The rope bridges of the Incas: The ancient technology that united Andean communities fades into history

A remarkable ancient technology and tradition that united communities in the Andes is fading into history.

Reconstruction of the Tinkuqchaka bridge is here almost complete.

Cirilo Vivanco

By LIDIO VALDEZ AND CIRILO VIVANCO

ONE EARLY JANUARY morning in the mid-1980s after a daylong journey from Ayacucho (formerly “Guamanga”), I (Lidio) found myself being guided across a small rope bridge hanging across the Pampas River. This was my first experience on such a bridge, made with an astonishing ancient technology that uses twisted branches to form a crossing. Although it looked to be only about 20 meters long, the bridge, called Chuschichaka, was beautiful: a reminder of ancient times, when similar bridges existed along trails and roads that linked the Inca Empire.

From the town of Chuschi, where I started my journey that day, my destination of Sarhua seemed to be just nearby. But because of the rugged landscape, the trip was long and exhausting: It took hours to hike the distance, with the rope bridge in the middle. At last, our team arrived in Sarhua and was welcomed by the community with food, drinks, music, and dance. Their hospitality made our visit an incredible and unforgettable experience.

My mission at that time as an archaeologist was to investigate ancient agricultural terraces in the region. As I prepared for my work, I was told that there was an important activity taking place that day: the reconstruction of a larger bridge nearby called Tinkuqchaka.

Except for a few older and younger people who were staying in the town, most community members were already on their way to the site of Tinkuy (a name that means “a place to meet,” “a place to play,” or “a place to fight”) to take part in bridge reconstruction. Sadly, I could not spare the time to attend, though I would hear all about such work later from my friend and colleague—anthropologist Cirilo Vivanco (co-author), who is originally from Sarhua.

When I left the community three days later in the early hours of the morning, Tinkuqchaka was not yet finished. We crossed the partially constructed bridge by flashlight, holding the handrails tightly.


THE ANCIENT PRACTICE of making hanging bridges has existed for a long time in Peru—perhaps going back as far as the Wari culture, which thrived from A.D. 600–1000. At one time, dozens of such bridges are thought to have connected communities across gorges and rivers. Today only a few remain, mainly for the sake of tourists, and even they are falling into disrepair. Just this April, the most famous of them—Queshuachaca, near the former Inca capital of Cuzco—collapsed from lack of maintenance.

The global appreciation of the hanging bridges of the Andes goes a long way back. In 1877, American archaeologist E. George Squier published Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas, in which he devoted a few pages to the great hanging bridge over the Apurímac River on the main road to Cuzco. The bridge was built over a gigantic valley, enclosed by enormous and steep mountains. The over 40-meters-long structure, entirely made of plant materials, was hung from massive cliffs on both sides. To Squier, the bridge looked like a mere thread, a frail and swaying structure, yet frequently crossed by people and animals, the latter carrying loads on their backs. Travelers timed their day’s journey to reach the bridge in the early hours of the day before the strong winds came that made the bridge sway “like a gigantic hammock.”

This drawing from American archaeologist E. George Squier’s 1877 book on Peru shows a rope bridge over the Apurímac River.

E. George Squier/Wikimedia Commons

Squier was very impressed, saying that his crossing was an experience he “shall never forget.” His description and accompanying image of the bridge no doubt captured the imagination of everyone who got ahold of Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas—including American explorer Hiram Bingham, famous for reporting the existence of the spectacular Inca city of Machu Picchu to a global audience in 1911. According to historians, one of the reasons Bingham decided to go to Peru in the first place was precisely the illustration of the Apurímac hanging bridge he saw in Squier’s book.

Long before Squier, Spaniards were impressed with the Inca hanging bridges too. Early Spaniards, such as Pedro de Cieza de León, were fascinated. But the arrival of the Spaniards had devastating effects for local Indigenous peoples. Europeans brought diseases that decimated the Indigenous populations. Communities were reduced or totally deserted. Spaniards’ interest in precious minerals, such as gold and silver, also switched the efforts of Indigenous peoples to other activities, often leaving unattended other communal obligations, such as building the bridges.

Tinkuqchaka was one of the few bridges to survive into the 2000s.

THREE YEARS AFTER my first trip to Sarhua, I was back again, this time on a mission to register the archaeological sites scattered around Sarhua along with Cirilo, as we recently published in the Journal of Anthropological Research. On our way, we crossed Tinkuqchaka again and bathed in the Pampas River below the bridge.

As we watched the bridge swaying delicately over the river, Cirilo told me about how Tinkuqchaka, being built entirely of plant material, required annual maintenance and a total renewal every two years. He told me, too, how the community, including himself, came together to do this. From my conversations with Cirilo, the story of this touching activity became clear to me.

Catherine Gilman/SAPIENS

Following ancient Andean ideals, the community of Sarhua is divided into two groups or ayllus. One of the ayllus is regarded as local while the other is said to be made up of “outsiders,” perhaps the descendants of peoples who were relocated by the Inca from elsewhere within the Inca realm. Both ayllus coexist side by side, and it is believed that such a division is necessary to maintain a balance needed for the well-being of the community. Sarhua residents do not usually highlight their group membership, except during communal activities like the bridge rebuilding.

One person, named by the community, is responsible for looking after the bridge. As in Incan times, the title of this person is chakakamayuq. Bridge renewal begins with a notification by the chakakamayuq to the community, which begins collecting the necessary construction material—the branches of a bush named pichus. Then, on a specified day, community members descend from Sarhua, carrying on their shoulders pichus branches to Tinkuy.

Kumumpampa, an open space found near the bridge, is the gathering place. At this location, both ayllus take their respective positions, the local ayllu closer to Sarhua and the ayllu of outsiders closer to the Pampas River, symbolically distant from Sarhua. After necessary logistical discussions, the ayllus exchange jokes and challenge each other, thus making the whole activity an entertainment or spectacle. For the participants, it is a competition between the two ayllus but also a game, time to play and time to tease and mock the opposition.

The task ahead for both ayllus is, first, to produce 23 ropes 100 meters long, called aqaras, from the pichus branches. Bundles of nine pichus branches are tied together and braided. The ayllu that produces more ropes will be declared the winner. Defeat is shameful, and thus both ayllus strategize to ensure victory. This is largely a male activity, but women of both ayllus are engaged by preparing meals and cheering for their respective side, mocking the men of the opposite ayllu.


Community members work hard to secure the heavy cables.

