The Scientific Authentification of Francisco Pizarro
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~~,!\~: ~ ~~~~~ ~~~r~· Pact 29 - IV.6: Jonathan Ericson c~ Ludena 'J ~· The Scientific Authentification of Francisco Pizarro Abstract On 17 June 1977 the remains of the supposed Francisco Pizarro and family members, as well as artifacts, were unearthed near the center of the Cathedral of Lima, Peru. This began nearly a decade of research on the remains whose results are reported in this paper. On 10 January 1985, the remains of Francisco Pizarro were placed in state in the Cathedral having been formally authentificated. A series of 3 AMS radiocarbon dates performed by the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility (670 ± 70 years BP and 430 ± 60 BP results in an age range of 1400-1630 cal AD). The final results of different types of analyses of the remains are not inconsistent with the technology, resources, chronology and historical record of the culture, assassination and death of Francisco Pizarro. 1. Introduction The remains of Francisco Pizarro, conqueror and governor of Peru were lost after the Great Tsunami and Earthquake of Lima and Callao on 28 October 1746 which destroyed the Cathedral of Lima and exact location of his burial. In June of 1977 some workmen opened a plastered over niche in the crypt beneath the altar (Ludena, 1980, p. 20) and found the burial location of Francisco Pizarro and members of his family as well as several artifacts. These included a lead box with an inscription, « AQUI ESTA LA CABECA DEL SENOR MARQUES DON FRANCISCO PIZARRO QUE DESCU BRIO Y GANO LOS REYNOS DEL PIRV Y PUSO EN LA REAL CORONA DE CASTILLA » (translated as « Here is the skull of the Marques Don Francisco Pizarro who discovered and won Peru and placed it under the crown of Castille ») (Ludena, 1980), a wooden box with a rough cut rectangular hole covered with brown velvet and nail outline of the Cross of the Military Order of Santiago (Ludena, 1980), fragments of a sword, strips of hide from stirrups, and other fragmentary items. Samples of those 350 J. Ericson and H. Ludena The Scientific Authentification of Francisco Pizarro 351 items were conveyed in 1978 for analysis at Harvard University and at UCLA It is important to note that the above individuals were limited in the and form the basis for this report (Ericson, 1977). extent of their examination due to time and incomplete nature of the skeletal The difficulty with the authentification of the remains of Pizarro resides remains. A complete and definitive forensic anthropological examination was with the 1891 contender, a mummy which was placed in state in the conducted in March and April, 1984 by Drs. Benfer and Maples in two visits. Cathedral of Lima in 1891 on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of A third visit in July 1984 by Drs. Benfer, Maples and Goza focused on the Pizarro's death. A hastily-formed commission verified that these remains examination of the mummy. A complete and detailed forensic examination is were, in fact, those of Francisco Pizarro (McGee, 1894), having misinterpre presented by Maples et a/., 1989. The conclusions of their report are as ted the basic forensic and historical evidence (Maples et a/., 1989). follows. Both the mummy and the skeletal remains discovered in 1977 have been The mummy is typified as « dedicate and undamaged by marks of battle thoroughly examined by different groups of forensic anthropologists. The (other than a healed fractured nose) was more like the body of an ecclesiastic forensic results together with analyses presented herein form the basis for the rather than a conquistador » (Maples et a/., 1987). The commingled remains scientific authentification of Francisco Pizarro. discovered in the niche of the crypt below the altar were differentiated into individual skeletons. « The wooden box contained the remains of two 2. Forensic Analysis of the Skeletal Remains children, an elderly female, the skull and postcranial remains of an elderly male, and the postcranial skeleton of a second elderly male. The latter In May 1978 Dr. Ludena brought selected skeletal remains of Pizarro to skeleton (of Pizarro) articulated with the skull in the lead box with the Los Angeles for examination, including the right humerus, atlas, and several inscription » (Maples et a/., 1989). Radiographs of the left hand portion of vertebrae which had cut marks as well as the calcaneus. On 16 May a skull showed opacification due to contact of the skull with the lead box preliminary forensic examination on these bones was conducted by a forensic (Ludena, 1980) and conversion of apatite to lead salts. team of Dr. J.M. Suchey, Dr. D.V. Wisely, and Dr. R. Taylor of the Department of the Chief Medical Examiner/Coroner, Los Angeles County. The skeleton of Pizarro was typified as « a white male approximately 65- 69 inches (1.65 to 1. 