{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "illa",
 "type": "amulet",
 "names": {
  "name": "Illa",
  "native": "illa",
  "lang": "qu",
  "script": "Latin",
  "said": "EE-ya",
  "aliases": [
   "conopa",
   "canopa",
   "inqaychu",
   "enqa",
   "camelid effigy"
  ]
 },
 "region": [
  "andes"
 ],
 "countries": [
  "PE",
  "BO"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "era": "medieval",
  "status": "living",
  "portable": "placed",
  "restricted": "open",
  "hemisphere": [
   "S",
   "W"
  ]
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "A small carved animal, usually a llama or alpaca, cut from hard stone — the Dallas Museum of Art's Inca example is green and black — with a cylindrical hole sunk into the back between the shoulders. It sits in the hand. The hole is the working part: it is a container, not a decoration.",
  "story": "Dana Olesch, writing for the Dallas Museum of Art in 2017 about a camelid-form vessel made between 1400 and 1540, describes what the hole was for: \"Inca religious leaders likely inserted a mixture of llama fat, blood, and other ceremonial objects into the hole located at the top of this vessel during various fertility rituals.\" The point was agricultural and pastoral fertility. Several Inca-related groups ended the rite by placing the illa in a pasture.\n\nThat is the whole logic of the object, and it is not the logic of a pendant. An illa is not worn where somebody can see it; it is fed and then put into the ground the herd walks over. The charm is a deposit.\n\n*Inference —* an object that is buried is an object that is found, which is why museums hold so many of them and why nearly every one has left the corral it belonged to. This atlas notes that as a fact about collections rather than about the Andes.\n\nOlesch writes that highland communities in the Andes still use illa in fertility rituals for their camelid herds. The word travels with variants — conopa, canopa in colonial Spanish sources, inqaychu and enqa in Quechua-speaking herding communities — and the objects under those names are not all the same object.",
  "how": "Carved from hard stone with hand tools, the cavity drilled. Charged by filling: llama fat, blood, and other offerings placed in the hole. Then set in a pasture or field, or kept in the house and brought out for the rite. The illa is not retired; it is refilled.",
  "today": "Still in use in Andean highland herding communities as of the account cited here, and held in numbers by museums in Europe and North America. This project has read no dated field report of a present-day rite and does not describe one."
 },
 "dating": {
  "period": "Inca to the present",
  "from_year": 1400,
  "to_year": null,
  "living": true,
  "label": "c. 1400 to now",
  "method": "dated-object",
  "circa": true,
  "tier": "cited",
  "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
  "note": "1400–1540 is the date the Dallas Museum of Art gives its Inca camelid-form vessel. Older Andean herding effigies exist; this project has not read a source dating them."
 },
 "object": {
  "form": "figurine",
  "worn": [
   "field",
   "hearth"
  ],
  "made_by": "stone carvers; Inca religious leaders performed the filling, per the cited account",
  "colour": [
   "green",
   "black"
  ],
  "single_use": false,
  "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
  "note": "The stone is described by the cited source as green and black; steatite is named elsewhere for comparable pieces. This project's materials list has no key for either, so object.materials is left empty rather than guessed."
 },
 "against": [
  {
   "harm": "livestock",
   "who": "Inca religious leaders and, per the cited account, present-day Andean highland communities",
   "quote": "Modern-day highland communities in the Andes continue to use illa during their fertility rituals to ensure the prosperity of their camelid herds.",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "tier": "cited"
  },
  {
   "harm": "house",
   "who": "the same, for fields as well as herds — the cited source names agricultural alongside pastoral fertility",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "tier": "cited"
  }
 ],
 "holdings": [
  {
   "museum": "other",
   "what": "a camelid-form stone vessel (illa), Peru, Inca, 1400–1540, Dallas Museum of Art",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "url": "https://blog.dma.org/2017/03/28/the-emperors-new-groove-llama-iconography-and-the-inca-empire/",
   "note": "the museum's own blog publishes an accession number for this piece; this record omits it because no catalogue page carrying it was reachable, and this project does not print an accession without one"
  },
  {
   "museum": "british-museum",
   "what": "Inca conopa in the form of a camelid",
   "source": "s:wp-british-museum",
   "note": "the collection is named here; no accession is printed, because no catalogue page was read"
  }
 ],
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "andean-illa-practice",
   "as": "the tradition this object gives its name to",
   "rel": "tradition"
  },
  {
   "to": "ekeko",
   "as": "the household descendant of the same idea — a small loaded figure standing in for the full-size abundance",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "burying",
   "as": "the practice that completes it: the illa goes into the pasture the herd walks over",
   "rel": "practice"
  },
  {
   "to": "feeding-the-charm",
   "as": "what the hole in its back is for — fat, blood, and offerings poured in",
   "rel": "practice"
  },
  {
   "to": "foundation-deposit",
   "as": "the same move made under a building instead of under a field",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "nkisi",
   "as": "the other object in this atlas whose power is what was packed into a cavity in it",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "who-owns-a-charm",
   "as": "the long read this belongs in — nearly every illa in a museum left a corral to get there",
   "rel": "story"
  },
  {
   "to": "british-museum",
   "as": "one of the collections holding Inca conopas",
   "rel": "org"
  }
 ],
 "confusable_with": [
  {
   "id": "ekeko",
   "tell": "an illa is an animal with a hole in its back, meant to be filled and buried; an Ekeko is a loaded human figure meant to stand in a house and be given cigarettes"
  }
 ],
