Inka Human Sacrifice and Mountain Worship: Strategies for Empire Unification

5: The Archaeology of Cerro El Plomo and the Santiago Area

102 _ chapter five The Archaeology of Cerro El Plomo and the Santiago Area El Plomo, the mountain near whose summit the “mummy” of the boy was found (see photo 5.1),1 has long been associated with legends of lost Inka treasure; the word plomo, which in Spanish literally means “lead,” is mining slang for silver.2 In 1895 or 1896, Gustavo Brant and Rudolfo Luck, who were members of the German Athletic Club of Santiago, made what they thought was the first ascent of the peak. Just below the pinnacle, however, they discovered not only some pre-Hispanic pircas (the same ones that I came across Photo 5.1 El Plomo, the highest mountain that is visible from the Mapocho Valley. Archaeology of Cerro El Plomo and Santiago Area 103 during my climb), but a sardine can. The can had most likely been left by a miner who was searching for buried treasure.3 About fifteen years later, a German colonel named Hans von Kiessling scaled El Plomo and excavated one of the smaller pircas on its slopes. He found several silver statuettes.4 Around 1922, while searching for an abandoned mine, two Chilean miners, Guillermo Chacón and Ascensio Carrasco, chanced upon the stone walls. They too dug within one of the lesser structures and uncovered various figurines, including a hollow male effigy of gold, a female statuette made from pink Spondylus shell and dressed in miniature clothing, and a llama of shell. Supposedly, they unearthed a fourth figurine of solid silver that weighed three kilos.5 Chacón returned to the site later in the decade for a second excavation, at which time he found four gold “medallions.”6 On January 27, 1954, a considerably older Chacón, accompanied by his nephew, Gerardo Ríos, and a friend, Jaime Ríos, set out by mule from the town of Bocatoma. Bocatoma is located near Santiago. They carried supplies for two weeks and were bound for El Plomo.7 After several days, they came to a boulder called Piedra Numerada, situated close to the base of the mountain at an altitude of 3,100 m (see map 5.1). Because of his age, Chacón could go no higher, so he explained to his companions how to continue from there and where to find the preHispanic pircas.8 On the 1st of February at three o’clock in the afternoon, the Ríoses finally reached the 5,400-m-high secondary summit of El Plomo. Before them were the Inka stone walls. Although exhausted, they grabbed a pick and shovel that they had brought and set to work excavating within the largest structure. At a depth of approximately 80 cm, they uncovered two llama figurines—one of gold, the other of shell—while 10 cm deeper they hit some large, flat stones. Prying these loose, they Photo 5.2 The “mummy” of El Plomo and the various objects that accompanied it (courtesy of Scott McIntyre; taken by Loren McIntyre). 104 chapter five Map 5.1 Cerro El Plomo and the surrounding area (Lliboutry 1956a), with the locations of important Inka pircas indicated: (1) Piedra Numerada; (2) the Adoratorio; (3) the Enterratorio. Archaeology of Cerro El Plomo and Santiago Area 105 discovered the body of the child, curled up in a fetal position. By this time it was getting late, so they removed the mummy and the objects that accompanied it from the tiny chamber (see photo 5.2), stuffed them into a sack, and hauled everything down to Piedra Numerada. At eight o’clock that night, the Ríoses were reunited with Chacón, whereupon they reburied the body in the Cepo Valley and started their descent to Santiago.9 Fifteen days passed. Chacón paid a visit to Dr. Grete Mostny, head of the Anthropology Section of the National Museum of Natural History in the capital. He told her that he had found a frozen boy in the mountains to the northeast of the city, and showed her a female figurine that had been buried in the vicinity of it. Mostny, in a state of great excitement, asked to see the human remains as soon as possible.10 In early March, Chacón made the long ascent to Piedra Numerada to retrieve the mummy, returning to Santiago on the 11th.11 A week later, Mostny and a colleague, Alberto Medina, who worked at the...