Guinea Pigs in the Spanish Colonial Andes: Culinary and Ritual Transformations

Abstract

Following Spanish colonization, the food and symbolic roles of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) changed depending on geographic setting and the ethnic composition of inhabitants. I draw on archaeology, ethnohistory, historical imagery, and historical studies to explore how Spanish social perceptions regarding edible food animals and the human body altered the culinary and ritual uses of guinea pigs after the conquest. Zooarchaeological data from Spanish colonial sites in Peru and Bolivia document differential use of guinea pigs depending on site function and who lived there. Contemporary European artistic representations show how people transformed guinea pigs into pets.