A variety of evidence from Inca and early Spanish times, postdating Libertad, helps flesh out the bare

bones of this artifactual census. The Incas used Spondylus shells, either whole, carved, ground-up, or cut in pieces, as offerings at springs to bring abundant rainfall to newly planted crops (Rowe 1946:249). An early Quechua text describes the wrath of a divinity when the Inca did not bring him a serving of Spondylus, the favorite food of the gods (Murra, 1971).