Encyclopedia of the Incas

bundles indicate that the mummification process must have taken some time.
The skin appears leathery, apparently treated with some as-yet-unidentified
substance or substances, perhaps the “resin” or “balsam” mentioned by the
chroniclers. Unspun cotton placed under the cheeks, in the mouth, and in the
nostrils preserved facial features. Some of the Chachapoya-Inca mummies were
placed in a seated position with their arms crossed over their breasts, much like
the ones Garcilaso saw in Cuzco. Most of the Chachapoya mummies, however,
have their hands tucked under their chins or placed across their faces, which
prevents the jaw from slacking open. Just like the mummies seen by Garcilaso in
Cuzco, the Chachapoya-Inca ones weigh very little, “so that any Indian could
carry them in his arms.”
In Cuzco the Incas observed a mourning ceremony called purucaya, a rite of
passage that took place a year after the ruler’s death and celebrated the feats of
the deceased. It may also have marked the completion of the mummification
process.

Further Reading
Bauer, Brian S. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.
Betanzos, Juan de. Narrative of the Incas. Translated and edited by Roland Hamilton and Dana Buchanan.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996 [1551–1557].
Cobo, Bernabé. History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indians’ Customs and Their Origin, Together
with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History and Social Institutions. Translated and edited by Roland
Hamilton. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979 [1653].
Estete, Miguel de. “Noticia del Peru.” In Los cronistas de la conquista, selection, prologue, notes and
concordances by Horacio H. Urteaga, 195–251. Biblioteca de la Cultura Peruana, no. 2. Paris: Desclée,
de Brouwer, 1938 [ca. 1535–1540].
Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca. Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru. Translated by
Harold V. Livermore. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966 [1609].
■ADRIANA VON HAGEN

MURRA,  JOHN    VICTOR

Born     in  Odessa,     Russia,     Murra   (1916–2006)     grew    up  in  Romania     and

immigrated   to  the     United  States  in  1934.   He  attended    the     University  of

Chicago where   he  earned  a   BA  degree  in  Sociology,  in  1936.   In  February

1937,   Murra   traveled    to  France  on  his way to  Spain   to  fight   in  the Spanish

Civil   War,    on  the side    of  the Republic,   as  a   member  of  the Abraham Lincoln

Brigade.    With    the end of  the war in  Spain,  Murra   returned    to  Chicago where,

switching   from    sociology   to  anthropology,   he  earned  an  MA  in  1942    and a