The Pre-Hispanic History told through the collection of the MAAM, located in Salta, Argentina, is an invitation to a journey into the memory of three children sacrificed in a sacred volcano in the Andes mountain range: El Llullaillaco.
A millenary volcano, witness to one of the most studied rituals in the Andean World: the Capacocha.
An invitation to travel through high Andean landscapes, which more than six hundred years ago, were part of a landscape sacralized by the Incas and peoples at the service of the Cusco power, where the geographical, historical and ideological component merge to give life to the story of pilgrimage, life and death, in the high Andean peaks.
Geographical description
The Llullaillaco volcano is located in the Department of the Andes, Province of Salta, Argentina. This mᴀssif rises to 6739 m.a.s.l., and is one of the highest volcanoes in the world, located between the border of Argentina and Chile, south of the Socompa pᴀss, west of the Salar de Arizaro and Salina del Llullaillaco and east of the Salar de Punta Negra.
It is one of the driest high-alтιтude deserts in the world. For this reason, water resources are scarce, having a summer rainfall regime.
Its summit is made up of a ridge of grey granitic rock, about 200 metres long. of extension. To the east of this ridge there are three hollows belonging to extinct craters of the volcano, separated by a flat ridge, which was chosen for the location of the Inca high sanctuary. Place where the Children of Llullaillaco were found.
Following the Argentine archaeologist, María Constanza Ceruti, who participated in the descent of the Children, the toponym Llullaillaco, is derived from the Quechua word “yaku”, whose interpretation is “water”, and the word “llullay”, which means “to deceive”. Possibly alluding to the snow condition at alтιтude, but without the generation of water springs and streams.
Its vegetation is predominantly herbaceous, with wild straw and yellow straw, and to a lesser extent the yareta, tola, añagua and chachacoma, while its fauna includes species such as the vicuña, guanaco, suri, vizcacha, partridge, fox, puma, condor and eagle.
Indicios de la existencia de ruinas
Las primeras noticias acerca de la existencia de ruinas fueron dadas a conocer en 1952, tras la expedición del andinista Bión González, y de Hans Rudel en 1953. Entre 1958 y 1961, el excursionista Mathias Rebitsch efectuó excavaciones en las ruinas de la cumbre, las que fueron publicadas en su momento, junto con intervenciones siguientes efectuadas en la cumbre, los años 1966, 1975 y 1985.
La Historia del encuentro: Los Niños del Llullaillaco
En marzo de 1999, María Constanza Ceruti, junto a Johan Reinhard, especialista norteamericano en alta montaña, lideraron la expedición arqueológica que permitió no sólo el descubrimiento del cuerpo de los tres Niños, sino investigar el cementerio existente a 5.000 m.sn.m. en el sector nororiental del volcán, un tambo localizado a 5.200 m.sn.m. y un conjunto de ruinas intermedias, ubicadas a 6.550 m.s.n.m.
Luego de diez días de trabajo en la cumbre, y sondeos a una estructura semicircular con características habitacionales y logísticas, el grupo científico pudo excavar la zona del enterratorio ubicada a 6.700 m.s.n.m.
Una proeza científica con temperaturas de -30 grados y vientos de 80 km. por hora, cuya coronación fue el hallazgo del cuerpo de un niño, el día 17 de marzo de 1999.
El arqueólogo peruano Arcadio Mamaní sería quien en el sector Sur de la plataforma ceremonial encontraría el cuerpo junto a su ajuar, mientras el argentino Antonio Mercado y el peruano Rudy Perea localizaron el cuerpo de una adolescente apodada como la “doncella”, y el peruano Orlando Jaen, el de una pequeña niña nombrada “la Niña del rayo” debido a las quemaduras de una descarga eléctrica presentes en su cuerpo.
Ideological connection of the territory: the road through Chile
Archaeological research carried out by Pablo Mignone, published in 2013, established the existence of a network of roads and symbolic structures from the Antofagasta Region, adjacent to the volcano.
In the Zorra de Guanaqueros and Aguada de Barrancas Blancas ravines, roads, dairy farms, remains of pircas, and ceramic remains that suggest different mobility from the eastern ascent route to the summit.
Thus indicating, “ideological modelers of the landscape” around characteristics of ritualization of space. That is, to cultural markers of territorial appropriation that bear no relation to Western notions of order.
Visit to the High Mountain Museum of Salta. The new home of the Children of Llullaillaco
The description of the city of Salta is not easy. It is not for nothing that she is nicknamed “Salta la Bella”. This city, founded in its Spanish matrix in 1582, has clear edges of Andean coexistence and cultural miscegenation. It turns out to be an interesting combination of colonial and modern architecture, and an invitation to enjoy the local gastronomy under the watchful eye of the San Bernardo hill.
Walking through its narrow cobblestone streets after an intense rain is an amazing experience when the result is the encounter with its Cathedral and Churches such as San Francisco and the Convent of said Congregation.
In the heart of Salta, in front of the Plaza de Armas, surrounded by colonial buildings, is the High Mountain Museum (MAAM). A building from the mid-nineteenth century that houses one of the most impressive archaeological collections in South America: Los Niños del Llullaillaco.
Those infants sacrificed in a complex Inca ritual called Capacocha. This rite carried out, mainly, in Andean heights such as that of this volcano, Mount Aconcagua or Mount El Plomo, has the particularity of being a sacrificial rite only in the largest provincial peaks. Information contrasted not only by archaeological findings, but also by the account of Hispanic chroniclers from the mid-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
In this regard, it is believed that sons of provincial chiefs in the service of the Sapa Inca and maidens or acllas belonging to the “House of Chosen Ones”, also in the service of the Inca, were the infants destined for the sacrifice of a Capacocha.