75 m) in height. The age at death was at least 60 years » Cervical vertebrae (sample no. 1.3.2.17.7) was x-rayed by Dr. Wisely (Maple et a/., 1989). using high resolution x-ray film. The x-rays revealed opacification consistent with a rheumatic condition of the spine. On 26 June 1541 Pizarro was murdered by the supporters of the dead leader, Diego de Almagro. The details of the death of Pizarro were recorded The calcaneus had greenish stains which were examined with the (Prescott) and compared with forensic details of fresh cut marks registered on scanning electron microscope with EDAX attached. Chemical analysis of the the skeleton : « The great number of wounds, the damage under the surface stain showed major elements of soil (A1, Si, Fe, Ca) and (Ca, P) of mandible and in the skull base to dispatch an enemy, are consistent with an bone apatite and (Zn, Cu) of the green stain. The appearance of the green association by multiple assailants armed with thin, double-edged weapons. stain is consistent with the historical record which 1541 record reports that After a bitter fight, many or all, of the assassins plunged their weapons into Pizarro was buried with his spurs, most likely brass in composition. the dead, or dying man » (Maples, 1989). The team reported that the subject was old, robust, rheumatic and attacked violently with sharp implements. The subject received four blows to On 10 January 1985 the skeleton of 1977 was placed in the great glass the cervical vertebrae which were registered from the front to rear of the and marble sarcophagus with a massive bronze lion on top shown in a plate vertebrae on the right side. (Ludena, 1980). The mummy rested on plywood supported by sawhorses in the crypt (Maples et a/., 1989). There is little doubt remaining as to the On 17 May 1978 a second team of physical anthropologists examined identity of the remains discovered in 1977. the remains at UCLA Department of Anthropology including Professors B.J. Williams, E. Bates, M. West and a student, M. Waring. There was 3. Dating of the remains concurrence with the first group of examiners. Professor Sognnaes, Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, independently examined the remains and focused Although the location of the burial, forensic analysis of the skeletal on the blow received on the distal right humerus which would have cut remains and the historical records answer the questions « who », « where », radial and extender muscles for fingers during the assassination (Ericson, « how », and « why », the final question, « when », is squarely the domain 1978). of dating. 352 J. Ericson and H. Ludena The Scientific Authentification of Francisco Pizarro 353 Radiocarbon measurements were made at the NSF-Arizona Accelerator technology and culture in which they were created. Thereby, they embellish Facility on samples of the wood box, textile (cloth), and bone gelatin from a the historical record with tangible remains. There were a number of artifacts phalange prepared at the Center for Archaeological Research and Develop which were recovered in the accidental excavation of 1977. Ludena ( 1980) has ment, Harvard University in 1982 using the procedure of Krueger and studied the morphological attributes of the fragmentary sword relative to Sullivan (1984). The results of the radiocarbon measurements are listed in swords of that period and found it consistent. Table 1. The structure of the cloth (textile) which covered the wooden box was thoroughly examined by C.C. McClean and her colleagues at the Los Angeles TABLE 1. RADIOCARBON AGES OF THE SKELETON AND ASSOCIATED County Museum of Art. ARTIFACTS OF FRANCISC0 PIZARRO Unfortunatley, the velvet in her collection had not been diagrammed, so that she was not able to date the fragment based on its structure (McClean, Radiocarbon Age Calendar Date* Number Description 1985). (years BP) (cal AD) Also the Direct Sulfuric Acid test (after Saltzman, 1978) applied to the AA 1170 Wood from box 670 ± 70 1270-1400 brown dye of the textile was non-diagnostic as to class or origin of the AA 1171 Cloth (textile) 600 ± 70 1280-1420 colorant. AA 1172 Bone gelatin (phalange) 430 ± 60 1420-1500 A comparative analysis of lead isotopes by isotopic dilution mass • Conversion of radiocarbon ages to calendar dates using curves of Stuiver and Pearson (1986). spectrometry of a sample of the inscribed lead box with lead ores from the Spanish silver mines at Rio Tinto, Thoris, and Linares remains to be The radiocarbon dates are conventional radiocarbon ages. The radiocar performed (Ericson, 1986). bon ages to calendar data conversion was performed using curves of Stuiver and Pearson (1986). The ranges (« spreads ») in calendar dates are obtained 5. Conclusions using one standard deviation with the radiocarbon ages. The use of two The final results of the above and other published analyses of the standard deviations for the bone gelatin result in a range of 1400-1630 cal skeletal remains (Maples et a/., 1987) and artifacts (Ludena, 1980) are not AD which includes 1541 cal AD, the death date of Francisco Pizarro inconsistent with the technology, resources, chronology and historical record (Donahue, 1987).