Ancient Cuzco

by Brian S. Bauer

  Likewise, Pedro Pizarro was surprised by the range of items found within the storage rooms in Cuzco. He mentions that the rooms held an enormous amount of highly valued goods, which ranged from rooms filled with emerald green hummingbird feathers to bars of copper and plates of silver and gold:

  I shall now give an account of what was in this city of Cuzco when we entered it, for there were many storehouses which had very fine clothing as well as other coarser garments, and there were stores of grain, of food, of coca. There were deposits of turnsole feathers, which looked like very fine gold, and other turnsole feathers were of a golden green colour. It was a very slender feather grown by some little birds hardly larger than a cigar, and because they are so small, they call them comine birds. These little birds grow this feather already called turnsole only upon their breast, and the place where they grow is scarcely larger than a fingernail. [These Indians] had many of these feathers twisted into a thin cord closely wound about a framework of maguey in such a fashion as to form pieces more than a palm wide, and the whole was fastened upon certain chests [which they had]. Of this feather they made garments which caused the beholders to wonder how so many turnsole feathers could have been gathered together. There were likewise many other plumes of diverse colours for the purpose of making clothing with which the Lords and Ladies delight themselves at the time of the festivals. There were also mantles made with very delicate little spangles of mother-of-pearl, gold and silver in such wise as to cause astonishment at the dexterity of the work, for the whole was so covered with these spangles that nothing of the closely woven network [which formed the basis of the garment] was visible. These garments were likewise for the Ladies. There were stores of sandals with the soles made of cabuya, and above the toes they were made of very fine wool of many colours . . . I shall not be able to describe the deposits which I saw of all the varieties of apparel which they made and used in this kingdom, for time would be lacking for seeing it all and understanding [and] comprehending such a great thing. There were many stores of small bars of copper [from] the mines, of sacks and ropes, of wooden vessels, of plates of gold and silver [so that] all that was found here was a thing causing astonishment . . . (Pedro Pizarro 1921: 265–267 [1571])16

  Besides being housed within the immense warehouses of the state, it is also clear that goods and elite objects were stored within the confines of the specific state institutions. For example, Garcilaso de la Vega (1966: 249 [1609: Pt. 1, Bk. 5, Ch. 5]) describes extensive maize storage bins within a compound called the Acllahuaci (House of Chosen [Women]) in Cuzco, in which lived hundreds of women who had dedicated their lives to serving the state. Cieza de Léon (1976: 145–146 [1553: Pt. 1, Ch. 92]) describes other maize storage bins within the Coricancha, the most important religious compound within Cuzco. The fact that both the Acllahuaci and the Coricancha contained large food storage facilities is not surprising, since both of these institutions were required to host large numbers of people on special occasions.

  The individual panacas (royal descent groups) of Cuzco also controlled storage facilities in and near the city. Much of each former king’s wealth was retained by his descendants after his death and stored in central Cuzco. For example, we know that although the first three Spaniards to arrive in Cuzco were allowed to sack the Temple of the Sun, they were asked by Atahualpa not to touch the treasures of his father, Huayna Capac, which were still held in the city.

  The panacas were also given control of the lands and country estates that were owned by the king during his lifetime. Much of the agricultural yields from those lands was then used to support the cult of the founding ancestor. This is best documented in the case of Amaru Topa Inca, Topa Inca Yupanqui’s elder brother. Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua (1950: 245–247 [ca. 1613]) writes:

  . . . And thus Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui renounced the kingdom to his son Amaru Topa Inca, who did not accept it, instead applying himself to his fields and buildings. Seeing this, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui offered the kingdom to his second son Topa Inca Yupanqui . . .

  And at this time there began a great famine which lasted seven years, in those seven years no seed that was sown produced fruit . . . During this time, they say that Amaru Topa Inca always, in those seven years of famine, grew much food in his field at Callachaca and Lucriocchullo. And they say more, that his fields were always covered by clouds, raining on them in the evening, and thus they say that the frosts never fell, but . . . He had filled the collcas (granaries) and storage houses with food a long time before.17 (Translation by author)

  The remains of the storage houses can still be seen in the area of Callachaca on the slopes of the Cuzco Valley above the town of San Sebastián. Although now poorly preserved and spread over a large area, more than thirty storage houses may once have been located in this area of the valley. The state also controlled various storage houses outside the city. We were able to identify some of these sites through their architectural remains and others by the great quantity of storage vessels found at them (Map 9.2). With the exception of Sacsayhuaman, discussed in detail below, we believe these storage houses, because they are located outside the city on the valley slopes, held agricultural surplus.

  Although more than a dozen sites with storage houses are now known in the Cuzco Valley, the total volume of materials contained in these was relatively small, compared to the thousands of units found around the largest provincial centers. Craig Morris (1992: 169), the first researcher in the Andes to conduct a series of investigations on Inca storage houses, notes, “. . . we might be incorrect in assuming that simply because Cuzco was the capital and most important center in the realm that it would automatically have the largest food stores.” Cuzco, like other Inca centers, did receive a great amount of goods, but as the capital, it received the finest luxury goods, while the other centers received more of the agricultural surplus (Morris 1967, 1992; LeVine 1992).

