Hi Dr. Lemaire! Pleasure to have you here.

The Arica and Parinacota region are historically and politically very contested areas, in particularly concerning the result of the War of the Pacific (1879-1884) in which Peru had to cede (amongst other territories) the Arica region to Chile. Since you're working closely in the borderlands of Chile and Peru, and considering the past history of nationalist archaeology in both countries, how have you experienced this supposed rift between the two countries? Are there still traces of nationalist archaeology or are archaeologists from the two countries more prepared to accept a mutual consensus in regards to pre-Columbian finds?

Hello Dr Lemaitre, thanks for doing an AMA with us!

Having been traumatised as a child by the Tintin volume with that mummy, I never would have thought it was inspired by a real-life example in the collection of the Université Libre. I'm wondering how a university in Belgium came to be in the possession of some fabulous (terrifying) examples of indigenous South American mummies. Were these collected as curiosities, or bought by scientific missions, or something else? When did European scientists/collectors become aware of these cultural artifacts?

Thank you for this fascinating AMA.

Perhaps my question is a little broad, but-- how, generally, do South American mummies differ from their more famous Egyptian counterparts? In preparation, revenant folklore, etc?

What have you and colleagues determined/guessed about the significance of how the mummies are set in place? That is, what context around the mummies tells the story about who they were and why they were buried in this way?

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us here—

Perhaps a bit off the main topic but one that’s near to my heart and interests: Do you know what the status is of the sites you worked on in Syria?

Does the practice of intentional mummification (rather than natural) have a common cultural ancestor or did the practice develop independently in multiple cultures?

Hi Dr. Lemaitre,

I have a friend who is interested in microbes in the past, specifically diseases and gut flora. I was telling her about the mummies from the Andes and how some of them are super well preserved. I know the stomach contents of some of the mummies had been examined, but have the intestinal tracts also been examined? Would traces of the gut flora also be preserved given the right conditions? If so, would it be possible to reconstruct what the gut flora would have consisted of for a pre-Columbian Peruvian or Chilean? From there, might we better understand the diets these people had and the impact it had on their health?

I look forward to your AMA and hope you enjoy answering our questions.

Thanks

How late were mummification practiced among the native peoples of the Americas? Did it stop before contact with Europeans, or was it disrupted/suppressed after contact?

What got you interested in mummies after all?!

Hello Dr. Lemaitre ,

thank you for joining us!

My question strays a bit - hopefully not too far - from the topic. As you brought up the two Tintin issues, how would you describe their and Hergé's influence on perceptions of the Inca?

As with other works of Hergé especially "Prisoners of the Sun" has been criticized for stereotypical portrayals, here of pre-hispanic Andean cultures. Then again, I could imagine them raising interest in Andean archeology and history through the depictions of the mummy and later the Inca, in Belgium and beyond.

Merci d'avance!

Hello Mr. Lemaire

I've never once heard about the rock paintings of the Great Lakes region in Canada, if possible could you expand on that more particularly what we know about them and how you got interested in them in the first place (as to me a complete laymen they seem quite niche)?

Thanks for the AMA. In the initial centuries after the conquest, did the Spanish discover many mummies? Was there a policy on what to do with them like destroying them as a pagan object or leaving them alone?

Sorry ! Time to go ! Probably not the time to answer all the questions but I'll do my best to answer them soon. Don't hesitate if you didn't had the opportunity to join us today. Serge

Are there any indications as to where and when mummification became a practice in the pre-Columbian cultures that inhabited what is now Peru and Chile? Was there one specific location where the practice began before spreading to the rest of the region?

Specifically within the Inca, did mummification come about during the time of the Inca, or was it an existing practice that was adopted from pre-Inca cultures?

What is something we all SHOULD ask about but wouldn't even think about asking without being in your field for years?

Greetings Dr. Lemaitre, Thank you for joining us.

As you have interests in both rock art and mummies, are there symbols in South American mummy tattoos that are found in pottery decoration, rock art or elsewhere? Do mummy tattoo symbols have any utility as time markers, reflections on status, or other aspects of the cultures with which the mummies are associated?

Were the rock paintings in the Great Lakes region a product of a civilization that would later become a modern Native American or Indigenous Canadian tribe (apologies if my terminology is inaccurate)?

If so, did the history of the rock paintings survive in any of the oral histories of these tribes?

Thank you for taking time to answer questions!

Considering the contentions around museums having North American Native/First Nations human remains in their collections, are Andean mummies an issue in museums' relations with indigenous communities in Peru and Chile?

Great to see you here!

How widespread socially was mummification among the Inca and other Andean peoples? Was it the exclusive province of powerful elites, or was it possible for people lower on the ladder too?

Hello ! Thanks for being here!

Could you tell us what the religious “meaning” of mummification was? Is it the same as the Egyptians ?

Thanks for a very interesting AMA, and for taking the time to answer questions.

Was the custom of making mummies relatively widespread within society or more isolated to certain communities? Expanding a bit bigger, was the custom fairly widespread across south America?

Hello! Thanks for your time!

As someone who is considering precisely this sort of career path, how exactly did you get where you are? What sort of things do you look for during college? What do you aim for after college? What Classes and majors did you take? And what can you expect to be doing on the way to the goal? Big question but would be very useful to me.

Hi everyone, ready to answer your questions. Each question need two or three pages, so I'll try to resume that and go to the point.