RESUMO
One of the most complex challenges of heritage sciences is the identification and protection of buried archaeological heritage in urban areas and the need to manage, maintain and inspect underground services. Archaeology and geophysics, used in an integrated way, provide an important contribution to open new perspectives in understanding both the history of cities and in helping the decision makers in planning and governing the urban development and management. The problems of identification and interpretation of geophysical features in urban subsoil make it necessary to develop ad hoc procedures to be implemented and validated in significant case studies. This paper deals with the results of an interdisciplinary project in Cusco (Peru), the capital of Inca Empire, where the georadar method was applied for the first time in the main square. The georadar method was successfully employed based on knowledge of the historical evolution of Cusco and the availability of archaeological records provided by some excavations nearby the study area. Starting from a model for the electromagnetic wave reflection from archaeological structures and pipes, georadar results were interpreted by means of comparative morphological analysis of high amplitude values observed from time slices with reflectors visualized in the radargrams.
RESUMO
Paleoparasitological studies have demonstrated that changes in environment or culture are reflected in the patterns of parasitic infection diseases in populations worldwide. The advent of agriculture and animal domestication, with its accompanying reduction in human mobility and expanding population involves changes in or emergence of, parasites, the so-called first epidemiological transition. Cultural processes related to territory occupation contribute to both loss and acquisition of parasites. The archaeological site Lluta 57 in the Lluta Valley, Chile, provides a chronology of the transition from the pre-Inca or Late Intermediate Period (LIP), through the Late or Inca Period (LP), to the Hispanic Contact Period (HCP), providing the possibility of evaluating this epidemiological transition. The aim of this study was to conduct a paleoparasitological investigation of to gain insight into the dynamics of parasitism in Lluta people throughout the Inca expansion. Fourteen human coprolites from the three periods were rehydrated, submitted to spontaneous sedimentation, and examined by light microscopy for the presence of intestinal parasite eggs, pollen grains, and micro-remains. Eggs of four parasites: Enterobius vermicularis, Trichostrongylus sp., Trichuris sp., and Eimeria macusaniensis were recovered. Frequency, diversity, and number of parasite eggs per sample increased over the studied time period. Trichostrongylus sp. and E. macusaniensis were recorded in the region for the first time. Enterobius vermicularis eggs, absent in the LIP, were present as a hyper-infection in LP. The presence of E. macusaniensis is likely related to exploitation of llamas, which were used for food and transport and as sacrificial offerings. The paleobotanical analysis revealed ten families of pollen grains, as well as phytoliths and floral remains. In contrast to parasitological results, a diachronic pattern was not detected. Evolution of the settlements, with the advent of larger, more densely populated, villages, could have influenced the emergence and intensification of transmission of parasites in the region. The study showed that the Inca expansion influenced host-parasite-environment relationships in the Lluta Valley.