{
  "id": 11939973,
  "title": "Inka scattered sacred coca leaves over sacrificed llamas, excavation suggests",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/inka-scattered-sacred-coca-leaves-over-sacrificed-llamas-excavation",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-04T13:40:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-inka-sacred-coca-sacrificed-llamas.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Deep in Peru's Acarí Valley lie the ruins of Tambo Viejo, an Inka provincial center where excavations have uncovered tasseled sacrificial llamas and brightly adorned guinea pigs. But save for a few seeds and some stored leaves, evidence of how the Inka used one of their most sacred plants in rituals remained elusive. Now, archaeologists have discovered coca leaves still stuck in the wool of some…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}