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "The Emperor's New Groove: Llama Iconography and the Inca Empire — Dallas Museum of Art",
   "url": "https://blog.dma.org/2017/03/28/the-emperors-new-groove-llama-iconography-and-the-inca-empire/"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
  "s:wp-british-museum"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.story": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
    "note": "the paragraph about collections is marked as this project's inference where it appears; the inqaychu and enqa variants are reported as names in use, not as documented equivalents"
   },
   "holdings": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
    "note": "no accession numbers, because no catalogue page carrying one was reachable"
   }
  }
 },
 "images": [],
 "confidence": "medium",
 "needs_verification": true,
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "blurb": "A small carved animal, usually a llama or alpaca, cut from hard stone — the Dallas Museum of Art's Inca example is green and black — with a cylindrical hole sunk into the back between the shoulders. It sits in the hand.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "andes",
   "name": "The Andes",
   "hemi": [
    "S",
    "W"
   ]
  }
 ],
 "hemispheres": [
  "S",
  "W"
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "andean-illa-practice",
   "type": "tradition",
   "name": "Illa practice",
   "as": "the tradition this object gives its name to",
   "rel": "tradition"
  },
  {
   "to": "ekeko",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Ekeko",
   "as": "the household descendant of the same idea — a small loaded figure standing in for the full-size abundance",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "burying",
   "type": "practice",
   "name": "Burying",
   "as": "the practice that completes it: the illa goes into the pasture the herd walks over",
   "rel": "practice"
  },
  {
   "to": "feeding-the-charm",
   "type": "practice",
   "name": "Feeding the charm",
   "as": "what the hole in its back is for — fat, blood, and offerings poured in",
   "rel": "practice"
  },
  {
   "to": "foundation-deposit",
   "type": "practice",
   "name": "Foundation deposit",
   "as": "the same move made under a building instead of under a field",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "nkisi",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Nkisi",
   "as": "the other object in this atlas whose power is what was packed into a cavity in it",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "who-owns-a-charm",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "Who owns a charm",
   "as": "the long read this belongs in — nearly every illa in a museum left a corral to get there",
   "rel": "story"
  },
  {
   "to": "british-museum",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "The British Museum",
   "as": "one of the collections holding Inca conopas",
   "rel": "org"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "kind": "museum",
   "title": "The Emperor's New Groove: Llama Iconography and the Inca Empire",
   "author": "Dana Olesch",
   "publisher": "Dallas Museum of Art (Uncrated)",
   "url": "https://blog.dma.org/2017/03/28/the-emperors-new-groove-llama-iconography-and-the-inca-empire/",
   "date": "2017-03-28",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-british-museum",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "British Museum",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "note": "the paragraph about collections is marked as this project's inference where it appears; the inqaychu and enqa variants are reported as names in use, not as documented equivalents"
  },
  "text.how": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  "dating": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  "object": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "against_facts": [
  {
   "key": "livestock",
   "label": "Harm to livestock",
   "who": "Inca religious leaders and, per the cited account, present-day Andean highland communities",
   "quote": "Modern-day highland communities in the Andes continue to use illa during their fertility rituals to ensure the prosperity of their camelid herds.",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": ""
  },
  {
   "key": "house",
   "label": "Harm to a house or a field",
   "who": "the same, for fields as well as herds — the cited source names agricultural alongside pastoral fertility",
   "quote": "",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": ""
  }
 ],
 "material_facts": [],
 "worn_facts": [
  {
   "key": "field",
   "label": "In a field",
   "group": "placed"
  },
  {
   "key": "hearth",
   "label": "At the hearth",
   "group": "placed"
  }
 ],
 "form_fact": {
  "key": "figurine",
  "label": "Figurine"
 },
 "holding_facts": [
  {
   "key": "other",
   "label": "Another collection",
   "note": "name it in `what` when it has no key here yet",
   "what": "a camelid-form stone vessel (illa), Peru, Inca, 1400–1540, Dallas Museum of Art",
   "accession": "",
   "url": "https://blog.dma.org/2017/03/28/the-emperors-new-groove-llama-iconography-and-the-inca-empire/",
   "source": "s:web-dma-llama-iconography"
  },
  {
   "key": "british-museum",
   "label": "The British Museum",
   "city": "London",
   "country": "GB",
   "url": "",
   "what": "Inca conopa in the form of a camelid",
   "accession": "",
   "source": "s:wp-british-museum"
  }
 ],
 "span": "1400 CE to now",
 "country_names": [
  {
   "iso": "PE",
   "name": "Peru"
  },
  {
   "iso": "BO",
   "name": "Bolivia"
  }
 ],
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "ekeko",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Ekeko",
   "as": "the older Andean miniature, kept by herders for their animals rather than by households for their money",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "andean-illa-practice",
   "type": "tradition",
   "name": "Illa practice",
   "as": "the object this tradition takes its name from — fed through a hole in the back and set in a pasture, which is the opposite of worn",
   "rel": "carries"
  },
  {
   "from": "mercado-de-las-brujas-la-paz",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "El Mercado de las Brujas",
   "as": "the Andean miniature that stands for the thing wanted — bought here, blessed, and given away",
   "rel": "carries"
  }
 ]
}