Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice
Wilson, Andrew S. Villa, C. Lynnerup, N. Healey, Andrew R. Ceruti, M.C. Reinhard, J. Previgliano, C.H. Araoz, F.A. Diez, J.G.
Wilson, Andrew S.
Villa, C.
Lynnerup, N.
Healey, Andrew R.
Ceruti, M.C.
Reinhard, J.
Previgliano, C.H.
Araoz, F.A.
Diez, J.G.
Publication Date
2013
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
closedAccess
Accepted for publication
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Collections
Additional title
Abstract
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 Volcan 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.
Version
No full-text in the repository
Citation
Wilson AS, Brown EL, Villa C et al (2013) Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110(33): 13322-13327.
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Article