Photo credit: Pedro Szekely. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike CC-BY-SA 2.0According to Richard Burger, Yale archaeologist, Machu Picchu, the famed 15-century Inca site, in Peru, could be several decades older than previously believed.Burger and other researchers from U.S. institutions used accelerator Mass Specrometry (AMS), an advanced form of radiocarbon dating, to date human remains that were recovered at the massive complex and once country estate of Inca Empire Pachacuti on the eastern side of the Andes Mountains.The findings were published in the journal Antiquity. They reveal that Machu Picchu was used from A.D. 1420 through A.D.1530. This is around the time of Spanish conquest. Its age makes it at least 20 years older then the historical record. This raises questions about our understanding about Inca chronology.According to historical sources, Pachacuti took power in A.D.1438 and conquered the lower Urubamba Valley, where Machu Picchu is found. Scholars have concluded that the site was constructed after A.D. 1404, and possibly as late as A.D. 1505, depending on how long Pachacuti took to conquer the region and build the stone palace.The AMS testing shows that the historical timeline is incorrect."Until now, estimates of Machu Picchu’s antiquity and its length of occupation were based upon contradictory historical accounts written in Spanish during the period after the Spanish conquest," stated Burger, the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology at Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This is the first scientific study to estimate the time it took for Machu Picchu to be founded and its duration of occupation. It gives us a better understanding of the site's history and origins.This finding suggests that Pachacuti's reign, which set the Inca on a path to become pre-Columbian America’s largest and most powerful empire was decades before textual sources suggest. Burger stated that the finding has important implications for people's understanding of Inca history.He stated that "the results suggest that the discussion about the Inca empire's development based primarily upon colonial records requires revision." Modern radiocarbon methods offer a better foundation for understanding Inca chronology than historical records.The AMS technique is able to date teeth and bones that have very little organic material. This allows for a wider range of materials to be used in scientific analysis. The researchers used the technique to analyze 26 human samples taken from 26 people from four Machu Picchu cemeteries. These were recovered during excavations by Hiram Bingham III of Yale, who had "rediscovered the site" in the previous year.According to the study, retainers or attendants who were assigned to the royal estate most likely owned the bones and teeth that were used in the analysis. Researchers stated that the remains do not show evidence of heavy physical labor such as construction. This suggests that they were likely from the time the site was used as a country palace and not during its construction.Continue exploring The mystery surrounding Machu Picchu is revealed by ancient DNAMore information: Antiquity Richard L. Burger et. al., New AMS dates to Machu Picchu: Results and Implications, Antiquity (2021). Information from the Journal: Antiquity Richard L. Burger et. al., New AMS dates to Machu Picchu: Results and Implications, (2021). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2021.99
