Awhile back an article ran in The Daily Telegraph of London, England about the discovery of mummified remains of 28 llamas and 4 alpacas. It is believed that the animals were sacrificed about 1,000 years ago and were buried in shallow sand pits in the dessert which means they were preserved by desiccation.
The article reports that the fibres from the coats of these domesticated llamas and alpacas were finer than the fibre on today's animals, even those found in the same area.
It also states that at their finest, the ancient fibres were only about 15 microns thick and compares that to a minimum of 28 microns being produced today.
We might conclude that the researchers compared the ancient alpaca fibre to that of llama fibre today as I personally have had the exquisite pleasure of running my fingers through the fleece of living and breathing alpacas with a micron count as low as 16.
The most interesting aspect of the article is not the fineness of the ancient alpaca fibre but the fact that the fineness was distributed evenly over the body. What an exciting possibility. No seconds, no thirds, just 100% pure alpaca firsts. Is it possible? Apparently yes.
The writer of the article theorizes that the Incas superior art of breeding, along with their finest animals, were lost during the chaos that followed the Spanish conquest, after which inferior, hybridized llamas and alpacas were farmed.
I lack the knowledge to comment on the part about hydridized llamas and alpacas however my research into the history of alpacas leads me to concur with the Spanish conquest theory.
Last but certainly not least the article questions whether modern genetics can bring back clothing as fine as the Incas wore.
You bet they can, right here in North America.