INCA AND ASTRONOMONY

FIRST EDITION

Project Group 27 Chng Mei Ying U037629M Ng Kian Chee Alan U047730B Tay Gek Koon U037472R Theingi Hlaing @ Thelma Lim U037652W Thong Kah Chun U052450B Zheng Minghan, Alfred U037513Y

Dedicated to Assoc Prof Helmer Aslaksen,

for inspiring our interest in astronomy

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This book is printed on acid-free paper Copyright © 2005 by project group 27 Published in NUS E2 printing room All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of any part of this work without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to U0308227@nus.edu.sg This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. DISCLAIMER: DUE TO CONTRADICTIONS OF THEORY FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS IN OUR RESEARCH, WE ASSUMED A STAND AND AIRED IT IN THE VIEW OF THE INCAS. ALTHOUGH ALL EFFORTS HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN TO REPRESENT AN ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE INCA EMPIRE, ANY MISINTEPRETATION IS UNINTENTIONAL AND DEEPLY REGRETTED. ISBN: 0-1557-0057796-9

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Contents Preface Introduction of characters in the story …...6 Introduction ……8 Stellar Observations ..….10 Alignment of Archeological Inca Remains with Stars ..…43 Incas and their Festivals …..50 Shadows used to determine time of the day and Solstice …..72 The Incan Calendars …..78 Interesting Pictures of Inca Civilisation ……87 References ……91 Appendix ……94

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Preface This book touches on an ancient civilization found on the face of South America – the Inca. The empire stretched 3400 miles long and has an area of 385,000 miles square. It boasted a population of 12 million people. So vast was their reign area that it encompassed the world famous mountains - The Andes. These indigenous people had no elaborate system of writing and thus little historical records about them have been left behind. It is thus interesting to know how they keep track of the seasons and festivals or passed down the knowledge they possessed of the nature and astronomy. This fact has intrigued us, hence motivating us to do more research on this ancient civilization. Thus, the birth of this book. The facts of the Inca civilization have been presented in the form of a story to arouse a higher level of interest amongst readers. This keeps them captivated and at the same time educates them on this lost civilization. This book focuses mainly on the following three aspects:

Astronomical alignment of the Empire Stellar Observations of the Inca The Inca calendar

We hope that this book will help readers in attaining a better understanding in this area.

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Introduction of characters in the story:

• Narrator • Quispe-Tupac: Inca resident who lives in the forest • Titu-Cusi: Inca shepherd • Ozcoc: Inca farmer • Pumi-Sopa: Inca farmer • Cayo-Topa: Inca Priest • Zambiza: Inca Noble • Maxi-Coca: Noble’s wife (Palla). • Zope: Noble’s brother • Polo de Ondegardo[~1500-1570]:

Spanish historian; Came up with a report, De los errors y supersticiones de los indios on the Inca empire in 1559, now lost except for a small abstract.

• Bernabé Cobo [~1582-1687]: Spanish Priest; had possession of Polo’s full report and wrote a chronicle, Historia del Nuevo Mundo on the Inca empire based on it, with extra details on stellar observations absent in the surviving abstract of Polo.

• Gonçález Holguín [~1560-1620]: Spanish linguist; wrote three vocabularies of the Inca language (Quechua), Gramatica y arte de la lengua general del Perú (1607), Vocabulario de la lengua general del Perú (1608)and Privilegios concedidos a los Indios (1608).

• Anonymous: Author of the Huarochirí manuscript, sometime between 1598 and 1608.

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• Garcilaso de La Vega [1539-1616]:

Spanish who was trained in a European school. • R. Tom Zuidema :

Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of Illinois, author of The Ceque System of Cuzco: the Social Organization of the Capital (1964)

• Susan A. Niles: Professor of Anthropology at Lafayette College, author of The Shape of Inca History (1999).

• Brian S. Bauer: Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, author of Ancient Cuzco Heartland of the Inca (2004).

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Introduction Narrator:

The year now is 1530AD. We are about to start our journey back into the mystical era of the Inca empire. Sit back, relax and enjoy the trip…

Long before your time (ca. 1438AD), in the Southern part of America, including all of the highlands and coast of Peru, most of the highlands of Ecuador, northern Chile, part of western Bolivia, and part of northwestern Argentina, there exists a civilization known as the Inca empire. Its culture rested upon the foundations of Tiahuanaco and Huari, which were the empires that preceded it. By the twelfth century, these once-mighty empires were reduced to mere communities due to drought and ecological mismanagement. During the mid-fifteenth century, a capable military leader and organizer, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, emerged from the shambles. Based in Cuzco, which was later established as the southern capital, Pachacuti and his kin embarked on a military campaign that led to the founding of an empire that stretched from Quito (Ecuador) to Santiago (Chile). The Incas ruled three distinct geographic regions that Spanish soldier-chronicler Pedro Cieza de León termed inhabitable: rainless coastal deserts, mountain

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ranges towering more than 22,000 feet, and steamy rain forests. The Inca Empire, however, was short-lived, only lasting for 100 years before they were conquered by the Spanish army in the Americas.

Diagram 1: Map of Inca

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Stellar Observations

Narrator: The Milky Way (the name of our universe) is disk-shaped and contains stars, as well as huge masses of interstellar dust clouds. The Milky Way is known to the Incas as mayu, which means “river”. It is brightest and thickest around the constellation of Sagittarius. At Peru, Sagittarius is found very high in the sky; hence the Milky Way is more prominent to the Incas compared to the Europeans or the North Americans.

Furthermore, as technology is less advanced in this era, the Incas do not have lights at night and the stars are clearly visible. Moreover, they live at an elevation of 20 000 feet up in the Andes where there is less atmosphere to obscure the viewing of the stars.

In fact, the stars are so prominent that they identify wild and domestic animals for different stars and dark regions in the Milky Way. These various ‘animals’ in the sky are believed to be in control of their respective species on Earth. They are also responsible for the preservation of these animals. Therefore, the Incas worship and make offerings to these stars so that they will be protected from the animals’ attack. Different groups of Incas worship different stars, with the

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exception of Pleiades (they call it Collca), which is worshipped by all.

Dia

gram

2: T

he M

ilky

Way

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Quispe-Tupac (Inca living in forest): Yes! That’s right! We live in the forest, so there are many animals waiting to prey on us. Therefore, we worship the star Chuquichinchay, a celestial jaguar. It is in charge of all tigers, bears and lions on Earth. We also worship Machacuay, which resembles a snake when lightning flashes. Machacuay watches over all the snakes, serpents and vipers. For the welfare of all the other animals in the forest, the star Anochinchay is in charge. Therefore, we make sacrifices and offerings to these stars in hope that they will protect us from the attack of the animals.

Oh my friend in the next village told me that whenever they need to travel through the forests, they make offerings to Chuquichinchay and Machacuay so that they will have a safe trip.

Titu-Cusi (Inca Shepherd):

I see. We shepherds are different. We worship Urcuchillay, which is a multi-coloured sheep. Urcuchillay takes care of and increases the population of our livestock. In addition, we also worship Catachillay, a ewe with its lamb, which is a constellation near Urcuchillary.

Polo *who just happened to walk past*:

Hi everyone. My name is Polo de Ondegardo. I am currently writing a report about the Inca Empire which will be entitled De los errors y

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supersticiones de los indios. I cannot help but

ind if I

Titu-Cus

overhear what both of you were talking regardingyour stellar customs just now. Will you mrecord your accounts in my report?

i: Of course not! Actually, we do not have our own writing system, thus we will be delighted if you can record down our way of living in wordsthat future generations can understand and learn about us!

upac:

so

Quispe-T

Yes, future scholars might even have to do at

BOOM!! A loud explosion is heard and a weird-looking

achine appears out of the blue.

Narrator

research on us and your writings will be a grehelp to them.

m

/Quispe-Tupac/Titu-Cusi/Polo: Wow! What is happening? Is it the end of the world?

nçález, Anonymous and Garcilaso de La Vega f the time machine.

Cobo, Gowalk out o Gonçález:

Look. Polo is here too.

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Polo *stunned*: Who are you? How do you know my name?

Cobo: Gonçález,

Garcilaso de La Vega and Anonymous. We have na ed to return from the future using a time

r

olo *puzzled*:

I am Bernabé Cobo, a priest. This is

ma gmachine, to understand more about the Incan civilization first-hand. Hey Polo, I have read youreport and it has really helped me in my understanding of the Incas.

P rt But I have yet to finish it! The

to

obo:

My repo ?incomplete manuscript has not been shown anyone before. How can you have read it?

