The Sacred Landscape of the Inca

The Sacred Landscape of the Inca PDF Author: Brian S. Bauer
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292792042
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
The ceque system of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire, was perhaps the most complex indigenous ritual system in the pre-Columbian Americas. From a center known as the Coricancha (Golden Enclosure) or the Temple of the Sun, a system of 328 huacas (shrines) arranged along 42 ceques (lines) radiated out toward the mountains surrounding the city. This elaborate network, maintained by ayllus (kin groups) that made offerings to the shrines in their area, organized the city both temporally and spiritually. From 1990 to 1995, Brian Bauer directed a major project to document the ceque system of Cusco. In this book, he synthesizes extensive archaeological survey work with archival research into the Inca social groups of the Cusco region, their land holdings, and the positions of the shrines to offer a comprehensive, empirical description of the ceque system. Moving well beyond previous interpretations, Bauer constructs a convincing model of the system's physical form and its relation to the social, political, and territorial organization of Cusco.

The Sacred Landscape of the Inca

The Sacred Landscape of the Inca PDF Author: Brian S. Bauer
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292792042
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
The ceque system of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire, was perhaps the most complex indigenous ritual system in the pre-Columbian Americas. From a center known as the Coricancha (Golden Enclosure) or the Temple of the Sun, a system of 328 huacas (shrines) arranged along 42 ceques (lines) radiated out toward the mountains surrounding the city. This elaborate network, maintained by ayllus (kin groups) that made offerings to the shrines in their area, organized the city both temporally and spiritually. From 1990 to 1995, Brian Bauer directed a major project to document the ceque system of Cusco. In this book, he synthesizes extensive archaeological survey work with archival research into the Inca social groups of the Cusco region, their land holdings, and the positions of the shrines to offer a comprehensive, empirical description of the ceque system. Moving well beyond previous interpretations, Bauer constructs a convincing model of the system's physical form and its relation to the social, political, and territorial organization of Cusco.

Sacred Landscape of the Inca

Sacred Landscape of the Inca PDF Author: Brian S. Bauer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description


A Sacred Landscape

A Sacred Landscape PDF Author: Hugh Thomson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book

Book Description
The author takes the reader on a journey back from the world of the Incas to the first dawn of Andean civilization.

The Oxford Handbook of the Incas

The Oxford Handbook of the Incas PDF Author: Sonia Alconini Mujica
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190219351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 881

Get Book

Book Description
"The Oxford Handbook of the Incas aims to be the first comprehensive book on the Inca, the largest empire in the pre-Columbian world. Using archaeology, ethnohistory and art history, the central goal of this handbook is to bring together novel recent research conducted by experts from different fields that study the Inca empire, from its origins and expansion to its demise and continuing influence in contemporary times"--Provided by publisher.

Inca Sacred Space

Inca Sacred Space PDF Author: Frank M. Meddens
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909492059
Category : Andes Region
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
A collection of conference papers which present the principles and functions of ushnus, Inca sacred spaces, through history, archaeology and anthropology.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu PDF Author: Johan Reinhard
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Get Book

Book Description
Machu Picchu, recently voted one of the New Wonders of the World, is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, yet it remains a mystery. Even the most basic questions are still unanswered: What was its meaning and why was it built in such a difficult location? Renowned explorer Johan Reinhard attempts to answer such elusive questions from the perspectives of sacred landscape and archaeoastronomy. Using information gathered from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources, Reinhard demonstrates how the site is situated in the center of sacred mountains and associated with a sacred river, which is in turn symbolically linked with the sun's passage. Taken together, these features meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological, and sacred geological center for a vast region.

Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains

Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains PDF Author: Johan Reinhard
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
ISBN: 9781931745772
Category : Andes
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
The Incas carried out some of the most dramatic ceremonies known to us from ancient times. Groups of people walked hundreds of miles across arid and mountainous terrain to perform them on mountains over 6,096 m (20,000 feet) high. The most important offerings made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capacochas). Although Spanish chroniclers wrote about these offerings and the state sponsored processions of which they were a part, their accounts were based on second-hand sources, and the only direct evidence we have of the capacocha sacrifices comes to us from archaeological excavations. Some of the most thoroughly documented of these were undertaken on high mountain summits, where the material evidence has been exceptionally well preserved. In this study we describe the results of research undertaken on Mount Llullaillaco (6,739 m/22,109 feet), which has the world's highest archaeological site. The types of ruins and artifact assemblages recovered are described and analyzed. By comparing the archaeological evidence with the chroniclers' accounts and with findings from other mountaintop sites, common patterns are demonstrated; while at the same time previously little known elements contribute to our understanding of key aspects of Inca religion. This study illustrates the importance of archaeological sites being placed within the broader context of physical and sacred features of the natural landscape.

The Incas

The Incas PDF Author: Terence N. D'Altroy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444331159
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 578

Get Book

Book Description
The Incas is a captivating exploration of one of the greatest civilizations ever seen. Seamlessly drawing on history, archaeology, and ethnography, this thoroughly updated new edition integrates advances made in hundreds of new studies conducted over the last decade. • Written by one of the world’s leading experts on Inca civilization • Covers Inca history, politics, economy, ideology, society, and military organization • Explores advances in research that include pre-imperial Inca society; the royal capital of Cuzco; the sacred landscape; royal estates; Machu Picchu; provincial relations; the khipu information-recording technology; languages, time frames, gender relations, effects on human biology, and daily life • Explicitly examines how the Inca world view and philosophy affected the character of the empire • Illustrated with over 90 maps, figures, and photographs

The White Rock

The White Rock PDF Author: Hugh Thomson
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468302302
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book

Book Description
An explorer searches the Peruvian Andes for a lost ruin in “a gem of a book [that] transcends the travel writing genre” with fascinating Inca history (Los Angeles Times). A New York Times Notable Book With the backdrop of the ever-intriguing Andes mountains, Hugh Thomson explores the intoxicating history of the Inca people and their heartland. The author, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and explorer, expertly weaves accounts of his own discoveries and brushes with danger with the history of those who preceded him—including the explorer Hiram Bingham, who discovered Machu Picchu; the twentieth century South American photographer, Martín Chambi; the poet Pablo Neruda; and the Spanish conquistadores who destroyed the Inca civilization—and the eccentric characters he meets on his travels. Following in the footsteps of the explorers Gene Savoy and Hiram Bingham, Thomson set off into the jungle to find the lost city of Llactapat. This is the story of his journey to discover it via the interconnecting paths the Incas laid across the Andes.

The Ancient Americas

The Ancient Americas PDF Author: Richard F. Townsend
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 412

Get Book

Book Description
A lavishly illustrated catalog of a traveling exhibition marking the Columbus quincentennial explores the common threads in fourteen pre-Columbian cultures, from the Olmec, Maya and Aztec of Mexico and Guatemala through the Chavin culture (900-200 B.C.) of the Andes to the Moche, Chimu and the Inca empire, accompanied by essays from 26 scholars examining sacred geographies, myths and ancient beliefs as they are transmitted through visual arts and architecture.