Secrets Frozen in Time: How 500-Year-Old Buried Llamas Reveal the Mysteries of the Incas
Bernabé Cobo, a colonial-period Spanish chronicler, wrote that the animals were used for different sacrifices based on their coloring. Brown-furred llamas were sacrificed to the creator god, Viracocha, while white llamas were presented as offerings to the sun. Llamas with mixed-colored coats were sacrificed to the thunder.
It’s clear that each offering made by the Incas had its own significance and purpose.
As the researchers wrote in their study, “Through these ceremonies, the Inca created new orders, new understandings and meanings that helped to legitimise and justify their actions to both the conquerors and the conquered.”
Next, learn why the Incas may have deliberately built the famous Machu Picchu site along fault lines and read about the return of the 500-year-old Incan ‘princess’ mummy that was finally repatriated to Bolivia.
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