C Oh, you will complete your project by 1559 and e it will land up in my possession. I came from th

future, remember? Gonçález :

So what were you discussing about?

olo:P My friends here are just telling me about

obo:

Urcuchillay and Catachillay. C Ya, Urcuchillay! I’ve read about it in your report.

is in the Lyra constellation right? For nted by a bright star near

the Lyra constellation.

It Catachillay, it is represe

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Narrator: For the benefit of our friend, Gonçález Holguín, a linguist and not an astronomer, Lyra is an ancient

d

0 he

hich is sky. Vega is at the

top and radiates with a pure white colour. r with 2 very bright stars Deneb and

Cobo:

constellation that had a Mediterranean origin anis widely accepted. It is a small but bright northern constellation lying between DECL=+3and DECL=+40 and RA=18h and RA=19h. Tmost prominent observational feature of Lyra is the star Vega (arabic for "stone eagle"), wthe fifth-brightest star of the

TogetheAtair, they form the Summer Triangle.

rcuchillary and two other small stars below it,

olo:

Oh, yes. Vega represents the main body of Uwhich forms a letter T, is the animal’s feet and head.

P Yes, from my writings, I mentioned that the Incas rship Urcuchillay and as mentioned before,

tellation which is near Lyra. Catachillay is described to

male lamb. The

following is a stanza of a poem by Juan Perez

ChipcP'unch light's guide, dawn's aurora, Cam huacyacpac, manavpa For you, crier who doesn't listen,

wothey also worship Catachillay, a cons

have contained a bright star signifying a fellama, and a fainter star as her

Bocanegra (1631: 7 10), and it mentioned that Catachillay as rising just before dawn:

hijcachac catachillai Glittering catachillay a pussac quean tupa Day

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QuecaiquPinasc

icta hamuynilla To you despised, just say "come"

Susurh(TRA

Narrator

aita quespichillai Make him forgive my anger, uana Susurwana

NSLATION BY BRUCE MANNHEIM IN ZUIDEMA I9S2B:2I6l)

*musing*: So does that mean that Catachillay is represented by either Deneb or Altair, since they are the two nearest bright stars near Vega?

Polo:

ltair. s

er of the two and it is in the western constellation of

seen

e onstellation Cygnus. Although Deneb is

slightly closer to Vega as compared to Altair, it

Yes, you are quite a perspective guy. Catachillayis indeed represented by either Deneb or ABut the question now is which of the two starrepresent Catachillay? Atair is the bright

Aquila. From the latitude of the Andes, it isto be rising at the same time as Vega, and is just across the Milky Way from Vega. Deneb is in thwestern c

rises about an hour later.

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3: T

he st

ars o

f Veg

a, A

ltair

, and

Den

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Den

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iCic

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Gonzalez Holguin:

Oh, in my dictionary Gramatica y arte de la lengua general del Perú, I mentioned that Catachillay is a star of ‘the cross’!

Cobo: Yes, but don’t you think that this information

pretty ambiguous? This is because there are numerous constellations named as “the Cross”thus your identification of Catachillay as "the Cross" does not really tell us where Catachillais!

Polo:

is

,

y

Yes, that is true. However, the northern constellation of Cygnus, which includes Denehas also been called “the Cross”. Cygnus is commonly referred to as the Cross by farmersand this description is common across EuropeTherefore, although it cannot be certain to which of the many crosses Diego Gonzalez Holguinreferring to, the identification of Cygnus as “tCross” is consistent with my statement that Urcuchillay is located in Lyra and Catachillay is nearby. Thus, Deneb is the most probable star for Catachillay.

Titu-Cusi:

b,

.

is he

Yes, you are right. Catachillay is indeed at Deneb.

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Gonçález: e star Chuquichinchay is also part of

rote of the

I thought ththe llama constellation? In my dictionary, I wthat the star named Chuquichinchay is partllama constellation.

Polo and Cobo:

No, you are wrong on this fact. That star is a representation of large cats such as jaguar.

: Narrator

Yes, in Polo de Ondegardo’s and Cobo’s accounts, as well as that of many other

Gonçález

chroniclers’, the star Chuquichinchay is associated with large cats such as jaguars.

*looks crestfallen*: Oh, so I was wrong then….

: Narrator

Yes, but even though you were wrong, you had demonstrated something very important. Thano single individual historical account should be taken as the absolute truth as the authors themselves c

t is,

ould have made some errors.

nods in approval*: Titu-Cusi *

bout we worship. Actually, what both Polo

and Cobo said are correct. However, for the male llama, Cobo gave a more detailed account of it.

I did not know that you all know so much athe stars

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Anonymous:

Called the Yacana Comes Down from the Sky to

ir NamesThey oves through the middle of the sky. We native people can see it standing

g. It be

comes es and a veryThis, wThey s ld fall right oAs its woolly bulk pressed down upon him, someone else would

That aIn the ld look at the wool he'd

ning it he'd see the wool to be blue, white, f every hue, thickly matted together.

If he hthe apright allama.Just fr s would soon cIn old lot of

ody is aware of it, the Yacana drinksit, the A smacall it

In my region, there is another constellation that represents the llama; it is the dark constellation Yacana. In my times, we have a myth about the Incan civilization.

How SomethingDrink Water. We Shall Also Speak about the Other Stars and The

say the Yacana, which is the animator of llamas, m

out as a black spot.The Yacana moves inside the Milky Way. It's big, really bi

blacker as it approaches through the sky, with two ey large neck. e know, is what native people call the Yacana.

ay if a man was in luck and fortunate, the Yacana woun top of him while it drank water from some spring.

pluck out some of its wool. pparition would occur at night. morning, at daybreak, the man wou

plucked out. Examiblack, and brown, o

ad no llamas, he'd worship at the place where he had seen parition and plucked the wool, and trade for some llamas way. After worshiping he'd trade for a female and a male

om the two he'd bought, two or three thousand llamaome. times the Yacana revealed itself this way to a whole

people all over this province. In the middle of the night, when no b

all the water out of the ocean. If the Yacana failed to drink waters would quickly drown the whole world. ll dark spot goes before the Yacana, and, as we know, people the Tinamou [or Yutul.

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This Yacana, thsucklin

ey say, has a calf. It looks just as if the calf were

Also, these tNext aout:> people say, "This year we'll have

other stars always appear very large.

Titu

g. we know there are three stars in a straight line. They call he Condor, the Vulture, and the Falcon.'6re the ones we call the Pleiades;" if they come out <crossed [very] at their biggest

plenty." But if they come out at their smallest people say, "We're in for a very hard time." They call another constellation, which stands out as a perfect ring,the Pihca Conqui. Certain People give them the names Poco Huarac, Villca Huarac, and Cancho Huarac. In the old times, people, or at least some few of them, reportedly used to worship them, saying, "These are the animators, the makers." The rest still worshiped these stars as they were rising, spending the appropriate nights in sleepless vigil, but said, "We'll hold the other huacas in higher honor." This is all we know. ~Huarochiri Manuscript r99z:i32-r33 [ca. 1608: Ch. 29])

So, is this myth a true representation of your lives?

-Cusi: Some of the Incas in other villages believe that.

Quispe-Tupac:

Oh well, I am one of them who believe in this myth.

Polo and Cobo *puzzled*:

Haven’t we already agreed that the constellationCatachillay represe

nts the llama?

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Narrator: Oh, do not get confused over the dark cloud constellation and the T-shaped stellar constellation as they are actually referring to different constellations in the sky and they are approximately 90 degrees apart. Let me explain further. The constellation Yacana is different from the star-to-star llama constellation

rd University, offers us nformation regarding this dark cloud

n of

m es

ntauri and Beta Centauri in today’s context.

e patron in heaven for sheep, the llama

the T-shaped stellar llama

Catachillay mentioned by Polo de Ondegardo andCobo. This time, the llama is represented as a large dark cloud constellation. The llama has twolarge eyes, which were most probably stars. The ethnographic work of Dr Gary Urton, an anthropologist from Harvaadditional iconstellation. He provides an identificatiothis llama with respect to modern day astronomy. The Yacana exists as a dark lane stretching froScorpius to Centaurus. "Llamacnawin", the eyof the llama are the two bright stars called Alpha CeAlpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are the third and eleventh brightest stars in the sky. Besides being thconstellation was also associated in Andean mythology with rain. The dark cloud llama constellation Yacana is an altogether different constellation from constellation Urcuchillay described by Cobo.

