Sacrificed llama mummies unearthed in Peru - Live Science

The llamas were adorned with earrings and necklaces.

Archaeologists in Peru have found the naturally mummified remains of five llamas that were sacrificed to the Incan gods about 500 years ago.

The mummified llamas are still adorned with the colorful strings, red paint and feathers that the Inca decorated them with before sending them to their deaths, likely by burying these animals alive.

The finding is so rare, that even though archaeologists have been excavating the remains of the Inca Empire (also spelled Inka) along the Pacific Coast of South America for more than a century, "none of them have found anything like this," study lead researcher Lidio Valdez, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary in Canada, told Live Science. .

Four llamas — one brown and three white — were buried together in one building, and a single brown llama was found beneath the floor in the other building, Valdez said.

"The llamas had been buried facing east," likely because the sun, which rises in the east, was a major Inca deity, he noted.

The young llamas were richly decorated; long string tassels dyed red, yellow, green and purple were attached to the llamas' ears.

"Indeed, historical records indicate that brown llamas were sacrificed to the creator Viracocha, while white llamas to the sun, the Inka main deity.".

Moreover, one of the white llamas was buried with a guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), and all three white llamas were buried with the feathers of a tropical bird attached to 4-inch-long (10 centimeters) sticks.

The three white llamas were also buried near pits filled with maize cobs, lima beans and guinea pigs, as well as a package of ash (known as lime) associated with the chewing of coca, a leaf considered sacred by the Inca; it's also the raw ingredient used to make cocaine.

Perhaps, this animal sacrifice had a larger purpose; it may have helped maintain the Inca's power over their empire, Valdez said

Nine separate radiocarbon dates indicate that these llamas were sacrificed in about 1500, or near the end of the Inca occupation of the site at Tambo Viejo

Earlier research there by Valdez revealed the discovery of several dozens of sacrificed guinea pigs that were also adorned with colorful string earrings and necklaces, according to a 2019 study in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Early Spaniards in South America noted that the Inca sacrificed these animals by the hundreds, but this is some of the first direct evidence that that it really happened, Valdez said