The Capacocha is a rite of political, territorial and religious characteristics, intended to seal political pacts between the Inca and the provinces. It also established the location of oracles and lands of Inca domain, where these children would play a fundamental role within their communities by becoming guardians of the most important sacred hill in the Region.
A hill that, within the Andean ideology, is known as “huaca”. It was revealed that the way these children died was through drowsiness due to the narcotic effect of corn chicha and consumption of coca leaves, in addition to hanging, asphyxiation and head trauma.
El caso de los Niños del Llullaillaco es un hallazgo sin precedentes, pues ha permitido a especialistas en la materia, estudiar de manera científica y etnohistórica, las piezas de este valioso ajuar compuesto por más de 150 objetos, y el cuerpo de estos tres infantes.
Un rito que por sus características habría movilizado a un gran contingente de personas y objetos destinados a la celebración del ritual en el corazón de la plaza del Cusco, y luego hacia los adoratorios donde se llevó a cabo el término del rito y el sacrificio humano.
Characteristics present in the pilgrimage complex to the Sanctuary of Llullaillaco, if we take into consideration, the existence of tambos for resting and storing food, as well as the semi-circular structure existing on the most protected slope of the summit of the volcano, which would have been intended for the accommodation of people who would have to spend the night before the celebration of the sacrifice.
Rite celebrated at dawn, an aspect that accounts for the cult of the sun and its relationship with the Capacocha.
This Museum presents a collection that takes the tourist, the viewer or the researcher on a journey to the past. A journey into Andean memory through the image of a Child who seems to be asleep, along with a series of objects that accompanied him into eternity.
The exhibition begins under dim light and a room air-conditioned to six degrees, factors that help the conservation of the pieces, and whose journey hypnotizes through the beauty of the objects.
Textile pieces that accompanied the clothing of the Children, ceramics and small statuettes made of gold, silver and a reddish seashell, called spondylus prínceps, which correspond to delicate forms of representation of llamas, men and women. All made with unique features and masterfully woven garments. Accounting for the high symbolic value of the offerings.
In my visit to the MAAM, the effects of cold and light stand out, which envelop the viewer in a halo of time, in which, at the end of the tour, the body of one of the Children is presented. An unforgettable experience. Seeing the seven-year-old boy, who is in the current exhibition, invites us on a journey into our most intimate feelings. When observed frozen in time, given the preservation by the effects of the alтιтude and temperature of the high mountain place, and the good conservation highlighted by the work of the Museum’s specialists, the image of it is presented as a vision of a latent past.
An idenтιтy full of history and stories. Which evokes questions about who this infant was or what his last moments were like on this earthly plane.
For this reason, the Museum presents it within a framework of respect and consideration, since these Children are still considered sacred within the local Andean communities.
The Child, approximately seven years old, short hair in the Inca manner, dressed in a reddish and blue unku, footwear of auquénido leather moccasins, leather anklets, a silver bracelet on his right arm, a pectoral made of spondylus prínceps shell and a string called llautu tied to his head as a symbol of Inca subordination. they indicate, in addition to a waraka or sling in their headdress, their place of privilege within society.
Reminding us that these Children were not just any infant, but the “chosen ones” within a system of privileges.
From his short life, thanks to his trousseau, it is possible to elucidate that he belonged to the political elite, and from his death, thanks to scientific studies, that he died from the ingestion of doses of chicha and coca, and that his small body suffered from the effects of alтιтude.
Being tied тιԍнтly by his legs, possibly so that he could adopt the flexed position and fit inside the niche in which he was found. Likewise, his face is hidden between his knees, in a resting position.
Regarding the “Maiden”, a young woman of estimated fifteen years of age is believed to have belonged to the “House of the Chosen”, being chosen for the company of the minor infants. Her clothing, a dress with sleeves, a showy headdress of white feathers, loafers, an alpaca blanket and a rich set of hanging jewels as a necklace, together with her braided hairstyle, make us think, together with her physical characteristics, that this young woman was chosen for her beauty. Which gave him a place of privilege as an aclla.
Finally, there is the “Niña del Rayo“, a six-year-old girl, whose central characteristic is a cranial deformation, typical of the Aymara elites. The same aspect represents the silver symbol on her forehead and the use of a llautu with feathers, making it possible to infer that she was the daughter of an Altiplano Lord.
Both girls, like the infant, died after ingesting chicha and coca, falling asleep in an eternal sleep.
On the human plane, these Children are the spitting image of a world that no longer exists. A world where rituality was the basis of his system of thought. A world, where the sacrifice was not barbaric, but an offering of life to the gods of the mountains.
An honor that made these Children messengers between the world of men and that of the gods.
On the other hand, within the professional level, the study of these Children and their grave goods allows us to approach the idenтιтy roots of America, a historical and cultural legacy that the Hispanic invasion and the cultural and population syncretism have not been able to erase, consтιтuting an image of our past yet to be deciphered.
Sin dudas, un privilegio único para quienes trabajamos en ello. Tocar, observar, y palpar la Historia de manera experiencial a través de los objetos, es sin dudas, un marco metodológico que nos permite cuestionarnos acerca de un pensamiento fragmentado por el choque cultural, pero que nos invita a la reflexión acerca de la vida y la muerte en los Andes prehispánicos y actuales.
Dagmar Bachraty is a Historian, PhD© in Latin American Studies from the University of Chile, an expert in Andean textiles and the Capacocha ritual.