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Cobo and Polo: Wow! This is the first time we have heard ofcloud constellations. Can someone expabout this to us?

de La Vega:

dark lain more

Garcilaso

European constellations are made up of stars ithe same region. This is why I really canunderstand why you all can see the llama at the dark cloud constellation, and it’s even sucklinglamb? I can see nothing but some spots, which I sometimes wonder if I subconsciously wanted to see them so that I can believe in your interpretation.

n not

a

23

Dia

gram

4: T

he d

ark

cons

tella

tions

iden

ti

fied

by U

rton

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Narrator: The Milky Way resembles a vast disklike assemblage of stars and looks like a glowing crowd of light crossing on a dark night sky. In this disk, there are huge clouds of interstellar dust which block and obscure the more distant stars, causing dark rifts to appear along this vague and crowded band. The Incas identified figures and animals within these dark areas of the Milky Way. Jose Acosta, a Jesuit Priest, provided adescription of these dark representations in hHistoria natural y moral de ]as Indias (Natural and moral history of the Indies):

I speak not only of the shining and resplendent parts ... but much more for other dark and black spots that are in the sky. Because we really see in it things like spots, that are very noticeable, which I do not remember ever having seen in the heavens when I was in Europe, and here, in this other hemisphere, I have seen them v clearly. These spots are of the color and form of the eclipsed moon, and resemble it in their blackness and darkness. They travel fixed to the same stars and always of the same form and size.

European astronomers paid little attention tothe dark rifts of the Milky and most of the European constellations were created by grouping stars around an area in the sky. The resulting figure is subjective but it allowed the European astronomers to identify and name that region. As for Inca stellar astronomy, in addition to the star-to-star constellations of the European

is

ery

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astronomy, the Incas also recognized figures,

Cobo

especially that of animals, within the dark areas of the Milky Way. The most famous of these is that of a llama and her lamb. The Inca stellar astronomy is unique from the western astronomy in a way that the former includes dark cloud constellations in their astronomy which is generally absent from the latter. However, the forms and figures resulting fromdark cloud constellations are seldom convincing. Therefore, European astronomers will have a difficult time recognizing the figures.

*amazed*:

Wow! This is just so interesting! The Incas evenhave their own unique dark cloud constellation! Hey wait, didn’t the author of the Huarochiri manuscript mentioned that the figure that "comebefore" the llama was a Yutu, which is a

s

partridge like bird. Is the Yutu represented by a

Narrator

dark cloud constellation too?

: Yes, you are correct. Once again, Urton providus with the modern identification of this constellation. It is the Coalsack, a prominentconspicuous

es

and dark spot in the Milky Way south of

e Southern Cross and obscures about 26 square thdegrees in the sky. It has DECL= -63 and

26

Diagram 5: Coalsack

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RA=12h and rises some hours before Alpha and Beta Centauri, as implied in the manuscript.

The Huarochiri manuscript also cited that there were three stars in a straight line, each for a different bird, namely: a condor, a vulture and a falcon. It also described the considerable effort made by the Inca in the observation of the Pleiades at dawn and stated that their brightness was used to forecast harvests. The anonymous author continued by stating that there was a set of stars that formed a perfect ring, called the Pihca Conqui. He ended by stating several other stars for which no information were given other than that they always appear very large. These stars are: Poco Huarac, Villca Huarac, and Cancho Huarac.

Anonymous:

Thank you for helping me explain! Gonzalez Holguin:

The Incas also worship the stars Maman Mircu right? In my dictionary, I wrote that these stars represent those that eat their parents. Mircu comes from the word Mirccuni which means to eat one’s father and mother and it was a great sin to the Incas. The Incas believed that there was a star which prevented this sin and called it Maman Mirccuc Cuyllur, which means star of those who eat their father and mother. I have identified

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Maman Mircu as “some stars in the area of the Cross”.

Cobo:

there

Narrator

Hey, isn’t this information kind of ambiguous? This is because, as it was mentioned earlier, are many constellations represented as the Cross.

: Yes, the information given by Gonzalez Holguin itself is a little ambiguous and it does not reallyhelp scholars to identify where the stars Maman Mircu are. Once again, we can turn to Urton’s enthnographiwork to help us identify where Maman Mircu isFrom Urton’s studies of the village of Mismanhe had id

c .

ay, entified Maman Mircu as the group of

stars in the constellation of Puppis. Puppis is far from any constellations identified as “the

0 and DECL=-40 and RA=7h and RA=8h. Puppis does

any bright stars but can be found by

awayCross” and it lies between DECL=-2

not containlooking at the area between Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky and Canopus, which is the second brightest. As such, there is a discrepancy that exists between Gonzalez Holguin’s account that it is near the Cross and Urton’s identification of Maman Mircu at the constellation Puppis. However, this is not very unexpected as the

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accounts of Gonzalez Holguin and Urton were taken at different areas of the Andes. There could not be complete homogeneity between village-

work, for example, there were many occasions ot several identifications of the same

Polo:

level astronomy and there is bound to be some variations of stellar astronomy between the different areas of the Inca Empire. In Urton’s

where he gIncan constellations as the people from different villages used different stars to identify the same constellations.

ey, thanks for enlightening us! I am really

Gonzalez

Hbeginning to learn a lot here! I have one more question. In my accounts, I mentioned about the star Chacana. However, due to my lack of information regarding this star, I had only listed the star without describing it.

Holguin: Oh! I can answer your question on this! In fact, ifyou have read the work which I had wrote, yowould have realized that Chacana referred to thTres Marias (Three Marys) which is known aOrion’s belt in modern

u e s

day astronomy. Polo: in! Cobo:

Wow! Thanks for enlightening us once aga

s hay,

I had also mentioned about some other starwhich the Incas worship, namely Ancochinc

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Topatoraca, Mirco, Miquiquiray and QuiantopaCan anyone please tell me more about those stars?

:

.

Narrator

Oh sadly, the stars that you mentioned were nofound in other independent historical records. Thus, I am unable to tell you more about them.

upac and Titu-Cusi:

t

Quispe-T

Hrmmm, I’m sorry we cannot help you too because we do not worship these stars personally.

Cobo:

ur

Thank you for giving me the accurate information. I have one more doubt. I know that the Southern Cross is quite important to yocivilization too, especially the farmers. May I know more about that?

Quispe-Tupac:

I know a farmer who may be able to answer your question. He should be at home. Let us go and look for him.

Everyone advance to Ozcoc’s house on the Andes. Self-

troduction was made.

uispe-Tupac:

in Q

Hey friend, they are some ermm…. visitors from the future and are interested in knowing more

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about the Southern Cross. I’m sure you can be of great help to them.

zcoc (Inca Farmer) *excited look*:O

h, the Southern Cross!!! We Incas have

ip

to the fact that the stars in the Southern Cross outh Pole, we can use it in

nd

seasons and thus the times for sowing and

his s.

’ (an amphora with water. When the star is at the zenith, it will reflect the

ly on the ground) to reflect the

his distance can be measured from

one end to the other of the constellation’s

Oconsidered the Southern Cross to be very important, at least to all the farmers. We worshit in the Coricancha, which is a sun temple. Due

point to the Celestial Sdetermining the different times of the year athis helps us in differentiating the different

harvesting.

In fact, those living up in the Andes even use tconstellation in measuring the size of their landThey use ‘water mirrors

sunlight directconstellation on Earth. Then they develop a unit of their own called Tupu which is equivalent to20.4 metres. T

shadow.

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Dia

gram

6: T

he S

outh

ern

Cro

ss

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Anonymous: Just now, you mentioned about one of your temples, Coricancha. Is it the same as what has been drawn in this diagram?

Everyone crowds around Anonymous, trying to catch a glimpse of the diagram. Narrator:

This diagram was drawn by Juan Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua. He was an indigenous writer who was born in the early 1600s and he produced his manuscript shortly after the conquest of the Spaniards. Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua's chronicle presents information on Inca astronomy that was not documented by European writers. The elaboratdrawing was his most important work and it depicted a wall in Coricancha (a temple, whichwas once decorated in gold and it was the centrof the ceque system)

The drawing proved invaluable in the understanding of the Inca stellar astronomy. Cleaved vertically, the left side of the wall represented things which were masculine and contained drawings of the sun, the morning star, a cluster of summer stars and a star called

e

e

34

DiagrPacha there.

am 7: The Coricancha as depicted by Joan Santa Cruz cuti Yamqui, showing the celestial objects worshipped

35

Catachillay. The right of the wall had incorporated of drawings of the moon, an evening star called Chuquechinchay, winter clouds and a cat like animal. There are eight astronomical features in the drawings and some of them are believed to constellations. 2 of the astronomical drawings are the sun and the moon which were considered to be the most important celestial figures to be worshipped by the Incas.

