The Walls of Peru – Part II Defensive Walls

Continued from the previous post regarding the Nephite Walls, including a continuation of city walls and enclosures and specifically defensive walls and their purposes.
    It might be of interest to know that one of the purposes of city walls, besides their protection, was that under Levitical Law, houses within a fortified city wall were considered contained and redeemable; however, the houses of the villages which had no surrounding wall round about them were considered as fields of the open country, thus part of the landed property and subject to the law of jubilee, that is, they could be redeemed at any time before the year of jubilee, but if not, then they would go out in the jubilee to the original owners, that is to him who owned or leased the property, without paying anything for it (Leviticus 25-31-33). Thus, the need for city walls in terms of the law, were essential to a Jewish land owner.
    In speaking of city walls, as we covered in the last post, it might also be of interest to know that the Hebrew word “chomah,” חוֹמָה  is a  wall for protection and is mentioned 133 times in the Old Testament. The word means to keep people and things from passing through, protecting that which is inside, and is usually the term used as a “wall for protection,” and a “city wall” or “walled city” as in Leviticus 25:29,31. The word “wall” is found in Revelations: “The city had a massive high wall with 12 gates” (Revelations 21:12), and refers to a wall built of jasper, a valued mineral quartz aggregate rock.
    On the other hand, “gadar” גָּדַר means “wall” (as in Isaiah 5:5), but also “enclosure,” (Lamentations 3:9), or to build one, that is to “make a wall” (Hosea 2:6; Ezekiel 42:7; Micah 7:11), or “fence” (Job 19:8, Psalm 62:3), or the “mason” who builds it (2 Kings 22:6), or even “repairer” (Isaiah 58:12).
    The point is, even Hebrew scholars disagree on the meanings of words pertaining to wall, or fence, or hedge, or the person who builds them. While the wall mentioned Revelations was built for beauty (figuratively), the Book of Mormon speaks of walls that were meant to contain people within, such as walls for a prison: “the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the earth; and the chief judge, and the lawyers, and priests, and teachers, who smote upon Alma and Amulek, were slain by the fall thereof” (Alma 14:27).

The walls shook and did tremble again, and the earth shook as if it were about to divide asunder

“And behold, when they had said these words, the earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison did shake as if they were about to tumble to the earth; but behold, they did not fall” (Helaman 5:27). “And notwithstanding the mildness of the voice, behold the earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison trembled again, as if it were about to tumble to the earth; and behold the cloud of darkness, which had overshadowed them, did not disperse -- And behold the voice came again, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and seek no more to destroy my servants. And it came to pass that the earth shook again, and the walls trembled. And also again the third time the voice came, and did speak unto them marvelous words which cannot be uttered by man; and the walls did tremble again, and the earth shook as if it were about to divide asunder” (Helaman 5:31-33).
    Now wood timber placed vertically in stockade style walls, made of dressed tree poles, do not shake down, collapse, and kill everyone around them—only stone walls are so affected by earthquakes and do such damage when being toppled.
    In addition, in the case of Samuel the Lamanite: “he went and got upon the wall thereof, and stretched forth his hand and cried with a loud voice, and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart…Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart” (Helaman 13:4-5).

Various timber (stockade or stake) walls made of trimmed wood trunks that circled early forts in the U.S.

Nor can one climb upon a wood wall and stand upon it, as did Samuel. This would take a stone wall, sturdy to hold an individual moving about, and strong and wide enough to provide footing as he spent some time on the wall prophesying to the people within the city.
    To suggest that the walls Moroni built for strong defense were only made of wood, and therefore no evidence of these walls would today be found, as all North American (Heartland, Great Lakes, eastern U.S.) theorists claim, is simply without merit.  The only instance of using wood mentioned, is in the case where Moroni had put captured Lamanites to building a wall around Bountiful. Two things to keep in mind on this: 1) This defensive wall was being built far away from the Lamanite land and might not have been considered of great defensive importance compared to those cities and defensive needs closer to the enemy’s homeland, and more importantly, 2) the wall around Bountiful was being built by unskilled labor—the Lamanites—who undoubtedly lacked the expertise of Nephite stonemasons and could not have built a more effective and permanent wall of stone.
    Now, drystone walls are also common throughout the northwestern lands of Andean Peru, where these walls were built for the defense of coastal cities and important settlements; however, they differ from most drystone walls in other lands, since the ancient builders often used perfect fitting cut and dressed interlocking stones, laying them course upon course without mortar.

Short, stone wall in some countries that are not meant to be defensive, but to mark off property lines or contain animal life

While stone walls have been found in numerous countries, their short height was obviously meant only to have intended to wall off fields or pastures to contain animals or to keep wild life out.
    Such is not the case in Andean Peru, where walls were almost in all cases built to protect people, as walls or barriers of defense, strongly built with high and sturdy walls, sometimes up to fifteen feet thick at the base, and straight on the edge facing an anticipated enemy with the other side often sloped.

A truly defensive wall, meant to stop enemy advances and to provide the defenders with an impregnable defensive position

Some walls were quite high, as much as 15 to 20 feet, and 15 feet at the base, obviously built for permanence and stability to withstand major enemy attacks.
    As an example, in Cuzco, above on the mountain overlook where the fortress of Sacsayhuaman was built, a huge defensive wall was constructed. The fortress, which was protected by a steep approach from the town, only needed defensive walls on one side; however, this wall is one of Andean Peru’s archaeological treasures, actually formed by three massive parallel stone ramparts zigzagging together for some 2000 feet across a plateau just over the other side of the mountain top from Cuzco city and the valley below. These zigzag walls, incorporating the most monumental and megalithic stones used in all of ancient Peru, form the boundary of what was originally designed as a “resort” and built at the time of first settlement by Nephi, and where later Noah “caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land” (Mosiah 11:13) of “First Inheritance” when Nephi fled from his brothers who sought to kill him, after Lehi’s death.

Outer zigzagging walls of Sacsayhuaman above Cuzco with the valley beyond. Note the size of the people in the center foreground

Today, little of the original structure the zigzag walls protected, which ramparts stand 65n feet high. Quite undamaged by past battles, earthquakes and the passage of time. The strength of the mortarless stonework—one block weighs more than 300 tons—is matched by the brilliance of it design with its zigzagging shape cleverly constructed to expose the flanks of any attacking force. Originally the inner fort was covered in building, a maze of tiny streets dominated by three major towers, the foundation of one, Muyu Marca, can still be clearly seen. The tower here was 99-feet tall, with three concentric circles of all, the outer one roughly 96 feet in diameter. In its entirety, the inner fortress could have housed as many as ten thousand people under siege. At the rear of this sector, looking directly down into Cuzco and the valley, was a temple reckoned by some to be the most important shrine in the entire region and the most sacred sector of Sacsayhuaman.
    Obviously, this Sacsayhuaman outer set of three walls was built strictly for defense.
(See the next post, “The Walls of Peru – Part II Defensive Walls,” for more on the Nephite construction of walls and their purpose)