South American member of the camel family, Camelidae, a domesticated animal exploited by the ancient Andean civilizations as a beast of burden and, to a lesser extent, for its meat and wool. It is smaller in size than a camel and lacking a hump. Its wild ancestor, the guanaco, is still found in the Andes. The center of domestication was probably the highlands of southern Peru, Bolivia, and north Chile, perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC. The first clear evidence of its domestication (dating to the Initial Period) comes from ceremonial burials in the Viru Valley and from remains at Kotosh. Able to carry loads of up to 60 kg over difficult terrain, the Ilama gained economic importance as the basic unit of transportation of goods in the Inca empire, and was also maintained purely as a form of wealth, with the state owning huge flocks. Sacrifice (sometimes in the hundreds) was quite common.