Ozcoc: Yes, the drawing does resembles one of the walls

in the temples. In fact, I would say its almost identical!! Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua is very accurate in his drawing. (He then starts describing to the rest what the other six astronomical features of the drawings are.) Just below the oval, there lies a set of five stars which represents the Southern Cross. Four of them are in the shape of a cross labeled ‘Chacana in general’ and ‘Saramama’ (mother maize) and the remaining one star lies slightly to a side.

Polo: Indeed it looks like the five brightest stars of the

Southern Cross, which is also known as the ‘hearth’. Look! Even the 5th star is added in the correct position!

Ozcoc: Then at the apex of the tapered wall, just above

the oval, there are five stars in the form of a cross shape. It is made up by three stars forming a straight line with one below and the other above

36

them. The line of the three stars is kno‘Orcorara’ which means ‘three stars all equal’.

Oh, there is a story about these three stars. Thtwo stars at the end are called the Patá (which aknown as The Marys) and the star in the middle is the thief, villain and bastard. The Moon wanteto punish him, so he sent the two stars to captuhim and hand him over to vultures whic

wn as

e

re

d re

h are the buzzards formed by the four stars below Patá.

Cobo:

This story is in memory of this exemplar punishment and the stars serve as a reminder tous of the blame and punishment.

s dle),

ughly the same in brightness. The star perpendicular to

est star in the sky.

I suppose these five stars represent the stars of the Orion. The three stars in the row are Orion’s belt. Orion’s belt is unique because the three starmaking up the belt, namely: Alnitak (the girAlnilam (the string of pearls) and Mintaka (the belt) forms a straight alignment and are ro

the belt and below it is Betelgeuse which is the eighth brightest star while the star which liesequal distance above the line is Rigel and this is the seventh bright

37

38

Dia

gram

8: S

tars

of O

rion

Ozcoc: On the left side of the wall, there is a drawing of a cat-like animal. This cat-like animal among the heavenly bodies is reminiscent of the star, Chuquechinchay (jaguar).

Quispe-Tupac:

Hey! Chuquechinchay is the star which I mentioned earlier before. We worship Chuquechinchay so that we will be protected from the attacks of tigers and lions.

Polo and Cobo nod their heads readily. Polo: Yes, we wrote about that in our historical

account. Could it be that the drawing might represent Chuquechinchay?

Narrator:

Yes, you may be right. Your suggestion is also supported by Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua’s manuscript where he wrote that Chuquechinchay “an animal of many colours” which is said to be lord of the Otorongos (large cats). Another possible representation of the cat-like drawing is that of a dark cloud constellation, which was also mentioned just now.

Ozcoc: I shall now move on to explain the morning and evening stars. They are representations of Venus.

39

Garcilaso de La Vega: I bet you all adore the planet Venus. It appears in the sky either in the evening or sometimes slightly before dawn. You recognize Venus as the same body whether it appears in front of or

. Venus is also considered to be e stars,

the Sun.

et is considered to have been commanded by the sun

orning star) and at the other times behind him (evening star) but

tar cluster is known

as Pleiades.

Cobo *po

behind the sunvery beautiful as compared to the rest of ththus it is believed to be the attendant ofIn fact, it is the third brightest heavenly body after the sun and the moon. The plan

to sometimes go before him (m

must always remain close by him.

Under the evening star, the s

inting to the Incas*: Pleiades. You all know it as Collca or Oncoy right?

Ozcoc: o.

Oncoy? Yes we worship these seven stars toThey are best seen during our celebration for Corpus Christi. This festival happens on the ninth Sunday after Easter.

Narrator *interrupts*: Or you can count it as the tenth Sunday following the first full moon after vernal equinox!

40

41

Dia

gram

9: S

tar c

lust

er, t

he P

leia

des.

Ozcoc *a bit irritated*: Yes. Anyway, this is normally in early June, which is the time when frost starts to come in. The frost is bad. It will freeze our maize and spoil our crops! This is also the time of the year where Oncoy first rises in our sky for the entire year and it rises before the sun. It must have the power to stop the frost from drying up our maize and crops! Therefore, we worship and make sacrifices to Oncoy, in the hope that we will get a successful maize harvest. When we worship Oncoy, we say this prayer “paoc yaya oncoiyaya ama micuita cagahum ama micuita rachachum”, which means “powerful lord which has much food and property do not permit the frost to spoil our fields”.

Quispe-Tupac *yawns*:

I think it is pretty late now. We’ll better go back and rest since we still have to work tomorrow.

Titu-Cusi and Ozcoc nod and start to head home, leaving Cobo, Polo, Garcilaso de La Vega, Anonymous, Gonçález Holguín and Narrator behind. Polo: Since you guys have no place to stay over, why

not go my house and have a short rest before exploring further tomorrow morning?

All advances to Polo’s house.

42

Alignment of Archeological Inca Remains

On the wa Gonçález

with Stars

y to Polo’s house,.

Holguín: Hmmm, even though the sun rises at different points on the horizon throughout the year, the Incas have towers to mark the points on the horizon. Therefore, since the stars rise and sefixed points in the sky throughout the year, it should be simple to build something permanent so that everyone will know where the star rise and set points are. Do you think the Incas have any built markers to locate the exact rise and set points of sta

t at

rs? Narrator:

Well, pity the Incas have gone home, otherwise we could have asked them that. However, during

n is heard in the distance.

arrator

my time, there is this archaeologist, Zuidema, who proposed his hypothesis.

t this point in time, a commotioA

Two men and a woman are seen to be in a heated debate. Out of curiosity, they approached them.

*laughs*:N Speaking of the deviand Bauer. Zuidema,

l, they are Zuidema, Niles do you mind explaining

43

your hypothesis about the ceques as astronomical sight lines for Inca star watching?

Polo *interrupts*: What is ‘ceque’?

Narrator:

Oh, that means “straight” or “ahead” in Quechua. Zuidema:

Anyway, let me explain my hypotheses! However, you have to stop Niles and Bauer frominterrupting me. First, all of you need to assume that some ceques of Cuzco are straight lines. Using the Coricancha temple as the center, we can extend the ceques as imaginery lines outwards to the

horizon, then you can locate the t points of certain stars.

le g the offerings to

ch the Incas had acred. Therefore, since the offerings

rise and se

I justify this assumption by using the information in Priest Cristobal de Molina’s manuscript. In his description of the Capac Cocha ritual, the peopwho are in charge of distributinall the huacas of the empire travel there in straight lines. Oh, before I go on any further, I should briefly mention what huacas are. Huacas are natural places on Earth whiconsidered sare made to the stars, I assume that the stars arelocated in straight lines extending outwards fromCoricancha.

44

According to my research, the sixth, eighth and the ninth ceques of Chinchaysuyu (Ch. 6, Ch. 8,

h. 9) should be aligned with the setting points of ades and Betelgeuse respectively,

sixth ceques of Antisuyu (An. 5, An. 6) are aligned with the rising points of the

leiades and Betelgeuse. Lastly, the first ceque of

Centauri.

Niles:

CVega, Pleiwhile the fifth and

PCuntisuyu is aligned with the rising point of Beta

? Let

to eiades,

s vary in the range of 25 degrees of azimuth. Furthermore, the

Bauer:

Why are you so insistent on your thinkingme explain why your assumption is wrong. Using Cobo’s huaca descriptions, I found precise locations of some huacas. According to my studies, in order for the fifth ceque of Antisuyu extend to the shrines for worship of the Plthe line drawn is definitely not a straight one. In fact, the locations of all these shrine

point that this line crosses the horizon is more than 10 degrees away from the actual rising point of the Pleiades.

red Together with Prof. Niles, we have discovethat this is not a unique case. There are other ceques that do not form straight lines. They tend to travel in a zigzagged route towards the horizon.

