Occasionally, the “otherness” of people living in remote times and distant places is evoked by an event so alien in its particulars, yet startling in its general character, that it encapsulates a whole era and a social configuration. The Inca ritual festival of capac hucha was such an event. This elaborate ceremony, staged periodically by the Inca priesthood, embraced mountains, islands, and religious sanctuaries scattered thousands of kilometers apart throughout Tahuantinsuyu, the Inca name …