Intihuatana (possibly from in the Quechua spelling ''Inti Watana'' or ''Intiwatana'')Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) at the archaeological site of

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which ...

(Machu Pikchu) is a notable

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

stone associated with the astronomic clock or calendar of the

Inca 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 ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Machu Picchu was thought to have been built c. 1450 by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti as a country estate. In the late 16th century, the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

destroyed those ''Intihuatana'' which they could find. They did so as they believed that the Incas' religion was a

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

and the religious significance of the ''Intihuatana'' could be a political liability. The ''Intihuatana'' of Machu Picchu was found intact by Bingham in 1911, indicating that the Spanish conquerors had not found it.

Design

The ''Intihuatana'' of Machu Picchu was carved directly into the bedrock of the mountain's summit area. It is characterized by complex surfaces, planes and angles whose purpose at this time is unknown. Featuring a slightly inclined plane at its top, an upright stone column tilts 13 degrees northward. Inti Watana

Function

Possibly used as a sundial, it was aligned with the sun's position during 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 ...

. The Inca believed the stone held the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. At midday on the equinoxes the sun stands almost above the pillar, casting no shadow at all. At midday on 11 November and 30 January, the sun stands almost exactly above the pillar, casting no shadow. On June 21, the stone is casting the longest shadow on its southern side and on December 21, a much shorter one on its northern side. The base is said to be "in the shape of a map of the Inca Empire" but most

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

disagree, observing that the base is squat and stubby whereas the Tawantinsuyu is long and thin. Pedro Sueldo Nava describes the landmark as "perhaps one of the most beautiful and enigmatic places to be found in Machu Picchu."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Intihuatana, Urubamba Archaeological sites in Peru Ancient astronomy Inca Empire Archaeological sites in Cusco Region 15th-century establishments in the Inca civilization 16th-century disestablishments in the Inca civilization 1911 archaeological discoveries

Design

Function

See also

References