Cirilo Vivanco

Producing the aqaras is only the first challenge. The second task is to produce five thicker cables from the aqaras. This is a more difficult job. Starting at a middle point, teams from the ayllus build half of the cable working outward, again in competition. Experienced members are in charge, while younger members observe, fully aware that in the future it will be their turn. At the end, one of the ayllus emerges the winner and is celebrated with loud shouts. Victory is sweet and joyful, while defeat is ugly, painful, and agonizing.

Upon completing the five cables, work shifts to the edge of the river, on either side of which stands a stone tower. Members of the outsider ayllu cross to the opposite side of the river using the old bridge for one last time; then the old bridge is cut at both ends and is carried downstream by the Pampas River, thus marking the end of a cycle and reinforcing, temporarily, the separation of the outsiders.

The whole task of completing the bridge takes about five days.

The renewal of Tinkuqchaka illustrates the complementary role of the ayllus and their necessary reunion for the vitality of the community. Local ayllu members throw ropes to the opposite bank of the river, retaining one end in their hands. Since bridge construction takes place during the rainy season, when the river carries lots of water, this is not an easy task. The local ayllu ties the rope to the first thick cable so it can be pulled across the river. The cables are as thick as a person’s body, made of wet branches and heavy. It takes hours to pull the five cables across the river and tie each securely behind the stone tower on the far side.

Three cables, pulled taut and horizontal, become the base of the bridge over which small sticks are laid transversely and fastened to the cables by cords. Two smaller cables become the handrails.

The whole task of completing the bridge takes about five days, during which time the entire community remains at Tinkuy. While the days are spent working, evenings are time to socialize, drink, sing, and dance, and thus renew the sense of community. The community, aware of the historical significance of the bridge, is also proud of being responsible for carrying forward this tradition.


THE TECHNOLOGY EMPLOYED to build Tinkuqchaka appears to be ancient. The manner by which the bridge is built perhaps also resembles ancient customs. No one knows for sure. The fact that communities such as Sarhua are capable of undertaking such impressive construction and engineering feats shows the power of unified action.

There is the possibility that hanging bridges predate the Inca Empire. Large sections of the Inca royal highway already existed before the Incas, and along the same roads, there were several river crossings, thus suggesting that the bridge technology already existed. Demonstrating this possibility, of course, is not easy. There are no written records from this time, and the plant material of the bridges left no archaeological traces.

The hanging bridge constitutes an important symbol of the technology developed by the forebears of the Indigenous peoples of this region (including myself and Cirilo). In a perfect world, it would be rightfully considered a monument to the creativity and imagination of the Indigenous peoples of the Andes and maintained to showcase to the world this unique achievement of unknown origins.

The local and outsider ayllus gather on opposite sides of the river.

Cirilo Vivanco

Of course, there is no such perfect world, and decision-makers have other priorities. As Andean philosophy teaches, everything has an end. The hanging bridges are not an exception.

For the residents of Sarhua, a cable bridge was built in 1992 that effectively ended the biennial construction of the rope bridges. In 2007, a larger bridge that could carry cars was built. Tinkuqchaka was made anew in 2010 and reconstructed for the last time in 2014 for the sake of tourism. The local youth seem uninterested in renewing the tradition.

It appears we have come to witness the end of something wonderful, unique, and to foreign eyes, spectacular. Something that was present almost everywhere in this region is fading away forever, and some of us who had the fortune to see and walk on these bridges sometimes took them for granted, without realizing that within our lifetime an important chapter of Andean history was coming to an end.




Source: https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/inca-r...

Archeologists uncover ancient civilization burial sites in Peru

Archeologists found seven burial sites belonging to an ancient civilization dating from VII and XII A.D in Huarmey, Peru.

The discovery made by Polish archeologists in western Peru is related to the Wari culture and reveals the existence of an elite group of artisans dedicated to manufacturing pieces of great ornamental value.

The burials belong to two women, two men, two children and a young man, among which was the bundle of a personage dressed with jewelry, ceramics, textiles, tools and handicrafts.

The new finding is related to a previous one made in 2012, near the current tomb, where a mausoleum of 64 Wari women was found.

1,000 years ago, a woman was buried in a canoe on her way to the 'destination of souls'

The woman was on her 'final voyage."

An illustration of deceased young woman lying in a wampos (ceremonial canoe) with a pottery jug near her head. (Image credit: Pérez et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0)

Up to 1,000 years ago, mourners buried a young woman in a ceremonial canoe to represent her final journey into the land of the dead in what is now Patagonia, a new study finds. 

The discovery reaffirms ethnographic and historical accounts that canoe burials were practiced throughout pre-Hispanic South America and refutes the idea that they may have been used only after the Spanish colonization, according to the authors of the study.

"We hope this investigation and its results will resolve this controversy," said archaeologist Alberto Pérez, an associate professor of anthropology at the Temuco Catholic University in Chile and the lead author of the study, published Wednesday (Aug. 24) in the journal PLOS One(opens in new tab).

Canoe burials are well attested and are still practiced in some areas of South America, Pérez told Live Science. But because wood rots rapidly, the new finding is the first known evidence of the practice from the pre-Hispanic period. "The previous evidence was important and was based on ethnographic data, but the evidence was indirect," he said.

The archaeological site in the northwest of Argentina was excavated between 2012 and 2015 before a well was built at the location, which is on private land. (Image credit: Pérez et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0)

The burial described in the study, at the Newen Antug archaeological site near Lake Lacár in western Argentina, indicates that mourners buried the woman on her back in a wooden structure crafted from a single tree trunk that had been hollowed out by fire.

The same burning technique has been used for thousands of years to make "dugout" canoes known as "wampos" in the local Mapuche culture, and evidence suggests that Indigenous people prepared the woman's remains so that she could embark on a final canoe journey across mystical waters to her final abode in the "destination of souls," Pérez said.

Pre-Hispanic burial

The woman's grave is the earliest of three known pre-Hispanic burials at the Newen Antug site, which archaeologists excavated between 2012 and 2015, before a well was built at the location, which is on private land. The location is at the northern extreme of the region known as Patagonia, which consists of the temperate steppes, alpine regions, coasts and deserts of the southern part of South America.

Radiocarbon dating indicates the woman was buried more than 850 years ago and possibly up to 1,000 years ago, while her sex and age at death — between 17 and 25 years old — were estimated from her pelvic bones and the wear on her teeth, according to the study. (Evidence suggests the Mapuche have lived in the region since at least 600 B.C.)

