PISAQ
| Located
18 Km. From Cusco in straight line, and 35 Km through a paved
road, Pisaq is considered as a typical Inca town, with several
stages of a state city, and early privileged assimilation
to the Inca Empire.
The remains
of the political, administrative and religious structures
are distributed on the slopes and peaks of the mountains
on the right border of the Urubamba river. Nowadays, there
is a population of the same name on the floor of the valley,
living mostly of theagricultural terraces.
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In the religious
section, we notice the Intiwatana, a block of stone, finely polished
that works as a prism column of a sun clock, through which ancient
incas were able to make astronomic observations related to the
seasons, necessary to determine when to cultivate the land. Next
to the Intiwatana we find several rooms with finely polished walls
and niches with trapezoidal shape.
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are also many sections with rooms and courtyards of different
quality, some of them with walls finely polished and others
not, joined with mortar, some others made of mud brick. All
these sections were joined with a net of pathways with stairs,
tunnels, water springs and waterways, complemented with a
system of terraces and andenes for agricultural purposes. |
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A well known Inca
cemetery located near a rock wall has more than 3,000 burials
some in natural cavities and other ones dug for that purpose.The
bodies were located in unipersonal graves or in multipersonal
graves showing the different the
social status of the people. Unfortunately all the tombs have
been profaned and there is no scientific trace that could have
been recovered.
On a high and windy section of the complex, one can see a series
of warehouses, probably used to keep agricultural products as
well as livestock. The temperature and humidity makes it
ideal to maintain food in good condition.
The terrace and andenes system is exceptionally beautiful and
practical where specialists have found traces of
a high and
advanced technology to create land, handle water and keep the
fertility of plants.
In another sections, at 4200 meters above sea level, some rocky
shelters have engraved pictures of alpacas and llamas, and other
geometric shapes drawn with metallic colors as brown, yellow and
red. Some of this pictorial drawings are related to tombs that
show pre inca occupation.
By the findings on the subfloors, we can see the systematic use
of the land for agricultural and grazing areas
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town of Pisaq is a very interesting place where each Sunday
the inhabitants meet at their colorful, weekly market that
attracts many tourists. The merchants, peasants, and
officials all meet at the market to participate in commercial
activities or to attend mass. |
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OLLANTAYTAMBO
This
site was an important administrative and ceremonial center,
located about 40 Km. Away from Cusco in a straight line, and
about 87 Km. Through the paved road, and 70 Km by train. It
was built during the government of the Inca Pachacuty, the
most successful and energetic ruler of the Inca Empire in
the Andean region.
The city is on the right side of the Urubamba river and occupies
35 hectares. It has an upper section where the Temple of the
Sun exceeds. We can reach the top through a series of andenes
and stairs made of stones. There are houses with gardens and
narrow streets in the lower section of the city. The urban
section is crossed by the Patacancha river, a tributary of
the Urubamba. The site is protected on the South by an enormous
wall 3 meters high and 1.5 meters wide that end in a rocky
wall. In the southern border is the Urubamba river which had
a hanging bridge next to the actual iron bridge. |
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The people of this
urban area lives in houses made with adobe bricks. About midfway
from this urban area, to the quarry of Kachiqhata, about 3 Km
away, stand huge polished boulders, for this reason we presume
that the construction of the city was not concluded, these rocks
found on the left border of the river were ready to be moved to
their destination.
At the top of the ceremonial section of the complex, we find the
Temple of the Sun with a particular feature of a big wall made
up of six blocks of reddish stones finely polished and assembled
with smaller stones. On the surface and towards the east we can
see a symbol of the Tiahuanaco culture, related to the reverence
to water and fertility.
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the lower part of the andenes we can see a square called Manyaraki
surrounded by buildings built with adobes (mud bricks), stones
lintels and walls covered with compact clay. In the southern
section of the complex there is an architectonic group with
peculiar construction of stones joined with mortar of yellow
color. The walls with niches of double door jamb. We have
to mention the existence of an extended agricultural area
with andenes and waterways. Surface photographed by Hiram
Bingham at the begining of the century, when it was intensively
cultivated.
There are other
buildings and andenes on the left border of the Urubamba
river. Most of the construction was built for defensive
purposes during the
government of Manco Inca, the last emperor who endured the
Spanish conquest.
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The complex of Ollantaytambo
shows many special features and dissonant styles due to successive
pre-inca occupations. For example there are carved animals on
the stones with different shapes and forms. There is also a meteorite
with the stairs shape symbol.
Close
to the complex there are other buildings with two and three
floors with wooden framework. All these buildings have a perimetric
wall.
There are also several warehouses, called Colcas, there were
used to store grains and crops, and also to store handicrafts.
Because of these warehouses the city has the name of TAMBO. |
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Dr.
Fernando Astete Victoria
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