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Qorikancha at the Convento de Santa Domingo del Cusco |
Over the
last couple of months I’ve been fairly inundated by inca ruins, stones,
formations, stories, legends and more. Starting at the supposed birthplace of
the first incas, Isla del Sol at Lago Titicaca, then unknowingly whizzing past
other ruins on the way to Arequipa, visiting one of the main coastal cities,
Pachacamac just south of Lima, pre Inca terraces in the Colca canyon, Juanita,
the 12 y/o Inca princess who travelled on foot from Cusco to Arequipa to be
sacrificed to appease the gods, of course the wonderous Machu Picchu, the still
living inca town of Ollantaytanbo, biospheric greenhouse like terraces of Moray,
Huchuy Qosqo, Pisaq, Saksaywaman, Tambomachay, Inca trails and lots more.
The Inca´s
were only around for ONE century (1400-1525AD... more on the Inca´s), and even though much of what is now seen as
Inca was built on pre-inca civilisations, it´s still damn impressive what they
achieved. The large cities, advanced irrigation (their terraces not only made
useful land out of steep slopes, but filtered a lot of water), beautiful and
exact stonework make for pretty impressive constructions and ruins, and this is
not even looking at the beautiful and colourful textiles, gold and silver minatures,
jewellery, pottery, knotted ropes as used to relay messages and of course the
famed kilometers of Inca trails.
I´ve pulled
together some of my favourite images from inca sights… I love the lines created
by terraces and stonework, the clever anti-earthquake designs and immensity of
some of the stones.
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The ´newer´convent of Santa Domingo built on top of Inca foundations |
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Incan astronomy... they interpreted the black and used stars as reference points |
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Beautiful flowing terraces on the approach to Huchuy Qosqo (little Cusco) awesomely only accessible by a 3 hour climb or 10 hr hike |
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Along an inca trail towards Huchuy Qosqo ... integration of irrigation channels, terraces, bridges |
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You often just see remains of terraces, houses or temples dotted around. This one near Tambomachay just outside of Cusco. |
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Using the terraced form to create salineras (salt pans) at Maras in the Sacred Valley |
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Clever steps up the terraces... these at Moray |
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These concentric terraces at Moray created sub-climates that allowed the pre-incas to grow a variety of crops (including over 3000 varieties of potatoes) |
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Nothing Incan, but the lines are reminiscent of. |
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Of course... Machu Picchu! |
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Amazing stonework ... beautiful combination of fluid and geometric forms |
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One type of roof system at Machu Picchu. |
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The incline was about 40deg, the path up narrow, steep and slippery. 500m above the Machu Picchu site they still built their temples |
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Soft stone pools used in astronomical observations |
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Between the 2 layers, the ´cement´was a mixture of mud, loose small stones and dirt |
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Alternative roof system... see the stone with the circle? This was to tie through rope for the roof beams |
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Many of the houses at MP are 2 storey.. making use of the incline |
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Water channels... for temple and civilian use |
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Inca bridge (destroyed to prevent attack) literally carved out of the rockface on the entry to Machu Picchu. |
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The terraces made use out of steep inclines of land... consisting of a larger rock later at the bottom, increasing to smaller and then a soil later at the top. It also filtered the water. |
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Narrow original inca street at the town of Ollantaytambo |
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The trapezoidal form of the doorway was earthquake proof |
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Inca wall in Cusco... there is also a 12 sided stone (10 edges with front and back) that exemplifies the Inca stonework |
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More pre-incan terraces at the Colca Canyon |
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Terraces, a football field and paths winding their way up the Colca Canyon |
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Colourful maiz... corn that was and is a diet staple |
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Grinding the corn to flour |
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A desert dog... sort of feels like a cats tongue to touch their skin |
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In Lima. terraced adobe brick forms the temple |
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Beautiful textiles (with plans used to dye colours) from pre-incas |
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Quipu.. believed to be the only written language of the Incas.. a series of knots into different lengths of string |
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The red plaster is original... pre-inca! |
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Adobe brickwork at Pachacamac, south of Lima |
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Central East West street of Pachacamac... |
Amazing photos
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