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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 172 (2000) 756±760

www.elsevier.nl/locate/nimb

AMS and controversies in history: The Spanish conquest of Peru
U. Zoppi
b

a,* ,

Q. Hua a, G. Jacobsen a, G. Sarkissian a, E.M. Lawson a, C. Tuniz a, L. Laurencich Minelli b

a Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Physics Division, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia Dipartimento di Paleogra®a e Medievistica, Universita degli studi di Bologna, Piazza S. Giovanni in Monte 2, 40124 Bologna, Italy

Abstract The quest for understanding the past often contains a subjective component. Legends, myths, traditions and personal beliefs can unconsciously in¯uence the interpretation of the scienti®c outcomes or, in the worst instances, even lead to forgery. Fortunately, an increasing number of scienti®c tools are available nowadays and can be combined to discredit such detriments and oer more reliable foundations for an objective analysis. Radiocarbon dating by AMS is a relatively non-invasive method and is particularly useful when valuable historical artefacts are involved. In this paper, we will present controversial cases where AMS is playing an important role in understanding the past. In particular, we will discuss the use of AMS to authenticate historical documents revealing a new version of the conquest of Peru by Pizarro in the early 1530s. ñ 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 01.75.+m; 07.75.+h Keywords: History; AMS; Pizarro; Inca; Peru

1. Introduction AMS is a well-established and powerful analysis tool, which is aecting an ever broader spectrum of disciplines. For example, during the ®rst 10 years of its existence, the ANTARES AMS facility [1] played an important role in a variety of historical debates. The most signi®cant contributions are brie¯y summarised here. The Venafro chessmen, discovered in 1932 in Venafro, a Roman necropolis in Southern Italy,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61-2-9717-3043; fax: +61-29717-3257. E-mail address: ugo@ansto.gov.au (U. Zoppi).

*

are one of the most controversial chess related archaeological ®nds of this century. For more than 60 years, archaeologists formulated a variety of hypotheses to explain how it was possible that bone chess pieces of Arabic shape were discovered in a tomb of Roman age. Radiocarbon measurements carried out at the ANTARES AMS Centre yielded a calibrated age of 885±1017 AD (1r) [2], compatible with the proposition that this game was introduced to Central Italy during the Saracen invasions of the 9th century AD. The resin used to repair a terracotta cherub made by Donatello (1386±1466) for the Annunciazione Cavalcanti (Cathedral of Florence, Italy) was also dated at ANTARES. Our result for the glue, 1331±1429 AD (1r) [3], proved that the

0168-583X/00/$ - see front matter ñ 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 168-5 83X(00 ) 0 0213 -5


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restoration had been performed during the lifetime of the artist and perhaps carried out by Donatello himself, after damaging the statue in the kiln. The Carte d9Arborea are a set of ancient codes and parchments from the 14th to 15th century, which were discovered around 1845 in Italy. They are a unique source of information encompassing many centuries of history of Sardinia. The authenticity of these documents has been discussed by eminent historians for the last 150 years. In particular, in 1870, an international committee of historians stated that the Carte dóArborea were a fake. Our 14 C analysis yielded a calendar age of 1409±1436 AD (1r) for these documents, supporting their authenticity. The age of a Byzantine micromosaic from the museum of Sassoferrato in Italy representing Saint Demetrius has puzzled Italian historians for the last 300 years and our date, 1279 ô 26 yr AD (1r), ruled out the original claim that this object had been made during the time of the Emperor Justinian (483±565 AD). The Iron Crown of the ®rst Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, is held in the Cathedral at Monza, near Milan in Italy. The origin and age of the crown, later used to crown Napolean Bonaparte, are dubious. Historical records place its origin between the Roman and Middle Ages, a spread of several centuries. In 1996, it was discovered that the precious stones were held in place by a mixture of beeswax and clay, which provided the amount of carbon necessary for AMS radiocarbon dating. The analysis performed at ANTARES yielded an age between 700 and 780 AD [4], comparable with the crowning of Charlemagne on Christmas Night, 800 AD. In the following, we present our recent contribution to the ongoing list of historical debates, this time in relation to Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru. 2. The conquest of Peru The conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro (1474?±1541) in the early 1530s was one of the most important events of the colonisation of the American continent and one of the most successful

