The Inca and Pre-Inca: Let’s Be Realistic About This – Part IV

Continuing with “Were the Inca the builders and creators of the fantastic construction found in Andean Peru?” 
    As discussed in the previous post, the ancient Peruvian walls were built long before the Inca arrived on the scene, who claimed when asked by the conquering Spanish who built them, replied vaguely that they were built long before their ancestors.
    “Built before their ancestors.”
    Now, that’s a phrase and answer rarely mentioned by so-called historians who are hell-bent on giving the Inca credit for such constructions and achievements far beyond their capability.

The black stone is that of the ancient Peruvians and was part of the original Coricancha, and is all that is left after the Spaniards destroyed the ancient temple. The earthquakes had no effect on the stonework at all, though it toppled the Spanish-built cathedral complex that had been built on top of the ancient stonework

Also, as mentioned in the previous post, the Corincancha, the most famous temple of ancient Peruvian culture, was demolished by the conquering Spanish, the smaller building stones used for the construction of Spanish palaces, cathedrals and buildings, with only the base or foundation of the ancient building left intact. And upon that foundation, the Spanish built the cathedral of Santo Domingo.
    Later, the Spanish rebuilt their church on this same foundation after it was demolished by earthquakes, and now stands once again on the ancient Peruvian stone foundation walls, that were so perfectly fitted, that the early Spanish historian Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa praised this style in his 1572 book History of the Incas: “Those of us who have seen it are awed upon seeing the evenness and beauty of it.”
    Still another example is that of a wall built by the Inca on top of a few original blocks of stone cut and placed by the ancient Peruvians. Again, note the poor workmanship of the Inca compared to the cut and dressed stone of the ancients.

Despite being given credit for extreme capability in engineering and construction, it is not difficult to see that the Inca lacked knowledge and skill at building with stone compared to the earlier Peruvian works. When one considers they were only on the scene for less than 100 years, and during all of that time they were at war with scores of tribes living in all directions form Cuzco (4-front wars), it is not difficult to see why they built like they were in a hurry

After all, when Pachacútec came to power after defeating the Chanca, and is credited with restoring Cuzco to its former glory, we know little about that former glory since the Inca were credited with building the city, all that’s in the Valley, as well as Sacsayhuaman. However, all that was far beyond their ability, plus the fact that during Pachacútec’s time, he launched a series of long, drawn-out and manpower-consuming wars with his neighbors, expanding out far beyond Cuzco. It is claimed that during his reign he made massive conquests, and the Incan empire went on to control an area that, under his successors, would extend from modern-day Colombia to as far south as Santiago, Chile.

The Inca began in the late 1300s as a tiny tribe or ayullu of less than one hundred houses in a corner of the Cuzco valley

We need to keep in mind that the Inca when Pachacútec took control were a small tribe, surrounded by other small tribes in Cuzco Valley, and were far from the powerful empire needed to conduct such wars and yet involve itself in such expansion. That they would have had the time to involve themselves in such time-consuming, and unimportant projects as building up a city in the homeland that would have taken tens or hundreds of thousands of men to accomplish is inconsistent with the thousands upon thousands of warriors it would have taken to conduct wars on almost every front and with every known tribe within several day’s marching distance is beyond reality—some of which cultures were so fiercely resistant that it took considerable time to defeat.
    As an example, The Chachapoyas, also called the "Warriors of the Clouds," or “Cloud People,” was a culture of the Andes living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas Region of which the fortress of Kuelap today is a stark example of the difficulty such conquest would have been. The Inca wars with the Chachapoyas took place shorty before the arrival of the Spanish and though the Inca ruled them at the time of the arrival, their subjugation had been extremely difficult due to their constant resistance to Inca troops.

The Inca moved over roads and bridges that were already in place to rapidly move against neighboring cultures for often quick and decisive attacks

That the Inca expanded the borders and defeated numerous tribes and peoples is well documented—however, their building is not. Historians and archaeologists look at the existence of these structures, fortresses, roads, etc., and say to themselves "who else would have built them? Who else was around? Who else had such fantastic achievements?" Of course, they decide, it had to have been the Inca—who else was there? But within less than 100 years of their coming to power, the Inca were soundly defeated and their world abruptly ended, as the Spanish, with their superior armor, weapons and horses, were able to move even more quickly over the existing roads and highways.

The Inca, an Empire of several million were defeated handily by a small Spanish force of some 160 soldiers

  
Had the buildings, the fortresses, the roads not already have been in place in 1438, the Inca never could have accomplished their extensive expansion and development of their Empire.
    In addition, think what it would have taken to feed a populace of six to nine million people. With each new conquest, eventually amounting to 100 cultures over 86 years, that is conquering more than one entire people about every ten months or so, how many people would it have taken to feed an army constantly conquering, destroying infrastructures along the way? How long to plant and harvest and ship to their far-flung military? How long to build the terraces needed to use the ground space for planting?

The effort it takes to create such terracing would have been enormously time-consuming in hauling stones up mountain sides, then the carrying of dirt, then the upkeep through planting, watering and harvesting on such difficult terrain

The idea that all of this was attributed to the Inca is beyond understanding—especially, when the Inca themselves told the Spanish conquerors they had no idea who built such areas as Sacsayhuaman and Tiahuanaco.
    So who built Sacsayhuaman and the other fantastic stonework fortresses, temples, and complex sites in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile? who built the thousands of miles of roads and highways?
(See the next post, “So Who Built These Sites?”)