neal by. Frank Meddens, Katie Willis, (er) Ham item ela MNICenel ecu sie lie]CONTENTS Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Glossary Bibliography Index Staging Sound: Acoustic Reflections on Inca Music, Architecture and Performance Spaces Henry Stobart Sacred Mountains and Rituals in the Andes Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez and Ricardo Valderrama Fernéndez ‘The Incas in the Territory of the Chankas: Usnukung Platforms and their Antecedents Gitilo Vivanco Pomacanchari ‘Altats and Altitude: The Ushnu and the Puna during the Late Horizon Gabriel Ramen Jotiré Lightning (apa) and its Manifestations: Huacas and Ushaus John E. Staller ‘Astronomical Observations on Inca Ushnus in the Southern Andes Ricardo Moyano ‘The Cenire of the World and the Cusco Ushnu Complexes lao S. Farrington CChorek iraw and its Ceremonial Platform called ‘Ushnu’ orice Lecog and Thibault Saintenoy 133 47 157 165 7 187 197 209 ‘The Ushnu, the Centre ofthe Inca World: An Overview from the Highlands of Piura, Northern Peru 221 César Astuhuamén Tambo Colorado: An Ushnu and More Jean-Pierre Protzen The Ushnus of Condesuyos Mariusz Zidtkowski ‘An 1800-year Ice Core History of Climate and Environment in the Andes of Souther Peru and its Relationship with Mighland/Lowland Cultural Oscillations Lonnie G. Thompson and Mary E. Davis Afterword: Power and Propitiation in the Andes Tristan Platt 233 245 261 269 277 279 305,Chapter 14 Cirilo Vivanco Pomacanchari Introduction’ In the Late Horizon Period, during the fiteenth century and the first decades of the sixteenth century, the Incas established sites on the highest mountain peaks (cer0s) of the Andes (Ceruti 2003; Reinhard 2005), conferring them with sacred meaning as part oftheir religious ideo ogy. They incorporated the vast territory of the Chankas, in the present-day Peruvian region of Ayacucho within their expanding empire, and appropriated and co-opted local religious knowledge and rituals, including the higher ‘mountains in an inca cosmology. These deified mountains included the most imposing peaks arasara, Razuwillka, Qarwarazul and others that were revered huacas or wakakuna.*The Chankas had a tradition that included the placement o structures on mountaintops and the modiica- tion of mountain summits to incorporate these parts of the landscape as focal points of sacred space. The Inca similarly but fixed truncated platforms with rectangular shapes of cone or more levels and the Ayacucho data suggest that they merged these two traditions. In this region of Ayacucho, the eatlier Late Intermediate Pétiod Chanka religious beliefs and mountain worship anticipated the ceremonial customs of the Incas. Some ‘ofthese beliefs and practices can be traced to the Warpa culture of the Farly Intermediate Period (Leoni 2005) and the Wari culture of the Middle Horizon Period (Anders 1986), The worship of mountain peaks (urqukuna) was widespread during Chanka times, when settlements were built 09 hilltops and mountain spurs. They built circular platforms on mountain summits and as an apparent alterna- tive to this were also known to truncate mountain peaks, ‘outing the resulting flat space by a stone ker line. From these sites the surrounding sacralised landscape and the majestic visible mountain deities and protectors could be observed The Incas in the Territory of the Chankas: Usnukuna Platforms and their Antecedents ‘The truncated platforms, from the Late Intermediate Petiod circular ones and likewise the flattened moun taintops, as well as the Late Horizon dated rectangular platforms, were all incorporated inthe indigenous religious systems ceremonial activities. They present evidence of an architectural pattern and site planning that can be considered within a public-eligious category of sacred space that was reserved for ritual use. Thus the typology and developmental sequence of these sacred space categories contribute to explaining the emerging ritual categories and patterns in the Ayacucho region, Current knowledge of religious and ceremonial Inca architecture in Ayacucho is based mainly on evidence {rom colonial chronicles and more recent archaeological investigations (Vivanco Pomacanchari 2001, 2004, 2005; ‘Meddens et al. 2008; Branch et a, this volume). Recent research in Ayacucho provides evidence forthe presence of "ushous in locations other than settlements such as hilltops, ‘idges and plains, where they contributed to “humanise’ the surrounding landscape in association with other cultural elements (Pérez Caldersn 2004; Vivanco Fomacanchari 2004; Meddens etal. 2008, 2010; Cavero Palomina 2010; Branch etal, this volume; Meddens, this volume). These different sources and studies raise key issues and questions about Inca ushnu platforms in relation to their distribution across a range of landscapes and ecological zones, the ritual practices that were performed on and around them, and theie relation to sacred mountains and places (huacas) and their associated cultural elements, as wel as their local