military campaigns ever. Historians believe that this was, in fact, the beginning of globalisation, which is reaching full accomplishment at the dawn of the new millennium [5]. Its importance is also witnessed by the fact that Pizarro is represented in one of the scenes of a painted panorama in the frieze of the Rotunda of the US Capitol Building (Washington, DC) depicting signi®cant events in American history. Furthermore, his portrait is also reproduced on the 1000 Spanish peseta banknote. 2.1. The Miccinelli documents The manuscripts Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum and Exsul Immeritus Blas Valera populo suo, which were found in the family papers of Neapolitan historian, Clara Miccinelli, are commonly known as the ``Miccinelli documents'' and discuss events and people associated with the Spanish conquest of Peru. Since a more detailed description can be found in historical oriented publications [6±9], only the key characters and events discussed in the documents will be presented here. In addition to details about reading literary quipus ± Inca documents which were written using a combination of textile ideograms and knots [6] ± Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum [7] (History and Rudiments of the Language of the Peruvians) includes the incredible claims that Pizarro conquered the region after poisoning Inca generals with arsenic-tainted wine and condemned the Inca emperor, Atahuallpa, to death instead of granting him an audience with the King of Spain. The account departs markedly from the long-held version of the event that Atahuallpa was put to death for ordering the execution of his brother and rival. Furthermore, the manuscript suggests that the chronicler, Guam Poma de Ayala (1538?± an 1620?), author of one of the most important works on Inca Peru, the Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno (New Chronicle and Good Government) written sometime before 1618, merely lent his name to a work actually written by the Jesuit priest, Blas Valera. Valera is also believed to be the author of the manuscript, Exsul Immeritus Blas Valera populo suo [8], an account of his own actions. According


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to this document dated 10 May 1618, Valera was forced to fake his own death in 1597 and, under false name, was able to live in Peru between 1599 and 1618 and write the Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno. Attached to Exsul Immeritus Blas Valera populo suo there were: 1. A letter from Francisco de Chaves [9], a conquistador and chronicler on Pizarroós expedition. The letter dated 5 August 1533, was addressed to Charles V, King of Spain, and is the source of the accusations already suggested in Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum and Exsul Immeritus Blas Valera populo suo. 2. A wax box containing a fragment of a letter from Columbus and the contract between Guam Poma de Ayala and Blas Valera. As an said by the agreement, Ayala lent his name to Valera after payment of a horse and a chariot. 3. Few literary quipus. 2.2. The radiocarbon dating of the Miccinelli documents The historical signi®cance of the discovered material is immense and historians considered it to be of primary importance to verify the authenticity. As a part of a worldwide research collaboration [8], ANSTO performed the radiocarbon dating of ®ve samples associated with the Miccinelli documents (see Table 1). Due to the unknown history of the textile ®bres and the consequent uncertainty regarding possible sources of contamination, it was decided to split the samples into two fractions and apply two difTable 1 The samples submitted to radiocarbon dating ANSTO code OZD251 OZD252 OZD253 OZD254 OZD255 Description Wool of a literary quipu attached to Historia et Rudimenta Wool ideogram (yaya) of a quipu attached to Exsul Immeritus Wool ideogram (ullu) of a quipu attached to Exsul Immeritus Wax seal of the letter from Chaves to the King of Spain Wax box containing the contract between Ayala and Valera

ferent chemical pre-treatment procedures. It was reported [10] that museum textile ®bres could be adequately treated using a neutral detergent to remove dust. The ®rst fraction of each sample was placed in neutral detergent solution and sonicated for 15 minutes. The solution was decanted and the ®bres were washed thoroughly with demineralised (reverse osmosis) water, then washed three times with 18 MX water using sonication for 15 minutes and ®nally dried at 60°C overnight. The second procedure is the harsher AAA method, which should remove carbonate contaminants and human grease. Since many historical textiles do not survive this procedure [11], the alkali treatment was performed quickly at room temperature. For one sample (OZD253) up to 81% of the material was lost during this step, the other samples (OZD251 and OZD252) were more robust, with approximately 20% of the material dissolving. The ®bres were treated with HCl (2 M, 60°C) for 2 h, followed by alkali treatment (NaOH, 1%) for 15 minutes and the acid treatment repeated. At last the ®bres were washed thoroughly with deionised water and dried at 60°C overnight. For the wax samples (OZD254 and OZD255), the puri®cation procedure was simpler and only a treatment with HCl (2 M, 60°C) for 2 h was required to remove contamination. As usual, the samples were then washed with deionised water and dried at 60°C overnight. All pre-treated samples were then combusted to CO2 using CuO at 900°C in sealed tubes and converted to graphite using the methods described in [12]. The graphite was loaded into an aluminium sample holder ready for the AMS measurement. The 14 C/13 C isotopic ratio was measured relative to the internationally accepted HOxI standard material [13]. Corrections were then applied for the spectrometer background, for the contamination introduced in the preparation of the graphite target and for isotopic fractionation. Using the corrected radioisotopic ratio, the radiocarbon age was calculated and ®nally calibrated using the CalibETH software [14] and the tree ring data set of [15]. The calibrated ages are listed in Tables 2 and


U. Zoppi et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 172 (2000) 756±760 Table 2 The measured ages for the wax samples ANSTO code OZD254 OZD255 d(13 C) (&) )26.30 )27.30 Radiocarbon age (BP) 440 ô 45 400 ô 35 Range (AD) 1429±1483 1445±1511 1600±1616 Rel. probability (%) 100.0 83.2 16.8

