(ORDO NEWS) — The ancient inhabitants of Peru, the Chincha people, painted the remains of their ancestors in different colors to emphasize their origin, archaeologists from Boston University found out.
It was part of the ritual – in this way the dead were released and given the opportunity to go to another world. During the work, the researchers analyzed 38 bones, 25 of which were skulls.
All of them were located in a burial ground in the Chincha Valley in southern Peru before being discovered and dated between 1000 and 1825.
Scientists have discovered that ancient people used different types of red paint and that only certain people’s remains were painted after death.
So, 24 samples had hematite paint, 13 – cinnabar, and one – a combination of two dyes.
Further chemical analysis showed that cinnabar was brought hundreds of kilometers away, and hematite was probably from local sources.
According to the authors of the study, the “imported” paint may have been used to mark elite members of society.
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