Inca Architecture Synthesis Essay

It is often argued that Incan architecture is the most significant and outstanding pre-Columbian architecture in South America. The famous royal estate of Machu Picchu is a surviving example of the illicit and amazing Inca architecture to go along with other significant sites that include Sacsayhuaman and Ollantaytambo. The Incas also are known for developing an extensive road system that spanned most of the western length of the entire South American continent. Inca Architecture is a common topic amongst historians over the years and there have been many interpretations of how and why the Incas went about building these magnificent temples and architecture. In Jean-Pierre Protzen’s, Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo, he discusses extensively how the Inca, who did not have iron, or tools, or knowledge of the wheel, wined and transported stones and dressed and fitted them into making these remarkable structures. He talks about how he spent much of the past decade investigating the quarrying and stonecutting techniques of the Inca and the various problems that surrounded the Inca during these processes. Protzen also makes an argument that he is open to the possibility
that Pachacuti found his architectural inspiration and his stone workers in the recently conquered lands near Lake Titicaca. He then goes on to uncover the planning and design criteria that governed its layout and architecture, and compiles all that has been written about the site. It is intriguing that he mentions that “Inca architecture has often not nearly received the attention that it deserves.” Protzen does a fantastic job in clearly writing a beautifully crafted testament to the vision and planning of Inca architects and to the classic perfection of Incan stonework and the construction that went along side it. In Susan A. Niles book, Shape of Inca History: Narrative and Architecture in an Andean Empire, she also discusses Incan architecture and its significances, but does it from a perspective that is more connected to Inca everyday life. One of her many main arguments within her writings is that there actually is much history contained within the legends of the Incas. She examines the style and status in an Inca community on “the basis of constructions at a different Inca royal estate, Inca architecture, and the Incas development of their sacred landscapes.” Niles goes on to argue that it is able to provide the reader with a real sense of what an entire Inca landscape would have looked like beyond the hallmark sites that have received much attention such as Ollantaytambo and Machu Pichu. She describes them in such a way that are enriched by numerous high quality black and white photographs and the many fire architectural renditions. At times, it can be argued that Niles doesn’t do the best job in intellectually engaging the substantial body of literature outside the Andes dealing with this material. The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland, by Hugh Thomson, is another interesting insight into a historians views on Incan architecture.
Thomson launches a effective expedition to find the lost Inca city Llactapata. “What really was important was understanding what the ruin was about.” Thomson excels in his storytelling and his skills are apparent in both his recreation of the violent destruction of architecture of the Incas by the Spanish. He goes on to describe the ruins he discovers, the people he meets along the way, and the hardships and pleasures of traveling through the abandoned Inca highways. He also makes arguments and comparisons of that of the carved Inca rock to the work of Henry Moore, and equally capable of conveying levs in the Peruvian
outback. In Stella Nair’s article, “Witnessing the In-visibility of Inca architecture in Colonial Peru,” she discusses the many details of Incan architecture and her views on the topic. She starts off with many personal notes on the topic. “Indigenous architecture in the colonial period can provide a new avenue of research into the study of the Andean past, but only if we acknowledge its complexity and relationship to a broader landscape and historical processes.” This quote shows her argument that architecture is a lot more important than people think and in order for historians to keep gathering information, there needs to be more attention focused on its complexity and historical processes. It is also worth mentioning Nair’s close examination of the relationship between the artifacts and the ethnicity or culture is confusing and brief. She believes that this needs the context of a landscape on a much larger scale. Another academic journal worth observing was another Susan A. Niles piece, titled “Niched Walls in Inca Design.” In this account, she discussed the niches, a shallow recess found in a wall to display a statue or other ornament, found in the Incan architecture that is often overlooked. “The rules outlined is account for wall construction of intermediate masonry style buildings permit us to account for the construction of fieldstone masonry as well.” Niles uses the style of imagery to portray her findings and information that is a very effective way to bring in her audience to make her points. She also goes on to make arguments over how many workers who would actually work on these structures and whether or not they did it simultaneously so that they were identical to limit mistakes. In this account, historians Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair