Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Archaeologists studying an Incan cemetary near Lima, Peru, have discovered over 500 skeletons. Seventy two of which came from a slightly later period in Incan history. According to National Geographic one of these skeletons was quite unique. Archaeologists first became suspicious based on the way the skeletons were buried:
Seventy-two of the individuals had been wrapped in simple cloth and chaotically buried in shallow graves. Their lack of traditional adornments and offerings--jewelry, pots for food, or headdresses, for example--suggests that the burials had been hastily prepared, as if during a period of civil unrest.Many of the skeletons bore signs of violent hacking, tearing, and impalement with iron weapons.
One of those skulls had entrance and exit wounds from a bullet. At first archaeologists attributed to a modern killing - probably an intrusive burial - but further analysis indicated that the individual was Peruvian native dating to the Incan period. Interestingly enough, one of the fragments punched out as the bullet passed through the skull was also recovered. This fragment had dent in it that looked like a musket ball impact. So the fragment was CT scanned to look for metal traces of the bullet, nothing. Then, it was put under a scanning electron microscope:
But forensic experts at the University of Connecticut used a more powerful microscope to positively reveal traces of iron both places.Iron was often used to make Spanish musket balls. Also, experts say the Inca did not know how to work iron, so the ball had to be Spanish.
"This gave us positive evidence that this individual died during conquest and was killed by gunfire," Cock said.
"We have traces of iron on the edges of the bullet entrance and we have exit damage in the face caused by the bullet leaving the head."
Several other skulls with bullet holes have been found since. The seventy two individuals are believed to have meet their deaths at the hands of the Spanish, during the Spanish conquest of South America, and represents one of the few examples of Spanish brutality during the conquest.
Comments
Well, what did they expect? NOBODY expects The Spanish Inquisition!
Posted by: J-Dog | June 20, 2007 12:28 PM
Bullet wound in the back of the head with an exit wound in the face doesn't necessarily mean it comes from the conquest period (though it probably is). It could have happened 10, 20, 50 years later with Spanish soldiers "making an example" of the victims.
There is a reason some Native Americans consider Columbus to be little better than Heinrich Himmler.
Posted by: dogmeatib | June 20, 2007 1:27 PM
Ah, just good old Christians, spreading their love over the New World... ;(
Posted by: hans | June 20, 2007 2:10 PM
dogmeatib - Although the article doesn't mention it I am sure there has been some reliable dating. The project has been ongoing since, if memory serves, 2002. I would think they have a good grasp of the stratigraphy and dating of the site.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | June 20, 2007 11:38 PM
Why the knee jerk castigation of Europeans - indigenous Americans were hardly innocents and Incas didn't create their empire through pacifism.
Posted by: Tipsico | June 22, 2007 9:30 PM
I don't see any "knee jerk castigation of Europeans" in this post. All I see is a statement of facts.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | June 22, 2007 10:52 PM
The estimated date is 1536, and the location is Peru. As pointed out in the Nat Geo article, and more or less in line with dogmeatib's 'It could have happened 10, 20, 50 years later' , this is estimated to have occurred during a post-conquest (~12 years later) uprising against Francisco Pizarro. Columbus (who never reached the mainland) was only indirectly involved - though it is not hard to imagine that if Columbus had simply never returned (not unlikely given his generally poor navigational skills, poor preparedness, and planning based on the Ptolemaic guestimate of a 15,000 mi circumference for Earth), Cortez, Pizarro, Cabeza de Vaca, and the other conquistadores would have gone elsewhere -hopefully with less success.
Posted by: llewelly | June 23, 2007 1:32 AM
I'm doing research on a local chippewa named Jacob Tipsico (1827-1912). A modern Tipsico commented on June 23, 2007. Tipsico please contact me. billschimmel1@comcast.net
Posted by: bill | November 2, 2007 11:57 PM