Ecuador formerly known as the kingdom of Quito was part of the Quito Confederation during the Inca Period, when it was incorporated into the Inca Empire. Quito was the second capital of the Inca Empire, following that of Cuzco.
Tumebamba (Tumipampa—modern Cuenca), was chosen by the Emperor Huayna Capac, who ruled from 1493-1525, to be the Inca northern capital. The city was largely destroyed during the civil war between Huáscar and shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in 1532.
The Spanish city of Cuenca, Ecuador, was built on the site of Tumebamba although a portion of the Inca city is preserved at the archaeological sites of Pumapungo and Todos Santos (D'Altroy, Terence (2003), The Incas, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, p. 31, 75, 78-80). These two surviving remnants of the old city are the ruins of Todos Santos and Pumapunku (or Pumapongo), and within about 300 yards of each other and near the Tomebamba River. Neither site has the finely-worked stone characteristic of Cuzco, which had been bu8lt by the first ancient Peruvians, suggesting that these sites were constructed later, toward the end of the Nephite period.
During the recent construction period before the Conquest, the principal temple and plaza disappeared beneath this later building.
Based on finding spinning tools in the buildings excavated at Pumapungo, the site had a large residential area. Tumebamba had a large artificial water pool, terraces, and canals that resemble those found at Quispiguanca, an ancient ruin in the Sacred Valley near Cuzco. No doubt both ancient cities were built by the same primordial people who once spread across the Peruvian and Ecuadorian landscape.
The Tumebamba area prior to the conquest by the Incas was called Guapondelig. The ethnic Cañari people had lived in this area for at least 500 years before the arrival of the Incas. Due in part to early Peruvian influence, Cañari construction reportedly rivaled that of Cuzco. Of particular repute was the impressive architecture of Tumebamba, which has often been referred to as the "second Cuzco."
In 1471-1493, during the Inca period and before the Conquest, this area was attacked but held out with severe defenses. It took a later generation, after a long and arduous campaign, to finally subdue the Cañari (Susan A. Niles, The Shape of Inca History, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 1999, p253).
Archaeologists identified stone building blocks in Ecuador that had an origin in a quarry near Cuzco. The scholars found 450 stones, weighing up to 1,500 lb each, that had been transported almost 1000 miles on magnificent Peruvian roads, traversing the high and rugged Andes. The monumental task of transporting the stones suggests the importance the early Peruvians placed on this northern land (Dennis Ogburn, "Power in Stone: The Long-Distance Movement of Building Blocks in the Inca Empire," Ethnology, Vol.51, No.1, Winter 2004, pp131-132).
In the words of one scholar, "These stones embodied the transfer of sanctity and power from the south to the city of Tomebamba in the north, and their movement was seen as a major effort to defend the northern lands.
Ingapirca ruins in the province of Cañar at 10500 feet, is also the name of the older ruins and archeological site nearby. These are the largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador, and were settled by the Cañari indigenous people, who called it Hatun Cañar. The castle complex is of ancient Peruvian origin, and though, its purpose is uncertain, the complex was used as a fortress and storehouse to supply troops defending their land against invasion from the south, whose troops were enroute to northern Ecuador. At Ingapirca they also developed a complex underground aqueduct system to provide water to the entire compound.
The Spanish conquistador and chronicler Pedro de Cieza de León, whose Chronicles of Peru, were published in 1553, rank with Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s account of the conquest of Mexico. Leon visited Tumebamba in 1547 and said, "Everything has crumbled and in ruins but you can still appreciate how grand it was” (Ross W. Jamieson, De Tomebamba a Cuenca, Translation Ion Youman, Abya-Yala Editions, Simon Fraser University—Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, 2003, p50).
Ecuador formerly known as the kingdom of Quito was part of the Quito Confederation during the Inca Period, when it was incorporated into the Inca Empire. Quito was the second capital of the Inca Empire, following that of Cuzco.
