![Sacsayhuaman-Inca stone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Sacsayhuaman-Inca_stone.jpg)
Sacsayhuamán, which can be spelled many different ways (possibly from
Quechua language
Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common anc ...
, ''waman''
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
or
variable hawk), is a
citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
on the northern outskirts of the city of
Cusco
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...
, Peru, the historic capital of the
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
.
The complex was built by the Inca in the 15th century, particularly under
Pachacuti
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui ( qu, Pachakutiq Inka Yupanki) was the ninth Sapa Inca (1418–1471/1472) of the Kingdom of Cusco which he transformed into the Inca Empire ( qu, Tawantinsuyu). Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca si ...
and successors. They built
dry stone
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
walls constructed of huge stones. The workers carefully cut the boulders to fit them together tightly without
mortar. The site is at an altitude of .
In 1983, Cusco and Sacsayhuamán together were designated as sites on the
UNESCO World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
, for international recognition and protection.
Description
Located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, the fortified complex has a wide view of the valley to the southeast. Archeological studies of surface collections of pottery at Sacsayhuamán indicate that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates to about 900 CE.
According to Inca oral history,
Tupac Inca
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
"remembered that his father Pachacuti
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui ( qu, Pachakutiq Inka Yupanki) was the ninth Sapa Inca (1418–1471/1472) of the Kingdom of Cusco which he transformed into the Inca Empire ( qu, Tawantinsuyu). Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca si ...
had called city of Cuzco the lion city. He said that the tail was where the two rivers unite which flow through it, that the body was the great square and the houses round it, and that the head was wanting."
The Inca decided the "best head would be to make a fortress on a high plateau to the north of the city."
[de Gamboa, P.S., (2015), ''History of the Incas'', Lexington, ]
During the 15th century, the Imperial Inca expanded on this settlement, building dry stone walls constructed of huge stones. Spanish Chronicler Pedro Cieza De Leon wrote in 1553: "The Fortress had been begun in the days of Pachacuti; his son Topa Inca and Huayna Capac and Huascar
. 1532added greatly to it." Cieza writes of the construction that Pachacuti "ordered 20,000 men sent in from the proviences" and that "4000 of them quarried and cut the stones; 6000 hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp; the others dug the dig and laid the foundations, while still others cut poles and beams for the timbers."
After ambushing Atahualpa during the Spanish Conquest of Peru,
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro González, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of Peru.
Born in Trujillo, Spain to a poor family, Pizarro chose ...
sent Martin Bueno and two other Spaniards to help transport gold and silver from the Temple of
Coricancha
Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire.
...
in Cusco to Cajamarca, where the Spaniards were based.
[Leon, P., 1998, ''The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, Chronicles of the New World Encounter,'' edited and translated by Cook and Cook, Durham: Duke University Press, ] They found the Temple of the Sun "covered with plates of gold", which the Spanish supposedly ordered removed as payment for
Atahualpa
Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa (Quechua), Atabalica, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa (c. 1502 – 26-29 July 1533) was the last Inca Emperor. After defeating his brother, Atahualpa became very briefly the last Sapa Inca (sovereign emperor) of the Inca Empir ...
's
ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
. Seven hundred plates were removed, and added to two hundred ''cargas'' of gold transported back to Cajamarca.
After Francisco Pizarro finally entered Cuzco,
Pedro Pizarro
Pedro Pizarro (c. 1515 – c. 1602) was a Spanish chronicler and conquistador. He took part in most events of the Spanish conquest of Peru and wrote an extensive chronicle of them under the title ''Relación del descubrimiento y conquista d ...
described what they found,
"on top of a hill they he Incahad a very strong fort surrounded with masonry walls of stones and having two very high round towers. And in the lower part of this wall there were stones so large and thick that it seemed impossible that human hands could have set them in place...they were so close together, and so well fitted, that the point of a pin could not have been inserted in one of the joints. The whole fortress was built up in terraces and flat spaces." The numerous rooms were "filled with arms, lances, arrows, darts, clubs, buckler
A buckler (French ''bouclier'' 'shield', from Old French ''bocle, boucle'' 'boss') is a small shield, up to 45 cm (up to 18 in) in diameter, gripped in the fist with a central handle behind the boss. While being used in Europe since an ...
s and large oblong shields...there were many morions...there were also...certain stretchers in which the Lords travelled, as in litters."[Pizzaro, P., 1571, ''Relation of the Discovery and Conquest of the Kingdoms of Peru,'' Vol. 1–2, New York: Cortes Society, RareBooksClub.com, ] Pedro Pizarro described in detail storage rooms that were within the complex and filled with military equipment.
