Archaeologica.org

going to pass this over?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 757142.htm

The Chachapoyas, a white-skinned tribe known as the 'cloud people' by the Incas because of the cloud forests they inhabited in northern Peru, ruled the area from around 800 AD to around 1475, when they were conquered by the Incas.

I did see that.

Define "white skinned"? Compared to some people I am "white skinned, compared to others, not so much....

I noticed it too.
The article did not reference a source for that "white skinned" bit.

I assume its an Inca myth.

However...now that they have found some of the bodies.....maybe we'll
learn something concrete...through DNA, about the rumors of ancient "white" people in the Americas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chachapoyas_culture

The chronicler Pedro Cieza de León offers some picturesque notes about the Chachapoyas:


"They are the whitest and most handsome of all the people that I have seen in Indies, and their wives were so beautiful that because of their gentleness, many of them deserved to be the Incas' wives and to also be taken to the Sun Temple (...) The women and their husbands always dressed in woolen clothes and in their heads they wear their llautos, which are a sign they wear to be known everywhere

So it seems that the word "whitest" denotes a relative feature and doesn't indicate that they were Caucasian, plus the fact that whiteness alone does not identify one as a member of a particular race.

I interpret the word to mean "different" and different is always interesting.

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see DNA analysis.

To put it mildly.

skin colour is not a good tool to diagnose race

Come to think of it, neither is DNA!

But maybe a different lineage can be determined.

Any update on the dna anaylsis of the remains? Curious as to the findings.

Roxanne, since this article was posted, I have seen nothing regarding the genetics of these "white-skinned" people of South America. Maybe someone else has.

Hello and welcome to the forum Roxanne!

Sorry I'm late.

The Chachapoyas, a white-skinned tribe known as the 'cloud people' by the Incas because of the cloud forests they inhabited in northern Peru, ruled the area from around 800 AD to around 1475, when they were conquered by the Incas.

This sort of reporting winds me up no end. One sentence by way of explanation for such a casually delivered statement - would it kill them? They might as well have written:

The Chachapoyas, a tribe known as the 'cloud people' by the Incas because of the cloud forests they inhabited in northern Peru, and whose ceramic ware featured clear and unmistakeable depictions of 20th century recording artiste Puff Daddy, ruled the area from around 800 AD to around 1475, when they were conquered by the Incas.

Some may find the work of Gene Savoy to be interesting, when investigating the Chacapoyas (the cloud people).
http://www.aefosc.org/newsite/index.php ... savoy_main

"White people" could very well mean they were albino's. A condition that occurs more often in some races than in others: e.g. Africans have it waaay more often than caucasians (my own observation over 3 years in Africa). Of course an albino 'black' stands out much more from his non-albino brethren than an albino caucasian stands out from his.

http://travel.webshots.com/album/55316653ZojvBN

What about the Kuna Indians, of the San Blas Island, Panama
and their high Albinism traits. Been a long time since I research
the Kuna Indians, I believe they refered to the Albino as Moon Children,
or something like that. Due to the heat and sun, they tend to favor
night time over day time. The Kuna Indian's have the highest rate
of albinism in the world.

If you thumb through this photo webshot's above, you will see
some pictures of the Albino children's. In this case, "white" certainly
does not reflect the character of the race. Page two has photo's of
one girl.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory ... /story.htm

http://boyds.org/0897kuna.htm