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The Incas carried out some of the most dramatic ceremonies from ancient times. Groups of people walked hundreds of miles across arid and mountainous terrain to perform them on mountains over 20,000 feet high. The most important offerings made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capacochas). Although Spanish chroniclers wrote about t...
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... inside the funerary platform revealed three burials containing the frozen bodies of the sacrificial victims, as well as several pits containing offerings ( Figures 3.11 and 3.14). The burials had been constructed by enlarging natural niches in the bedrock, and the mummies and objects were buried between 1.2 and building would have been used for a short period, perhaps only a single night, while the participants remained on the summit. ...
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... burial chamber was located on the southwestern side of the platform (cf. Figures 3.11 and 3.14). It was 1 m wide and about 1.7 m deep, with stone walls. ...
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... body of a young woman, about 15 years old, was placed in a flexed position facing northeast (cf. Figures 3.11, 3.14, 3.24, and 3.25). The female individual was covered with two brown outer mantles. ...
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... sites (artificial platforms and buildings with fine Inca stonework) are situated high on the mountain on its northern and eastern slopes. There is an important ritual site near the summit that is a larger version of similar sites found on mountain summits in the southern part of the Inca Empire (Figure 8.11). In 2004, Fernando Astete and Johan Reinhard conducted excavations at this latter site-finding human skeletal material suggesting that human sacrifices had taken place there (Astete and Reinhard 2003). ...
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... complex of ruins at about 6,500 m (21,325 ft) on the saddle was surveyed. Some team members descended to Camp 1 at about 5,800 m (19,029 ft) ( Figure D.11). in National Geographic's hour-long video Ancient Graves: Voices of the Dead. • NOVA's hour-long film Frozen in Time is about the 1996 expedition to Sara Sara. ...
Citations
... 206-207;Cobo, 1990, p. 113). Archaeological research has confirmed the actual physical presence of such offerings (Reinhard and Ceruti, 2010;Valdez, 2019;. ...
Ever since the discovery made back in 1926 at the site of Pacheco of the Nazca Valley, on the south coast of Peru, it is known that an important aspect of the ritual celebrations staged by the Wari state consisted on the deliberate smashing of large-sized and finely painted ceramic vessels that afterwards were buried in the ground. Subsequent research has shown that this tradition was initiated by the Wari and the earliest known purposely shattered vessels are found in the Ayacucho Valley, heartland of the Wari state. As Wari expanded, similar celebrations were performed elsewhere in the recently annexed regions, as the finding of analogous ceramic deposits indicate. One such deposit has been found in the Acari Valley of the south coast of Peru. The finding from Acari is described here, and it is argued that the act of shattering the vessels marked the culmination of a complex ritual celebration probably performed to spread Wari religion and Wari deities, as well as to befriend the locals, which ultimately helped to legitimize Wari’s intrusive presence in the region.
... However, I propose that this interaction with nonhuman entities through the imposition of state cults likely represents only the initial phase of a process that continued to involve more direct intervention in the lives of the local population. This does not contradict the argument that the Inca planning and construction of the high-altitude shrines and its related infrastructure of paths and lodging required a significant degree of local interaction, negotiation, and knowledge (Reinhard and Ceruti 2010;Vitry 2020). However, it appears that this process may have occurred more rapidly than originally anticipated. ...
This article examines a new dataset of radiocarbon dates that provides insights into the progressive installation of Inca infrastructure in the Copiapo Valley, situated at the southern edge of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. It shows that the Inca imperial expansion in this region was not a linear process and was likely shaped by local negotiations and conflicts. The findings describe three main stages of Inca expansion. The first is the construction of the North–South Inca Road and the establishment of high-altitude mountain shrines. The next stage consisted of a physical intervention in a local village located in the upper valley, including the construction of administrative buildings and public spaces. The last stage involved indirect intervention in local villages, characterized by the presence of isolated administrative buildings that were potentially used for diplomacy and negotiation. I argue that the Inca imperial expansion, characterized by evolving strategies across regions and time periods, not only demonstrates the state's capacity for learning but also suggests the pivotal role of local actors in positions of power who wielded agency to shape these developments.
... Across many societies, foundation sacrifices under dwellings or within bridge pylons commonly served to protect structures from collapse. Sacrifices in the Moche culture of the Andes often coincided with environmental catastrophes such as devastating rains and floods, and the Inca Capacoha sacrifice of elite children occurred at times of grave uncertainty and anticipated danger (Cobo 1990;Bourget 2001;Reinhard & Ceruti 2010). Of course, the ethnographic record documents ritual's central role in ensuring that gardens grow, boats stay afloat, commerce prospers and houses remain standing. ...
Price and Jaffe (2023) develop a compelling argument that archaeologists have under-theorised the role of failure in past human societies. The authors contend that we must adopt a flexible approach to failure and recognise that power asymmetries, distributed agency and the temporalities of outcomes all play a critical, if variable, role in the success or breakdown of a technology, cultural practice, or institution.
