The capacocha of the Sara Sara volcano: description and analysis of the objects offered and the ritual context

Abstract

This report analyses the sacrificial context of the young female found in 1996 at the Sara Sara volcano in Ayacucho. The ensuing discussion, held from an ethnohistorical and archaeological perspective, shows the potential presence of a hierarchy among the capacochas, and also perhaps brings us closer, for the first time, to the function of this human sacrifice. This allows us to envision the individuality of the assemblage of ritual goods, which was directly connected with the message deployed within the Inca systems of power—in this specific case one of a propitiatory and agrarian nature—.