45

Dia

gram

10:

The

cou

rse

of c

eque

An

shri

nes o

f the

fifth

ceq

ue o

f Ant

isuy

u (A

n.5)

are

sp.5

(fol

low

ing

the

wor

k of

Nile

s)

read

acr

oss 2

5deg

rees

on

mor

e th

an 1

0 de

gree

s fro

m th

e ri

se o

f Ple

iade

s

As v

iew

ed fr

oof

az

at a

loca

ti

m C

oric

anch

a, th

e im

uth

and

cros

s the

hor

izon

46

Legend: Estimated ceque course

Direction of stellar rise or set from the Coricancha

Diagram 11: The physical relationship between ceques and the rise and set

positions of stars. The estimated courses of Ch. 6, Ch. 8, Ch. 9, An. 5, An. 6, and Cu. I are compared to the direction of the sets of Vega, the Pleiades, and Betelgeuse and the risesPleiades, Betelgeuse and Beta Centauri.

of the

47

Zuidema: Why must you connect to so many shrines? I only based my straight line on the eighth huaca of An. 5, named Susumarca, which marked the direction of the rising point of the Pleiades. I got this inspiration from the seventeenth-century Quechua poem recorded by Perez Bocanegra that describes the rise of Catachillay because the poem ends with the word susurwana. The huaca Susumarca is somewhere near Hacienda Susurmarca, northeast of Cuzco.

Niles: I do agree that Susurmarca is somewhere there. Bauer: Yes. There is a spring there which is likely to be

what you identified. However, the azimuth of this huaca, approximately 75 degrees, is almost 10 degrees from the rising point of Pleiades if we were to view it from Coricancha. I think that it is too far away to make it a reference position to the

Niles:

rise of the Pleiades.

I agree with Bauer. Besides, why are you using the poem that describes Catachillay as a basis to

Zuidema

find the rising point of the Pleiades? Aren’t they two different constellations?

: Because there is a report that proposed the set of Pleiades is aligned to the tenth huaca of Ch. 8, Catachillay (Ch. 8:10) and I support it.

48

Polo *interrupts*:

Huh? Catachillay and the Pleiades are two different constellations. Catachillay is near thconstellation Lyra which is about 110degrees away from the Pleiades and will set approximately 17degrees further north, so the proposal is absurd!! :

e

Narrator As of now, there are no clear evidence to the proposition that certain ceques

support or individual

shrines or shrines are aligned with the rise and set

between the alignment of ceques and the stars

Zuidema:

of certain stars. Although the relationship

merit further studies, it should not be assumed that they are already known.

Okay, but I still think that my proposition is correct. I will do further exploration on this.

arrator:N

st

Good. I think it’s getting late. I suggest take a renow before we continue exploring this place tomorrow.

49

Incas and their Festivals

The next The sun rises. The visitors are awakened by loud music. Heading in the direction where the music is coming from, they saw hMain Plaza. There were priests performing rites and sheep

he mountain. Curiosity got the better of them and approache Goncalez

day…..

uge masses of people gathered at the Cuzco

were being sent up tthey decided to find out what is happening. They d one of the locals standing near…

: Hi there, what’s the occasion today?

Pumi-Sopa (Inca Farmer) *The local gave the visitors a glance over*:

know? You’re from out of town, aren’t

obo

You don’tyou?

C : Yes, we are.

Pumi-Sop

a: Well, this is actually the most important, spectacular and magnificent of all festival each year. This celebration serves to mark the beginning of each year.

Zuidema:

What is this festival called?

50

Pumi-Sopa: Oh… this festival is called Inti Raymi, the feast

un, held at June Solstice, which usually falls around June 24. We celebrate this as the

s

ieve that the Sun god is an everlasting, all powerful god and

at he creates all the deities. Our king is known Only Son of

the Sun”. On this day, we celebrate the winter

New Year. We pray and offer the Sun god

r for our agriculture. Also, as the Sun is located in the furthest point from the earth during

our high priest have to perform rituals on this day to pray that the Sun god will

don us, his children, on this day. Cobo:

of the S

“Sun Festivity” where Apu Inti, our Sun God, ihonoured. The festival symbolizes the eternal consecration of marriage between the Sun godand us. Inti Raymi is our most important festival as we base our religion on the Sun. We bel

thas Sapan Intiq Churin which means “

solstice which signifies the beginning of the Sun’s with gifts so that he will bless us with good weathe

the solstices,

not aban

umi-Sopa:

Hey wait! I thought the winter solstice is on 21st

of June!

P true? We do not have the technology

the solstice. But according to the Pacha Unachaq, which is the

Oh, is thatto calculate the exact date of

51

sundial used by us, the sun stays some days in the

Cobo:

same place before rising on 24th June. Therefore,it is on this day that the high priests proclaim as the New Year!

ut

ribe this awesome festival to me in more etail?

Narrator

Wow! I see all these activities in front of me, bI don’t understand what they all mean. Can you descd

: Okay, let me do the honour. Preparations for IntRaymi are carried out in the Coricancha, which as you will all have known by now, is the Sun Temple, and the Aqllawasi, which is the Housethe Chosen Women. A few days before this festival, all the Incas have to fast and abstain from sexual activities. At dawn, the royaltiethe Willaq Uma (high priest) position themselveon the Haukaypata (the Ceremonial portion of the main plaza) and the nobles will be positioned the Kusipata (the southwestern part of the main plaza). Also, the Mallki, which are the mum

i

of

s and s

on

mies of noble ancestors are also placed in strategic

vent. At the moment the sun rises, all the Incas gathered have to greet the coming of the

god to their midst. They do this with the

locations over the main plaza so that they can grace the e

Sunmuch'ay where they send forth kisses offered

52

Dia

gram

12:

Pict

ures

of t

he In

ti Ra

ymi C

eleb

ratio

ns

53

54

symbolically with their fingers. After this, they sing solemn songs in a low voice that later transit into their wakay taky (the weepy songs), gradually building up into an emotional and religious climax.

akilla

in his right hand is

ntourage, willproceed outside to the Main Plaza to witness thellama sacrifice.

Cobo *interrupts*:

After this, the Inca King (known as Son of the Sun), will take 2 golden cups called containing chicha which is maize beer made in the Aqllawasi. The chichagiven as worship to the Sun god. The king will then drink a sip from the one in his left and the remaining is shared among the nobles and the other attendants present.

It has been suggested that the ceremony started inside the Sun Temple, with a highly polished gold representing the sun which will reflect the sun’s rays with a blinding brilliance at sunrise. Later, the king, together with his e

Hey! The llama sacrifice is happening now! Let’all go take a closer look!

The company proceeds outside to observe the llama sacrifice. They see a High Priest standing beside a completely black llama. He is holding a sharp golden knifea "Tumi", in his right hand. Suddenly, he plunges the knifinto the animal and cuts open the animal’s chest. Without

s

, e a

word, he then pulls out the llama’s throbbing heart, lungs and intern Cobo:

al organs.

Narrator

This is so gross!! What is the priest doing?

: This procedure is done in order to foretell tfuture. Later, the animal, together with its parts,will be incinerated.

he

Cobo: Narrator:

Let’s not see this anymore, I am getting sick already.

The disgusting part is over already, now comes the really cool part. Watch.

llion that has some liquid in it. He held the in his hands high above his head. Suddenly,

After the llama is incinerated, the priest picks up a concave gold medamedallionthere is a burst of flame from the medallion and gasps can be heard from the Incan community. Narrator:

This is called the Sacred Fire. The fire will have be kept till the next yeato r in Aqllawasi. Later,

holy f the

the priest will offer the Sanghu which is thebread produced from flour and the blood osacrificed llama. After this, the Incas will be entertained with music, dance and maize beer.

55

Pumi-Sopa: Yes, this is basically the gist of Inti Raymi.

: Cobo’s

ion of

Pumi-Sop

Wow, from what I have just heard, the positthe sun must be very important to the Incas.

a: Yes, indeed, the positions of the Sun are very important to us, especially since a majority of us

can reap our harvest. This is why the

lstices and equinoxes celebrations are so

when

are farmers. They tell us when to start sowing, preparing our fields, when to start planting andwhen we soimportant to us. They indicate the start of the different phases of actions. We have another similar festival called Capac RaymiDecember comes. It is being held at Puqin, a sun temple just outside the city.

Polo: Wow!! Such large and elaborate ritual

celebrations are held based on the public

Pumi-Sop

observation of the sun requires precise timing of the solar motion. Just how do you keep track of the Sun’s motions?

a: We, the Incas, have a class of specialists who oversee the scheduling and carry out the techniaspects of astronomical observations. There are

cal

pecially trained individuals, called yuncas, who s

56

are taught on how to carefully observe the lier,

the Incas have a popular belief in the power of astronomical bodies over the welfare, health and

observation of the sun is important to the success e agriculture activity, have led to the

erts

Cobo inte

movements of the sun. As you have seen ear

reproduction of important animals, such as llamas. These beliefs, and the fact that the

of themergence of astronomical experts. These exphave evolved into a separate class of specialists of its own and…

rrupts: Excuse me, how do you determine when theand December Solstices are?

a (switching topic instantly):

June

Pumi-Sop

As you can see, there are strategically built pillarsat both the East and the West

of the city. On the

east of the city, there are four pillars, two smaller . These

ght of

r four similar towers. Solstices occur when the sunrise and sunset occur

the smaller towers at the east and west

towers in between the two larger towerslarger towers are about three times the heian average man. The smaller towers are about eighteen to twenty feet apart. At the west side, there are also anothe

betweenof the city respectively.

