[HN Gopher] Peruvian archaeologists unearth 500-year-old Inca ce...
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       Peruvian archaeologists unearth 500-year-old Inca ceremonial bath
        
       Author : diodorus
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2023-04-23 22:49 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | nomdep wrote:
       | "local archaeologists believe that the bath        may have
       | served a religious purpose for        high-ranking members of the
       | Inca empire"
       | 
       | I knew I was going to find that in the article and I hate it.
       | Don't know if the "religious purpose" excuse is the archeologist
       | playing safe or the journalists reporting it.
       | 
       | It's an indoor pool, the only other purpose it probably had was
       | having sex in it.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | cryptonector wrote:
         | "We don't know the purpose of this. Ah, it must have been
         | religious."
        
         | chc wrote:
         | Is there a reason you think people should lend your opinion
         | more credence than that of the archaeologists who studied the
         | site?
        
         | AlotOfReading wrote:
         | "Religious purpose" is a pretty good description from what I
         | understand. Water was _the_ religious currency of the Inka. It
         | was where their origin myths believed humans came from, ethnic
         | groups were ideologically connected by spiritual rivers,
         | conquering water sources was how kings legitimized their rule,
         | the empire was divided internally by drainage basins, and the
         | major pilgrim routes tended to follow springs and fountains
         | /baths [0]. Within Huanaco Pampa, the baths are in a walled
         | area of the city used for important leaders and religious
         | ceremonies (of the movie kind), with expensive architecture.
         | One of them even has its own dedicated canal to avoid sharing
         | water with the other residents of the city. And yes, resources
         | limited to elites tend to be religiously significant because
         | religion was one of the most important legitimizing forces the
         | Inka had. There was very little separation of church and state
         | to say "this is just for wealthy people, not for religion".
         | 
         | We also have early Spanish sources that talk about the
         | pilgrimages notable locals would take, bringing small jars of
         | their water sources to other settlements/religious sites (and
         | vice versa), to symbolize and reinforce their religious
         | connectivity.
         | 
         | Hyslop's old book _Inka Settlement Planning_ is getting a bit
         | dated, but chapter 5 specifically talks about how the religious
         | significance of water impacted the construction of places like
         | Huanaco Pampa if you 're interested in learning more about this
         | topic.
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceque_system
        
       | HN_is_for_gemes wrote:
       | 500 years is a crazy short time. Can't wait till we start
       | excavating the ruins of ancient Chuck E Cheeses and such.
        
         | chc wrote:
         | I felt kind of the same way -- but as an alternate perspective,
         | it was only 530 years ago that most of Europe didn't even know
         | the Americas existed.
        
         | HarryHirsch wrote:
         | Check out the _Motel of the Mysteries_ by David Macaulay, set
         | in the year 4022.
        
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