468 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 39 



Figure 9. — The sun god amid his worshipers. Chibchan gold object believed to refer to 

 El Dorado, the gilded sacrifice to the sun at Lake Guatavita, Colombia, but similar to 

 representations at Recuay, Peru (see pi. 6, fig. 1), may relate to a ceremony in a 

 tower. 



Mancio Sierra de Leguizamo gambled away his share of the loot, "a 

 figure of the Sun, made of gold which the Incas had placed in the 

 house of the Sun in Cuzco." 



Rituals were controlled by Incas of high rank, for this Peruvian sun 

 worship was family, or rather dynastic worship. Human sacrifice 

 has been denied and affirmed for the sun cult of the Incas. At any rate 

 there were the convents of the Chosen Women, sometimes called 

 Virgins of the Sun, who wove fine textiles. It seems they served only 

 for a few years and finally were allowed to marry. 



The lesson that the Mayas learned in studying the sun and stars in 

 Yucatan was the lesson the Sumerians learned on the Euphrates: if 



