Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains: a study of the world´s highest archaeological sites

REINHARD JOHAN Y CONSTANZA CERUTI

Universidad de California Los Angeles UCLA - Instituto Cotsen de Arqueología

Lugar: Los Angeles; Año: 2010 p. 264

978-1-931745-77-2

The Inca carried out some of the most dramatic ceremonies known to us from ancient times. Groups of people walked hundreds of miles across arid and mountainous terrain to perform them on mountains more than 20,000 ft (6,096 m) high. The most important offerings made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capa-cochas). Although Spanish chroniclers wrote about these offerings and the state-sponsored processions of which they were a part, their accounts were based on second-hand sources; and the only direct evidence we have of the capacocha sacrifices comes to us from archaeological excavations. Some of the most thoroughly documented of these were undertaken on high mountain summits, where the material evidence has been exceptionally well preserved. In this book, we describe the results of research undertaken on Mount Llullaillaco [6,739 m (22,109 ft)], which has the world’s highest archaeological site—including three remarkably preserved mummies. The types of ruins and artifact assemblages recovered are described and analyzed, and the results of interdisciplinary studies on the mummies are discussed. By comparing the archaeological evidence with the chroniclers’ accounts and with findings from other mountaintop sites, common patterns can be discerned. At the same time, previously little-known elements contribute to our understanding of key aspects of Inca religion. This book also ponders the importance of archaeological sites being placed within the broader context of physical and sacred features of the natural landscape. Chapter 1 presents the historical background of high-altitude archaeology and summarizes the previous findings of Inca mummies on mountaintop sites in the Andes. Chapter 2 includes a description of the Inca sites on the slopes of Mount Llullaillaco and an interpretation of the logistics involved in the pre-Hispanic ascent of this major peak. The religious constructions on the heights of the volcano and the assemblages of mummies and offerings discovered at the summit platform are described in Chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 summarize the reconstruction of ritual and logistical aspects of the Inca pilgrimage and the participants in the summit rituals. We have cross checked the archaeological evidence with the chronicles in order to reconstruct aspects of the Inca ceremony, such as the procession from Cuzco to the mountain, the ceremonial use of the space, and the social actors involved in the ritual. The ideological reasons for human sacrifice, as well as the techniques and steps involved in the sacrificial ceremonies, are analyzed in Chapter 6. In light of the ethnohistorical sources written during the time of the Spanish conquest, the sociopolitical and economic aspects of the Inca rituals on mountaintop shrines shed light on the many ways in which those ceremonies—like that performed on Mount Llullaillaco—could have been oriented to reinforce the domination of the Inca Empire over local Andean communities. In Chapter 7, we have focused on the social meaning and symbolism attached to the Inca mountaintop offerings— which may include gold and silver figurines, precious textiles, fine pottery, and food items. The more than 100 offerings buried on the summit of Llullaillaco constitute one of the best preserved and documented collections of Inca artifacts recovered from an Inca shrine. The detailed description of each of the items has been provided in an appendix. Nota:  El libro Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains de Johan Reinhard y Constanza Ceruti ha sido publicado a fines del año 2010 y se encuentra accesible al publico interesado. Dado el enorme tamaño del archivo PDF (que supera los 25 megabytes) resulta imposible subirlo a la red SIGEVA del CONICET. En cumplimiento de los requerimientos reglamentarios, se adjunta una copia impresa del texto del libro al informe bianual 2010/2011. En formato digital se han subido a la Intranet el primer capitulo introductorio y las conclusiones del libro.