Ancient Cuzco

by Brian S. Bauer

  To the southeast of Cuzco, alliance formation failed or was never even attempted, possibly because of ethnic or linguistic differences. The Pinahua remained in a nearly constant struggle with Cuzco until they were defeated militarily and a large proportion of their inhabitants were sent to colonize remote lowland areas. In the less populated regions to the south, where groups had long-standing contact with Cuzco, cultural affiliation with the Inca led to early political incorporation, without evidence of violent conflicts. It is clear that differences in ethnicity and local political complexity had a major influence on the development of the Inca heartland. The end result of these conflicts, marriages, and alliances was the formation of a complex social and political hierarchy across the Cuzco region that reduced ethnic diversity and political competition to create an Inca heartland capable of becoming the largest native empire of the Americas.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Cuzco Valley during Imperial Inca Rule

  DURING THE LATE 1300s or early 1400s, the Inca state began to expand beyond the Cuzco region. Over the course of the next several generations, the Inca formed the largest empire of the Americas. During the time of late state development and imperial expansion—here called the Inca Period (ca. AD 1400–1532)—the Cuzco Basin was qualitatively transformed from the power center of a small, emergent state in the south-central Andes to the capital of an empire whose rulers controlled the vast and varied region between Ecuador and Chile. This chapter provides a brief introduction to some of the many Inca sites in the Cuzco Valley. The following chapter will discuss many of the great buildings that existed in the city itself.

  Identifying Inca Sites

  Inca sites in the Cuzco region are identified through distinct ceramic and architectural styles. The best-known ceramic style from the Cuzco region is Classic Inca (also called Inca, Late Inca, and Cuzco Inca). Although this style is poorly dated, it is generally believed that its production began around AD 1400 and that Classic Inca ceramics continued to be produced until shortly after the Spanish Conquest (AD 1532). Rowe (1946: 246) suggests that the production of Classic Inca ceramics took place within the Cuzco Basin. The most likely loci for imperial ceramic production are the adjacent areas of Larapa and Sañu,1 between the modern communities of San Sebastián and San Jerónimo. Archival sources indicate that settlements of olleros (potters) lived in this area during early colonial times (Archivo Agrario: Miscelanea: Hacienda Larapa 1596), and it continues to be exploited for its clay resources today.

  Many of the world’s major museums obtained substantial collections of Classic Inca ceramics during the nineteenth century (Seler 1893; Valencia Zegarra 1979; Bauer and Stanish 1990). The systematic reporting and analysis of this ceramic style began, however, with the earliest archaeological expeditions into the south-central highlands of Peru in the early twentieth century. Perhaps the most famous collection was made during Hiram Bingham’s work at the site of Machu Picchu. Utilizing materials recovered from numerous cave burials surrounding Machu Picchu, and to a lesser extent finds recovered during his excavations, Bingham (1915) developed a vessel typology that is still widely used today. The physician on Bingham’s expedition, George Eaton (1916: Plates V–XIV), also provided a large number of illustrations of ceramic vessels found at or near Machu Picchu. There are also several other early reports on Classic Inca ceramics found in the Cuzco region. For example, Luis E. Valcarcel (1934–1935) provides a discussion of the Classic Inca ceramics recovered at Sacsayhuaman, and Luis A. Pardo (1938, 1939, 1957) outlines various museum pieces. In addition, Rowe’s landmark work on the archaeology of Cuzco provides a detailed discussion of Classic Inca ceramics, including classifications of different substyles (1944: 47–49).

