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One of the most impressive examples of an Incacapacochaceremony was discovered during an archaeological expedition to the summit of Misti volcano in 1998. The offerings at the site included several human sacrifices, along with fine ceramics and figurines made from gold, silver, andSpondylussp. shell. One of the two burials appeared to contain the bones of males and the other of females. The sex was established based on the contents of the graves, because the fragile skeletal material had been badly affected by volcanic activity and exact identification was difficult to make in situ. To limit the risk of damage, the bones were excavated together with the surrounding soil and transported in frozen blocks to the Museo Santuarios Andinos of Universidad Católica de Santa María in Arequipa. This material was the object of a bioarchaeological investigation in February and March 2018. The results revealed that at least eight individuals had been buried in the graves. The findings have increased our understanding of the age categories and physical condition of the individuals chosen to be sacrificed during thecapacocharitual.

One of the most important rituals in the Inca Empire was thecapacocha. It required the most prestigious sacrificial offering of male and female children and young women who were characterized by their beauty and purity. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a bio-anthropological analysis of the remains of five individuals sacrificed on the summits of Ampato and Pichu Pichu during this ritual. Various methods (bone analysis and radiography) were applied in the investigation due to the diverse states of preservation of the remains. Four individuals were in the same age category: 6–7 years old. The individual Pichu Pichu #2 was sacrificed at age 3.5 years, which makes him the youngestcapacochasacrifice currently known. Results show proper development of the victims’ bodies, the presence of stress markers related to the early childhood period, and, in the case of the Ampato boy, malformation of the cervical vertebrae. The studies of the Pichu Pichu and Ampato sacrifices confirm their widespread origins, privileged position, and high social status. They show that the victims were well-nourished and had proper body growth compared to juveniles from the lower social strata in different cemeteries in the region.

Examination of three frozen bodies, a 13-y-old girl and a girl and boy aged 4 to 5 y, separately entombed near the Andean summit of Volcán Llullaillaco, Argentina, sheds new light on human sacrifice as a central part of the Imperial Inca capacocha rite, described by chroniclers writing after the Spanish conquest. The high-resolution diachronic data presented here, obtained directly from scalp hair, implies escalating coca and alcohol ingestion in the lead-up to death. These data, combined with archaeological and radiological evidence, deepen our understanding of the circumstances and context of final placement on the mountain top. We argue that the individuals were treated differently according to their age, status, and ritual role. Finally, we relate our findings to questions of consent, coercion, and/or compliance, and the controversial issues of ideological justification and strategies of social control and political legitimation pursued by the expansionist Inca state before European contact.

Native American population history is reexamined using a large data set of pre-Columbian mitochondrial genomes., The exact timing, route, and process of the initial peopling of the Americas remains uncertain despite much research. Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of humans as far as southern Chile by 14.6 thousand years ago (ka), shortly after the Pleistocene ice sheets blocking access from eastern Beringia began to retreat. Genetic estimates of the timing and route of entry have been constrained by the lack of suitable calibration points and low genetic diversity of Native Americans. We sequenced 92 whole mitochondrial genomes from pre-Columbian South American skeletons dating from 8.6 to 0.5 ka, allowing a detailed, temporally calibrated reconstruction of the peopling of the Americas in a Bayesian coalescent analysis. The data suggest that a small population entered the Americas via a coastal route around 16.0 ka, following previous isolation in eastern Beringia for ~2.4 to 9 thousand years after separation from eastern Siberian populations. Following a rapid movement throughout the Americas, limited gene flow in South America resulted in a marked phylogeographic structure of populations, which persisted through time. All of the ancient mitochondrial lineages detected in this study were absent from modern data sets, suggesting a high extinction rate. To investigate this further, we applied a novel principal components multiple logistic regression test to Bayesian serial coalescent simulations. The analysis supported a scenario in which European colonization caused a substantial loss of pre-Columbian lineages.

One of the most momentous of Inca state ceremonies was known as the capacocha. Through the sacrifice of both precious objects and select children, the capacocha served to link the capital of Cuzco to its far-flung hinterlands and the empire itself to the deities that sanctioned it. While ethnohistoric sources offer some insight into the capacocha ritual, the information is sketchy. The present study furthers our understanding of the capacocha ritual through the use of archaeological data. The compositional analysis of a sample of ceramic vessels recovered from several different capacocha burial sites around the Inca empire was conducted using instrumental neutron activation. These data are compared to results of paste analysis performed on Inca pottery from Cuzco and other parts of the empire. The results of this comparative study offer insights into the origins, movement, and connections of the children who were sacrificed in this key state ceremony. These data, in turn, help us more clearly understand the role of this important state ritual as it figured in strategies of imperial Inca statecraft. Fil: Bray, Tamara L.. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Minc, Leah D.. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Ceruti, Maria Constanza. Universidad Católica de Salta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Chávez, José Antonio. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Perea, Ruddy. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Reinhard, Johan. Wayne State University; Estados Unidos

Our purpose was to determine the imaging findings in three 500-year-old frozen mummies of sacrificial Inca children.CT, conventional radiography, and dental radiography of Inca mummies were reviewed. Different techniques, which were adjusted to the anatomic position of the bodies, were used for radiologic analyses. Working sessions were limited to 20 min because of the fragility of these mummies and to prevent thawing of the specimens.Internal organs in good condition with a natural shrinkage caused by dehydration were shown on CT scans. Both white and gray matter were clearly observed in the brain and cerebellum. The white matter and the fatty tissue of the bodies were visibly white. This condition was possibly caused by the transformation of the fatty tissue into a waxlike substance and the deposition of calcium salts. The lungs were expanded in all three mummies. The ages of the three children at the time of their deaths were estimated by means of radiographs of the teeth and long bones. Bone mineralization, the muscular volume, and the thickness of the adipose panniculus indicated the good nutritional state of the three Inca children. The spleen was not visualized in any case.Radiology helped us determine the state of the internal organs, the nutritional conditions, and the physical abnormalities of the naturally mummified children. These mummies can be considered among the best preserved mummies currently known.

Although the ceremonial center of Vilcanota was called the third most important temple in the Inka empire in the sixteenth century, its exact location and meaning have remained matters of conjecture. In this article I examine historical and archaeological information which demonstrates that the temple was located at the pass of La Raya. Ecological and ethnographic data from the region support the conclusion that the temple was built at La Raya because of the area's association with sacred rivers and mountains which were in turn linked with fertility concepts, the birth of the sun, and an ecological/political boundary. Together these factors made the place of special significance in Inka religion.

Machu Picchu, voted one of the New Wonders of the World, is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, yet it remains a mystery. Even the most basic questions are still unanswered: What was its meaning and why was it built in such a difficult location? Renowned explorer Johan Reinhard attempts to answer such elusive questions from the perspectives of sacred landscape and archaeoastronomy.Using information gathered from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources, Reinhard demonstrates how the site is situated in the center of sacred mountains and associated with a sacred river, which is in turn symbolically linked with the sun's passage. Taken together, these features meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological, and sacred geological center for a vast region.Series: World Heritage and Monument 1

This paper presents the results of an investigation of ten mountains undertaken in 1983 in Lauca and Isluga National Parks in northern Chile. Archaeological sites were surveyed on five of the summits and ethnographic information was collected in villages located near them. An Inca figurine, made out of mullu shell (spondylus) was discovered on the surface at one of the sites. The survey helps extend our knowledge of the distribution and types of archaeological sites in northern Chile