This paper analyzes metric femoral morphological variation among historic populations (17th, 18th, and 19th centuries). Variables analyzed in this study include maximum femoral length, epicondylar breadth, vertical head diameter, anterior-posterior subtrochanteric diameter, medial-lateral subtrochanteric diameter, midshaft circumference and the subtrochanteric index. These variables are compared by sex, chronological period, and socio-economic status to assess morphological change and contribute to understanding population variability and the process of miscegenation. In addition, two other comparative samples, one pre- Hispanic from the same study region, and the other, medieval Spanish, are used as references for ancestral groups. The results obtained from the subtrochanteric index make it possible to differentiate between groups with different biological ancestry. These results are discussed in relation to the available historical demographic information and previous bioarchaeological investigations.

“Huaca” is one of the key words used in the ethnohistorical and archaeological vocabulary about the Andes today. From an uncritical reading of Garcilaso’s Royal Commentaries, this Quechua term is often considered to mean “sacred object or place”. By examining historical sources as well as modern linguistic information, this article shows that “huaca” (wak’a) meant ‘split’ and that, in the religious field, this term designated transportable stones considered as detachments or duplications of a mountain- dwelling mythical ancestor. By extension, wak’a also applied to the sanctuary that housed these stones, to the same divine ancestor and to stone amulets emanating from him. Numerous indications suggest that the cult of the huaca stones is of Inca origin.

Rural and indigenous society has a different conception of cleanliness to that of urban and white creole society. However, the relationship of subordination between them causes the latter to transfer their values to the former. Analyzing a case study (disappearance of the pig on Amantaní Island, Lake Titicaca), we propose that this transfer comprises two aspects: on the one hand, there is a transformation in the conception of the purity-pollution duality. This change in mentality is the result of different vectors, some aimed at indoctrinating the native (school, tourism, military service...), and others at grafting on them new values by way of transmission (migration, double residence...). The second aspect is determined by changes in the economic context and reproduction strategies. These changes allow for the replacement of practices, now discordant with the new conception of cleanliness, by new ones. The disappearance of the pig and the changes in notions of hygiene that can explain it are a microcosm: one that reflects the relationships of dependency and subordination, distinguishing not only the rural and indigenous world from the urban and western world, but also the strategies of the islanders to adapt to this society, and the social and economic differences that exist between them.