Remains of 5,750-year-old infant found in Argentina

Archaeologists from the Natural Science Department of the National University of Cuyo have discovered the skeletal remains of a 5,700 year old infant in Ciudad de Mendoza, western Argentina.

Excavation reveals infant remains in Mendoza, Argentina [Credit: UNCuyo]

According to the univiserity announcement, the researchers discovered the bones unexpectedly when looking for the sterile layer of a previous dig in the archaeological region known as the ‘Nino de las Cuevas’ (‘the child of the caves’), named after the remains of a young child between three and five years old were found there in 2015.

Alejandra Gasco from the archaeology team said they found the remains only 1,5 metres away from where they discovered the previous set of remains. “It is quite surprising that another child was buried in the same area,” he said.

“We came across something special: a circle with carbonaceous sediment, whose black colour and texture was markedly different from the reddish clay of the site. We managed to remove a couple of centimetres of sediment with brushes when we found fragments of a tiny jaw. We realized we had found the remains of a child. Following this, we asked for the necessary permissions from Juan Cornelio Moyano Nature and Anthropological Sciences Museum to continue excavation works,” Gasco said.

“Unlike the previous burial, which was found at the same site, here we were able to determine the funeral structure clearly, which has a circular shape of about 30 centimetres in diameter, that is to say very small, and which is on the red clay sediment, which is considered sterile in archaeological terms,” the researcher added.

“Until the beginning of these studies there was only archaeological information related to the period of Inca domination, especially on a sacrifice of a child that was deposited in a high sanctuary located in the Aconcagua”, says anthropologist Victor Duran, director of the research project.

Detail of infant remains in funerary context [Credit: UNCuyo]

“Finding a skeleton was not expected by the group, since very few human skeletal remains had been discovered in high altitude environments. The result of the radiocarbon dating done on a fragment of one of its bones by AMS was also a surprise. The date obtained gives this individual an age of 5750 years. It is the oldest in the province of Mendoza and corresponds to a period in which the climatic conditions were more favourable to the current ones (a little warmer and wetter) in the mountain range according to pollen studies.”

Because the remains of the infant were found at the same layer as the child discovered in 2015, the archaeologists believe that the remains likely to date to around the same time.

“The regional archaeological information allows us to propose that the society from which this individual came had a hunter-gatherer economy and a band-like social organization. Surely it was small groups (between 30 and 50 people) that moved throughout the year, from lowlands to highlands and vice versa, to obtain the meat of animals that hunted (especially guanacos — Lama guanicoe) and vegetables that they collected.”

“Having found this infant burial, it can be ascertained that it was the entire family group that moved (men, women and children) and that it is likely that the mountain range where it was left was part of a larger territory, a space of seasonal occupation to which it recurred,” said Duran.

Knowing where these ancient mountaineers came from and specifying aspects of their way of life is one of the major challenges of the research group.

“This new finding will allow expanding the ongoing studies that have placed the town of Las Cuevas in a position of great importance within the archaeology of the province and the country”, concludes the anthropologist.

Source: National University of Cuyo [December 29, 2018]

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