Early Spanish reports suggest thousands of guinea pigs were sacrificed—but this is the first time archaeological evidence of the practice has been found.
One hundred ritually sacrificed guinea pigs dressed up in jewelry have been discovered at an Inca archaeological site in Peru. The rodents were found to have been adorned with earrings and necklaces, and some of them wrapped up in tiny rugs—the first time such a find has been made.
In a study that has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Lidio Valdez, from the Institute of Andean Studies and Acari Valley Archaeological Project, has announced the discovery of two guinea pig burial sites at the Tambo Viejo site in southern Peru. Dating revealed the guinea pigs were killed about 400 years ago.
The find itself, Valdez said, was not a huge surprise—after all, the early reports from the Spanish indicate it happened regularly. “However, I was surprised after seeing that a good number of the guinea pigs were adorned with colorful strings that were placed as earrings and necklaces,” he said. “The Spanish never mentioned anything about that.”The guinea pigs were found to have been dressed up with colorful strings. The strings had been positioned to make them into earrings and necklaces.
Analysis revealed most of the guinea pigs were juvenile: “Humans prefer the meat of young animals because of its tenderness. Humans believed that deities also deserved tender meat,” he said. “We must remember ‘young’ may also mean other things things, such as pure, uncontaminated and so on.”
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