The Capacocha ritual was one of the most significant religious ceremonies in the Inca Empire. It involved sacrificing children and young women to deities and sacred places at the summits of mountains or volcanoes, typically at sacred shrines known as huacas or wak'akuna. According to HeritageDaily, being chosen for the Capacocha ceremony was considered a great honor. Both boys and girls were selected, often as part of an annual tribute from local communities to the Inca state. The children chosen for these rituals often came from noble families seeking to gain political favor.
In a recent study published in the journal Antiquity, researchers examined the ritual landscape of the Capacocha journey, focusing on the distribution of tambos that served as crucial rest stops before the final ascent to mountain peaks.
The Capacocha sacrifices began in the Inca capital of Cusco and were preceded by a procession that could last many months before reaching provincial sanctuaries and mountain or volcanic summits. The journey to the huacas was a monumental undertaking, traversing rugged landscapes and natural barriers such as rivers. The pilgrimage movement among the Incas was a well-functioning system that included high-altitude tambos, which were places for rituals and rest for hundreds of pilgrims.
Researchers concentrated on the Chachani volcanic group and the inactive Pichu Pichu volcano in Peru. Scientists analyzed the organization of tambos on these volcanoes to better understand Inca management of the rituals and their role in the exercise of power by the state. Dr. Dagmara Socha from the University of Warsaw's Center for Andean Studies and Dr. Dominika Sieczkowska-Jacyna from Silesian University of Technology conducted the research.
"Tambos is a more general term meaning inns that were located along Inca roads. The Incas built thousands of kilometers of roads that connected the entire Empire, and at certain intervals there were tambos. They were places for storing grain; messengers were also stationed there. In the case of mountain summits, they were built in a religious context and were meant to serve only religious and pilgrimage purposes," Socha explained, according to Nauka w Polsce.
The tambos were strategically divided into two sections: a larger low-altitude area and a higher-altitude area characterized by smaller buildings. The lower-elevation tambos at Chachani consist of 14 buildings arranged in two groups around a kancha, which is a central courtyard. In the center of the lower part of the Chachani tambo was a square with an area of 250 square meters.
"The size of the main squares in the lower parts of the tambos suggests that they were built to accommodate many pilgrims, even hundreds, although it is unlikely that so many people were there at the same time," reported Nauka w Polsce. These squares may have also been designed as places for rituals that pilgrims could observe from outside, in a designated space.
The higher-elevation tambo at Chachani features a single structure built against a large rock. Tambos located at high altitudes were the last stops for pilgrims before ascending to the summit. "The second tambos were located at some distance from the first one. Here, probably, higher-ranking pilgrims stopped, for example, priests with the victims, so as not to stay where the rest were," Socha described. "Perhaps it was also used as a place of oracle, because the role of the children did not end with the moment of their sacrifice. Also later, pilgrims went to them to ask various questions and treated them as a kind of oracles," she added.
The journey from the higher tambo to the summit of the Chachani volcano is estimated to take around six hours. Along the path to the summit, the Incas constructed small shelters for resting pilgrims, some of which still have standing walls today. Only a few Capacocha sacrifice sites have been discovered, primarily on mountaintops in northern Chile, southern Peru, and northwestern Argentina.
Similar architectural patterns were observed at the Pichu Pichu volcano. Eight buildings were identified in the lower part of the Pichu Pichu tambo, which share similarities with those at Chachani and are arranged around a kancha. The higher part of the Pichu Pichu tambo, located 140 meters southeast of the lower part, consists of a single building with three separate rooms, situated next to a rock shaped like Pichu Pichu.
"The spatial structures of the tambos relate to the sacred landscape and the division of pilgrims by social rank, including Incas, priests, victims, and ordinary pilgrims," noted HeritageDaily. The upper parts of the tambos were probably used for rituals attended by fewer people, with the veneration of Capacocha victims including divination of the future performed in secluded places.
Ongoing research includes biochemical analysis of artifacts from the tambos to determine the origins of the pilgrims and establish a local chronological sequence. Among the project's objectives is to document other sites related to Capacocha to establish architectural patterns.
In subsequent seasons, the researchers plan more detailed exploration of both newly discovered and known sites using non-invasive documentation methods and traditional excavations. "It is worth emphasizing the extraordinary contribution from the state in organizing these pilgrimages, because building roads to the summits, and on those summits platforms, certainly required a great effort. Special workers had to be designated, who simply dealt with this for some time," Socha stated.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.