Sometime in the early 17th century, at Magdalena de Cao, a community of resettled native peoples in the Chicama Valley on the North Coast of Peru, a Spaniard used the back of a letter to jot down the terms for numbers in a local language. Four hundred years later, the authors of this article were able to recover and study this piece of paper. We present information on this otherwise unknown language, on numeracy, and on cultural relations of ethnolinguistic groups in pre-and early-post-Conquest northern Peru. Our investigations have determined that, while several of the Magadalena number terms were likely borrowed from a Quechuan language, the remainder record a decimal number system in an otherwise unknown language. Historical sources of the region mention at least two potential candidate languages, Pescadora and Quingnam; however, because neither is documented beyond its name, a definite connection remains impossible to establish.RESUMEN En los inicios del siglo diecisiete, en el sitio de Magdalena de Cao, una comunidad de indígenas reducidos en el valle de Chicama en la costa norte del Perú, un español usó el reverso de una carta para anotar las palabras que traducían números en un idioma local. Cuatrocientos años después, la carta fue recuperada y estudiada por los autores de este artículo. Presentamos información acerca de este idioma desconocido, tanto como sobre los conceptos numéricos, y sobre las relaciones culturales de grupos etnolinguísticos en la costa norte del Perú antes y después de la conquista español. Nuestras investigaciones habían determinado que, mientras algunas de las palabras numéricas son probablemente prestadas de un idioma quechua, los demás vienen de un sistema numérico decimal de un idioma hasta ahora desconocido. Las fuentes históricas en la región mencionan al menos dos idiomas como candidatos potenciales, o sea Pescadora y Quingnam, pero como no sabemos sino esos dos nombres, es imposible identificar a que idiomas pertenecieron.
THE DISCOVERY AND ITS CONTEXTS
Analyses of a 20–30 cm thick, completely combusted ash at the 25 × 70 m Tschudi burn at Chan Chan, northern Perú, contain 52–55 wt% SiO2, 180–210 ppm zirconium and are consistent with coal ash. Soil geochemistry across the burn showed elevated calcium and phosphorus content, possible evidence for reported human cremation. A calcined, 5 g, 4.5 cm skull fragment recovered from the burn was confirmed as human by protein radioimmunoassay (pRIA). X‐ray diffraction showed that the bone had been heated to 520°C. The burn took place c. ad 1312–1438 based on interpretation of a 14C date on carbonized plant tinder.
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