Peru, Part II -- The Inca

      It was puzzling to stand before the large rocks in Sacsayhuamán outside of Cusco.  How could the Incas have done all of this in 100 years, especially since sites such as Machu Picchu were credited to Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (often called Pachacutec), who was the 9th ruler of the empire and ruled for just 33 years (there would be 4 more rulers after him).  Do the math and that becomes a new Inca ruler every 5+ years or so.  One also had to wonder why the Inca are basically the only Peruvian empire which people remember?  Earlier civilizations in Peru lasted far longer, as in centuries longer, and possibly built many of the extensive trail networks  (which the Inca expanded).  Regardless, there is little surviving history of any of it; but historians do credit Pachacutec with creating the Inca "empire," one which would indeed last for only a single century; and while Inca legend adds 200+ additional years to their rule, the confusion is likely that it is their "empire" and not the entire history of the Inca which historians make note of (think Romans vs. the Roman "empire").  Nevertheless, these marvels of construction before us were understandably impressive enough to erase earlier civilizations from our memory.  Terraces still in use today, natural irrigation systems still running effectively, and storage granaries still standing high above the valleys, all of it scattered throughout Peru and operational, start to finish, within a century (or two).  No, back up and make that up and running in probably half that time since archeologists show that Pachacutec united the scattered tribal societies so effectively that fish from the coast could be brought to the highest settlements in the same day...grains, meats, shelter, all available and all from people working in organized shifts.  How did he do it?

     One has to take a quick peek at the civilization before the Inca, the Huari, who are credited with creating the terrace system (which the Inca perfected), and the Nazca, and the Moche, and the Chavin, and the Tiwanaku.  Indeed, 500 years before the Inca, the Sican culture had already built 20 pyramids.  Wait, the who??  But credit Pachacutec with being the glue that united the land and its scattering of indigenous peoples, and turned the Inca into an empire.  History is funny in that way, for while most people know about the Nazca lines of Peru, few realize what a vast civilization the Nazca peoples were; or that the empire "reigns" of South and Central America paralleled closely with other great civilizations --the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, the Crusades-- one has to wonder if there was some sort of unconscious thought circulating around the world that initiated such large cultural changes? (historians call such events "horizons")   And let's not forget that the Inca were conquerors and vanquishers as well, eradicating many of the histories of those they conquered, and destroying (or reusing) what structures and knowledge they came across.  But little of that matters because, well, even if the Inca didn't finish many of their structures, what they did leave was enough to lock them into our visual memories, even after their elaborate gold artifacts were taken.  

 "Horizon" chart showing parallel histories: Graph: Pre-Columbian Art Museum, Cusco

     Gold or not, here we were staring in awe at the first glimpse of their work at Sacsayhuamán, a stone complex so well built that even Pizarro's brother wrote (according to Wikipedia): ...on top of a hill they [the Inca] had a very strong fort surrounded with masonry walls of stones and having two very high round towers.  And in the lower part of this wall there were stones so large and thick that it seemed impossible that human hands could have set them in place...they were so close together, and so well fitted, that the point of a pin could not have been inserted in one of the joints.  Sacsayhuamán is still dazzling when you first approach it, but is now just a fragment of what it was.  Many of the "lighter" stones were taken by the Spaniards to build their homes in nearby Cusco (including the main cathedral in Cusco): but it wasn't just the early conquerors who tore down the massive complex.  Up until the 1970s, anyone could --and did-- drive up to the site and remove whatever they could.  The proud Inca temple (later to become a citadel) is today left only with those stones too large to remove (some are estimated to weigh 200 tons).  In the words of our guide, so much has been removed that just 10% of the structure remains.  And yet, try to add 90% more to what was before us and it boggles the imagination.  The craft and the masonry, not to mention the the moving of the massive stones.  And that was just what we could see above ground.  Again from Wikipedia, Spanish Chronicler Pedro Cieza de León wrote in 1553: There were many buildings within the fortress, some small, one over the other, and others, which were large, were underground.  They made two blocks of buildings, one larger than the other, wide and so well-built, that I know not how I can exaggerate the art with which the stones are laid and worked; and they say that the subterranean edifices are even better...The principal entrance was a thing worthy of contemplation, to see how well it was built, and how the walls were arranged so that one commanded the other.  And in these walls there were stones so large and mighty that it tired the judgment to conceive how they could have been conveyed and placed, and who could have had sufficient power to shape them, seeing that among these people there are so few tools.  Some of these stones are of a width of twelve feet and more than twenty long, others are thicker than a bullock.  All the stones are laid and joined with such delicacy that a rial could not be put in between two of them.

Heading into the Sacred Valley

     We were gradually (and thankfully) descending from the altitude-affecting height of Cusco which sits at 11,000 feet (and Sacsayhuamán is located over a 1000' higher ).  And you could feel the diminished oxygen; not horribly bad by any means, but it was there.  Walking took a bit longer, breaths were a bit deeper, even for those who had taken altitude pills or drank coca tea.  The Inca realized this, and used the lower elevation of the Sacred Valley to grow most of their crops, saving the higher altitudes for crops such as quinoa.  It was where we were headed, moving 3000' lower to yet another massive (and for the most part in surrounding areas, still functioning) structure, that of the terraces of the unfinished temple (and what many consider the second most important spot in Inca history after Machu Picchu): Ollantaytambo.

