Research Project: Molina's Account of Capacocha (posted by Jane)

Introduction

Human sacrifice has always been an interest of mine. I had studied the Inca previously in school and was interested in capacocha, the term for Incan ritual sacrifice. It was so different from what we would consider ethical today, which I find fascinating. So when I got to do a more indepth project on the Inca I naturally decided to study capacocha. However, I wanted to understand how we know what we know especially since the Inca kept no written records. Most of what we know comes from the accounts of Spanish chroniclers. Does the archaeological evidence align with what these Spaniards wrote? This is how I came up with my thesis statement: I am therefore going to evaluate Christobal de Molina (1529-1585) depiction of capacoca. I chose to look at Cristobal de Molina because he is known for his depiction of human sacrifice, whereas many other chroniclers did not focus on it.

Christobal de Molina

Christobal de Molina was a Spanish chronicler born in Spain in 1529. Not much is known about his childhood. In the mid 16th century, he went to Lima and worked as a priest at the hospital for native people where he learned lots of Quechua, the native language. The bishop commissioned him to write two books: one on the history of the Inca and the other on their religion. However, the motives for writing these books were not great; the Catholic Church wanted to destroy huacas, which were places to worship local deities. His books were used to dehumanize the Inca. Also, Molina interviewed people for much of his book so some of the accounts can be unreliable especially since many people had been conquered and oppressed by the Inca and were enemies of the Inca (Urton; Mario). 

Capacocha

Capacocha is the term for ritual sacrifice of humans. The Inca chose to sacrifice children because they were considered the purest beings (Yony).The sacrificial children were ambassadors to the gods and were told they were saving the empire (Gabriel). Children would be selected from all over the empire based on their beauty. As well, some of the chosen women were sacrificed. Chosen women were young women in training to be priestesses or concubines. After being fed very well the children would walk with priests to all four provinces with trinkets to give to the gods, but they were also an offering (Smithsonian). Sacrifices took place because of El Niño and new Sapa Inca coming to rule (Ceruti).

Methods & Sources

I did lots of research to understand my topic. I interviewed five different tour guides: Yony at Ollantaytambo, Francisco at Saxyhuman, Segio around Cusco, Gabriel the archeologist ,and Mario at Choquepuji. I watched three documentaries, read several journal articles including an archeological report and read excerpts from four books: The Inca Lost Civilizations by Kevin Lane, Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru by Elizabeth P. Benson, Human Bodies as Object of Dedication at Inca Mountaintop Shrines by Constanza Ceruti and Encyclopedia of the Incas by Gary Urton.

Also I was lucky enough to visit the Inca ruins of a lesser known capacocha site, known as Choquepujio. I ultimately found that Molina is mostly accurate.

Analysis

All of the guides I interviewed were very sceptical of the chroniclers. The main inaccuracy that they pointed out was that the chroniclers over emphasize cappacocha by saying numbers such as thousands of sacrifices were made (Yony, Gabriel, Sergio, Mario). Our guide at Saqsayhuaman, Francisco, even denied that capacocha happened at all, saying that the Spanish made it all up (Francisco). 

After researching, I disagree with our guides when it comes to Molina’s depiction of capacocha. However, even though Molina is mostly accurate he was not perfect. The most important detail that has not been proven is what Molina wrote on page 79 in his Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas: “[Children] had their live hearts taken out, and so the priests offered the beating [hearts] to the huacas” (Molina). There is no archeological evidence to show the Inca used this method (Smithsonian). However, since Molina was relying on oral accounts he may have confused the Inca with the Chumi, a neighboring empire on the coast who the Inca conquered. The largest Chumi sacrificial site had 140 children and 200 llamas with their hearts cut out. This is one of the biggest sacrificial sites in the Americas (National Geographic). So, no the Inca did not cut out the children’s hearts, only the Chumi.

Another aspect we can not prove with archaeology is how townspeople reacted to the processions. According to Molina, “And in the inhabited towns that they [the procession] reached, the inhabitants did not emerge from their houses, remaining [in- side]” (Molina). Many modern sources believe the villagers would join and walk with the procession. There is no way to prove or disprove this with archeology so it leaves it up to our own imagination. 

Even though Molina got some things wrong, overall all he got the big ideas correct, such as why and where the capacocha took place. Molina says they took place because, "They conducted this sacrifice at the beginning of the Lord Inca’s rule so that the huacas would grant him good health, keep his kingdoms and dominions in peace and serenity, [allow him] to reach old age, and to live without illness” (Molina). According to our tour guide, Yony, something serious had to happen for children to be sacrificed like a Sapa Inca falling ill. Many sources also agree with Molina on the reasoning behind why human offerings were made. Molina also states, “The provinces of Collasuyo, Chinchaysuyo, Antisuyo, and Cuntisuyo would bring to this city, from each town and lineage of people, one or two small boys or girls, of ten years old” (Molina). This has been proven with isotope analysis because two of the mummies from the Choquepujio site near Cusco were traced back to distant parts of the Incan empire (Oviedo). Also, in chapter 8 of Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, the author says there were mummies found in Peru, Argentina, and Chile (Benson). This further proves that children were brought to Cusco and sent all over the empire like Molina claimed.

