INCA ART1438-1533AD

Silver Maize Stalks

This fragmentary silver and gold corn stalk shows the degree to which Inca sculpture could be mimetic.

Gardens of precious metal plants, animals, and even lumps of earth were created for the nobility.

The Spanish conquistadores reported seeing such sights as a garden at the temple of the sun that was planted with carefully crafted golden plants, including flowers and ears of corn.

They also saw life-size replicas of animals and even human statues.

Alpaca FigurineA silver figurine of an alpaca shows the craftsmanship of Inca metalworkers.

Alpacas and llamas were and still are an extraordinarily valued possession in the highlands and mountains, where they are essential for human survival.

Their meat provides protein, their dung is dried and used as fuel, and their wool provides the protection necessary to survive the hostile climate, not to mention having made the ancient and sophisticated textile art possible.

Alpacas were sacrificed during ceremonies that related to the cultivation of corn- demonstrating the importance of this animal

Silver images of animals were often buried at religious sites- functioned as offerings

Capac Hucha

A cast silver figure dressed in a miniature feather headdress and woven mantle, found with a child sacrifice.

In the capac hucha ritual, a few special children gave their life force in the belief that it would strengthen that of the ruler.

Army Uniform TunicThe standardized Inca checkerboard tunic, in black and white with a red yoke, used as the army uniform.

It epitomizes the Inca graphic, bold, and often minimalistic style.

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is an example of the sophisticated engineering feats of the people of the Inca Empire.

Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire.

Located 2,430 meters (7,970 ft) above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region around 75 km from Cusco.

The site stretches over an impressive 5-mile distance, featuring more than 3,000 stone steps that link its many different levels.

Its three primary structures are the: Intihuatna the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows.

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is Quechua for Old Peak

Machu= old or old man and Picchu= peak.

Many modern-day archaeologists now believe that Machu Picchu served as a royal estate for Inca emperors and nobles, specifically for Pachacuti.

It is suggested that it was built for elites wanting to escape the noise and congestion of the city

Others have theorized that it was a religious site, pointing to its proximity to mountains and other geographical features that the Incas held sacred.

Dry-Stone Wall

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls.

A dry stone wall is a wall constructed from stones without mortar to bind them together. As with any dry stone construction, the structural integrity arises from compressional forces and the interlocking of the stones.

Intihuatana

Inti= sun huata= to tie or hitch

• A ritual stone associated with an astronomical clock or calendar of the Incas.

• The stone indicates the precise dates of the solstices and the equinoxes. At this moment, the sun is almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow and the sun is said to be “hitched” to the rock.

• The Incas held ceremonies at this time, “tying the sun” to halt its northward movement.

• From this day onward the days become longer meaning more hours of light and more time to work the land and produce more food.

The Temple of the Sun

The “Temple of the Sun,” or Torreón, has an elliptical design. It is located near where the Inca emperor is believed to have resided at Machu Picchu.

A rock inside the temple could have served as an altar.

During the June solstice the rising sun shines directly into one of the temple’s windows, and this indicates an alignment between the window, rock and solstice sun.

The cult of Inti, kept several mummies to be worshipped and were an integral part of the cult to the Sun.

The Temple of the Three WindowsConsisting of only three walls on

a rectangular base and covered by a roof made of adobe. The walls were constructed from large blocks of solid rock carved in polygonal shape forming a perfectly matched stones each other, leaving space for, originally five windows, although there are today only three of them indicating the exact location of the sunrise.

the temple hosts a carved stone with engravings that represent the three levels where the Inca civilization divided the Andean world: the sky spirituality (Hanan-Pacha), the Earth's surface or the mundane (Kay-Pacha) and subsoil or inner life (Ukju-Pacha).

Terrace agriculture on the side of the sacred location, once grew major crops like maize and potatoes.

Other Buildings

Machu Picchu also contains a large area dedicated to noble housing and royal residencies.

But the main structures have religious significance, while half the territory was used for terraces.

The Fall .There is no evidence that the conquistadors ever attacked or even reached the mountaintop citadel, however; for this reason, some have suggested that the residents’ desertion occurred because of a smallpox epidemic.