Inca Offerings Associated with the Frozen Mummies from Mount Llullaillaco

Abstract

Five centuries ago, the highest Andean mountains were climbed by Inca priests for the ritual performance of sacrifices, and the subsequent burial of human victims and associated offering assemblages. Spanish chroniclers wrote about the ceremonies of Capacocha during which young women and children–usually the sons and daughters of local rulers– were offered to the imperial deities together with a diverse assortment of symbolic items, such as gold and silver figurines, shell necklaces, high quality textiles, pottery, food, and firewood, for the good fortune of a recently crowned Inca emperor, and to ensure the fertility of the crops and llamas. In this paper I discuss the assemblages of offerings associated with the three frozen Inca mummies discovered during archaeological research conducted by Johan Reinhard and myself on the summit of Mount Llullaillaco, a volcano in northwestern Argentina. By correlating the archaeological evidence with the historical sources, interpretations will be presented regarding the role of mortuary offering assemblages associated with Inca mummies on sacred Andean peaks.