57

e solstice

The flags ma uins of the original illars betwe ppear to set near the left illar if they are near the stone and near that of the right if they are far

Garcilaso

Diagram 13: Sunset on th

rk the positions of the remains of the ren which the sun sets. The sun would ap

paway.

: If only the smaller pillars are involved in determining the solstice, what is the use of the two larger pillars?

Polo: ,

e middle. As you would

see later in the day, the sun rays are very glaring during sunset. This is especially significant at high altitudes, like Cuzco.

This is common sense my friend. This is Cuzco13⅓° south and 11000 foot high! The two larger pillars are there to provide better visibility for thtwo smaller pillars in the

58

Pumi-Sopa: That’s right. Besides these eight pillars to mark the solstices, there are also other structures erected to mark the other months of the year. They are actually fourteen universally worshiped shrines, seven at the east and seven at the west. The two shrines at the extreme ends mark the point where the Sun rises and sets when it reaches the tropics. This is the point when the sun reaches the solstices. The other pillars in the middle represent a pair of months each. They mark the locations of sunrise and sunset on the

months arrive.

horizon when the

Niles: But I heard that Incans have more than one method to determine solstices?

Pumi-Sopa:

incalla. un

summer. There are also other

Zuidema:

Ye Ts. here is this large hill called ChinchThere are two monuments there and when the sreaches there, it is the December solstice, whichsignifies the start ofplaces where we can observe the solstice.

If you are at the Coricancha, the December solstice sun sets over Killke. Similarly, if you areat the central plaza of Cuzco, it occurs over the adjacent hill, above an area known as Llamacancha.

59

Polo: How about the beginning of winter? Can you see

Pumi-Sop

it from the same place?

a: Okay. There is a hill called Quiangalla that is on the road to Yucay. There are two monuments or pillars and when the sun reaches there, it will bthe start of winter, which is the June solsticsun is seen to rise over Quiangalla, for the whole of June. The June solstice marks the darkest din the year, when the Sun reaches its northerlystandstill. At that period of time, our daylight wbe the shortest throughout the yea

e e. The

ays

ill r and our nights

will be the longest.

Diagram 14:

Quiangalla, in which the

Sunrise over the Sacred Stone

described by Cobo as “the concavity in the middle of the stone re was a golden image of the Sun”. – viewed from Ushnu

60

Bauer: you farmers sow and

reap?

Pumi-Sop

By the way, didn’t you say that the position of the Sun affects the time

a: That’s right. An example is the seventh huaca, a hill by which the water channel from Chinchero comes. When the sun reaches the two towers on the hill, they serve as an indication to us that we have to begin to plant the maize. We offer the sun sacrifices, asking ‘Him’ to reach the hill at the correct time which is appropriate for planting. The sacrifices include sheep clothing and miniature lambs of gold and silver.

Cobo: But the sun will reach there no matter if sacrifices

are made.

Polo *shakes his head at Cobo*:

Hmm. I saw some pillars over at the West. What are they for?

Pumi-Sopa:

Oh you mean those four pillars over there. They are also indicators of time telling us when to farm our fields. When the sun passes the first pillar, it

the people living at the

ally in the month of August, it is the general time to plant in Cuzco. Lastly, at the time the Sun stands

is about time to plant forhighest altitude. As the sun starts to enter the space between the second and third pillar, usu

61

exactly in the middle, between the two inner pillars and on that pillar in Ushnu, the plaza frwhich

om they view the sun from, it is the general

time to plant in the valleys adjoining Cuzco.

Goncalez

: That’s very interesting! But how did you know all these timings? Is it based on any theory?

a: Pumi-Sop

Yes, there is an explanation for this. The distanfrom the first to the last pillar is about 200 paceapart, which translates to 4° or eight sun dangular separation. This means it wi

ce s

isks of ll take about

15 days for the sunset to migrate across the zone

val for planting at different altitudes in the vicinity of Cuzco.

Cobo:

marked by the pillars, thus providing a reasonable delay inter

r them? There are sure a lot of pillars around here. Are there names fo

Pumi-Sopa:

The pillars that the Sun is at during winter solstice is called Pucuy Sucanca and those of June solstice, is called Chirao Sucanca.

Polo:

August seems to be a very important month toyou farmers.

62

Diagram 15 Pumi-Sop

: Terraces for agricultural use on the slopes of Cuzco.

a: Yes. Cobo: hs?

What about other mont

Pumi-Sopa: I thought you will never ask. I will not go into August then. For September, the men gather

t er with torches to fight against evil and tober

ead,

where the embalmed bodies will be taken from

feast, eat, drank, sing and dance. After that, we fast and do penance in January. There is usually heavy rain in the month of

toge hhonor the moon. We hold ceremonies in Octo beg for rain and a hundred white llamas aresacrificed. In November, we honour the d

house to house. December is the month for relaxation, we

63

February

Harvesting, for the is harvested in

June is nother month of feasting and in July, we will be ack to preparing the land for sowing of the eeds.

arcilaso:

and gold and silver are offered to our gods. Our Inca king would make offerings and sacrifices to the sun in April. seeds that ripened in March, May, which is also the month when we start to store farm products for the year again.abs

G I see your calendar is very closely linked to your agriculture cycle.

Pumi-Sopa:

That’s right. Our calendar helps us with our agriculture timings. As most of us are farmers,

hat we will know when to sow, reap, etc on our fields. Therefore,

lendar must be able to do that. Cobo:

we have to record dates so t

our ca

ow

Pumi-Sop

So how about equinoxes then? How do you knwhen is the equinox?

a: With regards to this part, I regret to say that I would not be able to tell you much. We always have to depend on our priests to tell us whenequinoxes are. We are not sure on this.

the

64

Cobo: r.

All of them continued watching the Inti Raymi celebrations together. Pumi-Sop

That is fine. You have been most helpful and have already taught me a lot about your calenda

a: I may have to leave you now, my friends. Mywife an

d children are over there, see the waving

hands? I am pleased to have met you. Enjoy the eb ations today.

Pumi-Sopa then walks away.

cel r

Cobo: By t eh way, have you noticed a limitation in the

Zuidema

usage of the columns for shadow casting?

: No, but I think you are going to tell me.

obo:C You see, the angular size of the Sun reduces the

sting) in height results in a longer shadow but will make the shadows less

n t and fainter. Widening the gnomon will f

le to witness any particular event. In other words, it is difficult to build large gnomons that can be

sharpness of a shadow. Extending a gnomon (the column for shadow ca

disti cdarken the center of the shadow, but the edge othe shadow is difficult to distinguish with precision. The limits on the useful size of gnomons restrict the number of people ab

65

watched by numerous people and still give accurate calendaric information.

Cayo-Topa (Priest):

Greetings. I can see that you are not local, where are you from?

Niles:

re. Cayo-Top

We are from some place very far away from he

a: Just as I have thought (thinking that they are ome supreme beings or god). Would you like to

temple? There is food to eat and we can always meet more people over there.

Polo *to G

saccompany me to the

arcilaso*:

This man looks like a priest to me. You think he ow about the equinoxes?

arcilaso *to Polo*:

kn s

G

Garcilaso

He should know if he is a priest. Let’s try asking him. *to Cayo-Topa*: Do you know how to measure the day of the equinoxes?

a *mumbling*: Cayo-Top

Is he trying to test me? If so, I must not let themdown. I must answer to the best I can.

66

Cobo: So do you know the way to measure the equinoxes?

Cayo-Topa:

Yes. To know the time of the equinox, we have stone columns erected in the squares or courtyards before the temples of the Sun. When

take careful daily observations of the shadows by the columns. These columns stand in the

oss

at midday, the sun shines on all sides of the ing no shadow, they know that the

bs and placed on

the throne of the Sun, signifying that the Sun sits ht on the column that day.

Goncalez

we feel that the equinox is approaching, we will

cast middle of a very large circular enclosure. Acrthe middle of the enclosure, a line is drawn from east to west by a cord. When the shadow falls exactly along the line from sunrise to sunset and

column, castday is the equinox. The column is then decoratedwith flowers and aromatic her

with all his lig

: That sounds correct.

