Source: WTL course archives.
Object: This is a polychrome Inca ceremonial drinking vessel made out of wood with silver for the eyes. (1400-1532).
Comments: Archeologists tell us that the walls of the pre-conquest and pre-Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman overlooking Cuzco are set up in the shape of the jaws of a puma, which is the animal represented in this goblet. This subject in this humanities artifact is found in many surviving examples of Inca crafts and art. The puma was considered the embodiment of an Inca god.
Humanities questions: (A) What, do you think, it would mean for an Incan to have drunk from a goblett made in the shape of the puma god? (B) Noting that relatively few Incan art objects still exist, why, do you think, the Spanish conquistadors would not have destroyed this particular objet d'art?