In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

79 _ chapter four Discussion of the Materials from Cerro Esmeralda the sacrifices What type of immolation is represented by the bodies from Esmeralda? The victims would seem to be aqlla-kuna who took part in a qhapaq hucha sacrifice (see chapter 2). They are of the right gender, being female, and ages, the girl being about nine, her companion being between eighteen and twenty years old. Their clothing is consistent with that of the chosen women (see figs. 2.4 and 2.5): like the elite women of Cuzco, each one has an aqsu, a chumpi, and a lliklla. Their fine garments are made from alpaca or vicuña wool, and the predominant colors in them are white, red/burgundy , yellow, and black/dark blue. Also, the way the victims wear their hair is similar to the style of the aqllas, it being long, parted in the middle, and falling down their backs. It differs slightly from the fashion of the chosen women, though, in that it is tied off at the bottom with the brown tassels rather than hanging freely (see chapter 3). The goods found with the child and young woman support the hypothesis that they were aqlla-kuna. They had various items of gold and silver (the bracelets, tupus, rapé tubes, and possible statuettes), fine textiles (the aqsus, llikllas, chumpis, garters, and headbands), feathered goods (the two plume-covered bags, the headdress, and the dorsal stole or back panel), coca leaves, and items of Spondylus (the three shells and the trapezoidal plaque). Additionally, the victims were left with the wooden spoon and the assortment of ceramic vessels (the jars, plates, jug, and Cuzco bottles) (see chapter 3), all of which are mentioned by the ethnohistoric sources as having been given to chosen women who were ritually killed (see chapter 2). Checura discusses the disparities between the garments and accouterments of the twenty-year-old and those of the nine-year-old.1 The senior 80 chapter four victim has several woven pieces that the junior one lacks, among them the more elaborate headdress, the cloth bags, the dorsal stole, and the headbands . The young woman also has various articles besides textiles that the girl does not, such as the tubular cord with attached pins and pendant, the gold bracelet, the Spondylus shells, the rapé tubes, and the possible statuettes. Checura attributes these disparities to differences in their social class: whereas the twenty-year-old was born into the nobility, the nineyear -old was from a lower social stratum. When females were selected to be aqllas, however, they were cut off from their respective peoples and became the property of the state, which means that some of the class distinctions between them were obscured. Thus, I interpret the contrast in their clothing and accessories to be more a reflection of the hierarchical ranking of age-grades within the institution of the chosen women. According to Guaman Poma, the aqlla-kuna were divided into twelve categories , based partly on age and partly on the importance of the waqas that they served. The group that he says had the highest status was comprised of twenty-year-olds who served the principal Inka gods. They were called wayrur aqllas. It is possible that the older victim from Esmeralda was the member of a parallel age-set that attended significant provincial deities. A category with a relatively low rank consisted of girls between the ages of four and ten who were learning to spin, to weave, to cook, and to carry out other tasks that were considered appropriate for them. They were referred to as wiñachikuq aqllas.2 The child put to death on the peak was likely a member of this age-grade. Cartmell’s findings on coca consumption support my interpretation of the social positions of the two victims. Coca leaves were considered to be a high-prestige item in the Inka Empire, so if the young woman had been the daughter of a kuraka and the girl her servant, then I would expect the former to have received coca before her immolation, but not necessarily the latter. Such was not the case, though. Cartmell ascertained that the twenty-year-old was not exposed to any cocaine during the final eight months of her life, while the nine-year-old was given coca about four months prior to her death, and between ten and thirty days before she met her end (see appendix A). This pattern suggests that...

Share