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This silver llama figurine reveals the animal’s importance in the Inca Empire. (Image credit: Gift and Bequest of Alice K. Bache, 1974, 1977; Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain))<\/p>\n
QUICK FACTS<\/p>\n
Name: Miniature camelid effigy<\/p>\n
What it is: A silver-alloy llama figurine<\/p>\n
Where it is from: South America<\/p>\n
When it was made: 1400 to 1535<\/p>\n
This figurine of a small male camelid was made by the Inca as a “huaca” \u2014 a sacred being, site or object revered by their society. The quadruped was probably intended to be a llama<\/a> (Lama glama), but it may represent the other camelid species domesticated by Andean people: the alpaca (Lama pacos or Vicugna pacos).<\/p>\n According to The Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/a>, which has the statue in its collection, the llama stands about 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) tall and was crafted from an alloy of silver, gold and copper. After casting, an Inca artist added the creature’s features, including eyes, nostrils, toes and a wry smile.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Inca raised llamas and alpacas for a wide variety<\/a> of purposes. They were used to carry goods long distances, and people ate the animals’ meat, wove clothes from their wool, turned their bones into musical instruments, sewed hides to make shoes, collected their droppings for fuel and fertilizer<\/a>, and consumed their fat for medicinal purposes. Llamas were also key to some ancient rituals.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This figurine may have been created for the Inca ritual called “capac hucha<\/a>,” a Quechua term meaning “royal obligation,” according to The Met. This annual celebration in Cuzco, which was founded around the 12th century as the capital of the Inca Empire<\/a>, involved sacrifices of llamas, maize and children to mark important events such as a drought, the death of a ruler, or the expansion of the empire.<\/p>\n MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS<\/p>\n Among the artifacts that archaeologists have discovered at capac hucha sites are metal and shell figurines, some of which had been “dressed” with textiles and feathers and were thought to have been imbued with sacred power. And one of the three “Children of Llullaillaco<\/a>” \u2014 Inca child mummies discovered in 1999 \u2014 was buried with 11 camelid figurines made from silver, gold and shell, revealing the importance of llama effigies in death.<\/p>\n The close association between llamas and the Inca can even be seen in contemporary cinema. In Disney’s “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000), a ruler named Kuzco is transformed into a llama<\/a> that looks more than a bit like the 600-year-old miniature camelid effigy.<\/p>\n For more stunning archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts<\/a> archives.<\/p>\n