![]() The AMS technique can date bones and teeth that contain even small amounts of organic material, expanding the pool of remains suitable for scientific analysis. “Modern radiocarbon methods provide a better foundation than the historical records for understanding Inca chronology.” “The results suggest that the discussion of the development of the Inca empire based primarily on colonial records needs revision,” he said. As such, it has implications for people’s wider understanding of Inca history, Burger said. The finding suggests that Pachacuti, whose reign set the Inca on the path to becoming pre-Columbian America’s largest and most powerful empire, gained power and began his conquests decades earlier than textual sources indicate. “This is the first study based on scientific evidence to provide an estimate for the founding of Machu Picchu and the length of its occupation, giving us a clearer picture of the site’s origins and history.” (Photo courtesy Yale University) MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “Until now, estimates of Machu Picchu’s antiquity and the length of its occupation were based on contradictory historical accounts written by Spaniards in the period following the Spanish conquest,” said Burger, the Charles J. ![]() The AMS testing indicates that the historical timeline is inaccurate. 1450, depending on how long it took Pachacuti to subdue the region and construct the stone palace. Based on those records, scholars have estimated that the site was built after A.D. 1438 and subsequently conquered the lower Urubamba Valley where Machu Picchu is located. Historical sources dating from the Spanish invasion of the Inca Empire indicate that Pachacuti seized power in A.D. 1530 - ending around the time of the Spanish conquest - making the site at least 20 years older than the accepted historical record suggests and raising questions about our understanding of Inca chronology. Their findings, published in the journal Antiquity, reveal that Machu Picchu was in use from about A.D. institutions used accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) - an advanced form of radiocarbon dating - to date human remains recovered during the early 20 th century at the monumental complex and onetime country estate of Inca Emperor Pachacuti located on the eastern face of the Andes Mountains. Machu Picchu, the famous 15 th -century Inca site in southern Peru, is up to several decades older than previously thought, according to a new study led by Yale archaeologist Richard Burger.īurger and researchers from several U.S.
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