A pottery jug decorated with white glaze and red geometric patterns, placed in the grave by her head, suggests a connection with the "red on white bichrome" tradition of pre-Hispanic ceramics on both sides of the Andes mountains, the researchers found. This is the earliest known example of this type of pottery being used as a grave gift, according to the study.

Canoes known as wampos in the Mapuche language were constructed by hollowing out a single tree trunk with fire, with thicker walls at the bow and stern. (Image credit: Pérez et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0)

Given its age and the humid climate, the burial canoe has rotted away, and only fragments of wood remain. But tests suggest that the fragments came from the same tree — a  Chilean cedar (Austrocedrus chilensis) — and that it had been hollowed out with fire.

Shells found in the grave show that her body was placed directly on a bed of Diplodon chilensis, a type of freshwater clam that was likely brought from the shores of Lake Lacár more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) away, the researchers wrote.

In addition, the position of the body — with the arms gathered above the torso, and the head and feet raised — indicate that the woman was buried inside a concave structure with thicker walls at the  ends, which correspond to the bow and stern of a canoe, Pérez said.

Taken together, these aspects suggest the woman was interred in a traditional canoe burial representing the Mapuche belief that a soul must make a final boat journey before it arrives in the land of the dead. "The material evidence all goes in the same direction, and there is a whole battery of ethnographic and historical information that accounts for it," Pérez told Live Science in an email.

Destination of souls

According to Mapuche belief, the destination of the deads' souls was "Nomelafken" — a word in the Mapuche language that translates to the "other side of the sea" — and the newly dead would make a metaphorical boat journey for up to four years before they arrived at a mythical island called Külchemapu or Külchemaiwe, Pérez and his colleagues wrote in the study.

A historical report from the 1840s by the Chilean politician Salvador Sanfuentes remarked that local people "site the graves of their dead on the bank of a stream to allow the current to carry the soul to the land of souls" and that ceremonial canoes were buried as coffins to carry the dead on this journey, the researchers wrote.

The young woman was buried more than 800 years ago in a wampo, or ceremonial canoe, that researchers think symbolized a boat journey to the land of the dead. (Image credit: Pérez et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0)

The metaphor of the recently deceased making such a canoe journey to a final destination seems to have been prevalent throughout South America in pre-Hispanic times, and possibly for thousands of years, Pérez noted.

"We infer that this was a widespread practice on the continent, although it is little known to archaeology due to conservation problems," such as the degradation of wood in humid climates, he said. "The antiquity of these practices is uncertain, but we know such navigation technologies were used there more than 3,500 years ago, so we can estimate that date as a potential time limit."

The new study has great scientific importance for archaeological and anthropological research in the Patagonia region, said Nicolás Lira, an assistant professor of archaeology, ethnography and prehistory at the University of Chile who wasn't involved in the research.

"The findings … are of exceptional preservation for the humid environment of the region, where rivers and lakes shape the landscape in an interconnected [river] system that facilitated and encouraged navigation," Lira told Live Science in an email. 

Juan Skewes, an anthropologist at Alberto Hurtado University in Chile who wasn't involved in the study, said the Newen Antug burial was "strong evidence" of a shared cultural tradition between the east and west "slopes" of the Andes. 

Meanwhile, historical and ethnographic records suggest such canoe burials represented a symbolic relationship between the Mapuche people and bodies of water, but that relationship wasn't their only consideration, Skewes said. For example, "trees are part of almost every aspect of the Mapuche's daily life, Skewes said. "Aside from having associations with mortuary practices, they are linked to childbirth and to the memories of the dead." That might mean that the construction of a burial wampo from a single tree could have had an extra meaning, in addition to the canoe's symbolic function during the final voyage of the dead, he said.

Originally published on Live Science.

Archaeologists unearth pocketknife at historic Michigan fort

MACKINAW CITY, MICH. -- More fascinating discoveries have been made at Michigan’s Colonial Michilimackinac as the historic site’s archaeology season winds to a close.

Archaeologists at the reconstructed 18th-century fort and fur-trading village recently found several pieces of ceramics that match a bowl uncovered in June, as well as a possible sugar bowl and a pocketknife.

These finds follow the discovery of a pair of green glass sleeve buttons, unearthed earlier this month.

The artifacts are just the latest in a summer full of discoveries made at the fort’s current archaelogical dig site. So far this season, archaeologists have found part of a red earthenware bowl, a one-ounce brass weight marked with a crown, a fleur-de-lis stamped brass weight from a set of nesting apothecary weights, a King’s 8th button, and more.

A pocketknife was recently found during the ongoing archaeological dig at Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, Mich. | Photo courtesy of Mackinac State Historic Parks

This year’s discoveries add to the more than 1,000,000 artifacts unearthed over six decades at Colonial Michilimackinaw, one of a number of living history museums and nature parks in northern Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac that are overseen by Mackinac State Historic Parks.

The current excavation site at Michilimackinac is the fort’s “House E,” where work in recent years has uncovered artifacts such as a lead seal dating between 1717 and 1769, a brass sleeve button with an intaglio bust on it, a potential structural post dating to the original 1715 fort, an engraved “Jesuit” trade ring, a brass serpentine sideplate for a British trade gun, complete remnants from a creamware plate, and many other items.

The archaeological dig at Michilimackinac began in 1959, making it one of the longest-running archaeology programs in North America. Archaeologists are on site every day at the fort, weather permitting, throughout the summer. The final day of the 2022 archaeology season is August 20.

Source: https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/08/archaeo...

LiDAR technology confirms the existence of a "Lost City" in the Brazilian Amazon

APIACÁS, Brazil, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brazilian Amazon may be the cradle of the oldest city in the world.The mapping analysis performed by LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology in Apiacás/MT indicates it. The laser scanning is performed by an airplane, the technology uses pulses of laser that can penetrate through the vegetation without needing to deforest the bush. The images, published on Sunday (August the 7th 2022), during a live YouTube broadcast on Dakila Research´s channel (Dakila being an association of independent researchers) show that the place, "Apiacás Lines", was man made.

Ratanabá laser scanning. Photo credit: Ecossistema Dakila.

