The Search for the Golden Chain of Huascar
Huayna Capac, the eleventh Sapa Inca, ruled the largest empire in ancient South America from 1493 to 1525. During his reign, he conquered vast territories in northern Peru and in what is now Ecuador.
When Huayna Capac's son was born to Raya Ocllo, his second legitimate wife, he was baptized with the name Inti Cusi Huallpa (meaning "Joy of the Sun"), but he later became known as Huascar.
For the naming ceremony of his son, Huayna Capac had a heavy gold chain forged, symbolizing the mythical Yawirka, a two-headed serpent said to have been gifted by the Rainbow God to Inca Yupanqui for protection. The Yawirka is a recurring symbol in South American petroglyphs and pictograms, representing life after death and the eternal cycle of existence permeating all things.
According to Garcilaso de la Vega in his "Royal Commentaries," Huascar’s gold chain was 210 meters long and as thick as a man’s forearm. It could only be lifted entirely by 200 men. Conservative estimates suggest the chain, which ended in two large spheres covered in red wool, weighed about a ton. It was likely not solid gold but covered with gold plates masterfully crafted to resemble the scales of a serpent.
The name Huascar might derive from the Quechua word for "rope" (huasca), as the chain also symbolized a rope. The concept of a rope is deeply significant in Andean culture. Even today, many indigenous peoples in the Peruvian jungle use a plant called ayahuasca (from Quechua: aya, spirit, and huasca, rope), meaning a vine that allows the soul to leave the body without dying. Alternatively, the name Huascar may derive from the Quechua word waskja (chain).
The gold chain was stored in Cusco, at the Amaru-Cancha palace (Amaru means serpent in Quechua), in a secret and carefully guarded chamber. It was displayed to the masses only on special occasions, such as the coronation of a new Inca or during the December Lunar Festivals. During these celebrations, the gold chain, symbolizing the Yawirka, was shown alongside the great golden solar disk representing Viracocha, the world’s creator, and other idols like the famous Punchau, a golden anthropomorphic statue also depicting Viracocha.
During these propitiatory festivities in Cusco’s main square, hundreds of dancers would repeatedly lift the gold chain and twirl its links in a whirling display.
Huayna Capac had other sons, including Manco Inca, the first king of Vilcabamba, and Atahualpa, born to a concubine from Quito. In the final years of his life, Huayna Capac learned of bearded men wielding strange metal sticks capable of killing from afar who had reached the empire's northernmost coasts. He may have reflected on Viracocha’s prophetic warnings that during the reign of the twelfth Inca, conquerors from distant lands would arrive and seize the empire’s riches.
Shortly before his death in Quito in 1525, Huayna Capac ensured that Atahualpa was recognized as the king of Quito, but as a vassal to Huascar, the twelfth Sapa Inca.
A few years later, Huascar sent envoys to Quito as a gesture of peace but also to demand that Atahualpa acknowledge his vassal status. Atahualpa, possibly conspiring with his generals to seize the empire, sent ambassadors to Cusco accepting the vassalage but simultaneously dispatched an army of over 30,000 men under generals Challcuchima and Quizquiz to the Inca capital.
Caught off guard, Huascar failed to organize an adequate defense. The decisive battle occurred near Cusco, where Atahualpa’s forces emerged victorious. Huascar was captured and harshly treated by Atahualpa’s generals.
Atahualpa established his base in Cajamarca in present-day northern Peru, where he commanded his operations. His orders were ruthless: annihilate all direct descendants of Huayna Capac to ensure he remained sole ruler of the empire. Huascar was to be the last to be executed. Since Atahualpa had taken possession of the empire’s regalia, many historians regard him as the thirteenth Sapa Inca, though his reign was brief.
In November 1532, Pizarro and his 168 men arrived in Cajamarca, capturing Atahualpa and demanding a ransom of gold and silver to fill the room where he was held prisoner. Fearing for his life, Atahualpa ordered hundreds of artistic treasures in gold and silver to be sent to Cajamarca from across the empire.
In early 1533, Atahualpa had Huascar killed to prevent the Spaniards from discovering a legitimate heir to Huayna Capac who had been unlawfully deposed. Meanwhile, an immense treasure accumulated, including diadems, masks, breastplates, bracelets, scepters, crowns, cups, vases, plates, and cutlery made of gold. Some estimates suggest Atahualpa’s treasure totaled 9 tons of gold and 59 tons of silver.