  The largest set of Inca storage buildings in the Cuzco Valley can be found at the site of Qata Casallacta, situated on the south side of the valley, not far from the city (Rowe 1944, 1967; Morris 1992). Dean Arnold conducted test excavations at Qata Casallacta in 1972–1973, and he found evidence of a large number of Inca storage vessels and many rectangular buildings at the site. More recent excavations there have recovered examples of Killke pottery, suggesting that this facility was established during the period of state development (Candía Gómez 1992). Although the site (Cu. 96) is now nearly destroyed by urban growth, we estimate that it once held more than one hundred storage units.18

  The Site of Sacsayhuaman

  The most important site outside the city but within the Cuzco Basin is the massive site of Sacsayhuaman (Photo 9.6). It is located on a steep hill that overlooks the city and provides an impressive view of the valley to the southeast. Surface collections at Sacsayhuaman indicate that the site dates back to at least the Qotakalli Period, and excavations have revealed that a substantial occupation existed there during Killke times (Rowe 1944; Dwyer 1971a). The complex was, however, greatly expanded during the period of Inca imperial rule and now is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the Americas.

  MAP 9.2. Location of storage facilities in the Cuzco Valley

  MAP 9.3. Map of the site of Sacsayhuaman (Courtesy of Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Peru)

  The site of Sacsayhuaman can be divided into three zones (Map 9.3). To the north is a large circular reservoir with a small adjacent complex of finely made buildings. The architectural features of this zone were unknown until the late 1980s, when work by the National Institute of Cuzco exposed the reservoir and the network of water channels that filled it. This area most certainly represents what the Inca called Calispuquio (Spring of Good Health), which is described as being near Sacsayhuaman (Bauer 1998: 55). Calispuquio played an important role in a number of Inca rituals (Betanzos 1996: 63 [1557: Pt. 1, Ch. 14]), and it was near this pool that Topa Inca Yupanqui had an estate (Cobo 1990: 55–56 [1653: Bk. 13, Ch. 13]).

 
; The second zone lies near the middle of the site. It contains many smooth outcrops and the faint remains of various building foundations. The most notable feature of this area is the famous carved stone, referred to as “the throne of the Incas” (Photo 9.7). This carving was a shrine of the Cuzco ceque system and may have held an important role in the Inca rituals that took place in the complex (Cobo 1990: 57 [1653: Bk. 13, Ch. 13]; Bauer 1998: 61).

  PHOTO 9.6. The site of Sacsayhuaman is located to the north of and above the city of Cuzco. (Courtesy of Servicio Aerofotografico Nacional, Peru)

  PHOTO 9.7. The famous carved stone known as “the throne of the Incas”

  FIGURE 9.1. The massive terrace walls of Sacsayhuaman (Squier 1877: 477)

  The third and best-known zone of Sacsayhuaman includes its great plaza as well as its three massive terrace walls. The stones of these terrace walls are among the largest used in any building in prehispanic America, and they display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas (Figure 9.1). Because of its location high above Cuzco and its immense terrace walls, this area of Sacsayhuaman is frequently referred to as a fortress. The importance of its military functions was highlighted in 1556 when Manco Inca lay siege to Cuzco. Much of the fighting occurred in and around Sacsayhuaman, as it was seen as critical for maintaining control over the city. We know from descriptions of the siege, as well as from excavations at the site, that there were towers on its summit and a series of other buildings (Valcárcel 1934, 1935, 1946). Sancho, who visited the complex before the siege, writes the following:

  Upon the hill which, towards the city, is rounded and very steep, there is a very beautiful fortress of earth and stone. Its large windows which look over the city make it appear still more beautiful. Within, there are many dwellings, and a chief tower in the centre, built square, and having four or five terraces one above the other. The rooms inside are small and the stones of which it is built are very well worked and so well adjusted to one another that it does not appear that they have any mortar and they are so smooth that they look like polished slabs with the joinings in regular order and alternating with one another after the usage in Spain. There are so many rooms and towers that a person could not see them all in one day; and many Spaniards who have been in Lombardy and in other foreign kingdoms say that they have never seen any other fortress like this one nor a stronger castle. Five thousand Spaniards might well be within it, nor could it be given a broadside or be mined, because it is on a rocky mountain. On the side towards the city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall; on the other side, which is less steep, there are three, one above the other. The most beautiful thing which can be seen in the edifices of that land are these walls, because they are of stones so large that anyone who sees them would not say that they had been put in place by human hands, for they are as large as chunks of mountains and huge rocks, and they have a height of thirty palms and a length of as many more, and others have twenty and twenty-five, and others fifteen, but there is none so small that three carts could carry it. These are not smooth stones, but rather well joined and matched one with another, . . . These walls twist in such a way that if they are attacked it is not possible to do so from directly in front, but only obliquely. These walls are of the same stone, and between wall and wall there is enough earth to permit three carts to go along the top at one time. They are made after the fashion of steps, so that one begins where another leaves off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows, axes, shields, doublets thickly padded with cotton and other arms of various sorts, and clothes for the soldiers collected here from all parts of the land subject to the lords of Cuzco. They had many colors, blue, yellow, brown and many others for painting, much tin and lead with other metals, and much silver and some gold, many mantles and quilted doublets for the warriors. . . . (Sancho 1917: 155–157 [1534])19

  In the above quote, Sancho mentions the labyrinth-like quality of the complex and the fact that it held a great number of storage rooms filled with a wide variety of items. He also notes that there were buildings with large windows that overlooked the city. These structures, like so much of the site, have long since been destroyed (Hyslop 1990: 54).