In June, authorized by the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, using its own resources, Dakila´s researchers used two aircrafts to fly over and track the place known as "The Apiacás Lines" in order to laser scan the area with LiDAR technology. Aerial images of the place showed surprising symmetrical patterns that can be seen with the naked eye. The lines appear to be squares or streets of a possible ancient city. According to dating carried out by researchers from the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP- São Paulo State University), in Rio Claro (SP), a group of rocks found on the site are about 1.5 billion years old.

"It's been more than 30 years of research to find that place. It might be one of the greatest discoveries of all time: Ratanabá, the "Lost City" in the Brazilian Amazon. According to our studies, Ratanabá was the capital of the world, built by the Muril, a pre-diluvian civilization and its ramifications go beyond the Brazilian Amazon, extending all over the world, according to Urandir Fernandes de Oliveira, president of Dakila Research Association. Dakila Research currently has 16 bases of investigation in the Amazon states such as Rondônia, Amazonas, Amapá, Roraima and Acre.

During Dakila´s live broadcast on it´s Youtube channel, archaeologist Saulo Ivan Nery explained that the presence of these "straight lines" on the ground are totally different than the natural patterns of surface erosion found in the region, alleging anthropic origin (man-made) of the "lines".

Surveys of the local topography and of river basins in the area were carried out by the Brazilian Army and the Brazilian Geography Institute, used in a comparative study with the LiDAR images, have confirmed human intervention.

The total area scanned using the LIDAR technology on the "Apiacás Lines" encompass 95 hectares, of which we can identify around 30 "blocks" and 30 "streets". The "blocks" have a height of about 50 meters in relation to the ground.

In different places of the Amazon Forest, sophisticated metal objects have been found, such as coins, medals, chests and swords; unkonwn rocks that have a strange glow in the dark; elongated skulls that have about 80 cm of cranial length and a fossilized footprint on a rock that is more than two meters in size.

SOURCE: Associação Dakila Pesquisas

'Lost' Ancient City in Mexico had as many buildings as Manhattan

Thousand-year-old 'lost' pyramid city uncovered in the heart of Mexico using lasers had as many buildings as modern Manhattan

  • Experts used lasers to send beams of light from an aircraft to the ground below to build up a map of the area

  • They discovered a lost pyramid city known as Angamuco built by the Purépecha, rivals to the Aztecs

  • The city was more than double the size of Tzintzuntzan, the culture's capital, at 10 square miles (26 sq km)

  • It contained 40,000 building foundations which is roughly the same as on the island of Manhattan

In Mexico, a remarkable discovery was made that took the globe by storm. An ancient civilisation lived in this location, according to the archaeologist team conducting the digs, and the metropolis may have had as many buildings as modern-day Manhattan.

The finding was uncovered west of Mexico City, near the metropolis of Morelia, where an old city dating back to 900 AD appears to be located.

It was initially inhabited by the Purepecha culture. They are well-known for being the Aztecs’ adversaries.

The city was initially built on thousands of years old lava flow and covered an area of more than 16 square miles.

The findings, which were announced during the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, have implications for understanding the region’s history of migration, land use and conservation and even early climate changes, participants said. 

Using airborne mapping, researchers are discovering new archaeological sites that show pre-Columbian Mesoamerica was 'significantly more densely populated at the time of European contact' than previously thought. 

Professor Fisher pointed to a previous city he has studied in the Mosquitia Rainforest of Honduras.

Thousands of Mayan people lived in complex cities with central plazas, pyramids, reservoirs, canals and terraced farmlands in this area 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.

Using Light Detection and Ranging scanning, the team was able to determine how many structures existed in the city in the first place, as well as how huge they could have been. The data were quickly delivered to them, and they were astounded, to say the least, to learn that over 40,000 buildings may have been constructed here in ancient times.

The city of Angamuco was discovered in 2007, but no one expected it to be as large or modern as it was.

Sometime in the 1530s, Europeans discovered these cities and brought new diseases that killed an estimated nine out of 10 people of the city’s residents within a generation, Professor Fisher said.

There is evidence that the cities’ remaining residents ritually de-sanctified their religious sites before abandoning them, which were subsequently forgotten and hidden by dense tropical forests.

Documenting these sites now is critical, because 'accelerating rates of global change are threatening our patrimony in ways we’ve never seen before,' Professor Fisher added.

Researchers announced the groundbreaking discovery of more than 60,000 previously unknown structures including pyramids, palaces, and causeways, that once made up a massive pre-Columbian civilization.

To uncover the megalopolis, the team used Lidar to look beneath the forest canopy in northern Peten - an area close to already-known Mayan cities.

The discovery suggests that Central America supported a civilization that was, at its peak 1,500 years ago, more advanced than ancient Greek and Chinese cultures.

The landscape may have been home to up to 15 million individuals and the abundance of defensive walls, ramparts and fortresses suggests that warfare was rife throughout their existence and not just at the end.

Hundreds of ancient treasures seized by US Customs returned to Mexico

Mexico has recovered more than 400 archaeological treasures dating back hundreds of years after they were seized in the U.S.

The 428 artifacts include arrowheads, spear tips and knives, in addition to tools and hide scrapers dating back to between 900 A.D. and 1600 A.D. They have also recovered fossils of a 60-million-year-old marine oyster.

The treasures were handed over to Mexico's consulate in Portland, Oregon, by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office.

One of many objects seized by Mexican authorities in an undated picture. They got by the US authorities. (/ Zenger)
INAH/Zenger

Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past (INAH) launched a press release from Zenger Information on Tuesday, which stated: “The INAH has preserved many items from desert cultures, comparable to projectile factors, flint knives, shell and bone artifacts, marine fossils and natural parts.

“They had been seized by america Customs and Border Safety and delivered to the Mexican consulate in Portland.”

The institute stated it obtained the articles from the Mexican Ministry of International Affairs after the ministry obtained the articles from america.

The Mexican company additionally stated: “Throughout the formalization of the cargo, which happened on the State Division’s headquarters, the efforts of the U.S. authorities, whose Customs and Border Safety Company seized the amount of things associated to historical cultures settled in northern Mexico, had been highlighted delivered them to the Mexican consulate in Portland, Oregon.”

One of many objects seized by Mexican authorities in an undated picture. Treasures recovered from america included arrowheads, scrapers created from shell and bone, and knives.
INAH/Zenger

Jaime Alejandro Bautista Valdespino, Deputy Director of the Register of Movable Archaeological Monuments at INAH, who oversaw the handover, stated that based on preliminary info, the objects transferred to Mexico by diplomatic mail “dated to the late Postclassic interval (AD 900-1600). ) and are related to human teams from the desert cultures who settled within the areas now occupied by the Northern Mexico and Southern United States entities.

