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Use of LA-ICP-MS to evaluate mercury exposure or diagenesis in Inca and non-Inca mummies from northern Chile

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Abstract

We tested the hair of seven mummies housed at the Museo Regional de Iquique, northern Chile, to investigate evidence of mercury exposure in the Atacama Desert. Five mummies represent local inhumations and two came from a special burial known as capacocha, at Cerro Esmeralda, Iquique, northern Chile. The capacocha was a ritual of vital importance to both religious and political affairs wherein specially chosen children of both sexes were sacrificed throughout the Inca state. The cause of death of the two victims is unknown. Toxic cinnabar pigment has been found in the garments of the two Cerro Esmeralda sacrificed capacocha mummies. Using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), we evaluated if LA-ICP-MS was useful to discriminate between biogenic exposure and diagenesis of mercury. The capacochas inhumations’ hair presented a median level of 11.8 µg/g Hg vs.0.68 µg/g Hg found in non-capacocha mummies. We discuss these elevated levels of mercury in capacocha samples studied across and longitudinal sections of hair strands to elucidate possible endogenous consumption or perimortem contamination. We conclude that Cerro Esmeralda victims were subject to both external contamination and endogenous accumulation due to chronic Hg poisoning during the months-long capacocha ritual.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Cormudesi and Museo Regional de Iquique for allowing this bioarchaeological study. Our gratitude to CMN permits 4383, November 6, 2018. We also thank Arnoldo Vizcarra for the SEM-EDS analysis and image preparations. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and suggestions.

Funding

This work was funded by Fondecyt #1170120. DA would like to thank the National Science Foundation, USA, for Major Research Instrument Grant for the acquisition of LA and ICP-MS instruments (Grant # MRI-R2 NSF-DBI 0959028 and MRI-DBI 162004, respectively) as well as the National Science Foundation-Chile (Fondecyt): International Cooperation Travel Grant (Fondecyt Grant # 1170120) and the Fulbright Specialist Award (7003, 2016), which funded DA’s visit to Chile.

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  1. Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Antofagasta N°1520, Casilla 7-D, Arica, Chile

    Bernardo Arriaza & Juan Pablo Ogalde

  2. School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, USA

    Dulasiri Amarasiriwardena & Jet Starkings

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  1. Bernardo Arriaza
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Arriaza, B., Amarasiriwardena, D., Starkings, J. et al. Use of LA-ICP-MS to evaluate mercury exposure or diagenesis in Inca and non-Inca mummies from northern Chile. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 76 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01547-w

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