Molina also got many smaller details correct such as how they were well fed weeks leading up to the ceremony and even that some of them had been suffocated. Molina writes about how the children were fed and says “having first provided food and drink to those who were old enough” (Molina). Some of the best preserved mummies are the ice maidens, found by John Reinhard on mountain tops. These mummies were preserved in ice so they had all their organs still intact. So experts were able to find that their diets shifted to more meat-heavy foods in the weeks leading up to when they were killed (Smithsonian). Molina also said on page 78, “they suffocated the children” (Molina). We know some of the offerings had been suffocated because at such high altitude and being drugged it would only take putting a cloth over their head to die (Smithsonian).

I got to go to the Choquepujio 35km outside Cusco which was most likely a temple and is one of the few low altitude sacrificial sites that we know about. It is not very well known so there is not a clear path, so we bushwhacked at some points. When we got to the site we explored with our guide Mario who had also never been there before. He concluded that this had once been a pre Inca site that the Inca conquered and added some of their own buildings in the center of the preexisting buildings. We found the spot where the archaeologists had excavated the human remains. It is clearly built in the Inca style. We know it is a capacocha site because the offerings and figurines found were very similar to the ones found on mountain tops .The archeologists even referenced Molina in their conclusion to explain how the children were taken from the four provinces; the archeologists used Molina as a source, which shows how Molina was most likely accurate when it comes to where the children were from (Oviendo). After reading that description from the article Mario ended up believing that Molina was not totally crazy like he believed before.

Conclusion 

In conclusion I believe Molina's account of capacocha is accurate. Even though he had every reason to further dehumanize and lie about the Inca, he didn’t for the most part. This may be because human sacrifice in itself was enough incentive for the Spanish to go destroy local tradition and culture. Of course, I am not claiming that all chroniclers are true or even that all of Molina's book is true, but this specific chapter on capacocha is a reliable source. 

I really enjoyed this project. It made me think about where we get our information and how we know what we know. We should not rely only on Spanish chroniclers, but also on archeological evidence. History is almost always written by the “winners,” so it's very hard to get the full story if we can’t see the side of the victim as well.

Works Cited

Benson, Elizabeth P., and Anita G. Cook. Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru. University of Texas Press, 2013.

Bouchér, Sierra. “‘An Offering to Energize the Fields’: 76 Child Sacrifice Victims, All with Their Chests Cut Open, Unearthed at Burial Site in Peru.” Livescience.com, Live Science, 4 Nov. 2024, www.livescience.com/archaeology/an-offering-to-energize-the-fields-76-child-sacrifice-victims-all-with-their-chests-cut-open-unearthed-at-burial-site-in-peru. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

Bower, Bruce. “Clues to Child Sacrifices Found in Inca Building.” Science News, 22 Sept. 2010, www.sciencenews.org/article/clues-child-sacrifices-found-inca-building. Accessed 5 Sept. 2025.

Ceruti, Constanza. “Human Bodies as Objects of Dedication at Inca Mountain Shrines (North-Western Argentina).” World Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 1, Apr. 2004, pp. 103–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/0043824042000192632. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

Channel, Smithsonian. “How Do We Know This Incan Mummy Died Peacefully?” YouTube, 18 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWczeJPPoXU. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

Channel, Smithsonian. “Virgins of the Sun and Incan Human Sacrifice.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zHge8wdPTk. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

Cristóbal de Molina. Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas. University of Texas Press, 2012.

Franciso. Interview by Jane Morris, 24 Aug. 2025.

Gibaji, Aminda M. Report of Possible Capacocha of the Archeological Settlement of Choquepujia. 2014.

Lane, Kevin. The Inca. Reaktion Books, 2022.

Romey, Kristin. “Exclusive: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World’s Largest.” Science, 26 Apr. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mass-child-human-animal-sacrifice-peru-chimu-science. Accessed 5 Sept. 2025.

Sergio. Interview by Jane Morris , 28 Aug. 2025.

Urton, Gary, et al. Encyclopedia of the Incas. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.

Wilford, John Noble. “Entirely Preserved Inca Mummies Found.” The New York Times, 7 Apr. 1999, www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/entirely-preserved-inca-mummies-found.html. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

---. “Mummy Tells Story of a Sacrifice, Scientists Say.” The New York Times, 22 May 1996, www.nytimes.com/1996/05/22/us/mummy-tells-story-of-a-sacrifice-scientists-say.html. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.

Yony. Interview by Jane Morris, 18 Aug. 2025.