Capacocha Project

Project of the investigation of the human remains and artefacts of the children sacrificed as a capacocha by the Incas on the top of the mountain summits of Ampato, Pichu Pichu, Sara Sara and Misti. The project was conduct thanks to collaboration between the Center for Andean Studies and the Museo Santuarios Andinos of the Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria in Arequipa (Peru).

Capacocha was one of the most important rituals performed in the Inca Empire, in which children and young women were sacrificed. According to the chroniclers, the victims were supposed to come from the provincial elite and be beautiful and unblemished. Capacocha sacrifices were made during important events related to the life of the Imperial court, related to the local natural calamities (such as earthquakes, drought, volcano eruption, and epidemics), and to cyclical holidays (such as summer and winter solstice).

Capacochas were sacrificed to the most important deities in the Inca Empire, Viracocha, Inti (the Sun), Mama Quilla (the Moon), and Illapa (god of thunder and rain). In the provinces, capacocha was performed for the local huacas (deities), often identified with mountain summits. Despite the wealth of information from chronicles, very few sacrifices of this type have been discovered to this date. Most of them were found on the mountain peaks of present-day southern Peru, northern Chile, and Argentina. Capacochas sacrificed at the Ampato, Pichu Pichu, Sara Sara and Misti volcanoes (Peru) were discovered in the XNUMXs by Johan Reinhard and Antonio Chavéz.

The human remains were the subject of an anthropological, isotope, genetic and toxicological analysis. The research aimed to determine the age at time of death, health, diet, and origin of the sacrificed individuals. The results of the toxicological analysis confirmed that the victims in the last months before their death chewed coca leaves and consumed plants of the Banisteriopsis spp genus, sources of harmine and harmaline. The mummies and some artefacts were also the object of the XNUMXD scanning with use of the XNUMXD scanner and photogrametry.

The research are carried out in cooperation with Forensic Department od Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz (Poland), Radiocarbon Lab of Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, and Pinhasi Lab of University of Vienna.

On October 24, the exhibition “Capacocha, following the Inca Divinities” was inaugurated, which summarizes the last five years of collaboration between the UW Center for Andean Studies and the Santa María Catholic University of Arequipa. At the event, a reconstruction of the face of the Lady of Ampato, found on the slopes of Ampato 28 years ago, was also exhibited for the first time.

>> The reconstruction of the face of the Lady of Ampato

Polish co-director of the project: Dr Dagmara Socha

Publications:

Socha D., Sykuter M., Reinhard J., Chavez Perea R. (2022) Ritual drug use during Inca human sacrifices on Ampato mountain (Peru): Results of a toxicological analysis, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 43, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103415

Socha D., Reinhard J., Chavez Perea R. (2021) Inca human sacrifices from the Ampato and Pichu Pichu volcanoes, Peru: new results from a bio-anthropological analysis, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, Article number: 94.

Socha D., Reinhard J., Chavez Perea R. (2020) Inca Human Sacrifices on Misti Volcano (Peru), Latin American Antiquity 32(1): 138-153.

Socha D., Perea R. (2018) Análisis antropológico de restos humanos de Capacocha del Misti (Perú), Actas I Congreso Internacional de Arqueología del Área Centro Sur Andina in Arequipa: 238-239.