CHINCHORRO MUMMIES
Ancient people obtained information about their
morphology by palpation, examining defects in the skin, studying torn bodies,
and embalming. The most venerable mummified remains of Homo sapiens, dating
back to 8475-7448 BCE, were discovered in Chile near the city of Arica (2001DoubravaMR). The oldest embalmed body from this region is 7900±180 years
old (1984AllisonMJ_LowensteinJM). Here the Chinchorro people developed their
own system of making human mummies and practiced it in 5050-1720 BCE (1995ArriazaBT). The mummification demonstrates the «exceptional knowledge of
anatomy» of this South American people (2003ArriazaBT). In preparing their
tribesmen for burial, hunter-gatherers resorted to complex methods: they
removed organs, performed craniotomies and disarticulations, resected bones,
then correctly reassembled them into a single skeleton, and sutured the skin
(1984AllisonMJ_LowensteinJM; 2004SepúlvedaM_WalterP).
 |
| From 1984AllisonMJ_LowensteinJM: Fig. 1 (no changed). |
It is not known whether the Chinchorro tribe
used the accumulated valuable material on the structure of the human body for
health purposes. It cannot be denied, since the production of mummies for over
three millennia speaks for itself.
It is documented that Chinchorro embalmers
dissected the femur. In doing so, they undoubtedly had to cross the ligamentum
capitis femoris (LCF). Thus, the South American "pathologists"
established the fixing role of the LCF, involuntarily studying its norm and
pathology. Manipulating the bones, the Chinchorro specialists also observed the
areas of attachment of the LCF: the fossa of the head of the femur and the
fossa of the acetabulum.
References
Doubrava MR. Radiometric evaluation of the prehistoric mortuary practices of the Chinchorro culture in northern Chile. Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. Las Vegas: University of Nevada, 2001. [digitalscholarship.unlv.edu]
Allison MJ, Focacci G, Arriaza B, Standen V, Rivera M, Lowenstein JM. Chinchorro, momias de preparación complicada: métodos de momificación. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena. 1984;13:155-73. [chungara.uta.cl, academia.edu]
Arriaza BT. Chinchorro bioarchaeology: chronology and mummy seriation. Latin American Antiquity. 1995;6(1)35-55. [cambridge.org]
Arriaza BT. Cultura Chinchorro. Las momias artificiales más antiguas del mundo. 2003, Santiago de Chile: Universitaria, 2015. [books.google]
Allison MJ, Focacci G, Arriaza B, Standen V, Rivera M, Lowenstein JM. Chinchorro, momias de preparación complicada: métodos de momificación. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena. 1984;13:155-73. [academia.edu]
Sepúlveda M, Rousseliere H, Van Elslande E, Arriaza B, Standen V, Santoro CM, Walter P. Study of color pigments associated to archaic chinchorro mummies and grave goods in Northern Chile (7000-3500 BP). Heritage Science. 2014;2(7)1-12. [link.springer.com]
Keywords
ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, homo sapiens, disarticulation, operation, intersection, transection, observation
The original text in Russian is available at the link: Мумии Чинчорро
NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7