combined their efforts in putting together an academic journal called, “Who Taught the Inca Stonemasons Their Skills? A Comparison of Tiahuanco and Inca Cut-Stone Masonry.” “The use of dressed stone in architectural construction in pre-Columbian South America has a long history of development.” This quote goes along with the discussion of the argument that the Inca stonework was not an indigenous invention, but rather an offshoot of Tiahuanco masonry. It is argued that the Incas did not use their own artisans, but imported Qollasuyu stoneworks from the Lake Titicaca area. Protzen and Nair also discuss the differences between the Incan and Tihucanco stonework to help their argument, with the Incas having very various artwork that was all over the place, comparing to the Tiahuanco being more symmetrical. Furthermore, the argument that the Incas saw from the Tiahuanco is highly debatable because they made it their own and the Incas were more authentic. In another work Jean-Pierre Protzen he talks about quarrying and stonecutting in “Inca Quarrying and Stonecutting.” He starts off by making the statement that there has been much debate about Incan construction techniques. “Investigations of ancient quarry sites and of numerous cut-stone walls reveal the amazing Inca constructions were built with very simple means.” He goes on to state that many experiments show that with this process can be mined, cut, dressed, and fit with little effort and in a short amount of time. The real questions have to do with the handling and transportation of the stones, a subject that Protzen had not yet taken up, having chosen to reflect first on the questions pertaining to quarrying, cutting, and fitting the stones. It is interesting to point out that his conclusions on the topic are not meant to be definitive by any means. In Craig Morris’ and Donald E Thompson’s, “Huanuco Viejo: An Inca Administrative Center,” the historians take on a discussion of the former Inca administrative center of Huanuco Viejo, now an extensive ruin located in the North Central Highlands of Peru. There’s an elusive description of the lesser known details of the huge, fascinating site and then goes on to discuss some of the conclusions we have reached concerning the ways in which it actually functioned. The historians go on to elaborate on the population center supported through a system of exchange based on reciprocity and redistribution contrasts markedly with some of our notions of “urban” and “city”. The main arguments made are that “it didn’t rise because of important concentration of natural resources or because of a propitious position as a center of inter-regional exchange”. Thompson and Morris go on to make arguments that it had to have been a link in an elaborate network of communication, transportation, and administration so it could bind together the state’s authority structure centered in Cuzco. There arguments that it was vital to the expansion and maintenance of the most extensive political unit of the Pre-Columbian Americas shows where they’re at with views. “Monuments of the Incas” is another historical book on Inca architecture written by J. Henning and photographs by E. Ranney. The journal is also about “the remarkable architectural legacy which impresses modern tourists as much as it did the conquistadors”. Henning discusses the most famous buildings that were constructed of tightly-fitted course or polygonal blocks which were cut, ground, and polished by using only stone axes, abrasion with sand and water, skill and patience, until the surfaces of the blocks interlocked with absolute precision. Hemming’s historiographical work is very skillfull and uses many quotes from the 16th century Spanish descriptions of Inca life during and right after the conquest. He argues that the main problems is identifying the functions of many Inca buildings, but at the same time does an excellent job for visitors to Peruvian archaeological sites. This is a very relevant contribution to the understanding of the architecture of the people Hemming aptly describes as the “Romans of the Modern World”. Finally, the article “Inca Architecture from the Andes to the Adriatic: Pedro Sancho’s Description of Cuzco,” by Michael J. Schreffler is another text that discusses the topic of Inca Architecture. In this article however, it is more of a reflection of primary source written by the Spaniard Pedro Sancho in the mid-sixteenth century that provides enticing details about the beautiful and astounding architecture in the Inca Empire. “The city of Cuzco, being the primary place where the lords made their residence is so great and so beautiful and with so many buildings that it would be worthy to be seen in Spain.” This primary source is for reconstructing the appearance of the sacred center of the Inca Empire as it appeared to Pizzaro and his explorations. Schreffler even argues that it is also an important source of urbanism in the Inca Empire. Schreffler goes onto make an argument that the text is a representation of facilitated political, architectural, and urbanistic change in the sixteenth century New World. He believes that there is a shift of point of view and genre indicative of changing notions of historical objectivity in later interpretations of the primary source. He makes a case that the city’s contours are portrayed in a more mechanical way that is characteristic of the work of archaeologists and city planners. Overall, the review of the primary source is an interesting interpretation of Inca architecture.