759

Table 3 The measured ages for the wool samples obtained with the two puri®cation methods described in the text Code d(13 C) (&) Neutral detergent Radiocarbon age (BP) OZD251 OZD252 OZD253 )21.70 )25.95 )25.00 964 ô 60 498 ô 48 977 ô 61 Range (AD) 1020±1065 1074±1127 1133±1159 1405±1447 1013±1064 1075±1127 1133±1159 Rel. probability (%) 36.6 42.3 21.1 100.0 41.1 39.2 19.8 AAA method Radiocarbon age (BP) 1085 ô 64 734 ô 56 844 ô 43 Range (AD)

a

Rel. probability (%) 34.2 65.8 96.2 3.8 100.0

893±934 942±1013 1232±1305 1368±1372 1168±1255

Fig. 1. The probability distribution obtained for sample OZD254, the wax seal of the letter dated 5 August 1533, from Chaves to the King of Spain.

3. Fig. 1 shows the probability distribution obtained for sample OZD254. 2.3. Discussion The results show that, with a high degree of con®dence, the wax used to seal the letter to

the King of Spain originated earlier than 1533, the date on the letter. Similarly, the wax used for the box containing the agreement allowing Valera to write under false name Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno, most probably originated before 1618, the accepted completion date of this important document. For the textile samples, the interpretation of the results is more dicult. According to Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum, the quipu OZD251 was collected in an ancient Inca burial site and therefore should be pre-Hispanic. Exsul Immeritus Blas Valera populo suo informs us that the textile ideograms OZD252 and OZD253 were given as a gift to the grandfather of Blas Valera. Even considering the age variations induced by the dierent chemical procedures (for OZD251 and OZD253 these variations are well within the 2r con®dence level), all calibrated ages indicate that the wool originated much earlier than expected. This can be explained by the tradition to weave the most important textile quipus with old threads charged with the ``strength of the ancestors''.


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U. Zoppi et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 172 (2000) 756±760 [4] M. Milazzo, C. Cicardi, T. Mannoni, C. Tuniz, Handbook of the Sixth Australasian Archaeometry Conference, 10±13 February 1997, Sydney, Australia. [5] Prof. Rev. John Eddy, Director of the Australian Institute of Jesuit Studies, Canberra, Private communication. [6] L. Laurencich Minelli, La scrittura dellóantico Peru, CLUEB, Bologna, 1996. [7] L. Laurencich Minelli, C. Miccinelli, C. Animato, Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 61 (1995) 363. [8] Proceedings of the Workshop Guaman Poma de Ayala y Blas Valera: tradicion andina e historia colonial, Rome, Italy, 29±30 September 1999, to be published. [9] L. Laurencich Minelli, C. Miccinelli, C. Animato, Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 64 (1998). [10] M.J.Y. van Strydonck, K. van der Borg, A.F.M. de Jong, Radiocarbon 34 (1992) 928. [11] W.G. Mook, H.T. Waterbolk, in: Handbooks for archaeologists 3: Radiocarbon Dating, European Science Foundation, 1st ed., Strasbourg, 1985. [12] G.E. Jacobsen, Q. Hua, J. Tarshishi, D. Fink, M.A.C. Hotchkis, E.M. Lawson, A.M. Smith, C. Tuniz, Handbook of the Sixth Australasian Archaeometry Conference, 10±13 Februrary 1997, Sydney, Australia. [13] M. Stuiver, Radiocarbon 25 (1983) 793. [14] Th.R. Niklaus, G. Bonani, M. Simonius, M. Suter, W. Wol¯i, Radiocarbon 34 (1992) 483. [15] M. Stuiver, P.J. Reimer, Th.F. Braziunas, Radiocarbon 40 (1998) 1127.

3. Conclusion The authentication of historical documents is always problematic. Carbon dating alone cannot reveal anything about the veracity of claims made in them. All that the scientists can do is to determine whether the material is of the correct age, as these results show. It is then up to the historians to argue the toss, and the results presented here are certainly fueling controversy among academic historians worldwide. References
[1] E.M. Lawson, G. Elliott, J. Fallon, D. Fink, M.A.C. Hotchkis, Q. Hua, G.E. Jacobsen, P. Lee, A.M. Smith, C. Tuniz, U. Zoppi, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. 172 (2000) 95. [2] F. Terrasi, L. Campajola, F. Petrazzuolo, A. Brondi, A. Cipriano, M. DóOnofrio, Q. Hua, V. Roca, M. Romano, M. Romoli, C. Tuniz, E. Lawson, LóItalia Scacchistica 1064 (1994) 48. [3] Glue incriminates Sculptor, in: C. Holden (Ed.), Science 267 (1995) 966.