Objects included arrowheads, scrapers created from shell and bone, and knives. The artefacts handed over additionally included varied marine fossils from the Exogyra Genus – an extinct genus of fossil sea oysters.

The Exogyra date again about 60 million years, to the Cretaceous Interval.

One of many objects seized by Mexican authorities in an undated picture. Authorities stated the artifacts had been confiscated by america Customs and Border Safety Company and delivered to the Mexican consulate in Portland.
INAH/Zenger

Archaeologist Alejandro Bautista stated that every of the 428 items “will likely be protected by the INAH and registered within the Establishment’s Public Register of Archaeological and Historic Monuments and Zones, with the opportunity of them changing into a part of exhibitions in museums”.

Bautista harassed the significance of sustaining cooperative relationships with overseas governments to advertise a tradition of restitution and urged individuals to chorus from looting nationwide heritage websites and unlawful commerce.

This story was supplied to Newsweek by Zenger Information.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/hundreds-ancient-...

Ancient Olmec reliefs recovered by archaeologists in Mexico

Newly recovered reliefs both show a face with their arms crossed. Symbols also appear at the sides of the reliefs. 

Olmec relief in the Park-Museum of La Venta. Huimanguillo, Tabasco, Mexico

(photo credit: LBM1948/Wikimedia commons)

Two reliefs from the Olmec civilization were discovered by archaeologists from the Tenosique-based National Institute of Anthropology and History (Spanish: El Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, or INAH)  in the Mexican state of Tabasco, the institute reported on Friday.

Both artifacts represented local rulers dating back to 900-400 BC of the Middle Usumacinta region, located between the Chacamax River and the San Pedro River, which is also where archaeologists determine the reliefs originate from, according to Heritage Daily.

Both also have a diameter of approximately 1.4 meters. Each one also weighs about 700 kilograms.

The reliefs are sculpted similarly, with both showing a face with their arms crossed. Symbols also appear at the sides of the reliefs. 

How were they found and where will they go?

Carlos Arturo, the director of the INAH Tabasco Center, Carlos Arturo, said that the sculptures were recovered due to a report made by a researcher from the Center for Mayan Studies in 2019.

A recently found stuccoed head of the young Mayan god of maize is seen at the Palenque archaeological site in Chiapas state, Mexico. (credit: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY/HANDOUT via REUTERS)

The reliefs were transferred to the Pomona Site Museum.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-...

8 Disturbing Facts About Real Shrunken Heads

Are shrunken heads real? How are shrunken heads made? Although the realities of head shrinking are gruesome, it’s also deeply intriguing. So, if you’ve ever wanted the facts about shrunken heads, here are 8 disturbing ones we think you should know.

Shrunken heads, also known to natives as tsantsas, are a traditional ritual rooted in superstition and mystery. Here, we’re exploring what they were used for, how they were made, if the practice still exists, and other questions you might have about shrunken heads.

 

Beware! It can get pretty gruesome, so if you have a weak stomach, it’s probably best to check out some of our other articles.



1. What Were Shrunken Heads Used For?

Shrunken head in The Knight Bus

Tsantsas are severed human heads that were used by tribal cultures in myriad ways. Sometimes, they were used as a trophy. In other cases, tribes might use them to scare off an enemy, using the heads as a threat. These were also used in religious rituals and, recently, they were even used for trade purposes.



2. Which Countries Or Cultures Performed Head Shrinking?

Although headhunting was a common practice among many ancient tribes, the act of shrinking those heads has only been found throughout the northwestern Amazonian region of South America.

Known as the Jivaroan people, these tribes in the Amazon region include the Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa, and Aguaruna people of modern-day Ecuador and Peru.

Jivaro Territory highlighted in red, between Ecuador and Peru, via Wheeler Expeditions, 2016.

Additionally, there is some evidence that the Aztecs practiced a shrunken head ritual along with tribes in some areas of modern-day Venezuela. It seems to be a tradition that is most-often associated with indigenous South Americans and has been brought into voodoo culture of similar origins.


3. Are Shrunken Heads Real Human Heads?

Shrunken head compared with a normal human skull, via Wellcome Museum

Yes, they are real human heads. That means that if you’ve seen authentic tsantsas exhibited at museums and in private collections around the world, they would have belonged to actual human beings. Pretty crazy, right?

However, it is now estimated that around 80 percent of all these heads in museum collections are actually counterfeit versions of the tribal token. But more on that later.


4. How Were Shrunken Heads Made?

After a successful hunt, the priests begin the shrinking process, via Real Shrunken Heads, 2017.

Shrunken head rituals seem to most often be associated with war and the superstitions behind getting rid of your enemy. Headhunter warriors would decapitate enemies of the tribe and, depending on the ritual, the shrinking process could begin right away.

 

The warrior might remove their headband and thread it through the neck and mouth of the decapitated head for easy transport. The warrior also might make an incision from the back of the neck, all the way up the skull, preparing to remove the skin and hair.

 

After a successful hunt, the priests begin the shrinking process, via Real Shrunken Heads, 2017.




A collection of shrunken heads in display in “Ye Olde Curiosity Shop” in Seattle, Washington, via Wikipedia, 2008.

The discarded skulls would often be offered to anacondas, which were seen as spiritual guides in their culture. Then, once the warriors returned to the tribe, the boiling process would begin with lavish celebrations full of eating and drinking.

 

First, the eyelids were sewn shut and the lips were skewered with sticks. Then, in a large boiling pot of water, the heads were simmered, emerging about a third of their original size with darker skin that was more rubbery and tough.

 

The process continues as hot stones and sand were placed inside the heads which created a “tanning” effect on the inside and the head was shaped further using additional hot stones until it was molded into the desired shape.

 

Finally, the heads were rubbed with charcoal or smoked over a fire to blacken, as it was believed that this would keep the avenged soul from escaping the head. Then, the head was placed on a stick or attached to string as a trophy either carried or worn around a warrior’s neck.

5. How Long Does It Take to Make a Shrunken Head?

A Jivaro priest is shown teaching the head shrinking ritual to the future successors of the tribe, via “All that’s Interesting”, 2018.

The shrinking process doesn’t take long at all. The ritual side of things, on the other hand, would usually last a total of about six days. For the heads to shrink, they would be boiled for only about two hours. Boiling it for too long would leave them ending up gooey and destroyed.