  The post–World War II era has witnessed an increasing number of references to Classic Inca ceramics by researchers working in the Cuzco region. This is not surprising, since Classic Inca ceramics are present at most sites in the region. Recent reports that offer significant descriptions and illustrations of Classic Inca ceramics include Ann Kendall’s (1976) studies in the Urubamba River Valley. Her work (Kendall 1974; 1985: 347) also provides one of the few radiocarbon dates published for Classic Inca ceramics from Cuzco. Excavations by Kendall at the site of Ancasmarca yielded Inca ceramics within a context dating to 482 ± 91 BP (calibrated 95.4% probability AD 1290–1640).2 Sara Lunt’s (1984, 1987, 1988) study of Inca and Killke ceramics from this same region offers the first detailed examination of late-prehistoric ceramic wares from the Cuzco region. Dean Arnold’s 1972–1973 excavations at the site of Qata Casallacta (Liu et al. 1986: 108), on a mountain shelf near the city of Cuzco, yielded examples of Classic Inca storage vessels (Arnold, personal communication, 2001) as well as a radiocarbon date of 370 ± 80 BP (calibrated 95.4% probability AD 1410–1670).3 A report by José Alcina Franch and colleagues on excavations at Chinchero, a large Inca site north of Cuzco, contains many illustrations of Classic Inca ceramics (Alcina Franch et al. 1976). Heffernan (1989) furnishes numerous examples of this style found in the Limatambo area, located west of Cuzco. Unfortunately, a carbon sample recovered with Classic Inca ceramics near Limatambo provided a radiocarbon date falling within the late Colonial Period,4 and two carbon samples from the fill of an Inca terrace in the same area provided equally unhelpful dates (Heffernan 1989: 539).5 Lisbet Bengtsson (1998:102) reports finding Classic Inca ceramics in the course of her excavations at Ollantaytambo and in the quarry of Kachiqhata. The full spread of her calibrated dates begins as early as AD 1110 and runs as late as AD 1750.6 Finally, during the course of our test excavations in the Cuzco Basin, carbon recovered at the small site of Pukacancha from a floor containing Classic Inca ceramics (Photo 9.1) provided a date of 440 ±45 BP (calibrated 95.4% probability AD 1400–1630 [Bauer and Jones 2003]).7 These scattered references emphasize that there is still a general lack of information concerning the Classic Inca ceramics produced in the Cuzco region. A large, systematic study of Classic Inca ceramics from Cuzco is an important project yet to be done and would be an enormous asset to researchers working in all parts of the former Inca Empire.8

  PHOTO 9.1. Classic Inca pottery from the site of Pukacancha

  NON-INCA CONTEMPORARY CERAMIC STYLES

  We know that other styles of ceramics were imported into the Cuzco region during the period of imperial Inca rule. Fine black Chimu ceramics have been found in excavations at the site of Sacsayhuaman (Valcárcel 1946: 181) and in the city of Cuzco itself (Carmen Farfan Delgado, personal communication, 1994). Furthermore, during his excavations at Machu Picchu, Bingham recovered a non-Inca vessel, which, from its stirrup handle, appears to be imported from the north coast (Eaton 1916: Plate XIV, Fig. 1). The recovery of north-coast ceramics in Cuzco is not surprising, however, since the Inca controlled that area for more than a generation.

  Other areas of the Inca domain, especially the Lake Titicaca region, are also represented in surface collections from sites in the Cuzco Valley. Fragments of Sillustani-(Tschopik 1946), Urcusuyu-(Rowe 1944: 49; Tschopik 1946), and Pacajes-(Rydén 1957; Albarracín-Jordan and Mathews 1990) style ceramics have been recovered at several sites (Photos 9.2–9.4). The first of these styles, Sillustani, is composed of a white paste, which has been called “kaolin,” and was fabricated in the Department of Puno in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Urcusuyu vessels, with their bright orange, red, black, and white designs, are believed to have been produced in the same general region. Pacajes ceramics, known for their dark red background and miniature llama designs, were made in the Tiwanaku region on the southern end of Lake Titicaca. There is no doubt that other imported styles from other parts of the Inca Empire will be recovered as additional research is conducted at sites in the Cuzco region.

  PHOTO 9.2. Fragments of Sillustani ceramics recovered in the Cuzco Valley

  PHOTO 9.3. Fragments of Urcusuyu ceramics recovered in the Cuzco Valley

  PHOTO 9.4. Fragments of Pacajes ceramics recovered in the Cuzco Valley

  INCA ARCHITECTURE

  Al
though Inca architecture has impressed visitors to Cuzco for centuries, there is still much to learn (Photo 9.5). Fortunately, significant research progress has been made in recent years. General overviews of Inca architecture have been produced by Kendall (1974), Gasparini and Margolies (1980), Hemming and Ranney (1982), Agurto Calvo (1987), and Protzen (2000). Meanwhile, additional studies have been conducted concerning the construction techniques of the Inca (Protzen 1985, 1986) and intensive studies of specific sites have been undertaken (Niles 1980a, 1980b, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1999; Gibaja 1984; Protzen 1991; Lee 1998, 2000).

