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Inka llama offerings from Tambo Viejo, Acari Valley, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2020

Lidio M. Valdez ,
Katrina J. Bettcher  and
Marcelino N. Huamaní
Lidio M. Valdez*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of Calgary, Canada Acari Valley Archaeological Project, University of Calgary, Canada
Katrina J. Bettcher
Affiliation:
Acari Valley Archaeological Project, University of Calgary, Canada
Marcelino N. Huamaní
Affiliation:
Acari Valley Archaeological Project, University of Calgary, Canada
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
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Abstract

Llamas were the preferred sacrificial animals of the Inka Empire, their ritual value second only to that of human beings. Recent archaeological excavations at the Inka settlement of Tambo Viejo in the Acari Valley on the Peruvian south coast have revealed a number of ritually sacrificed llamas in a unique context. This new evidence demonstrates that the establishment of Tambo Viejo as a provincial Inka centre involved the performance of ritual practices that included the dedicatory sacrifice of domesticated animals. These rituals materialised Inka imperial ideology and ultimately enabled the legitimisation of Inka presence in a conquered location.

Keywords

AndesAcari ValleyInkallama sacrificeritual
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 378 , December 2020 , pp. 1557 - 1574
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd

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