 

Although it doesn’t’ take an exorbitant amount of time, surprisingly, these were discarded immediately after the ritual and celebrations were complete. But, when tourists and collectors started to become interested, these tribes saw an opportunity to use shrunken heads as goods in trading practices. Otherwise, they were often fed to animals or given to children as toys.


6. Does the Shrunken Head Practice Still Exist?

“Tsantsa” or Shrunken Head of a warrior, via Real Shrunken Heads, 2017.

The trafficking of these heads was outlawed by Ecuadorian and Peruvian governments in the 1930s but there doesn’t seem to be any laws in Ecuador or Peru that prevent shrinking heads outright.

 

In the 90 years since lawmakers made the sale of tsantsas illegal, it may have still been practiced by the older generations. But the more Western culture and religion seeped into the area, the less these rituals were executed.

 

Most likely, an authentic shrunken head hasn’t been made in over 20 years.

 

7. Can Shrunken Heads Be Obtained or Bought Today?

Tsantsas from South America were highly sought-after commodities by Westerners, especially during the late 1800s and early 1900s. This meant that tribes actually started killing each other just to meet this commercial demand.

 

As previously mentioned, the sale of them became illegal by the 1930s which discouraged murder for this purpose. So, if you see them being sold online, you can assume that they’re not actually human heads that were shrunken as a tribal ritual. Still, if you’re enamored by these cultures and superstitions, it might still be something you want to have for yourself, regardless of its authenticity.


8. What Are Shrunken Head Replicas Made From?

Replica of a Tsantsa made with animal skin, via Dead Isled Morgue, 2020.

Shrunken head replicas can be made of synthetic materials such as leather or fabric while others are made of animals such as pigs, cows, or chimpanzees. However, the legality of using animals for this purpose is also in question.

 

As you might imagine, many fake tsantsas are offered and sold as genuine to collectors and casual buyers at relatively high prices. So, even if a seller is claiming to have a real shrunken head, it’s smart to be skeptical of such claims.

 

Overall, the heads have a gruesome yet interesting history and these artifacts have surely made their way into mainstream culture. Now, you probably associate shrunken heads with voodoo or Harry Potter magic. But hopefully, this sheds some light on their origins.


Source: https://www.thecollector.com/shrunken-head...

Footprints Discovery Suggests Ancient ‘Ghost Tracks’ May Cover the West

Scientists have discovered ancient human footprints in Utah, traces, they say, of adults and children who walked barefoot along a shallow riverbed more than 12,000 years ago.

It took “pure chance” to make this discovery at the Utah Test and Training Range, a 2.3-million-acre site where the U.S. Armed Forces test experimental aircraft and other military hardware, said Tommy Urban, a research scientist at Cornell University. Following on Dr. Urban and his colleagues’ recent studies of ancient human and other mammal tracks at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the Utah tracks extend scientific understanding of ancient North America by revealing not just the existence of a diversity of animals and humans, but also evidence of their behaviors.

Daron Duke, a Nevada-based archaeologist for the Far Western Anthropological Research Group, invited Dr. Urban to assist with a search for ancient campfires at the Utah test range. Dr. Duke and his team published a paper on the contents of one campsite last year.

While driving to a dig site, the two were having an animated conversation about trackways. When Dr. Duke asked what a fossil footprint looked like, Dr. Urban pointed out the window and said, “Well, kind of like THAT!” They stopped the truck, having located the first of what would turn out to be 88 footprints.

“When I spotted them from the moving vehicle, I didn’t know they were human,” Dr. Urban said. “I did know they were footprints, however, because they were in an evenly spaced, alternating sequence — a track pattern.”

The 88 footprints are in several short trackways, some of which indicate that people may have simply been congregating in one area. “It doesn’t look like we just happened to find someone walking from point A to point B,” Dr. Duke said. They believe these footprints are of people who lived nearby. “Maybe collecting things. Maybe just enjoying themselves” in the shallow water, he added.

Dr. Duke said they had also found a type of stone spear tip in a nearby site that might have been used to hunt large animals, but no evidence of the animals yet.

Dr. Urban compared the Utah footprints to the “ghost tracks” in White Sands, a term used for tracks that appear only under certain conditions, then disappear just as quickly. The fossil tracks in New Mexico, as much as 23,000 years old, were uncovered using ground-penetrating radar technology and contained a treasure trove of revelations: tracks of ancient humans and megafauna intersecting and interacting with each other. They showed proof that ancient humans walked in the footprints of enormous proboscideans and vice versa; that one human raced across the mud holding a child, put that child down at one point, picked that child back up and then rushed off to an unknown destination; that at least one giant ground sloth was followed by ancient humans, rose up on its hind legs and twirled as the humans surrounded it; that children played in puddles.

The discovery of the additional set of tracks in Utah suggests that there are other sites around the United States where more about ancient human behavior waits to be revealed.

“The western U.S. has many similar settings that could have early footprint sites,” Dr. Urban said of the salt flats. He added, “Now we have a second location, there are probably more out there.”

Still, finding human footprints was surprising. Humans haven’t inhabited the area for thousands of years. It’s a desert, it’s remote and it’s a military installation.

“When we thought through these options, concluding that the most logical explanation is that the footprints were made during the late Pleistocene, then we were excited,” Dr. Urban said.

The Utah footprints are more than what appears on the surface.

“They are subtle, because they are flush with the ground surface and generally covered in a veneer of the same sediment,” Dr. Urban said. “You wouldn’t necessarily notice them if you didn’t already know what to look for.”

When footprints are made, the pressure of the tracks impacts the subsurface, offering information about the weight and size of the people or animals making those tracks, as well as the speed at which they are moving. By studying them with ground-penetrating radar, the team was able to find additional footprints and understand more about the tracks without destroying them.

Dr. Urban and his teammates taught Dr. Duke how to carefully excavate some of the tracks. It was Dr. Duke’s first time working with footprints, and he admitted to feeling trepidation about excavating them. But, he said, “when you see the children’s toes forming in what you’re digging, that’s just amazing.”

The staff at Hill Air Force Base, which administers the range, has worked to include and inform Native American communities about the discovery.

“I’ve now known for about three weeks, and I have to admit, I’m still processing because it is a once-in-a-lifetime find,” said Anya Kitterman, an archaeologist overseeing Dr. Duke and his colleagues’ work on behalf of the Air Force at the test range. “There’s something so personal about the footprints and being able to walk alongside these trackways knowing that someone years ago walked right there.”

Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, a Shoshone tribal member and cultural and natural resource manager for the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, said she couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the tracks.

“It gives us proof that our people were here,” she said. “And I think our people have always been here.”

Ms. Kitterman says the Air Force is now considering how to manage the discovery site. “We’re still learning this landscape and what these trackways mean,” she said. “How do we preserve them?”

And if the Utah test range site is anything like what was found at White Sands, preserving the site could be worth the trouble, because the researchers think there will be so much more to learn.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/science...

Conquistadors sacrificed and eaten by Aztec-era people, archaeologists say

Researchers say evidence shows Acolhuas, allies of a major Aztec city known to have captured a Spanish convoy in 1520, killed and cannibalised their captives

Aztecs under attack: Hernán Cortés, with 200 Spaniards and 5,000 Indians defeats a larger Aztec force in 1520. Photograph: Unknown/ Archivo Iconografico, S.A./CORBIS

Spanish conquistadors, women, children and horses were imprisoned for months, sacrificed and eaten by contemporaries of the Aztecs, archaeologists report after unveiling new research from ruins near Mexico City.

Although Spanish chroniclers including Hernán Cortés, who led the conquest of Mexico in 1520, recorded the capture of a convoy that year, archaeologists are for the first time uncovering details of what happened when a native people first encountered the Spanish, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said in an announcement of its findings.

Only a few dozen miles from the relative safety of the Spanish army, the convoy of conquistadors and allies encountered a local people known as the Acolhuas, allies of Tetzcoco, a major Aztec city.

Somehow, the caravan – archaeologists estimate it included 15 Spaniards, 45 soldiers from the colonies, 50 women, 10 children and a large number of indigenous allies – was captured. Over the next six months, its members met a grisly end.

Traces of construction show that the Acolhuas had to remake Zultepec, a town just east of the capital, then called Tenochtitlan, to accommodate the prisoners, archaeologist Enrique Martinez said in a statement.

The town was eventually renamed from Zultepec to Tecoaque, which in the native Nahuatl language means: “The place where they ate them.”

The Acolhuas housed the prisoners in ad hoc cells, where archaeologists found the remains of the caravan members with signs that they had been sacrificed. Every few days, Martinez said, the priests chose someone to kill, sometimes in the town square, sometimes in their cell and within earshot of the others.

The archaeologists said the townspeople sacrificed people in honor of the serpentine fertility god Quetzalcoatl, the jaguar god Tezcatlipoca and the aquiline warrior god Huitzilopochtli.

“Different deities needed different sacrifices,” Rosemary Joyce, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Guardian.

“It was traditional in the back and forth between the Aztecs [and contemporaries] to sacrifice people who were captured, specifically warriors.”

Women and children were also chosen, said Joyce, who was not involved in the excavations. “Children in particular were selected for rain deities.”

Clay figurines, some represented in European-looking garb, are among the 15,000 artifacts unearthed from the site. They likely played a role in rituals, Martinez told the Associated Press. “We have figurines of blacks, of Europeans, that were then intentionally decapitated.”

Lisa Overholtzer, a McGill University anthropologist who has studied similar figurines, expressed skepticism about the the artifacts, saying that despite their trappings “there is nothing that clearly indicates the individual is Spanish”.

But if the figurines are dated to 1520, she said, “it would represent perhaps the earliest appearance of this kind of figurine, in a period when racial categories were still in flux”.

One miniature sculpture resembles something not quite human, and instead has “an angel’s face on one side and a demon with goat horns on the other”, the researchers said.

Sacrifice was not the end for the victims. Skeletons show the marks of cuts consistent with flesh cleaved from bones, Martinez said, suggesting that the townspeople ate not just the horses but the caravan travelers as well.

Martinez could not be reached to describe evidence of cannibalism, however, and other archaeologists cautioned that such claims were sometimes founded in colonists’ accounts and not always supported by material evidence.

Some of the human remains were placed around the site, as on a bone rack of skulls that later greeted the avenging Spaniards sent by Cortés. In another case, inside the pelvis of a woman who was sacrificed and dismembered in a plaza, the Acolhuas placed the skull of a one-year-old child.

Only the pigs were spared the full treatment, apparently because they so baffled the native people.

“The pigs were sacrificed and hidden in a well, but there is no evidence they were cooked,” Martinez said.

When Cortés learned of the massacre he sent a force to destroy the town and the Acolhuas. Martinez said the ruins of Zultepec-Tecoaque suggest its inhabitants tried to quickly abandon and hide evidence of the sacrifices by tossing the Europeans’ belongings in certain rooms and in cisterns.

Archaeologists have found more than 200 objects, including a riding spur, a brooch, rings, iron nails and glazed ceramic figurines, in 11 cisterns around the site, and plan to explore three more in the coming months.

Cortés’ soldiers destroyed the town, but Acolhuas’ attempt to bury remnants of the sacrifices actually helped preserve the evidence for later archaeologists, Martinez noted.

The identification of indigenous allies in the Spanish caravan struck Overholtzer as a telling sign of the complex world into which the invaders marched.

“The Spanish were able to ultimately conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan not because of guns or steel,” she said, “but because of their fierce, skilled indigenous warrior allies.”

Martinez argued that the findings showed that indigenous people fought back against the conquistadors, in contrast to the popular story that Mesoamerican peoples ceded to the Spanish quickly.

But betrayal was a way of life as much in the Americas as in Europe in the 16th century, University of Florida archaeologist Susan Gillespie said, and: “Cortés learned of, and exploited, these political rifts to his advantage.”

By the time the conquistador laid a final siege on the Aztec capital, the Acolhuas had allied themselves with Spain.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct...

Ancient Maya installed gemstones in their teeth. It wasn’t just fashion.

The ancient Maya enjoyed filling their teeth with gemstones. A new study reveals how the procedure was done and how it didn't kill them.

  • The Maya once installed gemstones in their teeth as a fashion statement that might also have had medicinal benefits.

  • The dental procedure appears to have been surprisingly common, and its practitioners managed to do it without killing the patient.

  • A recent study suggests elements of the cement used to hold the stone in place may have kept infection and cavities at bay.

The ancient Maya civilization has long intrigued the modern world because of its impressive cities and temples, its invention of the concept of zero, and its sudden and mysterious collapse. But among the lesser-known aspects of Maya society was a tendency for citizens to decorate their teeth with gemstones directly inlaid into the enamel.