Cayo-Top

a: There is something else. The stone columns at Quito are held with higher respect than these in

ause Quito is nearer to the

y of the

Cuzco. This is becequator than Cuzco. The pillars in Quito have absolutely no shadow at noon on the da

67

equinox, while the pillars in Cuzco still hlittle bit of s

ave a hadow.

Niles: This is great! I’m so glad I can take this trip back

Cayo-Top

in time.

a *whispering*: As I have guessed, they are indeed Gods in disguise.

a *to Niles*: Cayo-Top

The temple is very near; it is just a couple of minutes walk from here, so…

*to Bauer*: Goncalez

I don’t think we should go with him. He looks weird to me. What do you say?

Goncalez*: Bauer *to

My sentiments exactly. Bauer *to C oay -Topa*:

off now we still have some other things to attend to. Nice meeting you.

They walk Cayo-Top

I think we have to go

away hastily as he speaks.

a *chasing them but in vain*: Wait!

68

Bauer: t? Fortunately, he is fat and not

as fast as me.

Niles:

Luckily we ran away fast. Did you see the priesHe tried to chase us!

so mean. You are

Bauer: Mean? Then how a ob ut you go back and let him

aybe come back you will have a lot of

stories to tell me. That is if you come back.

Niles:

bring you to the temple. How about that? Mwhen you

That’s not funny.

69

Dia

gram

16:

Inca

ruin

s of S

ilust

ani,

near

Pun

o

70

71

Dia

gram

17:

Ast

rono

mic

al a

lignm

ents

in th

e en

viro

nmen

t of C

uzco

. Vie

w o

f the

val

ley

of C

uzco

from

the

sout

h sh

owin

g th

ree

hori

zon

alig

nmen

ts c

onst

ruct

ed in

the

land

scap

e. T

wo

sets

of p

illar

s (A

and

B), v

iew

ed

from

the

sepa

rate

stat

ions

in th

e ci

ty, m

arke

d th

e su

n at

its J

une

and

Dec

embe

r lim

its. F

our p

illar

s at C

m

arke

d th

e su

nset

poi

nt o

n th

e da

y it

pass

ed th

e na

dir(

antiz

enith

).

Shadows used to determine time of the day and solstice

Coming towards them is an Inca noble, Zambiza, and his family. Polo: Hmm. This person looks quite knowledgeable.

You think he can give us some useful information about this place?

Bauer: I am not doing this time. Just now I already

o ask helped you speak up and got away from that cranky priest. This time if you want tanything, you are doing the talking.

Polo: Fine. It’s just asking a question. What’s the big

deal? Polo *approaching Zambiza*:

Hi, I am Polo. We are new to this place. Can you answer some of our burning question

Zambiza:

s?

Burning?!? Where? Where’s the fire?

Cobo:

I don’t think my friend meant that. We mean that we have some questions to ask you, can you be nice enough to answer them for us?

72

Maxi-Coca:

u. I’m sorry but I am rushing off to the Torreon at Machu Picch

Anonymous:

Where is that? Zope: That is a place where sky-watching specialists

monitor the sky. Places like this are also called true observatories.

Goncalez:

What is interesting about this place called Torreon? Can you tell us more about it?

Zambiza *laughs*:

Okay it’s been a long time since I met foreigners

f this

ts out of a the

who are not asking about the gold and precious stones. Ok I will tell you more about it. The placewas constructed with the finest masonry. This is avery special building to us. The center ostructure is dominated by a flattened rock with a straight edge cut into it. This edge poinwindow towards the high mountains tonortheast. This edge points precisely to the location where the Sun rises on the June solstice, the time when we celebrate Inti Raymi.

73

Diagram 18: The flattened stone in Torreon

he flattened rock, the windows are Other than talso very special. Of all the windows at Machu Picchu, only the windows of this structure had projections or pegs at the corners of the windows.

74

Diagram 19: The pegs on the window

Diagram 20: The shadow when cast on the stone These projections are flattened on the top. Anything placed on these pegs will cast a shadow cross the stone with the cut edge.

75

By casting shadows across the stone, it is easy to measure the angle of the light entering through the window, thus determining the time of the day. It also provides the ability to monitor the motion of the Sun and therefore allowing us to predict the number of days to the solstice. Sometimes light is shone instead of casting shadow.

Zuidema:

Hmm… does this building provide shadows throughout the year?

Zambiza:

When the sun is at the zenith, there will be no

shadows. Zenith is a point in the sky directly above us. This happens at around 14 Feb and on 30 Oct. That is the key problem with our structure.

Cobo: Interesting.

Zambiza:

There is also a time of the year when the sun is at its anti-zenith position. At this time, the sun is at a point in the sky directly below us. This period f time happens at around 18 August and 26 pril. As these months coincide with the maize

elebrations to these dates.

oAplanting and harvest, we link our maize c

76

Goncalez: The sun directly below us? How is that possible? No way!

Zambiza:

Yes. We have a circular structure called Muyucmarca which is on the summit of Sacasahuaman. It is aligned with the zenith sunrise and antizenith sunset azimuth. We haveanother observation point in central Picchu. Thnorthernmost of the four pillars at central

e

Picchu marks the antizenith sunset.

Cobo:

hat e the usage of the pillars

and columns to determine the time of the year by the position of the sun.

Zambiza:

Hmm… This is the first time we hear this. Wwe heard previously ar

looking at

This is not surprising because only nobles, officials, priests and the King get to see thobservation

ese

s. As for the pillars observations you mentioned, they are very common and everybody

ble to look at them. in Inca are a

77

The Incan Calendars

olo:P Hmm. Then what kind of calendars do you use? Zambiza:

Our calendar is based on the observation of both the Sun and the Moon, together with their relationship to the stars. Before King Pachacuti,

st unit was a numerical count of three 0 days, hird

ving

of 328 nights (12 X 271/3) and begins on June 9, coinciding

ith the heliacal rising, which is the rising just irst

the smalledays, which interacting with a count of 1formed a standard 30-day month. Every tyear was made up of 13 moons, the others ha12. This formed a cycle of 37 moons, and 20 of these cycles made up a period of 60 years, which was subdivided into four parts and could be multiplied by 100.

Since Pachacuti’s era, the calendar system has changed. There is now an official calendar of thesidereal-lunar type. This is based on the sidereal month of 27 1/3 days. It consisted

wafter sunset, of the Pleiades. It ends on the fFull Moon after the June solstice (the winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere).

78

Diagram 21: The day count begins with the heliacal rising of the Pleiades (about June 9) and proceeds clockwise; each huaca counts for a day

79

Cobo: ou mentioned that your year consists of 328 ays…

Zambiza:

Yd

nights.

Cobo:

…

Okay 328 nights if you so insist. But a solar year has 365 days, or nights, then that will make your year 37 days shorter. But in this case, the sun can still reach June solstice at the same time every year? The sun will still reach those pillars at around August every year? And you can still celebrate Inti Raymi on the same day every year? This is simply amazing. This cannot be true!

Zambiza:

I think I can provide you with a logical reasoning. You see, our year is not based on the days of the calendar. Our calendar does not keep track of time at the end of the year as no farming activities takes place then. As I have earlier mentioned, the heliacal rising (the rising just after sunset) of the Pleiades marks the start of our year. It is also around the day of the first sighting of the moon as a thin crescent in the west after sunset. Thus, if you are correct that our calendar is shorter than it should be, it also has no delay effect on the position of the Sun every year. This is because our calendar gets to reset at the start of every year.

80

Polo: I see.

oncalez:G your calendar does not really tell all the time

a:

Soin the year?

Zambiz

I believe you can say so. However, that does not mean that it is useless. All our rituals are based on the calendar which in turn depends on solar and lunar sightings. It helps to justify the statour king. What I mean is that our ruling Inca, descendant of the sun must have access to ethereal knowledge and powers in order to

us of the

control and interact with the universal forces. By vin an accurate calendar, our king is able to

n

Cobo:

ha gshow the people that he has the mandate from the Sun and is provided with eminent powers. The ceque system that draws lines around Cuzco caalso be viewed as a calendar.

Zambiza:

That’s very interesting! Could you tell me more about this system?

The ceque system can be viewed as a seasonal calendar marking the significant astronomical horizon events. It serves to unify Inca ideas about religion, social organization, calendar, hydrology, and astronom

y. It has lines that extend out radially from the Temple of the Sun. They form

81

four pie-like wedges , or suyus corresponding to the four royal roads which radiates out from

zco. This system is arranged in an order that

will be common to all. These clusters of ceques also signifies the lunar

onths…

Polo:

Cuthe huacas and the shrines in Cuzco and the areasaround them

m

Zambiza:

and that will be 271/3 days.