  Other early accounts of Cuzco (Cieza de León 1976: 154 [1554: Pt. 2, Ch. 51]) indicate that Sacsayhuaman included a Sun Temple, which suggests that the complex was the focus of ritual activities as well (Map 9.4). The large plaza area, capable of holding thousands of people, is well designed for ceremonial activities, and several of the large structures at the site may also have been used during rituals. It is also clear from early accounts that the complex held a great number of storage rooms. Pedro Pizarro, whose cousin Juan Pizarro was killed while trying to take control of Sacsayhuaman during the 1556 siege, describes the storage rooms within the complex and that were filled with military equipment.

  To return to the matter of Cuzco, [I will say that] on top of a hill they had a very strong fort surrounded with masonry walls of stone 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 . . . And 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. The whole [fortress was built up in] terraces and flat spaces. There were so many rooms that ten thousand Indians could get within them. All these rooms were occupied by and filled with arms, lances, arrows, darts, clubs, bucklers, and large oblong shields under which a hundred Indians could go, as though under a mantle, in order to capture forts. There were many morions made of certain canes very well woven together and so strong that no stone nor blow could penetrate them and harm the head which wore the morion. There were also, here in this fortress, certain stretchers in which the Lords traveled, as in litters. There were here many Indians who guarded these stores and who saw to it that these terraces and rooms were kept in repair if it rained in the winter-time. This fortress would have been impregnably strong had it been provided with water and [it had] great labyrinths and rooms which I never saw completely and never understood. (Pedro Pizarro 1921: 272–273 [1571])20

  MAP 9.4. Fort and plaza area of Sacsayhuaman (Courtesy of Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Peru)

  As noted by Hyslop (1990: 53), the earliest accounts of Sacsayhuaman stress two aspects above all others. First, everyone marveled at the great stonework of the terrace walls. Second, it is emphasized that the complex contained a great number of storage rooms that held an array of military items. Among the more interesting items mentioned are a wide range of weapons, cotton armor, siege equipment, and litters for the Inca. Recent excavations by the National Institute of Culture on an expanse immediately west of its circular tower have exposed a maze of small rooms, many of which could have functioned as storage rooms, as described by both Pizarro and Sancho.

  BUILDING SACSAYHUAMAN

  The Inca used similar construction techniques in building Sacsayhuaman as they used on all their stonework, albeit on a far more massive scale. The stones were rough-cut to the approximate shape in the quarries using river cobbles (Protzen 1986, 1991). They were then dragged by rope to the construction site, a feat that at times required hundreds of men (Gutiérrez de Santa Clara 1963: 252 [ca. 1600]). The ropes were so impressive that they warranted mention by Diego de Trujillo (1948: 63 [1571]) as he inspected a room filled with building materials.

  The stones were shaped into their final form at the building site and then laid in place (Lee 1986). The work, though supervised by Inca architects, was largely carried out by groups of individuals fulfilling their labor obligations to the state. In this system of mit’a or “turn” labor, each village or ethnic group provided a certain number of individuals to participate in public works projects.

  Although multiple regions might provide labor for a single, large-scale state project, the ethnic composition of the work-gangs remained intact, as different groups were assigned different tasks. Cieza de León, who
visited Sacsayhuaman at least two times in the late 1540s, provides an account of its construction in which he mentions the quarrying of the stones, their transportation to the site, and the digging of foundation trenches—all of which was conducted by rotational labor under the close supervision of imperial architects.21

  He [Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui] ordered twenty thousand men sent in from the provinces, and that the villages supply them with the necessary food, and if one of them took sick, that another should be sent in his place and he could return to his home. These Indians were not permanently engaged in this work, but only for a limited time, and then others came and they left, so the work did not become onerous. Four thousand of them quarried and cut stones; six thousand hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp; the others dug the ditch and laid the foundations, while still others cut poles and beams for the timbers. So that they would be contented, these people lived in separate groups, each with those of his own region, near the site where the building was to be erected. Even today most of the walls of the houses they occupied can still be seen. Overseers went around watching what they did, and masters who were highly skilled in their work. (Cieza de León 1976: 153–154 [1554: Pt. 2, Ch. 51])22

  Protzen (1991) has shown how the Inca built long and complex ramps within the stone quarries near Ollantaytambo, and how additional ramps were built to drag the blocks to the construction above the village. Cobo offers additional information on the construction techniques of the Inca. Specifically, he describes how, by building large ramps, they were able to place the stone blocks on the upper tiers of their tall walls: