The inhabitants of Cerro Baúl, an ancient Andean settlement, abandoned their town in a celebration that involved drinking copious amounts of alcohol, the sacrifice of condors and pygmy owls, and the complete burning of an 1,800-litre brewery, archaeologists have discovered.
In a paper to be published in the National Academy of Sciences, Archaeologists from the University of Florida and the Contisuyo Museum in Peru have discussed their findings surrounding the pre-Inca village, situated 8000ft above sea level, and home to approximately 1,000 Wari people.
It appears to have been set up by the Wari as a political point of contact with neighbouring empire, the Tiwanaku. Central to the way of life in Cerro Baúl was a brew called chicha, made of fermented maize and indigenous pepper tree berries. Importantly, chicha was brewed by a powerful group of elite women in the aforementioned brewing facility, and consumed in cups that could be up to about a half-gallon in capacity, based on social standing.
Paper co-author, Adjunct Curator at The Field Museum and Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago said: "In Inca society, wealth and power depended on the knowledge and skill of elite women. Without cloth and beer, these ancient empires could not have functioned."
Around AD600, it appears that the settlement had outlived its usefulness, and was thus offered up to the gods, particularly one known as the 'Forward-Facing god', who featured prominently on drinking paraphernalia. The send-off included a feast of llama, alpaca, deer and seven types of ocean fish. There is also evidence that flycatchers were sacrificed along with condors and pygmy owls previously mentioned.
After prodigious consumption of chicha were consumed, the brewery was set alight, with religious leaders throwing in around 28 ceremonial ceramic containers.
Patrick Ryan Williams, Curator of Anthropology at The Field Museum and co-author of the research report, said: "There is a lot we can learn from this site about how expansive states interact with each other and about the nature of human diplomacy.”