... Across many societies, foundation sacrifices under dwellings or within bridge pylons commonly served to protect structures from collapse. Sacrifices in the Moche culture of the Andes often coincided with environmental catastrophes such as devastating rains and floods, and the Inca Capacoha sacrifice of elite children occurred at times of grave uncertainty and anticipated danger (Cobo 1990;Bourget 2001;Reinhard & Ceruti 2010). Of course, the ethnographic record documents ritual's central role in ensuring that gardens grow, boats stay afloat, commerce prospers and houses remain standing. ...
We thank the respondents for their thoughtful replies to our debate article (Price & Jaffe 2023). Our main objective was to start a dialogue on failure and, in that, we have happily succeeded. The comments and critiques highlight the need for more discussion and thinking if we are to place failure in the archaeological interpretive toolbox. That said, the range of definitions, analytical perspectives, and unanswered questions will, we hope, provide a bulwark against turning ‘failure’ into yet another archaeological buzzword.
... On the other hand, in the highest mountains, where human activity must necessarily have been the least, certain types of sites or finds may be better preserved due to lower temperature or humidity. However, these are situations found in the highest mountains and other conditions [Reinhard et al., 2010.;Bjørgo et al., 2015.;Tylor ...
... El sacrificio de niños (capacocha) era una característica particular de las ceremonias religiosas incaicas y, según los cronistas, los rituales se llevaban a cabo en sitios sagrados conocidos como waka (o huaca); además, se regían por un calendario específico [1]. La mayoría de las wakas estaban localizadas en las montañas y volcanes, y éstas eran consideradas apus o deidades. ...
En 1985, en el cerro Aconcagua (Mendoza, Argentina) fue descubierta una momia de un niño de unos siete años, quien habría sido sacrificado en el ritual capacocha durante el periodo Inca. Según el estudio de los marcadores ADN uniparentales, el niño momificado estaría relacionado a la población del sur andino de Perú. Sin embargo, en un estudio reciente, el análisis del perfil de su ADN autosómico señaló que está vinculado más a la población de la costa norte que al sur andino. Frente a este dilema, el propósito de la presente investigación fue rastrear las probables conexiones genealógicas del niño momificado por parte de su ascendencia paterna. Así, el perfil genético de la momia fue comparado con la de una extensa base de datos de ADN de individuos contemporáneos de la costa norte y regiones sur andinas de Perú. El análisis se realizó en base a los marcadores polimórficos de un solo nucleótido y repeticiones cortas en tándem de la región no recombinante del cromosoma Y. Nuestros resultados confirman que existe una afinidad genética entre la momia infantil inca y las poblaciones de la costa norte peruana. En consecuencia, este hallazgo sugiere que el niño momificado de Aconcagua descendería de los patriarcas de las culturas Muchik-Chimor.
... Child sacrifices (capacocha) were a central feature of Inka religious ceremonies, and according to contemporary chronists, they were conducted at waka (or huaca) sacred sites and governed by a specific calendar [1]. Most waka were on mountains and volcanoes and were considered Apu deities. ...
The mummy of a seven-year-old child that was discovered in 1985 in Cerro Aconcagua (Mendoza, Argentina) was likely part of an Inka sacrificial religious practice known as capacocha. Previous uniparental DNA marker studies conducted by some scholars have suggested that the mummified child may be related to the southern Andean population of Peru. However, autosome genome-wide analysis performed by others has indicated that the child was more closely related to the population along the northern Peruvian coast than to that of the southern Andes. In this study, we aimed to determine possible genealogical connections in the male lineage of the mummified child. To achieve this, we compared the genetic profile of the mummy with an extensive database of contemporary individuals from the northern Peruvian coastal and southern Andean regions. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms and short tandem repeats from the nonrecombining region of the Y-chromosome for our analysis. Our results confirmed that the Inka child mummy was closely related to individuals from the north coast of Peru. This suggests that the child was likely descended from the Muchik–Chimor-speaking people.
... Considering the vertical dimension in the central Andes is far from a new phenomenon, as illustrates von Humboldt's Tableau physique des Andes et pays voisins (see also Troll 1959). Studies by highmountain archaeologists show that Andean cultures in pre-Columbian times had strong sociocultural relationships with mountains, implying horizontal and vertical movement in space (Reinhard and Ceruti 2010). This verticality of movement and control of space is clearly explained by Murra (1975) in his classic scheme of vertical archipelagos in precolonial and colonial times. ...
