Ceremony In The Inca Civilizations

The Inca civilization is one of the most well-known empires in today’s history. The Inca had a strong belief system that centered on the worship of gods and sacred mountains. They practiced human sacrifice as a part of their religion. The most important of the rituals was the Capacocha ceremony. This ceremony typically took place in mountain locations, often at very high altitudes. The ceremony involved several priests, attendants, and the sacrificial children who were usually between the ages of 4-16 (Reinhard, 13). The ceremonies would mark special occasions in the Incan calendar, the birth of a royal son or death of an emperor. They were also performed in an effort to stop or prevent natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, …show more content…
These chroniclers left important information that helped archeologists determine the purpose of the ceremonies, how they were carried out and why they were held. One of these, Bernabe Cobo, wrote that when a Capacocha ceremony was to be held a demand for tribute was sent to the outlying areas of the empire. Items such as gold, silver, cloth, feathers, llamas and alpacas were to be sent to Cuzco. Also according to Cobo, children between the ages of 4 and 16 were sent as part of the tribute. Guiterrez and Hernandez Principe recorded that the young women and children who were chosen as sacrifices would become messengers or representatives of their communities for the gods. This may be the explanation for the funerary items found with many of the high altitude mummies. Items ranging from additional clothing, textiles, food, figurines that could possibly represent the gods themselves, feathered headdresses, and animals have been found at the burial sites. There are two possible thoughts as to why these items were left. One would be that they were for the child’s use and the other would that they were gifts for the gods. Gavilian and Principe believed that selection of the children was based on physical perfection and health. Modern technology has proved the ages of the sacrificed children to be consistent with the accounts of the Spanish …show more content…
They offer a greater understanding of the ceremony and the purpose of the sacrificial victims. If the sacrifices were of no particular importance beyond the moment of their death, one would not expect to find them with valuable figurines, and other items. Most of the mummies found had one or more tunics, jewelry, feathered headdresses and an extra pair of shoes found in the grave with them. Food items, both vegetable and protein, as well as animals, particularly llamas or alpacas were also left with the bodies. Figurines of gold, silver, and valuable spondylus shell have been found with bodies of both sexes (Ceruti, 116). Items found with the bodies also appear to be gender specific with female figurines and pottery of a type more closely associated with females buried with the young girls and female children and male figurines and camelid statues found with the male children The capacocha was a religious ceremony, part of the Incan belief system, therefore the grave items most likely had religious significance. Weather to be used by the children in the afterlife, in their capacity as messengers or emissaries between their community and the gods, or to be given as tribute to the gods, the objects were relevant to the ceremony. All of the objects were also distinctly Incan, with regional differences apparent in the pottery design, textiles, etc., but all representative of