The terraces at Ollantaytambo

     Historians tend to credit the earlier Huari civilization with creating the idea of terraces on the mountains, but it was the Inca who took that idea to an entirely new level, beginning many of their terraces at the base of the mountain as a stabilizer (this was done at Machu Picchu as well, although the land there continues to sink a bit each year, thus the limits being imposed on the number of visitors to the park).  The bottom terraces were filled far differently than those higher up which were the ones used for growing crops.  The lower terraces had a carefully laid out sequence of different layers and sizes of rocks, while the upper layers had larger rocks topped with gravel, then sand, then a soil/rock mixture.  This allowed drainage from the periods of excess rain and yet retained moisture for longer growing periods.  One study found that using soil alone would have pushed on the rock walls (the Inca leaned them in slightly to counter this) but the soil/rock mix used by the Inca kept the growing portion of the soil damp even six months later (the rocks also faced the sun to capture and retain heat which allowed for crops to grow at higher and cooler altitudes).  Said a piece in National Geographic: Under Inca rule, Andean civilization flowered as never before.  Inca engineers transformed fragmentary road networks into interconnected highways.  Inca farmers mastered high-altitude agriculture, cultivating some 70 different native crops and often stockpiling three to seven years' worth of food in vast storage complexes.  Imperial officials excelled at the art of inventory control, tracking storehouse contents across the realm with an ancient Andean form of computer code—colored and knotted cords known as quipus.  And Inca masons raised timeless architectural masterpieces like Machu Picchu, which continues to awe visitors today.  The Inca called these terraces andenes (one has to ask which name came first: andenes or Andes?*)

  

Inca terraces at Moray; photo: Peru Rail

     Ollantaytambo was the unfinished Temple of the Sun and was apparently left fairly intact because only the higher temple area had the gold the Spanish were interested in.  One of the last Inca rulers took a stand here and used the high location to hold off the Spanish invaders, but soon realized that he would have to retreat or face defeat (he moved to the Lost City of the Incas, Vilcabamba, which Hiram Bingham mistakenly thought he discovered when he was shown Machu Picchu).  Indeed, once you head north toward the Ecuadoran border, "lost" sites.  Wrote Megan Spurrell in Traveler: Many visitors make a beeline for the altitudes of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley in the south to behold the Incas' feats of engineering.  But here, in the northern region of Amazonas, the climate is more tropical tha Andean, and the most famous inhabitants are the Chachapoya, whom the Incas eventually pushed aside..."This area might b one of the richest archeologically in Peru," says Rob Dover [the guide she is paired with].

     Before you become Inca'd-out, I want to try and summarize these two sites.  Both saw fierce battles of resistance and both sides suffered the loss of many lives.  When the final Inca ruler fled to Vilcabamba, Pizarro captured the ruler's wife, and sister who they: ...stripped, whipped, and filled her body with arrows, said the Moon guide.  To make sure that Manco [the Inca ruler] got the message, they floated her body down the Rio Urubamba toward Vilcabamba, where Manco's troops found her.  The Inca could be just as brutal, often putting their prisoners into forced labor in a practice they called mitimaes; this was thought to be the case at Ollataytambo.  But standing here high above it all and looking down, it was difficult to ignore all that the Inca had accomplished here where nearly-finished rocks lay waiting to be placed: one 750-foot wall at the bottom of a terrace aligned perfectly with the winter solstice; granaries high above showed advanced ventilation techniques; the entire river below was redirected to not only increase irrigation but also to mimic the pattern of the Milky Way above, another homage to Pachamama or Mother Earth; freeze-drying was invented to preserve their crops; and as with so many of their sites everything pointed to the central hub of the empire, Cusco.  So if all of this was still visible today, imagine what the temple would have looked like had they finished it.  It is not entirely clear why the construction stopped, added the Moon guide.  Perhaps it was Pachacutec's death, a rebellion of the Colla people [the forced labor], the smallpox epidemic of 1537, or...the arrival of the Spaniards.  Indeed disease played a large role, with estimates of an indigenous population of 10 million plummeting to just 600,000 a century after the fall of their empire.

     This was a land of wonder, a land of spectacle, a land the Inca called Tahuantinsuyu: the four corners of the earth.  Perhaps we'll never know what we lost, or perhaps the Inca left us answers to be discovered when we're ready.  Author Raynor Winn wrote in her recent book: Somewhere in the wild air and salt spray I've come to accept that we may never have all the answers, but we can go on without them...I think I'm finally coming to understand what belief is.  It's about understanding something to be true, without proof of that truth.  No matter, for we were told that we would be heading even lower to see something more  (as if there could be more), the Inca's "crown jewel"...Machu Picchu.

The terraces of Ollantaytambo with one of the three quarries visible in the distant mountain...

*Said Britannica: Some historians believe the name Andes comes from the Quechuan word anti (“east”); others suggest it is derived from the Quechuan anta (“copper”).  It perhaps is more reasonable to ascribe it to the anta of the older Aymara language, which connotes copper colour generally.  On a side note, Discover wrote of the ongoing conflict the Inca heritage may be causing; said Peruvian anthropologist Giancarlo Marcone Flores: Politicians and institutions sometimes used the glories of the past empires of the Inca, Aztec or Maya to form a new brand of nationalism after countries won their independence from Spain. In Peru and Bolivia, this meant many people who were mostly European-descended became proud of the achievements of the Inca.  And they simultaneously disregarded the ongoing issues that the legacy of colonialism to the Inca’s descendants caused.  “The way that we Peruvians built a white criollo nation in a mostly indigenous-populated country, was to imagine ourselves neither European or Indigenous,” Marcone Flores says.  “So, we claim to be heirs of the Inca Empire, the rightful guardians of this amazing civilization.”  He says that this identity sometimes results in feeling pride for the Inca, while discriminating against modern Quechua-speakers.  They view what happened in the Spanish invasion as a sort of “reboot,” even though the Europeans incorporated many elements of the Inca Empire into their own governance of the area.  “We study and care for the Incas, but we made invisible the local native populations from this official history,”  All that said, our guide told us that there was a renewed interest ih Peru of people learning the ancient Inca language of Quechua (via You Tube, no less).