  Several authors have attempted to associate various styles of architecture with specific rulers, but their models have not been independently tested and confirmed. Jean-Pierre Protzen (2000: 201) writes: “Very few individual buildings are unequivocally attributed to a specific Inca ruler, and sites known to have been established by a given ruler are likely to have been modified over the years. Too few sites have been investigated with a view to their construction history to be certain of which features are associated with which construction phase. When such construction phases have been established, it is generally not known who was responsible for their initiation.” Susan Niles (1999) has intensively studied several large sites that the chroniclers state were built by Huayna Capac, the last Inca king to rule over a united empire. Even with this remarkable documentation, it has been difficult to provide a list of clear stylistic traits that can be associated with his period of rule. We are still far from the ultimate goal of correlating architectural styles with reigns of particular Inca royals.

  We do have a few carbon dates from Inca buildings in the Cuzco region. One of the few structures to be dated using radiocarbon samples is in Juchuy Cuzco, an Inca site in the Vilcanota River Valley, between the towns of Calca and Lamay. The surprisingly early date, 850 ± 60 BP (calibrated 95.4% probability AD 1030–1280), of a wooden lintel at the site9 is interpreted by Kendall (1985: 347–348) as evidence for the re-utilization of older building materials by the Inca.

  A series of Inca structures north of Cuzco have, however, provided a cluster of dates that fall within the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Hollowell 1987).10 These data are noteworthy because they form the earliest cluster of dates from Inca structures and because they come from buildings well outside the Cuzco Valley. A building at the quarry of Kachiqhata, across the river from Ollantaytambo, provides a similar age (Bengtsson 1998: 102).11 These findings suggest that Inca-style stone architecture in the region of Cuzco may have appeared earlier than previously predicted. If these dates are accurate, then some of the “Inca” structures in the Cuzco region may have been constructed during the Killke Period. They highlight the need for additional research on the relationship between ceramics and architectural styles in the Inca heartland. Recent research, such as that being conducted by Covey (2003) in the nearby Pisaq region and the work of others downstream in the area of Ollantaytambo (Niles 1980b; Hollowell 1987), is making important progress in this direction. We should soon be able to note differences between Inca state architecture, that which was built in the Cuzco region while the heartland was in formation, and imperial Inca architecture, that which developed during the later period of imperial expansionism.

  PHOTO 9.5. Large ashlar blocks on an Inca wall on the side of the Archbishop’s Palace in Cuzco. Note that at the far left side can be seen the remains of smaller, cellular stones that once covered the older, larger blocks. (Courtesy of Fototeca Andina—Centro Bartolomé de Las Casas; photograph by Cesar Meza, ca. 1940)

  Distribution of Inca Sites in the Cuzco Valley

  During the process of imperial development, the population level of the Cuzco Valley grew rapidly (Map 9.1). Our survey identified more than 850 Inca sites. Since an individual discussion of each of these sites is beyond the confines of this work, I present a brief summary of the settlement pattern found in our survey, and then turn to the question of Inca storage facilities in the valley and at the great site of Sacsayhuaman.

  Our survey results indicate that most of the large villages that had emerged on both sides of the Cuzco Basin during the process of Killke Period state formation continued to be occupied during the time of imperial expansion. By the time of Spanish contact, there was a continuous spread of large villages on both sides of the Huatanay River in the Cuzco Basin. References to many of these villages can be found within early colonial documents of the valley. For example, Sites An. 33 (Larapa), An. 49 (Racay Racayniyoc [Andamachay]), An. 102 (Yucaypata), Co. 97 (Kayra), Co. 223 (Wimpillay), Cu. 3 (Chocco), Cu. 53 (Cachona), and Cu. 155 (Coripata [Cayaocache]) are all well documented in archival materials and can be linked to important Inca Period kin groups (Bauer 1998). I believe that with additional archival work, the names of the other prominent archaeological sites in the Cuzco Basin at the time of the conquest can also be determined. Such documentation would then allow new work to be conducted on the land-tenure system of the Inca at the time of European contact and on other important ethnohistoric research themes.