Did Huascar’s gold chain, the Yawirka, form part of this treasure? It seems unlikely. Such an enormous and artistically invaluable jewel would surely have caught the attention of the coarse and greedy Spanish conquerors. Similarly, it has been suggested that the great golden solar disk was not sent to Cajamarca but was instead jealously guarded near Cusco (while smaller solar disks were stolen by the Spaniards upon their arrival in Cusco).
The location where Huascar's magnificent gold chain, the enduring symbol of the serpent's power and eternal cycle, was hidden remains one of Peru's greatest mysteries. Over the past five centuries, many explorers and treasure hunters have searched for it, guided by legends and the oral traditions of the Andean highlands' inhabitants.
Some scholars argue that Atahualpa’s men, after seizing power in Cusco from Huascar, looted the Amaru-Cancha palace and sent the chain to Cajamarca as a symbol of authority. While traveling through the Quispicanchi region near Huaro, they reportedly received news that foreign invaders had captured Atahualpa. In response, they decided to hide the gold chain by throwing it into the Canincunca Lagoon, also known as Urcos Lagoon.
The two other most famous legends about the possible location of Huascar's gold chain point to Lake Titicaca and Paititi, the mythical lost city of the Incas.
Lake Titicaca remains the most sacred site for the high Andean cultures. According to Andean traditions, the world's creator Viracocha emerged from its waters to restore order after a great flood. From the same lake, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, the ancestors of the Inca dynasty, are said to have risen before settling in Cusco.
Thus, some believe Huascar's gold chain was taken to Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Hundreds of totora reed rafts were aligned to reach a spot where the lake's depth was significant. There, the chain was submerged. Even today, elders in Copacabana firmly claim that the chain rests on the lakebed between San Pablo and San Pedro de Tiquina.
The first treasure hunter to explore Lake Titicaca’s depths near Copacabana was American diver William Mardoff in 1956. He had signed a contract with the Bolivian government stipulating that 75% of any treasure found would go to the Banco Minero de Bolivia, while he could keep the remaining 25%.
In his dives, Mardoff recovered only some ceramic fragments and claimed to have seen the ruins of a submerged city at the Escoña River’s mouth. This was believed to be the mythical submerged city of Chiopata, prompting plans for further expeditions. However, Huascar’s gold chain remained elusive.
As often happens in such frontier archaeological pursuits, the sought object (in this case, Huascar's gold chain) is not found, but other significant archaeological remains are uncovered, inspiring further exploration.
The next exploration of Lake Titicaca’s depths, near Copacabana and close to the Isla del Sol, was called “Fer de Lance.” The lead diver was Argentine Ramon Avellaneda. This expedition documented submerged paved roads and thirty parallel walls, providing indisputable evidence of a sunken city, possibly the mythical Chiopata, stretching nearly a kilometer just 200 meters from the lake’s shoreline. This discovery also showed that Lake Titicaca's water levels had fluctuated over millennia. Yet, no trace of Huascar’s gold chain was found.
According to other popular legends heard in the Yanatile and Yavero river valleys in the Cusco region, a group of elite Inca priests fled Cusco in 1533 to Paititi, a citadel in the high jungle, halfway between the mountains and the lowland rainforest. Two original documents support the existence of this city: Father Lopez’s manuscript and Blas Valera’s drawings.
According to the priest Juan Carlos Polentini Wester, a colorful and often controversial figure who lived for over 40 years in the Yanatile and Yavero valleys, the Incas fleeing Cusco initially gathered at Choquecancha, near the Lares River (the Yanatile’s upper stretch), where they stayed for several months. They then moved east, crossing the Amparaes River. Beyond 4,200 meters above sea level, at the Alhajuay Lagoon (Quechua for "where they hid"), they are said to have buried treasures too heavy to carry to Paititi. Among these treasures was reportedly Huascar's gold chain.
Other traditions suggest the sought-after chain lies at the bottom of Jarinal Lagoon, at 4,350 meters above sea level.
To this day, no one can definitively say where Huascar's gold chain or other sacred symbols of the Tahuantinsuyo, like the great gold solar disk, are located. Only further explorations, aided by recently discovered and analyzed historical documents, might help unravel one of South America's most intriguing mysteries.
YURI LEVERATTO
