Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices
In perhaps as few as one hundred years, the Inka Empire became the largest state ever formed by a native people anywhere in the Americas, dominating the western coast of South America by the early sixteenth century. Because the Inkas had no system of writing, it was left to Spanish and semi-indigenous authors to record the details of the religious rituals that the Inkas believed were vital for consolidating their conquests. Synthesizing these arresting accounts that span three centuries, Thomas Besom presents a wealth of descriptive data on the Inka practices of human sacrifice and mountain worship, supplemented by archaeological evidence.

Of Summits and Sacrifice offers insight into the symbolic connections between landscape and life that underlay Inka religious beliefs. In vivid prose, Besom links significant details, ranging from the reasons for cyclical sacrificial rites to the varieties of mountain deities, producing a uniquely powerful cultural history.

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Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices
In perhaps as few as one hundred years, the Inka Empire became the largest state ever formed by a native people anywhere in the Americas, dominating the western coast of South America by the early sixteenth century. Because the Inkas had no system of writing, it was left to Spanish and semi-indigenous authors to record the details of the religious rituals that the Inkas believed were vital for consolidating their conquests. Synthesizing these arresting accounts that span three centuries, Thomas Besom presents a wealth of descriptive data on the Inka practices of human sacrifice and mountain worship, supplemented by archaeological evidence.

Of Summits and Sacrifice offers insight into the symbolic connections between landscape and life that underlay Inka religious beliefs. In vivid prose, Besom links significant details, ranging from the reasons for cyclical sacrificial rites to the varieties of mountain deities, producing a uniquely powerful cultural history.

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Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices

Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices

by Thomas Besom
Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices

Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices

by Thomas Besom

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Overview

In perhaps as few as one hundred years, the Inka Empire became the largest state ever formed by a native people anywhere in the Americas, dominating the western coast of South America by the early sixteenth century. Because the Inkas had no system of writing, it was left to Spanish and semi-indigenous authors to record the details of the religious rituals that the Inkas believed were vital for consolidating their conquests. Synthesizing these arresting accounts that span three centuries, Thomas Besom presents a wealth of descriptive data on the Inka practices of human sacrifice and mountain worship, supplemented by archaeological evidence.

Of Summits and Sacrifice offers insight into the symbolic connections between landscape and life that underlay Inka religious beliefs. In vivid prose, Besom links significant details, ranging from the reasons for cyclical sacrificial rites to the varieties of mountain deities, producing a uniquely powerful cultural history.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780292725720
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication date: 11/01/2009
Pages: 244
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Thomas Besom is Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Binghamton University in New York.

Table of Contents

  • List of Illustrations
  • Acknowledgments
  • Prologue
  • Chapter 1: Ethnohistory and the Inkas
  • Chapter 2: Qhapaq Hucha Sacrifice
  • Chapter 3: Other Types of Sacrifice
  • Chapter 4: Mountain Worship
  • Chapter 5: Mountain Offerings
  • Chapter 6: Reasons for Worshipping Mountains
  • Chapter 7: Material Correlates of Mountain Worship
  • Chapter 8: Conclusions
  • Epilogue
  • Notes
  • Glossary of Andean Names and Terms
  • Reference List
  • Index

What People are Saying About This

Johan Reinhard

This is an important contribution. There is no equivalent book that brings together in such detail the historical sources dealing with the topic of Inka human sacrifice and mountain worship.
Johan Reinhard, Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographical Society

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