  During the period of imperial Inca expansion, a multitude of homesteads and hamlets also sprang up. Most notable is the fact that the Oropesa Basin, which formed a buffer zone between the Lucre Basin and the Cuzco Basin during part of the Killke Period, quickly filled with settlements, and its rich agricultural land began to be fully exploited. All across the Cuzco Valley, from its northwestern end above Sacsayhuaman to its southeast extreme near Lake Lucre, there is a filling in of territory by small hamlets and villages.

  We also see the sudden establishment of several new, large sites in the valley, some of which could be the result of natural concentrations of populations. Others represent areas developed by the elite of Cuzco, and still others most likely reflect forced resettlement programs of the state. For example, one of the largest sites in the valley is Muyu Cocha (Ch. 358). This site, which is located within a short walking distance of Sacsayhuaman, shows no evidence of being occupied during the Killke Period. As discussed below, it is likely that this site represents a large village that was established by the state to house hundreds of construction workers who were brought into the valley to participate in public works projects.

  MAP 9.1. One hundred fifty important sites in the Cuzco Valley during the period of imperial development.

  Storage Facilities in Cuzco and the Valley

  A number of recent studies have focused on the critical roles that various Inca administrative centers played in the collection, storage, and redistribution of state goods.12 This role is most apparent in the large number of storage houses that surround various regional centers. For example, thousands of storage units were built on the hills surrounding the Inca provincial centers of Hatun Xauxa (Peru), Cotapachi (Bolivia), and Campo del Pucara (Argentina; Snead 1992). Hundreds of other storage units were built surrounding other secondary and tertiary sites of Inca administration (D’Altroy and Earle 1992; Snead 1992). These buildings generally held agricultural materials, including maize, quinoa, and potatoes (D’Altroy and Hastorf 1992).

  The tributary demands placed on the inhabitants of the provinces required them to produce large quantities of agricultural surplus as well as to collect other important resources for the empire. Terry LeVine (1987) has outlined the labor services that one ethnic group, the Chupachu of the central Andes, gave to the Inca, as recorded in two early documents dating to 1549 and 1562. It is an astonishing list that includes labor services ranging from the collection of lowland bird feathers to providing guards for the mummies of the dead Inca rulers in Cuzco. When one considers that the Chupachu were a rather small group among the many controlled by Cuzco, the enormous amount of tribute service paid each year to the Inca begins to be revealed.

  Heavy, bulky, and in need of cooler conditions for long-term storage, the agricultural surplus paid to the state was placed in storage units constructed near to, but above, the provincial Inca administrative centers. Smaller and more valuable resources, such as wool, feathers, leather, and special woods, we
re placed in storage units within the centers where they could then be converted into goods by means of rotational labor. For example, Xerez (1985: 116 [1534]) mentions the extensive storehouses that existed within the city of Cajamarca:

  In this town of Cajamarca they found certain houses filled with clothes packed in bales that reached to the ceilings of the houses. They say that it was a depot to supply the army. The Christians took what they wanted, and still the houses remained so full that what was taken seemed not to be missed. The cloth is the best that has been seen in the Indias. The greater part of it is very fine and elegant wool, and the rest is cotton of various colors and rich hues.13 (Translation by author)

  Although much of what was produced for the state in the provinces remained in the control of regional lords, the finest objects were transported to Cuzco. In the words of Santillán (1950: 68 [1564]), “The richest and choicest clothes were carried to Cuzco, and the others were put in the storerooms, and from these they dressed the people that fulfilled the mentioned services of the Inca.”14 Year after year, the tribute, as well as spoils of war, poured into Cuzco, and its storage facilities came to hold the premier objects of the realm. Like many of the Spaniards who arrived in the Inca capital in 1533, Pedro Sancho de la Hoz was astonished at its unparalleled wealth:

  There are houses where the tribute is kept which the vassals bring to the caciques; and there is a house where are kept more than a hundred thousand dried birds because they make garments of their feathers, which are of many colors, and there are many [storage]houses for this. There are bucklers, oval shields made of leather, copper sheets for repairing the walls of houses, knives and other tools, sandals and breastplates for the warriors and everything in such great quantity that the mind does not cease to wonder how so great a tribute of so many kinds of things can have been given. (Sancho 1917: 158–159)15