As I was researching for blog I came across the Incan ceremonial
site of Llullaillaco, found in Argentina. I found several interesting things
that go along with this site. The Incan Road system actually connects to
Llullaillaco at one place at least. Historians believe that it is likely that
at least one other road leds to Llullaillaco. The Incan Road system contains many
subsidiary roads running east-west that linked the main north-south roads on
both the west and east of the Andean mountain range. Other important Inca
ritual sites have been found close to the Incan road. A subsidiary trail led to
Llullaillaco from the north-south road and another led to the site from the
east-west road north of the site. The impression is that the secondary roads
were built for the sole purpose of reaching the scared mountain.
The site itself is beautiful. (mountain in the photo above) There have been a few structures found at the site. A two-room building and a windbreak were built into a section of the summit that offers natural protection from the wind. However, the ceremonial structures found were located in the most visible points on the ridge. Placing the ceremonial structures there seemed to make them that much more noticeable to the public eye as a sort of reminder, in my eyes. The photo below is the two-room building found on the summit. The walls of the structure is made of unworked stone without morar. The dooraways to these rooms are covered by stone lintels that are still intact. Wood was found in both rooms, including pieces used as beams. Several beams were still found in place on the structure. Found on the floor of the structure were wooden cactus and hardwood beams of algarrobo and straw tied together with fibers, which looks to be a part of the roof of the structure. 3 basketwork bags were also found in the area. It seems like the building was used as a shelter by the people who conducted the ceremonies. Which would make sense, if a ceremony took a day I would imagine a person to be tired afterwards and not want to trek all the way down the summit.
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A windbreak is located about 9m north of the two room structure. It is semi-rectangular with rounded ends. The main wind blows from the west and the structure could have been a shelter for people and maybe llamas. A trail leads from this structure to where the ceremonial platform was built. To the west of this platform is a circle formed by two rows of stones. An undecorated shard was found on the surface and on another circle west of this one, small pieces of charcoal were found. Another stone circle contained pieces of charcoal, cinder, and burned firewood. Perhaps this circles were used to burn offerings to the gods?
The ceremonial platform is located on the northern end of the summit. It is oriented 30 degress magnetic north, towards the direction of other volcanoes containing Incan ruins. Rebitsch saw a circle of stones inside the platform. Three dark red stones were also found on the surface and Rebitsch thought they might have served as cult symbols. However, thanks to the recent discovery of three mummies at the platform it may have been intended that those red stones mark their burials. Only burned grass, a brick-colored shard and a piece of multi-colored cloth was found on the platform. However, three separate burials were also found with several offering assemblages. They were the mummies of a young woman, a girl and a boy.
The young woman's mummy was put on display in a museum in Argentina. Its amazing how perfectly these bodies were preserved on the summit. Apparently these mummies are evidence the the Incans 'fattened up' their sacrifice. A British-led team suggest that they were on a ceremonial diet before sacrifice. It was shown that they were fed maize, which was a corn food considered to be for the elite, and an animal protein most likely from dried llama meat. It is thought that they were feed maize beer or chicha and coca leaves to make them more compliant with their fate, also possibly to get rid of altitude sickness. Their hair was also cut ceremonially. All of this leads to the thought that their statues was being elevated before sacrifice.
It is known that when the Incans conquered tribes they would take the children of local rulers or attractive children to sacrifice or to be raised by priestess to either be given as wives to nobles, sacrificed or made into priestesses.
The two girls found were left at the summit and died from exposure to the cold while the boy found was actually suffocated with a cloth so tight it crushed his ribs and dislocated his pelvis.
The site of Llullaillaco is very interesting and a beautiful site that actually holds some pretty grim secrets. I would personally like to travel there myself someday to take photos and look and the structures found on the summit to maybe try to draw my own conclusions or further prove the ones already made. The amount of knowledge we can gain from one site is immense. Learning about the children sacrifices the Incans conducted has made me want to research more on these people.
After reading your post, I have to agree, the Incan site is both very interesting and chilling. Personally, I think death by exposure would preferable to strangulation so potent that I would also suffer from a dislocated pelvis. It is fascinating how many cultures practiced mummification, and used it as a form of ritual sacrifice or a means of “taking it with you” past death. I wonder what the context of the sacrifices was for, to what god or gods, and what was the desired effect. The Aztec heart sacrifice was to ensure the sunrise the following day, to make sure there was going to be a following day. Perhaps the sacrifices were offered as protection from the wind, but this may not have been necessary seeing as to the Inca had windbreak structures.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who was this Rebitsch, character? How did they come to be part of the story? Were they archaeologists, historians, what was the purpose of their visit to Llullaillaco? Where did you find the information on these individuals, why is it not referenced?
I think you have a good post here, but it needs a few tweaks; namely, you have to provide context of the individuals you mention, which could be served by a few outside links. The pictures are very good though, they are used well in conjunction with the text, and they are striking enough to be thought provoking. I will be interested to see if you post additional data on Incan burial practices in the future.
I wish there was a map to show exactly where this mountain and site is. The terms were sometimes confusing when I was reading so I did not get a good feel for how the site was laid out of what all was discovered. I wish you had spent more time on the mummies and sacrifices than the buildings and pathways. Those are very interesting too, especially the wall designed to shelter from the wind. However, I feel like there is so much depth and information in the three bodies. It is amazing how well preserved they were. In class, we discussed the stages of decomposition and how each stage could vary in length depending on climate, and once again, the cold air has helped archaeologists. I also am very curious to know more about their culture in general, the farming of llamas etc. I also with you had made it clearer in the beginning that this mountain was used for sacrifices. At first I thought it was just an alter or a church of sorts or similar to the pyramids as a special burial structure. Then much to my surprise, they were basically murder victims. I would be very interested in a part 2 of this topic.
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