CRANIAL DEFORMATION AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH FOR A CHILD FROM THE CHILLON RIVER VALLEY, PERU
Open accessAbstract
Two small mummy bundles, found in a tomb at the Chillon River Valley, Lima Plains, Peru exist in the collections of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.They were donated to the collections at the beginning of the 20th century.A multidisciplinary team is now curating and studying them.CT scans confirmed both skeletons were of individuals less than one year old at death.One of the bundles is intact and will be preserved and displayed.The other one was partly decomposed and the authors received permission to unwrap it to analyze the bones in details.Mites and pollen analysis were performed and the bones and artifacts were described.The cranium of a four to six month-old child, had a perforated necrotic occipital bone that possibly related to cause of death.Endosteal new bone reaction, a flattened area at the occipital squamae and a parietal sulcus associated with a zone of frontparietal resorption were also found.A pathognomonic periosteal reaction at the occipital and parietals, along the lambdoid suture, pointed to the compression of the skull that could explain the trauma, ischemic necrosis and subsequent infection.The cultural context suggests that the bundle could belong to a late Inca burial.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Mendonça de Souza et al. (2008) argue that modifying an infant's head in the Chillón Valley, Peru caused death.
“Mendonça de Souza et al. (2008) argue that the act of modifying the head of an infant from the Chillón Valley in Peru was the cause of death”
From Cranial modification and the shapes of heads across the Andes (2020) · cites this paper as Mendonça de Souza et al. (2008)
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2006) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/(issn)1096-8644 · Cited by 2,705 · see citing works
Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains
Ortner, D. J. (2003) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-528628-2.x5037-6 · Cited by 2,524 · see citing works
Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation
Ubelaker, D. H. V. (1999) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,413 · see citing works
Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains
Ortner, D. J., & Putschar, W. G. J. (1985) · Smithsonian contributions to anthropology · doi:10.5479/si.00810223.28.1 · Cited by 1,046 · see citing works
Inca Culture At The Time Of The Spanish Conquest
Rowe, J. H. (1946) · Cited by 718 · see citing works
The Smithsonian Institution, Washington
(1963) · Nature · doi:10.1038/200835d0 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Effects of fronto-occipital artificial cranial vault modification on the cranial base and face
Cheverud, J. M., Kohn, L. A. P., Konigsberg, L. W., & Leigh, S. R. (1992) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330880307 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Anemia and childhood mortality: Latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru
Blom, D. E., Buikstra, J. E., Keng, L., Tomczak, P. D., Shoreman, E., & Stevens‐Tuttle, D. (2004) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.10431 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
El‐Najjar, M. Y., & Dawson, G. L. (1977) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330460119 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Sutural effects of fronto-occipital cranial modification
White, C. D. (1996) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199607)100:3 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Occipital lesions: A possible cost of cradleboards
Holliday, D. Y. (1993) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330900303 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Infant Head Molding: A Cultural Practice
Fitzsimmons‐Craft, E. E. (1998) · Archives of Family Medicine · doi:10.1001/archfami.7.1.88 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Manríquez, G., González-Bergás, F. E., Salinas, J. C., & Espoueys, O. (2006) · Chungará (Arica) · doi:10.4067/s0717-73562006000100004 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Are supra-inion depressions evidence of prophylactic trephination?
Td, S. (1976) · PubMed · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Deformación craneana intencional en América
Munizaga, J. R. (2011) · doi:10.5354/rca.v0i6.17628 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
3 of the 18 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Aufderheide, A.C. and C. Rodriguez-Martin, editors 1998 The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Cockburn, A., E. Cockburn and T.A. Reyman, editors 1998 Mummies, Diseases & Ancient Cultures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Guillén, S. 1992 The Chinchorro Culture: Mummies and Crania in the Reconstruction of Prehistoric Coastal Adaptation in the South Central Andes. Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Anthropology. University of Michigan, USA.
- Hrdlicka, A. 1908 Physiological and medical observations among the in- dians of Southwestern New Mexico. Papers of the Peabody Museum Bureau of Archaeology and Ethnology 15:115-170. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
- Ohtsuki, F. 1977 Developmental change of the cranial bone thikness in the human fetal period. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 46:141-154.
