[Aztlan] EARLIEST NATIVE AMERICAN SKULL WITH BULLET HOLE

[michael ruggeri]

Inca Skull Rewrites History of Conquest

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 20, 2007; Page A03

The 500-year-old skull, found in a long-forgotten Inca cemetery  
outside Lima, Peru, had two round holes just across from each other.  
Nearby was a plug of bone, recovered intact, that carried the  
distinct markings of an old musket ball.

Archaeologists sensed they had unearthed an important find, but it  
wasn't until months later that a powerful electron microscope scan  
confirmed it by finding traces of lead in the skull. The victim, who  
was between 18 and 22 years old when he died, had been shot by a  
Spanish conquistador.

Archaeologists investigating a nearly 500-year-old mass grave of  
Incas in Peru discovered what they say is the earliest documented  
victim of a gunshot wound ever found in the Americas.

Given the age of the remains, as well as the age of other remains  
buried nearby, the archaeologists came to the conclusion that they  
had identified the earliest victim of a gunshot wound ever found in  
the Americas.

"There may have been Incas and other native people killed by  
Europeans before him, but this is our oldest example so far," said  
Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock, who has excavated in the area  
for more than 20 years. "This happened at the beginning of a long and  
difficult history."

Based on carbon dating, as well as analysis of the hundreds of other  
bodies buried in the area, Cock believes the man was shot in the  
1530s, just a few years after Francisco Pizarro and his small army of  
conquistadors arrived in Peru.

That arrival led to one of the most disastrous population declines in  
recorded history -- up to 80 percent of the 12 million people in the  
Inca empire died within 70 years.

The history of the Incas' rapid defeat and decline, written almost  
entirely by the Spanish victors, has emphasized the valor and skill  
of the greatly outnumbered Europeans. Cock said the relatively new  
field of Inca archaeology is beginning to rewrite some of that story.

For instance, Cock said, there is good reason to believe the young  
gunshot victim died during the siege of Lima in 1536 -- one of  
numerous Inca uprisings following the execution of their leader,  
Atahualpa, by the Spanish. He also said there is archaeological and  
historical evidence to suggest those insurrections were put down with  
the help of native peoples who opposed the Incas' rule.

"We are just now starting to really compare what was written with the  
material evidence being uncovered," Cock said. "There is a lot that  
was never told before."

The musket victim was one of 72 people who appear to have been  
hastily placed in a formal Inca burial ground where hundreds of  
others had been meticulously wrapped, honored and interred in the  
traditional Inca way. The 72 were barely wrapped, had no ceremonial  
offerings with them and were in shallow graves.

These signs of a speedy burial, along with tentative evidence that  
two others may have died of gunshot wounds and that several more had  
been crushed by swinging maces, led Cock to conclude they died during  
the little-known siege of Lima. He said relatives probably took them  
from the battlefield and buried them quickly in the traditional  
cemetery. The remains of women and children, who most likely traveled  
with the Inca forces, were also found.

Cock's research was funded by National Geographic and will be the  
subject of a "Nova" TV special on PBS next Tuesday. The discovery of  
the lead deep in the bone of the skull was made at the University of  
New Haven's Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science.

Cock, who is trained as a historian as well as an archaeologist, said  
about 30 of the 72 bodies had been killed by native weapons --  
lending support to his theory that Pizarro succeeded only because he  
enlisted the help of other tribes who were enemies of the Incas.  
Pizarro's closest allies are believed to have been the Huaylas, who  
lived about 100 miles north of Lima, Cock said. Pizarro is known to  
have taken a prominent Huayla woman to be his mistress, and Huayla  
forces are believed to have had a decisive impact during the Lima siege.

Richard Burger, a Yale University anthropology professor, said that  
if the finding holds up, it will indeed represent the first example  
of a Native American killed by guns. He said Spanish colonists were  
in the Caribbean and Mexico decades before they came to Peru in 1532,  
and some native people were probably shot during those years. But  
their remains have not been unearthed.

"There hasn't been much archaeological evidence in this area, so the  
finding could be very important," Burger said. "There's a lot of  
interest now in learning more about the Inca decline from sources  
other than the victors."

Before the Spanish arrived, the Inca empire controlled the entire  
Andean region, later earning the designation "Romans of the New  
World." Highly accomplished builders, the Incas built the city of  
Machu Picchu on a mountaintop 8,000 feet above sea level.

The fast decline of the Incas has generally been attributed to the  
far more advanced Spanish weaponry, the spread of European diseases  
to which native people had no immunity, and malnutrition and illness  
caused by the harsh working conditions imposed by the colonists.

Cock said all those factors doubtless played a role, but the ability  
of the Spaniards to establish native allies was also important and  
has been generally ignored.

"They joined Pizarro in the hope of being rewarded with more  
independence and freedom," Cock said. "I believe they wanted a more  
equal, more horizontal relationship with the Spaniards. Clearly, that  
did not happen."


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