict sociopolitical upheaval and rupture, the transmission of previously unknown diseases and demographic collapse, and warfare and indigenous rebellion. To date, these descriptions represent the only record of the Spanish conquest and its impact on the lives of indigenous populations for this region. This project will examine a large sample of human skeletal remains and mummies from the Inca cemetery of Puruchuco-Huaquerones in Peru (A.D. 1450-1570) to investigate the biocultural impact of Spanish conquest from the perspective of the actual individuals who experienced it by studying health, disease, and diet of these people. Pilot research conducted in 2004 resulted in the discovery of high frequencies of violent injuries, some of which were likely inflicted by Spanish weaponry, as well as a shift in burial practices, both of which may reflect warfare and the initial cultural upheaval accompanying Spanish conquest. It is hypothesized that if the community interred in the cemetery of Puruchuco-Huaquerones suffered from epidemic diseases, then it is expected that individuals from all age categories, but especially more individuals in the prime of their lives, will constitute the sample. If the community did not experience epidemic diseases associated with Spanish conquest, then the age-at-death profiles will be comprised of individuals in the very young and very old age categories, characteristics that are typical of cemeteries with normal rates of attrition. The sample from Puruchuco-Huaquerones represents an ideal sample for the investigation of health, disease, and diet due to its large sample size (N=1,713 burials), representativeness (all age categories), its short time frame (< 120 years), and the exceptional preservation and completeness of the human remains. This research can contribute significantly across different academic disciplines, including but not limited to biological anthropology, archaeology, ethnohistory, historical demography, epidemiology, demography, and medicine. Its intellectual merit is apparent on several different levels. If either hypothesis is supported by the results, then the presentation of new data from the Andean region will illuminate the ethnohistorical record about the biocultural impact of European contact. In addition, it will provide new information on the population structure and longevity of individuals living prior to and after the arrival of the Spanish within a short time frame. New evidence from the mortuary contexts may detail the cultural disruption caused by the Spanish conquest and the degradation of traditional Inca mortuary behavior. The senior project personnel will train Peruvian and American students, which should advance more standardized research and alert future scholars to some of the challenges of research in biological anthropology, both in Peru, as well as in the field overall. The inclusion of undergraduate students from Bryn Mawr College (an all women's liberal arts college) will promote original undergraduate research and education in biological anthropology and contribute to a scientific foundation for the pursuit of careers in anthropology, biology, and medicine. Finally, this research enhances current international collaborations between Peruvian archaeologists, ethnohistorians and biological anthropologists with scholars from the United States.
