The Inca people of South America built an enormous empire using nothing but Bronze Age technologies, only to see it ripped apart by invading Spanish forces. The destruction by the Spanish was so absolute that in many cases aspects of Inca culture must be pieced together from the little evidence that remains. In the case of their death practices, the evidence suggests that caring for the dead was an important aspect of Inca culture.
Inca Mummies
No Inca mummies survive today. The last was destroyed by the Spanish in 1559. However what does survive is descriptions from a Spanish priest, Father Bernabe Cobo, who was fortunate enough to see one of these mummies before its destruction. He describes a body that appeared to be alive, so well was it preserved. Calabash rinds had been placed under the skin of the cheeks (thus keeping the face full in shape), false eyes had been installed to make the body seem alert, and the skin, around the face at least, was unwrapped and had achieved a sort of gloss.
These mummies were sacred objects to the Inca, and rival family groups could even steal each others’ ancestral mummies as a kind of kidnapping to force the affected family into certain courses of action. When the Spanish were intent on finding tombs to raid for the riches laid within, the Inca made no attempt to save the gold—but they did save the mummies. The bodies of royal Inca were especially sacred, so much so that the Inca worshipped the ashes of two royal mummies that had been destroyed by the Spanish, until even the ashes were confiscated.
Caring for the Inca Dead
For the average Inca, caring for their ancestral dead was not too taxing. The mummies would be periodically offered food, drink, and clothing. The food was grown on a section of the family’s land specifically devoted to the dead. The making of the clothes and the general care of the mummies fell to the elderly men of the family no longer fit for hard labor. The average Inca might only worship ancestors as far back as his great-grandfather.
For royal mummies, it was an entirely different story. Each deceased Inca king kept the estates he had in life. His body was maintained in state by his descendents, who treated him as though he were still alive. They would eat with him, ask his advice, allow the living to see him, and take him on visits to friends and relatives both alive and deceased. Unlike the average Inca, this treatment did not cease after a few generations, but was maintained indefinitely. On certain occasions, all royal mummies were taken on a procession and given a great feast.
Death Practices and the Expansion of the Inca Empire
Inca royalty exercised a practice called “split inheritance.” This meant that the king’s primary heir inherited nothing but his crown, while all of his secondary heirs received all of his estates and possessions (this way all of his children were cared for and he had plenty of people to make sure his afterlife was as opulent as his life had been).
If the new king wanted estates of his own, both to support a luxurious lifestyle while he was alive and to assure his continued care after death, he would have to go out and conquer new lands. In this way the Inca Empire grew with every generation of king, meaning that death practices were, in the end, the driving force behind the expansion of one of the greatest ancient empires in the world.
Source: Cobo, Father Bernabe. Inca Religion and Customs. Trans. Roland Hamilton. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
Conrad, Geoffrey W. and Arthur A. Demarest. Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism. Cambridge University Press: New York, 1984.
Moseley, Michael E. The Incas and Their Ancestors: the Archaeology of Peru. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
Talia Sepersky - I am a 2008 graduate of Wellesley College, where I earned my Bachelor's in astrophysics. A year later I earned my Master's in science ...
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