- Ortner, D.J., W.J. Butler, J. Cafarella and L. Milligan 2001 Evidence of probable scurvy in subadults from ar- chaeological sites in North America. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114:343-351.
- White, C.D. 1996 Sutural effects of front-occipital cranial modifications. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 100:397- 410.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Braig, H. R., & Perotti, M. A. (2009) · Experimental and Applied Acarology · doi:10.1007/s10493-009-9287-6 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Differential diagnosis: Trepanation
Verano, J. W. (2016) · International Journal of Paleopathology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2016.04.001 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Kuzminsky, S. C., Tung, T. A., Hübbe, M., & Villaseñor-Marchal, A. (2016) · Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.007 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Redfern, R. C., & Roberts, C. A. (2019) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809738-0.00009-0 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Cranial modification and the shapes of heads across the Andes
Torres-Rouff, C. (2020) · International Journal of Paleopathology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2019.06.007 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Morphological consequences of artificial cranial deformation: Modularity and integration
Püschel, T. A., Friess, M., & Manríquez, G. (2020) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227362 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Reprint of-Differential diagnosis: Trepanation
Verano, J. W. (2017) · International Journal of Paleopathology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2017.03.004 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Cranial Expansion and Artificial Vault Modifications
Tiesler, V. G. (2013) · Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology/Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-8760-9_3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Torres‐Rouff, C. (2020) · Bioarchaeology and social theory · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32181-9_12 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Infants from the Tarapacá 40 cemetery (Northern Chile, Formative Period, 1000 BC–AD 600)
González‐Ramírez, A., Pacheco, A., Sáez, A., & Wunderlich, I. A. (2019) · International Journal of Osteoarchaeology · doi:10.1002/oa.2803 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Morgan, J. A. (2014) · Scholarship@Western (Western University) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
de Souza, S. M. F. M. (2014) · SpringerBriefs in archaeology. Archaeological heritage management/SpringerBriefs in archaeology/Springer briefs in archaeological heritage management · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-06370-6_5 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Lázaro, G. R. (2020) · International Journal of Osteoarchaeology · doi:10.1002/oa.2947 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Diet, subsistence and health : a bioarchaeological analysis of Chongos, Peru
Dietz, M. J. (2009) · doi:10.32469/10355/6169 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Gadison, D. (2022) · Digital Archive @ GSU · doi:10.57709/7033587 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Meteoritos, dinossauros, borboletas... e também saúde
de Souza, S. M. F. M., & Rodrigues-Carvalho, C. (2018) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/0102-311x00190918 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Molnár, M., Szathmáry, L., Szücs, L., Széll, R. F., & János, I. (2019) · Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences · doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00890-9 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Mejía, J. G., Aponte, D., Pezo‐Lanfranco, L., & Eggers, S. (2021) · Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103264 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Pererva, E. V. (2023) · Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Serija 4 Istorija Regionovedenie Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija · doi:10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.4.5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Lázaro, G. R., & Sánchez-Villagra, M. R. (2025) · STAR Science & Technology of Archaeological Research · doi:10.1080/20548923.2025.2488083 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Mini aspirador adaptado para coleta de microrresíduos em objetos arqueológicos
dos Reis, R. F. A., & de Souza, S. M. F. M. (2021) · Revista de Arqueologia · doi:10.24885/sab.v34i1.818
Por uma bioarqueologia das técnicas corporais
Fidalgo, D., Giusto, M. D., Stabile, R., Aceto, B., Rodrigues, I. M. M., & Wesolowski, V. (2021) · Revista de Arqueologia · doi:10.24885/sab.v34i3.928
Lázaro, G. R., González, N., Martínez‐Fernández, A., Rivero, A. R., & Benito‐Calvo, A. (2025) · Virtual Archaeology Review · doi:10.4995/var.2024.24796
- Authors
- Mendonça de Souza, S. M. F., Reinhard, K. J., & Lessa, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (BR)
- Venue
- Chungará (Arica)
- Published
- 2008-06
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 0716-1182 (ISSN-L)
- 0717-7356
- OpenAlex
- W2131969640
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 5.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Chungara (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Lincoln (University of Nebraska) (submittedVersion)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Paleopathology and ancient diseases
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Medicine Studies
- Keywords
- cranial deformation, infant mortality, causes of death, periosteal reaction, pollen analysis, bone pathology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
