The Pre-Columbian Society of New York invites you
to join us for our November lecture:

A Group of Inka Miniatures in Gold and Silver from the Far South Coast of Peru

Heidi King

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, The Cooper Union
(formerly of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Abstract: In January 1943, farmers in a small village in the Ocoña Valley made an unusual and remarkable archaeological discovery at a site known as Corral Redondo. Rolled up in six monumental ceramic jars, they found ninety-six panels covered with brilliant blue-and-yellow feather mosaic made by the Wari people, and about sixty Inka miniature objects in gold, silver, Spondylus shell, and camelid fiber. While the feather panels are well known, having received much attention over the years in exhibitions and publications, the Inka-style objects from the site that are housed in the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology in Lima are largely unknown and have not been published. Based on research I was able to carry out in the museum and in archives in Lima and Arequipa in 2013, a visit to the site with a Peruvian archaeologist, and conversations with local villagers present during the unearthing of the objects, I suggest that during Inka times the site may have been a huaca (a shrine or sacred place) associated with a gold mine where the Inka had performed a capacocha ritual that may have involved human sacrifice.

Thursday, November 10, 2016
6 PM in the Lecture Hall
The Institute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
RSVP Institute of Fine Arts

Followed by a reception with wine and cheese in the Loeb Room