The large plaza, capable of holding thousands of people, was designed for communal ceremonial activities. Several of the large structures at the site may also have been used during rituals. A similar relationship to that between Cuzco and Sacsayhuamán was replicated by the Inca in their distant colony where
Santiago, Chile
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...
developed. The Inca fortress there, known as Chena, predated the Spanish colonial city. It was a ceremonial ritual site known as
Huaca de Chena
Huaca de Chena, also known as the Chena Pukara, is an Inca site on Chena Mountain, in the basin of San Bernardo, at the edge of the Calera de Tango and Maipo Province communes in Chile. Tala Canta Ilabe was the last Inca who celebrated Inti ...
.
The best-known zone of Sacsayhuamán includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-Hispanic America. They display a precision of cutting and fitting that is unmatched in the Americas.
The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating
earthquakes
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
in Cuzco. The longest of the three walls is about 400 meters. They are about 6 meters tall. The estimated volume of stone is over 6,000 cubic meters. Estimates for the weight of the largest
andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...
block vary from 128 tonnes to almost 200 tonnes.
Following the
siege of Cusco
The siege of Cusco (May 6, 1536 – March 1537) was the siege of the city of Cusco by the Inca army under the command of Sapa Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui against a garrison of Spanish conquistadors and Indian auxiliaries led by Hernando Pi ...
, the Spaniards began to use Sacsayhuamán as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco; within a few years, they had taken apart and demolished much of the complex. The site was destroyed block by block to salvage materials with which to build the new Spanish governmental and religious buildings of the colonial city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. In the words of
Garcilaso de la Vega (1966:471
609: Part 1, Book. Bk. 7, Ch. 29:
"to save themselves the expense, effort and delay with which the Indians worked the stone, they pulled down all the smooth masonry in the walls. There is indeed not a house in the city that has not been made of this stone, or at least the houses built by the Spaniards."
Today, only the stones that were too large to be easily moved remain at the site.
On 13 March 2008, archaeologists discovered additional ruins at the periphery of Sacsayhuamán. It has been theorized that the site was first built upon during the
Killke period, which preceded the Inca. While appearing ceremonial in nature, the exact function remains unknown.
In January 2010, parts of the site were damaged during periods of heavy rainfall in the region.
Modern-day use
Peruvians continue to celebrate ''
Inti Raymi
The Inti Raymi (Quechua for "Inti festival") is a traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for "sun"), the most venerated deity in Inca religion. It was the celebration of the winter solstice – the s ...
'', the annual Inca festival of the
winter solstice
The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winte ...
and new year. It is held near Sacsayhuamán on 24 June. Another important festival is ''
Warachikuy During the Inca Empire Warachikuy (Quechua) was a ceremony where young men, after undergoing various tests of skill and valor, could receive the official status of an adult man. Today Warachikuy is still an important festival which represents the An ...
,'' held there annually on the third Sunday of September.
mincetur.gob.pe
"Fiesta del Warachikuy" (in Spanish), accessed 26 February 2014
Some people from Cusco use the large field within the walls of the complex for jogging, ''t'ai chi
Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. ...
'', and other athletic activities.
File:Sacsayhuamán in 1877 by Ephraim George Squier.jpg, Sacsayhuamán in 1877 by Ephraim George Squier
Ephraim George Squier (June 17, 1821 – April 17, 1888), usually cited as E. G. Squier, was an American archaeologist, history writer, painter and newspaper editor.
Biography
Squier was born in Bethlehem, New York, the son of a minister, Joel ...
.
File:Sacsayhuamán 2 in 1877 by Ephraim George Squier.jpg, Sacsayhuamán in 1877 by Ephraim George Squier
Ephraim George Squier (June 17, 1821 – April 17, 1888), usually cited as E. G. Squier, was an American archaeologist, history writer, painter and newspaper editor.
Biography
Squier was born in Bethlehem, New York, the son of a minister, Joel ...
.
See also
*List of buildings and structures in Cusco
This is a list of notable buildings in the city of Cusco, Peru. The city of Cusco is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The list is ordered by the groundbreaking date of each building.
Pre-Columbian buildings
They are listed with its names in the ...
* List of megalithic sites
* Huaca de Chena
Huaca de Chena, also known as the Chena Pukara, is an Inca site on Chena Mountain, in the basin of San Bernardo, at the edge of the Calera de Tango and Maipo Province communes in Chile. Tala Canta Ilabe was the last Inca who celebrated Inti ...
References
External links
*BBC Articl
New Discoveries at Sacsayhuamán
*World's Greatest Riddle
Mystery of Sacsayhuamán
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacsayhuamán
Lost ancient cities and towns
Buildings and structures in Cusco
Ruins in Peru
Inca
Esoteric anthropogenesis
Archaeological sites in Peru
Archaeological sites in Cusco Region
Tourist attractions in Cusco Region
Forts in Peru
Polygonal masonry