The identity of the Mochica camelids through osteometry of the first phalanx, northern coast of Peru

Sánchez V.F.V.; Tham T.E.R. · Archaeofauna (2024) · DOI: 10.15366/archaeofauna2024.33.1.009

Resumen

The Moche culture, which achieved a high technological development in ceramics, metallurgy, textiles, and agriculture, also has evidence of local breeding of herds of camelids. The skeletal remains of camelids are scattered throughout the Moche sites on the northern coast, the scene where the Mochica fourished. The zooarchaeological and especially the osteometric analysis of frst phalanges from six Mochica sites: Sipán, Cerro Chepén, Huaca Colorada. Huaca del Sol, Huaca de la Luna and Guadalupito, allow us to rescue the identity of the camelids that inhabited these sites between 650 to 700 years AD, which is based on the measurement of 624 frst phalanges, which show the presence of two types of camelids domestic, one large and one small, in addition to an intermediate group that has overlapping size gradients between the large and small camelids. The effciency of osteometry with this sample is 51.9% for the identifcation of both groups, being 48.1% for the indeterminate, which may have an explanation in the clinal zoological models of domestic mammals when they are subjected to changes in ecology since its historical origin.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Trujillo