The simple flared cylinder shape of a kero, or ceremonial cup, is carved from a single piece of wood. This one is incised with linear patterns in eight horizontal bands. Cups used in rituals and ceremonies always came in pairs, whether made of precious metal, pottery or wood. If the Inca offered the cups, one was meant for the gods and the other for the courtiers, and was sanctified by the emperor’s offering. The cup held in the left hand was inferior to that held in the right, or one was slightly larger than the other to show which drinker was superior in status. The material used was also a class marker, as gold and silver cups, or aquillas, were used by royalty and the nobility, ceramic or wood keros for lesser ranks. All such acts of sharing meant mutual obligation, and acceptance implied indissoluble bonds: the person receiving the liquid owed a duty to the other. Such constant rituals allowed the Inca ruler to reaffirm his priests’ and courtiers’ loyalty, and so on down to village level.

Decorative engraved lines, mostly geometric, provide the bands of patterning: a single layer of four at the bottom is doubled at the top; meeting triangles alternate with a serpentine vertical line; chevrons; hatched lozenges; chevrons; more triangles and a vertical chain; chevrons again; then the repeated four-layer lines make lozenges around the top. Zig-zag lines may imply snakes, or paths. Simple at first sight, but complex when analysed, such sober ornament is typical of the understated Incan artistic world.

The liquid held in the kero was almost always chicha, the fermented drink that was a fundamental part of religious and burial rites or celebrations such as planting and harvest. Chicha was usually made from maize, or from quinoa in the highlands, or from squash, cassava or fruits in the humid regions. Its alcohol content was low, between about one and three per cent. The efficient Incan arrangement was for small-scale manufacture, like a boutique brewery, where women chewed the grain or fruit, and formed it into small balls that were dried in the sun. These were boiled in water and the beer left to ferment. As there was no yeast, saliva provided the catalytic enzymes to produce the necessary malt for fermentation. Drinking at festivals doubtless enlivened the lives of hardworking farmers, artisans, road builders and soldiers who supplied the Incan Empire with goods and labour.

Christine Dixon

The simple flared cylinder shape of a kero, or ceremonial cup, is carved from a single piece of wood. This one is incised with linear patterns in eight horizontal bands. Cups used in rituals and ceremonies always came in pairs, whether made of precious metal, pottery or wood. If the Inca offered the cups, one was meant for the gods and the other for the courtiers, and was sanctified by the emperor’s offering. The cup held in the left hand was inferior to that held in the right, or one was slightly larger than the other to show which drinker was superior in status. The material used was also a class marker, as gold and silver cups, or aquillas, were used by royalty and the nobility, ceramic or wood keros for lesser ranks. All such acts of sharing meant mutual obligation, and acceptance implied indissoluble bonds: the person receiving the liquid owed a duty to the other. Such constant rituals allowed the Inca ruler to reaffirm his priests’ and courtiers’ loyalty, and so on down to village level.

Decorative engraved lines, mostly geometric, provide the bands of patterning: a single layer of four at the bottom is doubled at the top; meeting triangles alternate with a serpentine vertical line; chevrons; hatched lozenges; chevrons; more triangles and a vertical chain; chevrons again; then the repeated four-layer lines make lozenges around the top. Zig-zag lines may imply snakes, or paths. Simple at first sight, but complex when analysed, such sober ornament is typical of the understated Incan artistic world.

The liquid held in the kero was almost always chicha, the fermented drink that was a fundamental part of religious and burial rites or celebrations such as planting and harvest. Chicha was usually made from maize, or from quinoa in the highlands, or from squash, cassava or fruits in the humid regions. Its alcohol content was low, between about one and three per cent. The efficient Incan arrangement was for small-scale manufacture, like a boutique brewery, where women chewed the grain or fruit, and formed it into small balls that were dried in the sun. These were boiled in water and the beer left to ferment. As there was no yeast, saliva provided the catalytic enzymes to produce the necessary malt for fermentation. Drinking at festivals doubtless enlivened the lives of hardworking farmers, artisans, road builders and soldiers who supplied the Incan Empire with goods and labour.

Christine Dixon