Head lice eggs, Antropophthirus capitis, from mummies of the Chinchorro tradition, Mamarones 15-D, Northern Chile

Hair samples from seven mummies from Camarones 15-D site, Chile, carbon-dated to ca. 2,000B.C. were examined for the presence of head lice. In six hair samples eggs of the head louse (Anthropophthirus capitis) were found. A total for 460 eggs were isolated of which 108 (30.7%) were operculated, meaning that they were freshly laid eggs, which had not hatched before the host died. In one hair sample, 98 operculated and 265 non-operculated eggs were isolated. No nymphal or adult stages of the head louse could be found in the examined material.