The Fortress of Sacsayhuaman

Another ancient fortress found in the Peruvian area is that of Sacsayhuaman (Saksaq Waman) on the ridge overlooking the Cuzco Valley. It is made of large, polished dry stone walls, each boulder carefully cut to fit together tightly without mortar. This fortress is located on a steep hill overlooking the city of Cuzco with an impressive view of the valley to the southeast.

Twenty-fiver-foot tall walls, three high, guard the entire Sacsayhuaman complex, with cliffs on the other sides

The complex is often referred to as Inca, with Inca stonework, however, the fortress dates back at least a thousand years, and even much earlier, long before the Inca came to power, or were even considered an unimportant tribe in the Cuzco area. Obviously, though it was inhabited later by the Inca, and noted as an Incan citadel by the conquering Spanish who finally defeated the stubborn Inca in their defense of Sacsayhuaman; however, the complex had a long history before the origin of the Inca.

The round circle in the center is the base of the tower that overlooked the Cuzco Valley beyond the cliff (foreground). The Temple was to the right of the tower, and the three-tier terrace walls run from right to left at the base of the rise upon which Sacsayhuaman sat. Note that there was no way to get to the complex without breaching the walls

According to the Spanish description of the siege as well as excavations at the site, it is clear the citadel had towers on its summit as well as a series of other buildings. Pedro Sancho, who visited the complex before the siege, mentions the labyrinth-like quality of the complex and the fact that it held a great number of storage rooms filled with a wide variety of items, including a lot of military equipment. He also noted that there were buildings with large windows that looked over the city. These structures, like so much of the site, have long since been destroyed by the very Spanish who were awed by its construction—believing it was the work of the Devil, and tore down as much  as they could

In fact, following the siege, the Spaniards began to use Sacsayhuaman as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco and within a few years much of the complex was demolished. The site was destroyed block-by-block to build the new governmental and religious buildings of the city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. In the words of Garcilaso de la Vega: “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.

Only the large stones, too large to cart off, remain at the site of Sacsayhuaman. The Spanish demolished all they could to use elsewhere

While the fortress stood, it served to overlook the valley, and all three entrances from neighboring lands into the valley below. The immense terraced walls gave the fortress its impregnability. Beyond the walls was (and still is) a large plaza area, capable of holding thousands of people, and well designed for ceremonial activities. Several of the large structures at the site may also have been used during rituals.

The stones used in the construction of the three terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-Columbian America and display a precision of 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 that have struck Cuzco over the centuries. The longest of three walls is about a hundred and forty feet in length, and are about 20 feet high, but higher in places, and once were higher still. The estimated volume of stone is over 20,000 cubic feet. Estimates for the weight of the largest limestone block vary from 128 tons to almost 200 ton.

One of the numerous zig-zags showing the rounded stonework and how any attackers trying to scale the walls would have been exposed to defender’s firepower from two sides. Note the skilled carving of the stones

Archaeologists discovered additional ruins at the periphery of Sacsayhuaman in 2008, that predate the Inca, and while clearly ceremonial in nature, the exact function remains unknown. The Killke culture occupied Sacsayhuaman long before the Inca, and it is not known who occupied it before the Killke.

What is evident is the defensive implications of the fortress complex. It is guarded on the south by a steep cliff where it overlooks the city and valley, and on the other sides by the three tiered zig-zag terrace walls, each level about twenty feet in height, with staggered entrances to each terrace, forcing any attacker, even if they could gain egress to the first level, having to travel some distance in the open before reaching the opening to the next level. “He had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land” Alma 48:8), and “neither could they come upon them save it was by their place of entrance” (Alma 49:4).

Left: One of the staggered doorways to the next level; Right: Note the magnificent stonework, so well fitted without mortar, not a piece of paper could be slipped between them

The stonework at Sacsayhuaman is a similar construction technique in building as used on numerous other sites of stonework, albeit on a far more massive scale. The stones were evidently rough-cut to the approximate shape in the quarries using river cobbles. They were then dragged by rope to the construction site, a feat that at times required hundreds of men. The ropes were so impressive that they warranted mention by Diego de Trujillo in 1571 as he inspected a room filled with building materials. The stones were then shaped into their final form at the building site and laid in place. Cieza de León, who twice visited Sacsayhuaman in the late 1540s, mentions the quarrying of the stones, their transposition to the site, and the digging of foundation trenches.

The point of these last several posts is to show that in the Andean area, are found the fortresses, rock walls, and defenses described in the Book of Mormon. While some early cities in the Americas had surrounding walls, such as some found in Mesoamerica, few were built for defense against an enemy. In South America, the fortresses are very obviously meant to defend against a known and ferocious enemy, far more complex than simple city walls with wooden gates. When the conquistadors first saw them, they called most of the cities citadels, fortresses like the castles of their day. That which the Book of Mormon describes, especially those built during Moroni’s time, are described in far more complex manner, with their intent for defense, and their effectiveness described in detail. In addition, there are numerous others we have not mentioned, such as the hilltop fortress of O’allaqasa, which is built onto a natural spur atop a hill and overlooked the entrance to the valley, is known as the citadel. The hillside is lined with agricultural terraces still in use today. These terraces were created by hauling richer topsoil from the lower lands by hand, which enabled the defenders and  to produce surplus food more than would normally be possible at altitudes as high as 11,000 feet and providing ample food for the long-term defense of the fortress.