A study recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports found that this procedure may have been more common than previously thought, and that the Maya were surprisingly skilled at the dental procedure.

More than just bling

A thousand years before Pierre Fauchard began his work on replacing lost teeth with ivory dentures in France or the introduction of grillz into parts of popular culture, the Maya were both taking excellent care of their teeth through regular cleaning and filling their teeth into pointed shapes for what were long presumed to be ritual reasons. They were also placing semiprecious stones into their teeth as seen below:

The eight Maya teeth used in the study. (Hernández-Bolio et al., Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022)

While these samples can seem a little dull, a wide variety of gems have been found in teeth from burial sites, including jadeite, iron pyrites, hematite, turquoise, quartz, serpentine, and cinnabar. The visual effect would have been vibrant during the lifetime of the person who had the surgery done.

Getting a gemstone in the middle of your incisor is a bit more complicated than a filling. These inlays require digging deep openings into the surface of the tooth, setting a stone into it, and sealing it in place. This can lead to irritation at best and pulp necrosis and apical periodontitis at worst if done improperly.

Learning how they managed to carry out this surgery was one of the key motivations for this new study. Eight teeth from sites known to have been part of the Lowland Maya culture were selected for the large amount of sealant still present on them. The teeth all date back to the first millennium.

How to prevent cavities before toothpaste

The stones did not stay in place with mere glue. The cement the Maya used was a complex mixture that most likely also had medicinal benefits. Pine resin, found in some of the samples, is thought to have a number of antimicrobial qualities. Two of the skeletons had hints of sclareolide, a product used in cosmetics and often found in clary sage and tobacco. This substance has antifungal and antibacterial traits and could bestow these benefits into the cement as well. Oils from plants related to mint were also detected, which could bestow anti-inflammatory effects when used in this way.

While the different skeletons had different cement compounds, the overall effect of the components in the cement appears to be similar: The concoction may have offered some protection against cavities and the side effects of the surgery. Plus, the cement has lasted 1,000 years and continues to hold the stones in place.

The authors concluded that:

“The analyses conducted on dental sealings from the Maya lowlands demonstrate the rich blend of organic components in the production of ancient dental cements. Our study confirms that these were not merely agglutinants. Rather, as anticipated by Fastlicht, the Maya developed complex recipes for their dental cements to produce adhesives that not only preserved for over a millennium but likely provided hygienic and therapeutic properties.”

The study also noted that none of the remains appear to be those of royals, and most of them appear to belong to members of middling socioeconomic classes. This suggests that the procedure was common and not limited to the elite — though as many as one in three elite males may have had the procedure done. The three sites in the study were all of what we now consider the Maya culture, but were spread across what is now Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, suggesting that knowledge of how to use these plant materials spread with the tendency to alter teeth in this way.

Although the findings are unlikely to bring gemstone dental inlays back into fashion, they do highlight how common this complex procedure once was, why it worked, and yet another way the cleverness of the Maya expressed itself.

Source: https://bigthink.com/the-past/maya-dental-...

Inti Raymi: The Mysterious Inca God Sun Festival that is still Celebrated by Indigenous Populations

The Inti Raymi was the most important ancestral festival in the Inca lands (Tahuantinsuyo) to which about 25,000 people used to attend during the 15 days it used to last in the 15th century. Now it is considered to be the second most important festival in South America, after Rio de Janeiro’s carnival.

The Inti Raymi (Quechua for "Inti festival")[1] is a traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for "sun"), the most venerated deity in Inca religion. It was the celebration of the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year in terms of the time between sunrise and sunset – and the Inca New Year, when the hours of light would begin to lengthen again. In territories south of the equator, the Gregorian months of June and July are winter months. It is held on June 24.

During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi was the most important of four ceremonies celebrated in Cusco, as related by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The celebration took place in the Haukaypata or the main plaza in the city.

Overview

According to chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, Sapa Inca Pachacuti created the Inti Raymi to celebrate the new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. The ceremony was also said to symbolize the mythical origin of the Inca people. It lasted for nine days and was filled with colorful dances and processions, as well as animal sacrifices to thank Pachamama and to ensure a good harvest season. The first Inti Raymi was in 1412. The last Inti Raymi with the Inca Emperor's presence was carried out in 1535. After this, the Spanish colonists and their Catholic priests banned the ceremony and other Inca religious practices.

In 1944, a historical reconstruction of the Inti Raymi was directed by Faustino Espinoza Navarro and indigenous actors. The first reconstruction was based largely on the chronicles of Garcilaso de la Vega and referred only to the religious ceremony. Since 1944, an annual theatrical representation of the Inti Raymi has been taking place at Saksaywaman on June 24, two kilometers (1.24 miles) from the original site of celebration in central Cusco. It attracts thousands of tourists and local visitors.

Inti Raymi is still celebrated in indigenous cultures throughout the Andes. Celebrations involve music, wearing of colorful costumes (most notable the woven aya huma mask), and the sharing of food. In many parts of the Andes though, this celebration has also been connected to the western Catholic festivals of Saint John the Baptist (June 24), which falls a few days after the southern winter solstice (June 21). The celebration today begins at Qorikancha, followed by the Plaza de Armas, and other important sites of the Incan times.

The tradition is maintained as a theatrical representation charged with mysticism and spirituality. During this date, thousands of national and foreign tourists walk the streets of the historic Cusco, Peru, and gather to experience closely a special day of cultural activities, with the aim to keep the Inca legacy.

There are about 700 people, including actors, dancers and musicians who – dressed in typical clothing – star in a series of staging’s that include dances, performances and praises performed outside the Qorikancha complex and the Sacsayhuamán fortress, as well as in the Plaza of Arms of the city.

The triumphant return of the Sun on the shortest day and on the longest night renews the nature and it is reason for joy and celebration. So the Inca and his entourage pay their respects and admiration to the Sun, the Inca says a prayer in the Quechua language and simulates a sacrifice so that a shaman can predict the prosperity and well-being of the coming year.

The Inti Raymi is not an exclusive celebration of Cusco, since most of the Andean populations continue presenting their offerings every June 24 in countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, northern Argentina and Colombia.

On March 3, 2001, the Inti Raymi was declared Cultural Patrimony of the Nation. Its organization and production is now in charge of the Municipal Company of Celebrations of Cusco (EMUFEC).