Encyclopedia of the Incas

The differences between their size (from 2.5 centimeters [1 inch] in height to
78.2 centimeters [2.5 feet] in height) and the materials of kero and aquilla were
symbolically important to the Incas as keros, aquillas, and ceramic examples
were used in almost all Inca rituals held throughout the empire, including as
Capac Hucha offerings. The material—gold, silver, wood, or ceramic—denoted
hierarchy in Inca political culture. Gold vessels were given to the most important
individuals in the empire whereas wooden ones were offered to high-ranking
local chiefs, or curacas. The vessels were always made in nearly identical pairs
so that they could be used to offer a toast in equal amounts to a companion or a
divinity such as the Sun. Each one of the pair was also recognized as being either
hanan or hurin (upper half/lower half in the Inca system of duality; see
Dualism) and they were used together in community feasts to express social and
political solidarity through a series of exchanged toasts. They were also used to
drink with the ancestors. The illustrated chronicle of Felipe Guaman Poma de
Ayala, for example, includes several images in which the living are shown
offering a drink to the body of a deceased ancestor using a pair of keros. Among
other things, keros still form an important link between contemporary Andean
peoples and their ancestors.
The drink that was usually offered was chicha, fermented corn beer. This was
an extremely important ritual beverage that is today still offered to apus, or
mountain divinities, and sometimes Colonial or even Inca keros are used in
contemporary offerings to the mountain gods.
Like much of Inca art, keros and aquillas were decorated with abstract
geometric designs. The designs on keros were carved into the surface of the
wood and the contrast between the surface and the incised lines revealed the
geometric forms. The designs of aquillas were revealed by both incised and
repoussé techniques (hammering from the reverse side to create low relief
designs). Keros and aquillas were decorated with the same types of designs.
Some consisted of a series of concentric rectangles while others included a series
of repeated zigzag lines that went around the vessel’s circumference. One
particular type of design shows a highly schematized series of arms and
decapitated heads decorating the rim. Some Chimú-Inca and also Colonial keros
were even shaped in the form of human heads.
The decapitated head design, as well as the vessels in the form of human
heads, demonstrate the importance of keros and aquillas as objects used in
negotiations between the Incas and peoples whom they wished to incorporate
into Tahuantinsuyu. Keros or aquillas as well as textiles were offered to leaders