Correct! Besides that, there are also a total of 41 radial lines ( ceques ) in the Ceque System.number of ceque lines (41 of them), doubledwould serve as a count of three sidereal lunar months. (3 x 27

The

our calendar. Each

huaca represented one day.

Garcilaso

1/3 = 82) There are also 328 huacas or more commonly known as shrines, and by no coincidence, it is thesame as the number of days in

: No joke!

ambiza: Z

What?

: Garcilaso

Never mind. Please continue.

82

Dia

gram

22:

Bui

ldin

gs in

the

roya

l (In

ca) c

ompo

und

are

orie

nted

to th

e di

rect

ion

of

sunr

ise

e d

ay o

f zen

ith p

assa

ge a

s it w

ould

ha

o.

ve

bee

n ob

serv

ed in

Cuz

c

83

Diagram 23: This schematic diagram of the ceque system of Cuillustrates the dualistic principle of halving and then further dividing the city into quarters as well as the vertical splitting into upper and lowtopographical sectors. Straight visual lines called ceques (dotted on the map) further subdivide Cuzco into pie-like wedges that ideally radiate from the centre outward to the corners of the universe.

zco

er

84

Zambiza: Okay. Each huaca has it’s association with the

agricultural calendar. The seventh huaca is an example.

Cobo: It is called Sucanca which is a hill by which the

water channel from Chinchero comes… correct? Zambiza looks shocked and surprised. Garcilaso: Just now there’s one local whom I think is a

farmer, already told us that already. Zambiza: Okay, so just as the same as how the Ceque

System divides the 328 shrines, our calendar divides the 328 days into 4 quarters, the solstices and the equinoxes. The ceque system functioned like a clockwork only when each particular class performed its assigned function in the proper place along its ceque line at the correct time of year.

Polo: Meaning? Zambiza: For example, the people of Hanan-Cuzco

(Upstream) are in charge of the June solstice observations and offerings, while those in Hurin-Cuzco (Downstream) took care of the December

85

solstice. I think it’s all the time I can afford for

Time trav

now. I am really running late. Goodbye.

elers: This trip has certainly been fruitful to me. I will

will be reading a lot from you.

olo:

like to stay longer but my battery on my time traveler is running low. Good bye Polo. I think I

P Goodbye.

~ The End ~

And so the time travelers left in his time traveler.

86

Inter

ape

The Inca revered mountains

ean landscape into Machu Picchu.

The buildings meld into a high saddle in front of Huayna Picchu peak.

esting Pictures Of Inca Civilisation

Diagram 24: A sacred

landsc

and incorporated the natural beauty of the And

87

Diagram 25: Machu Picchu

The classic vi of Machu Picchu with mist swirling up from the Urubamba river valley far below.

rban area with many of the most important

ew

Left of the central plaza is the upper u

buildings and the Intihuatana stone.

88

e ana

uge carved stone,

ve al

calendar or used for mountain worship.

Diagram 26: ThIntihuatA hthat occupies a high point in Machu Picchu, that may habeen an astronomic

89

90

Dia

gram

2e

The

belie

ved

prof

ile o

f Vir

acoc

ha c

ut in

to th

e sa

cred

mou

ntai

n, o

ppos

ite th

e ru

ins o

f Olla

ntay

tam

bo in

the

Uru

bam

ba V

alle

y. H

e ap

pear

s to

be o

n ho

rseb

ack.

Inca

sun

god.

7:

Vir

acoc

ha, t

h

91

References

1. Crystal, E.(1995). Pre-Inca civilization. Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.crystalinks.com/preinca.html

2. Silverman, H. (1998). Inca Festivals. Retrieved Sept 2005 from the World Wide Web: www.soltec.net/~ruskin/Meet_the_Incas/festivals.htm

4,

3. Underwood, S. Peru Machu Picchu. Retrieved Sept 42005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.culturefocus.com/peru1.htm

,

4. Gray, M. Machu Picchu, Peru. Retrieved Sept 4, 200from the World Wide Web: http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/peru/machu_picch

5

u.html

5. Malville, J.M., Thomson, H. and Ziegler, G. Machu Picchu’s Observatory: thje rediscovery of Llactapata and its Sun-Temple. Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the Wide Web: http://www.thomson.clara.net/llactap

Woa.ht

rld ml

the

6. Dearborn D. S. P. The Plaza de Armas in Cuzco withhill Picchu. Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the WorlWeb: http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/archeo/10.html

d Wide

91

7. Corrales, S. Peru - Tunnel Discovered in Sacred Ozcocity. Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.rense.com/general35/sccr.htm

Ziegler, G. and Malville, J. M. (2003 Aug8. ust). Machu Picchu, Inca Pachacuti’s Sacred City: A multiple ritual, ceremonial and administrative center. Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.inkaterra.com/mpph/pdf/mpinthepress/MPIncaPachacutiSacredCity.pdf#search='inca%20astronomical%20alignment'

Crystal, E. (1995). Inca calendar9. . Retrievrom the World Wide Web:

ed Sept 4, 2005 fhttp://www.geocities.com/zxman1983/project2C.html

. Crystal, E.(1995). Incan Civilization10 . Retrieved Sept 4, 2005 from the World Wide Web: ttp://wh ww.crystalinks.com/incan.html

11. Joseph, Frank, Edgar Cayce. (2001) Atlantis and

Lemuria. New York: A.R.E Press.

Aveni and Anthony. Stairways to the Stars. 12. New

York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

. Bauer, B. and Dearborn, D. (1995) Astronomy and 13Empire in the Ancient Andes. New York: University of

exas Press. T

92

14. Poma G. The Inca Calendar. Retrieved on Octo05 from the World Wide Web:

ber 14, 20http://www.soltec.net/~ruskin/Meet_the_Incas/calendar.htm

15

. Peru June 2003. Retrieved on October 14, 2005 from World Wide Web: the

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mpschnei/Peru%202003/Page4.html

. Inti Raymi. 16 Retrieved on October 14, 2005 from the

orld Wide Web: Whttp://aboutcusco.com/cusco/eng/festivals01.asp

. Goicovic F. G., Taborga M. M., Rosales J. S. and 17

uque M. C. (2003). Astronomy Report: Southern Cross DConstellation. Retrieved on October 14, 2005 from the

orld Wide Web: Whttp://www.geocities.com/astrocolonus/southerncross.htm

d 18. Magli G. On the astronomical content of the sacrelandscapre of Cusco in Inka times. Retrieved on October 4, 2005 from the World Wide Web: 1

http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0408/0408037.pdf

93

Appendix

Selected Star References from GonCalez Holguin ([1608]

)

Catachillay. Thc cross. Catachillay, o vrcuchillay. El cruze.

Chaccana. Tres estrellas que llaman las tres inarias. called Three Mary

Chaccana. Three stars

Orion's belt]. Chhasca ccoyllur. Day star.

Chhoque chinchay, o llama. Vna estrella que pacarnero.

Llama. A star that looks rece al like a sheep.

Maman mircu. Vnas estrellas caue el cruzero.

Maman mircu. Some stars in the area of the cross.

Mirccuni. Comer a su padre o madre, que por ser peccado estupendo le dieron vocablo

Mirccuni. To eat one's father an mother, since it is a great sin, they gave it its own word, and in the proprio, y en el cielo fingieron

vna estrella contraria a este peccado y quc influye contra los que lo hazen, que llaman, Maman mirccuc cuyllur, que

they pretended there wasa star against this sin, andwhich won influence against those who didwhich they called Maman

Mirc, cuyllur, which means star of those who eat their father or mother.

dize, Estrella de los que comen a su padreo madre.

94

Tentative Identifications of Inca Constellations Stellar Constellations

Inca Constellation Region of the Sky

Principal v

es)Stars

from Milky Wa

Distance

(in degre

Urc 0 uchillay Lyra Vega 2

Catachillay Cygnus Deneb 2

Chacana Orion and Rigel

9 25

Betelgeuse

Cocal

aurus llca (also Tled Oncoy)

The 23 Pleiades

Da Ya b

Th br

as hnawi

rk Constellations

cana A dark laneCentaurus. include theCentauri t(Llamac

etween Scorpius and e constellation may ight stars Alpha and Beta e eyes of the llama

nl)

Yutu The Coalsack near the Southern Cross

95