Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1987 - 90

llmvêrsity
of Cambridge
Summer Study Program
For Adu&s
July 5 - 25, 1987

Science Scope
continued from page 64
largely derives from the chronicles written during the Spanish invasion. Clearly
there was not the wholesale, near whimsical, human destruction that so shocked
LEARN
at the University
of Cambridge
with
Cortés when he overwhelmedthe Aztecs
distinguished
faculty.
Cambridge
of Mexico. Inca prièsts preferred to offer
LIVE
in residenceat beautifulEmmanuel
College.
up animal sacrifice, usually guinea pigs,
CURRICULUM
tailoredto the interests
with black llamas reserved for bigger
adultswhoare lookingfora unique
feast days. The killing of a thousand
educational
andculturalexperience.
subjects during the burial of the Inca
COURSES:
Huayna Capac was something of an exPof
Worldof Shakespeare
t'The,
*English
event, though prisoners-of-war
ceptional
Houses
andLandscaped
Gardens
were dispatched more casually as a pret*Medieval
Society
cursor to military campaigns.
'Britishvs.American
Politics
of Britain
'Archeology
Boys and girls about ten years old
andUndergraduate
were the most common victims in any
*Non-Credit
Credit
tGraduateCredit
human sacrifice ritual. The girls were selected from the acllacuna- "Chosen
Forbrochurewriteor call. . .
Officeof Cooperating
Women" who had been picked out by
Colleges
714SassafrasSt. * Erie,Pennsylvania
16501
government officials some years before
ZEUS /POSEIDON? Mostscholars
Phone(814)456-0757
and given the equivalent of a convent
nowconsiderthe greatbronzefigureof the
education. At least some of the boys
Athens ArchaeologicalMuseum to be
were contributed by parents in great
*, *
ZeusratherthanPoseidonas once
almighty
|íj¡§
need. These children were feasted and
labeled. Reproduced in Greece from
.**. ¿J/TVS
ÄN5/Ü * 2-S-si
chloridemagnesia.Beautifulbronzelike
made drunk with corn beer (chica) be"
i i .i
93A on marblebase$85ppd.
.i .i
appearance.
fore sacrifice, so that they would appear
4 *
4
Check,Visa,MC.Unconditional
guarantee.
contented with their lot during the
j.
i
Art bookcolorcatalogof 230 items,$5.
ritual.
ELEGANZALTD. Importers
ofFine
StatuaryI I I I
Adults to be sacrificed were either seVSQlmI I .
II I
*
Magnolia
Village 3217W.SmithSt. *312
Vgäl ,
lected from a newly conquered province
*
Seattle,WA98199 (206)283-0609
and brought to the capital of Cuzco to
take part in a victory celebration, or durSeeservice
card,page81.
ing more established feasting events
they were the mamacun ("Virgins of the
Sun"), previously trained as acllacuna
and subsequently allocated to specific
AND THE FIGURINES
TANAGRA
shrines. There they wove textiles for
their priests, and prepared chica for
Reynold
Higgins
festivals.
y^^HÍ
Child or adult, the victim would be
Between600 B.C.and A.D.500Tanagrawas a prosperous
marched several times around the deity's
city,and its wealthwas reflectedin its innumerablesculpted
image before being garroted, having his
gravestonesand its celebratedfigurines.Asdescribedin this
or her throat cut, or (as among the Azlavishlyillustratedbook,the evolutionof the "Tanagras"from
tecs) having the heart cut out. The priest
flat,rather naiveformsto the gracefuland elegantfiguresof the
would then smear the image with blood,
Hellenisticperiodrevealsthe preoccupationsand vitalityof a
or pour a libation of blood on the ground
long-vanishedpeople.Thesenumerousfigurinesare
before the image's feet.
largelythe productof the wholesalerobberyin the
What other evidence there is of child
1870sof the gravesthat surroundedthe city:the
sacrifice comes from high-altitude fuAthenianantiquitiesmarketwas floodedwith
neral cairns, where the individual was
buried alive and allowed to freeze to
Dr. Higginsrevealsmuch new informationabout the
death after the senses had been numbed
"Tanagras";he examinesthe typesof gravesin which the
with a surfeit of chica or with the narfigurineswerefound,and establishesa stylisticchronology.
cotic coca leaf. The best known instance
The laterTanagrashave an extraordinaryimmediacy,and the ^
of this ritual was the nine-year-old Inca
greatdemandforthen) towardthe end of the nineteenth
prince entombed high in the Cerro el
centurymeantthe productionof a largenumberof forgeries.
Plomo mountains of Chile. The boy's
The illustrationshere are, where possible,of authenticated
clothing suggests that he originated
examples,thougha fewtypicalforgeriesare alsoshown.
from Collasuyu province some 2,000 kil8 pagesof colorillustrations.104b&willus.,9Vi x 9% ".
ometers north of where he died, his sacrifice possibly being part of the Copac
Racmi feast that marked the summer
solstice.
$50.00at your bookstoreor
Compared with all these data on Inca
Princeton University Press
sacrifice, what we know of such matters
4 1 William
in earlier times is very limited. There is
Princeton, NJ 08540
a platform structure at Aspero that was
in use ca. 1000 b.c. for sacrifice of
llamas, but there is no evidence that
continued on page 77
74 APTMAPm
nnv

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1987