islamabad        -      A llama carved from a spondylus shell and a cylindrical laminated gold foil object were the contents of a carved stone box — an offering — found at the bottom of Lake Titicaca, according to researchers from Penn State and the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

The offering, found near an island in the lake, was not located where others had found offerings in the past. “We knew they (Inca) did some form of ritual offerings and that they did them in the lake,” said Jose Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology, Penn State.

“The 16th and 17th century chronicles indicate there were submerged offerings.” Lake Titicaca is located in the Andes between Bolivia and Peru. It is the largest lake in South America and was important to many cultures, including the Tiwanaku and the Inca.