According to Meghan: Letters of a Peruvian Woman

Yes, I went there with the title. It totally fits! Inspired by the rad cover of the Oxford edition of Letters of a Peruvian Woman and by our discussion of such gilded things (what up Hoop) I thought I would do a little research and see what I could enlighten myself with about golden Incan art.

I think we can safely assume that the golden objects present everywhere in Peru (as observed by Zilia) are a symbol of Incan civilization. There's a twist, though: the Incans do not seem to realize the value of the gold, in stark contrast to their overly greedy captors. It's everywhere you look: pounded into furniture, adorning the Temple of the Sun, and probably draping from more than a few human appendages (at least maybe some special people). Heck, it's über pretty and why not use it as a tool to represent the most sacred part of their culture and religion: the sun? A fair part of their lives seems to have been centered around sun worship. Indeed, Zilia assumes this new European land she has been brought to must be hallowed ground as well, for if the sun - assuming its fatherly figure, of course - allows its rays to reach here, then things must be alright somewhere.

The Incas probably would have retained an extensive knowledge of this precious metal. I bet they were great metallurgists (would goldsmiths be a better word? Did they work much with other metals?)

Here are some really cool artifacts similar to the mask-looking item from the cover. I found them on an online photo gallery called Odyssey, in case you wanted to look them up yourself (click on Odyssey). There are a ton of beautiful pictures of other Incan treasures, too.

1. Feline Idols (maybe to adorn the walls of a temple or home?)