During the pre-Inca period, people lived in ans, which formed great tribes, some allied with each other to form powerful confederations, such as the Confederation of Quito. But in the end, none of these confederations could resist the formidable momentum of the Tawantinsuyu—the invasion of the Incas in the 16th century was very painful and bloody.
The Pre-Columbian era is divided by archaeologists and anthropologists into four eras: the pre-Ceramic Period, the Formative Period, the Period of Regional Development and Integration until the Arrival of the Incas. Before the Inca were the Manteño, the last pre-Columbian civilization in modern-day Ecuador, running from 850 AD to 1600 AD.
The Valdivia culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It emerged from the earlier Las Vegas culture and thrived on the Santa Elena peninsula near the modern-day town of Valdivia, preceding the Machalilla culture, which thrived in southern Manabí and the Santa Elena Peninsula—the dates when the culture thrived are uncertain, but definitely in the BC period covering 2500 to 1500 BC.
The Machalilla were a prehistoric culture in southern Manabí and the Santa Elena Peninsula. The dates when the culture thrived are uncertain, but are generally agreed to encompass ending around 1100 BCE (Tamara Bray, “Ecuador’s Pre-Columbian Past,” in the Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. 2009, p15-26).
The Real Alto culture, situated in the Chanduy Valley of the Guayas Province in Ecuador, it is a fascinating archeological site that sheds light on the Valdivia culture. The site was Located near the fertile agricultural lands of the Río Verde, situated on top of one of the two highest points in the valley, providing insurance against surprise attacks from the south.
Real Alto was identified by Jorge Marcos, an archeologist, in 1971 and has been investigated by a number of researchers since that time. The site is considered to be one of South America’s oldest examples of an organized village. The culture thrived around second millennium BC, and were trading Spondylus princeps shells (thorny or spiny oysters) as late as 800 BC—the southern-most extension of Spondylus is the Gulf of Guayaquil, which northern shore is along the Santa Elena Peninsula (Donald Lathrap, et al., “Real Alto: An Ancient Ceremonial Center,” Archaeology Magazine, vol.30,1977, pp2-13) (Nichole Slovak, Real Alto, Stanford University, Palo Alto California, October 2003, in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2000).
The Bahia culture controlled the north central coast from 500 BC to 500 AD. Bahía culture originated in what is now the Manabi Province on the Pacific Coast, and spread to the Bahía de Caráquez foothills. Their ceramic tradition is one of the first found north of the Andes.
The Las Vegas Culture and The Inga Culture dominated the early period, with the Las Vegas culture living near the Las Vegas River on the Santa Elena Peninsula along the coast of Ecuador during the first settlements on the Peninsula in the BC era. These earliest people were hunters and fishermen. Around 6,000 BC cultures in the region were among the first to begin farming. The Ingas lived along an ancient trade route in the Sierra near present-day Quito (Karen E. Stothert, "The Pre-ceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador," American Antiquity, vol.50, No.3, July 1985; pp613–637).
These early cultures were during the Jaredite era in the Land of Promise, to whom archeologists and anthropologists refer to as being in separate cultures living at different times. This is based upon ceramics found, such as pots and vases, believing that different styles represented different people; however, it is just as easy to consider these people were all of one developing civilization, whose talents and skills produced more than one style, just as one civilization today produces varying styles of art and craft. Consider how Americans went from Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s, through Surrealism, Cubism, Expessionism, Nouveau and Arte Povera to Modern Art/Contemporary Art—all in less than 100 years. Yet these professionals claim a civilization that lasted 500 to 1000 years anciently without a single alteration in their ceramics and art, and when a different stule was found, it represented a new culture or civilization.
Any chance the 1500 pound stones were transported to Quito by ship prior to 33 AD? Would have been a lot easier than carrying them.
ReplyDeletemaybe, but 1500 punds are a lot, i think the ship would ahve suken at the time it got their
Delete