This silver llama figurine reveals the animal's importance in the Inca Empire. (Image credit: Gift and Bequest of Alice K. Bache, 1974, 1977; Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain)) QUICK FACTS Name: Miniature camelid effigy What it is: A silver-alloy llama figurine Where it is from: South America When it was made: 1400 to 1535 This figurine of a small male camelid was made by the Inca as a "huaca" — a sacred being, site or object revered by their society. The quadruped was probably intended to be a llama ( Lama glama ), but it may represent the other camelid species domesticated by Andean people: the alpaca ( Lama pacos or Vicugna pacos ). The Inca raised llamas and alpacas for a wide variety of purposes. They were used to carry goods long distances, and people ate the animals' meat, wove clothes from their wool, turned their bones into musical instruments, sewed hides to make shoes, collected their droppings for fuel and fertilizer , and consumed their fat for medicinal purposes.…