1st intact evidence of Incas' underwater ritual offerings found in a lake in the Andes

[Judi Lynn]

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer a day ago

A small stone box contained a bracelet and a carved llama, and may have once held human blood.



(Image: © Teddy Seguin, Université libre de Bruxelles/Antiquity Publications Ltd.)

For the first time, archaeologists have described an intact underwater offering made by the Inca people, deposited into Lake Titicaca in the Andes about 500 years ago.

The discovery hints that evidence of other important Incan rituals, such as human sacrifices, may also lurk underwater.

The Spanish recorded the Incan practice of placing offerings in water in the 16th century, and this offering — a stone box — is the first such object to be discovered in one piece. It holds a small gold bracelet and a shell carved to resemble an alpaca or llama. The box may have also contained human blood, according to a new study.

Lake Titicaca extends into what is now Bolivia and Peru; it is one of South America's largest lakes, and is known for its importance to the Incas. Incan origin myths name the lake as the birthplace of the sun, and a ceremonial complex of Incan shrines and temples once stood on the lake's Isla del Sol, or Island of the Sun.

In 1977, amateur divers from Japan found several stone boxes underwater on the Khoa reef near the island's temple complex. Their age and location suggested that the objects had been placed in the lake by the Incas for ritual purposes. More boxes were recovered from the reef during dives in 1988 and 1992, but nearly all of the boxes were broken or had been looted.

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https://www.livescience.com/incas-underwater-offering.html