Under the influence of concentrated and extended urbanization, Andean cities and the different altitudinal zones of their “hinterlands” are experiencing profound changes in land cover — from the central plazas up to the highest peaks. The complex regional-geographic characteristics of these socioecological systems, such as the vertical complementarity of land use, require a montological perspective on verticality and urbanization: it transcends disciplinary approaches and can be crucial to properly interpret the trajectories of land cover change and formulate hypotheses for future practice-oriented research. Which trajectories of land cover change characterized altitudinal zones of Andean cities and their surroundings over the last three decades? Are there similarities that allow for the formulation of more general hypotheses? Using the Peruvian cases of Cusco and Huaraz, and combining a traditional altitudinal zonation model of land use in Peru with direct field observations and GIS-based analyses of remotely sensed data from 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021, this study identifies the main trajectories of land cover change in the Quechua (>2300–3500 m), Suni (>3500–4000 m), and Puna (>4000–4800 m) regions — and finds insightful similarities between Cusco and Huaraz: (1) an impressive area of built-up land substitutes grassland in the Quechua, which, following regional altitudinal zonation models, is characterized by irrigated and rain-fed cropland; (2) an unexpected expansion of irrigated cropland takes place in the Suni, which, in theory, often lacks irrigation infrastructure and is mostly used for rain-fed tuber cultivation; and (3) a clear change from “other land” to grassland occurs in the Puna — where grassland is thought to predominate, anyway, since pre-Hispanic times. Hypothesizing that these changes reflect the interplay between speculative fallow, agricultural intensification, and ecological restoration, the results can be read as vertically complementary, local manifestations of concentrated and extended urbanization in a formerly peripheral mountain region of the Global South — and they underscore the need to overcome mental city-mountain dichotomies for a socially inclusive and ecologically balanced Andean development between plaza and peak.
... When children were offered, it was usually through the Capacocha (CAP) ritual, which implies sacrificing children and young women to please the gods and become messengers between the humans and gods according to the Inca's beliefs (Besom 2009: 8, 25-34, 203;Ceruti 2015: 3-7). Therefore, Inca's child sacrifice was considered the best sacrifice the gods could receive (Previgliano et al. 2003: 1475-1478: Reinhard & Ceruti 2010Schwartz 2017: 223-230). However, it is indicated that the CAP ritual had another meaning and value to the Incas (Previgliano et al. 2003(Previgliano et al. : 1475(Previgliano et al. -1478. ...
... In my opinion, the specialist scholars, for example, Reinhard and Ceruti (2010), Faux (2012), Besom (2013) and Mignone (2018) on the Inca Empire's sacred landscape, like Huaca's and rituals like the CAP previous research, have yet to consider the relationship between the CAP and Huaca's to the Chakana symbol. ...
... The five children consist of one maiden around 15 years old from Llullaillaco, two girls around six to eight years old; one is from Llullaillaco, one is from Chuscha and two boys around seven years old one is from Llullaillaco, and one is from El Plomo (Horne & Kawasaki 1984;Reinhard and Ceruti 2010;Schobinger 2003). Also, it is worth underlining that these five children were offered during 1430-1540 CE (Horne & Kawasaki 1984: 925-930;Wilson et al. 2007: 16457). ...
... The Quechua term apu means sacred mountain, mountain spirit, or mountain god, usually referring to summits and their sanctuaries where powerful divinities and ancestors reside (Castro and Aldunate, 2003;Williams and Nash, 2006;Gose, 2018). Apus belonged to the most important Andean sacred places, expressed by the widespread practice of mountain veneration with its associated rites, performances, offerings, and sacrifices (Reinhard, 1985;Ceruti, 2004;Besom, 2009Besom, , 2013Reinhard and Ceruti, 2010). Castro and Aldunate (2003) identify five main features of apus: (1) relation to ancestors and the deceased, (2) ranking according to altitude, (3) local and regional attributes, (4) particular functions, and (5) guarding and maintaining life by distributing necessary resources. ...
Cerro Llamocca is a mountain with a summit elevation of 4,487 m asl in the southern Peruvian Andes. This paper presents a first overview of recent archaeological and paleoenvironmental research in its vicinity, and introduces new results from archaeological surveys and strontium isotope analyses. Our survey data show how the wider Cerro Llamocca area comprises an extensive complex of archaeological sites, composed of different sectors with public, domestic, and funerary architecture and rock shelters, occupied throughout the pre-Columbian period from the Early Archaic to the European invasion in 1532. Despite the extreme living conditions of this highelevation environment, Cerro Llamocca includes the oldest archaeological site hitherto recorded in the larger region: a rock shelter (PAP-969) on its south-eastern slope with evidence of human occupation in the Early Archaic period ~ 8000 BCE. Human activity in the Cerro Llamocca area reached its zenith in the Middle Horizon (CE 600 – 1000), at a time of a dry climate and when an expansive Wari state incorporated the worship of mountain deities into an imperial strategy to dominate local people. Our strontium isotope analyses of archaeological human dental enamel from a funerary rock shelter (PAP-942), alongside modern plants as reference data, indicate that the people buried here originated in the adjacent highlands. At a broader level, we study the roles of Cerro Llamocca as a sacred mountain or apu and central place over a long-term perspective, and how these functions integrated and focused religious, ritual, social, political, and economic activities over this highaltitude complex. Its central place function was linked to its sacredness, but also to its topography, provision of shelter, and geographical proximity to a range of critical resources such as water, creating resource dependencies that shaped socio-economic cooperation and exploitation. Although Cerro Llamocca has progressively lost many of these roles since the beginning of the colonial period, local communities continue to revere it as a sacred mountain today.
