Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains
A Study of the World's Highest Archaeological Sites
by Johan Reinhard and Maria Constanza Ceruti
Paperback (Published)
(December 2010)
ISBN: 9781931745772
8.46 x 10.94 inches
Price: $39.50
On back order
Hardback (Published)
(December 2010)
ISBN: 9781931745765
8.46 x 10.94 inches
Price: $50.00
On back order
The Incas 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 over 6,096 m (20,000 feet) high. The most important offerings made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capacochas). 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 study we describe the results of research undertaken on Mount Llullaillaco (6,739 m/22,109 feet), which has the world’s highest archaeological site. The types of ruins and artifact assemblages recovered are described and analyzed. By comparing the archaeological evidence with the chroniclers’ accounts and with findings from other mountaintop sites, common patterns are demonstrated; while at the same time previously little known elements contribute to our understanding of key aspects of Inca religion. This study illustrates the importance of archaeological sites being placed within the broader context of physical and sacred features of the natural landscape.
- By (author) Maria Constanza Ceruti
- By (author) Johan Reinhard
Other Titles in this Series
Berenike 1999/2000
Report on the Excavations at Berenike, Including Excavations in Wadi Kalalat and Siket, and the Survey of the Mons Smaragdus Region
Volume 56
Recent advances in the Archaeology of the Northern Andes
In memory of Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
Volume 39
Roman Foodprints at Berenike
Archaeobotanical Evidence of Subsistence and Trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt
Volume 55
Ceramics of Postclassic Cholula, Mexico
Typology and Seriation of Pottery from the UA-1 Domestic Compound
Volume 43
Settlement and Subsistence in Early Formative Soconusco
El Varal and the Problem of Inter-Site Assemblage Variation
Volume 65
Ceramic Production and Circulation in the Greater Southwest
Source Determination by INAA and Complementary Mineralogical Investigations
Volume 44
Similar Books
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Was ist ‚La Hoguette‘ – Kultur, Phänomen, Subkultur?
Archäologische Studien und portable, energiedispersive Röntgenfluoreszenzanalysen (p-ED-RFA an Keramik zu einer altbekannten Frage
Volume 183
Assyria and the West
A Fresh Look at the Unshakeable Pillars of Late Bronze and Iron Age Chronology in the Eastern Mediterranean World
But the Wise Shall Understand
Reuse of Prophecies, Chronotope, and Merging of Eschatological Horizons in Daniel 10-12
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
8igh Resolution and Multi-scale Functional Analysis of Ground Stone Tools
Volume 3
It All Began with Stratigraphy and Chronology
Archaeology in Central Anatolia. Festschrift Dedicated to Sachihiro Omura on his 77th Birthday
Oil Lamps in the Holy Land during the Early and Later Islamic Periods (7th–16th/17th CE)
The Collection of the Israel Antiquities Authority
