Sacred Mountains and Their Oracles in the Equatorial Glacial Volcanic Arc

Abstract

During many decades the high altitude archaeology considered that the ceremonial constructions were ritual remnant practices exclusively of the central and southern Andean mountains, while at the northern Andes were not expected to be found any high ritual and religious offerings, because the snow- capped mountains were an obstacle for the pilgrimage. In this contribution we want to suggest that the ritual and sacrificial expression of aboriginal Andean people of the Ecuadorian Andes succeeded principally on the twins and oracles of the mountains (huauquis [brother]), that can be placed at the foots of the mountains or at the bottom of the glacier in icy ambient. The continuity of the sacrificial cults in both cases can be documented since pre-hispanic epochs to the present.