The Inca: Occupiers or Creators – Part II

For many years, the Inca have been given credit for much of the fabulous constructions found in the Peruvian Andes. They are credited with the building of Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuamán, and numerous other buildings, temples, palaces, and city complexes. Some of these sites, according to modern construction experts, would have taken hundreds of years, using tens of thousands of workers.

Satellite view of Cuzco city (bottom), and the fortress of Sacsayhuaman (center dirt area) on the cliff over looking the city and valley

One example is Sacsayhuaman (Saksaq Waman) a walled complex on the northern outskirts of Cuzco, it is located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, and provides an impressive view of the valley to the southeast. Its polished dry stone walls, each boulder carefully cut to fit together tightly without mortar, many weighing a  hundred tons, is of such workmanship that it still baffles modern stone workers today.

In addition to the remains of the obvious structure seen today, there were tall towers on its summit as well as a series of other buildings. One conquistador who visited the complex before the siege of 1556, wrote about 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 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.

Because of its location high above Cuzco and its immense terrace walls that alone are an engineering marvel, as well as its position that maintains control over the city, this area of Sacsayhuaman is frequently referred to as a fortress, and was effectively used as such during Mano Inca’s siege in 1556.

The three-tiered, zig-zag rock walls protecting Sacsayhuaman on the north side of the fortress, while the cliff face protects it on the south where it overlooks the valley

While surface collections of pottery at Sacsayhuaman indicate that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates back at least a millennium, and probably much more, the Inca claimed they built the fortress. Yet, when and how they could have accomplished such work is beyond the imagination when one considers what the Inca were doing during the time when they were the dominant power in the area (see the previous post).

The stones used in the construction of the terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-hispanic 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 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 in Cuzco, and show a remarkable engineering knowledge by the builders.

The longest of the three walls is about 1300 feet (over four football fields long). They are about 20-feet tall, with an estimated volume of stone over 20,000 cubic feet. Estimates for the weight of the largest limestone block vary from 128 tons to almost 200 tons.

It is estimated by modern builders to have taken about 200 years to have completed, with close to two hundred thousand laborers involved. The problem in attributing the building to the Inca is that it is estimated they had no more than 40,000 total population in the Cuzco area prior to 1438. And over the next 90 years, they were so involved in conquest, with their armies and manpower spread over some 700,000 square miles, that one can only ask—when in the world did they have the time and manpower to build Sacsayhuaman. In addition, in the early years after 1438, during Pachacuti’s reign, the Inca were displacing the lower class ayllu to the far corners of the empire to strengthen the empire’s presence.

Two sections of the rock walls at Sacsayhuaman: Left: The large stone behind the woman is 22’ tall; Right: The stones of the first tier of the rock wall stands over 20’ high

So once again, how did the Inca have the time, manpower, and even the inclination, to build Sacsayhuaman during the short period of their power?

Another question abounds, and that is how did the Inca have the time to build the vast complex of roads and highways that were found throughout the area they conquered? If their armies were involved in building these roads, which would have taken many years, how did they have the time and energy to then fight vast battles.

As an example, this vast complex of roads covered a distance of 25,000 to 30,000 miles in length, the coastal road alone was 2,500 miles long, and the principle main north-south highway covered 3,700 miles in length. A third highway, 3,200 miles long, ran from Ecuador to Cusco to Chile, the major highways measured 24 feet across—the width of a modern four-land highway today. Some of the lesser roads were between 15 and 24 feet in width. Some roads were stepped up steep inclines, others were cut through solid stone mountains, some crossed over as many as 100 stone, wood or rope bridges, with some rope bridges across deep ravines and wide canyons—the one across the Apurímac River spanned a distance of 150 feet. There were distance markers every 4.5 miles, rest stations for travelers every 12 to 18 miles, and communication stations every 1.5 miles, which allowed a message to be passed over 1250 miles in five days. This allowed field commanders to communicate quickly with base commanders, such as when Helaman wrote to Moroni about his stripling warriors and the result of their battles (Alma 56:1, chapters 56-57-58).

These roads were so well engineered, with most made of stone, they have lasted through extreme weather, snow, ice, floods and earthquakes for two thousand years, many still usable today

The surfaces of many roads were intended for foot traffic, such as in moving armies over hills and up mountainsides, and could accommodate pack animals, such as llamas. Some of the roadways were paved with stone cobbles, such as those stepped up slopes and sharp inclines, some were natural dirt pathways, definitely marked with stone sidings. To traverse the mountainous regions these builders built long stairways and switchbacks; for lowland roads through marshes and wetlands they built causeways; crossing rivers and streams required bridges and culverts; and roads between desert oases were marked by low walls or cairns.

Architectural innovations along the trail included drainages through gutters and culverts, and in many places low walls delimited the road. In some places tunnels and retaining walls were built to allow safe navigation. In some cases, an entire outer wall hundreds of feet high were built to give a roadway access along cliff facings.

Again, a reasonable person must ask themselves, when did the Inca ever have time to build such engineering marvels as this vast highway system? Especially when they were so heavily committed to sending their manpower into far flung areas, covering hundreds of thousands of square miles.

Another interesting point is that there were numerous outpost forts built, especially moving outward from Cuzco. These stone outpost, or small forts, could have served only one purpose, since they were far too small to house garrisons of any size for battle. Their purpose is self-evident as warning outposts. However, again, one must ask, why would the Inca, who were expanding outward, with their nearby borders secured with their expansionist aggression, spend time, manpower and resources in constructing warning outposts near Cuzco, when their empire stretched for hundreds of miles beyond those limits?

The only possible answer to any of these questions is quite simple—the Inca never built any of this, but simply occupied what had been built long before them.

(See the next post, “The Inca: Occupiers or Creators – Part III,” to see what led to the Inca being credited with all this construction)