antecedents. Focusing on the Ayacucho region, this chapter considers the Chanka treatment of sacred space and how this was appropriated by the Incas and may have been retaken by the native populace follow- ing the Spanish conquest. The chapter is based on existing literature and data as well as archaeological evidence from my original research, 157CIRILO VIVANCO POMACANCHARI The region of Ayacucho ‘The physical and social space of the region of Ayacucho presents a diversity of geographical units: plateau areas (pampas) such as Caleras, Killkatapampa and ‘Wanakupampa in the south; eastern Andean slopes in the north; and steep highlands with narrow intervening valleys in the centre, where there are also important river basins such as those of the Pampas, Mantaro and Apurimac, and their respective tributaries. This geographical diversity determines the existence of contrasting ecological zones ‘puna quichwa, suri, yunga, ceja de selva and selva. Local peoples use additional names to define these ecological zones (eg. sallga, quichwa, chawpi, yunka/uku) and to identity those who live there (e.g sallga runakuna, quichwa runakuna, flagta/chakra/purum runakuna, yunka/uky runakuna, chunchu eunakuna) (see Ferreira, this volume; Ramen Joc, this volume) A large part of Ayacucho's territory corresponds tothe high altitude ecological zone known as puna, where popu lation is sparse and scattered throughout the landscape, and the main economic activity is herding, Ayacucho's puna areas are drier and moze ard inthe western Andean slopes than in the eastern slopes, where they are more humid ‘and have permanent clouds due tothe effects ofthe trade ‘winds. As a result ofthis physical geography, flat areas and agricultural lands are scarce. Nevertheless, despite these adverse characteristics, ancient Andean peoples were able to extract important production from the region through theie ecological adaptation and the development of an advanced agricultural inirastructure such as terracing (pal patakuna), irrigation channel (yargakuna) and reservoirs (quchakuna), Documentary sources and ushnus Andean peoples engaged with their surrounding land- scape, establishing close relations between nature and human culture, and worshipping natural forces and ele- ments. Andean deities and sacred aspects ofthe landscape included mountain peaks, glaciers, rivers, lakes, streams, ‘aves, rocks, hills and springs among many other elements of nature; while plants and animals (e.g, coca, maize, ‘condor, llamas, pumas) and ancestor mummies {malki- kuna) were also revered, During the Late Horizon Period, the Incas merged some of these forms of religiosity and co-opted others into their imperial state beliefs and offi- cial religion. Colonial period chroniclers report how the ‘main huacas had servants, agricultural fields (chakras) and livestock herds dedicated to ‘feed’ them (Ramirez 2008). ‘The Incas also intervened, controlled and redefined local forms of religiosity of conquered peoples as a means of making them contribute to the new social order and pro- viding them with new symbolisms. These local forms of religion were systematically incorporated and drafted into the atfical Inca erced, which was based on the cult to the su (int), the moon (Kila), the creator (Viracocha) lightning, (llapa) (See Ramén Jor, this volume; Staller, this volume) and sacred places such as the Huanacauri mountain, the Coricancha temple in Cusco, the isles of the Sun and the ‘Moon in Lake Titicaca, andthe Pachacamac (Pachakamaq) pilgrimage centre on the coast ‘As noted elsewhere in this volume, ushnu platforms formed part of this cultural paradigm and were but in ‘urban centres, rural areas and remote places that spatially dominated the surrounding landscape, serving to perfor ritual ceremonies such as ‘sacrifices 1 the sun, is father, and tothe other deties (Cobo 1964 [16531: 170). ‘The Andean cult to mountain deities evidences a par ticular conceptualisaion ofthe relations between humans and nature. The mountaintop platforms found at these sites served to mediate between the world of the people and the world of ancestors, mountain deities and the Sun god ‘Zuidema 198%a [1980]; Meddens et al. 2008). ‘The Inca king or any other Andean lord (kuraka) symbol ised their powers and rights to rule over the land and people by siting on top of the ushnw platforms, serving in this role as thrones (Ramirez 2005).The platforms were notably also linked to roads (Albornoz 1989 [1581-5]: 176) and the movement of Inca armies. Some sources mention that many ofthese structures were built specifically to observe and supervise the movement of troops in the distance, and their arival to or departure from particular places or areas. For example: is said that many (soldiers] were dispatched each day, continuously, irom sunset to sunrise; the squads marched in rows, each group of five hundred with its captains, and every thousand men with their lunanchas, sergeants, and assistants, It was ordered that all ravines should have usnos from which to ‘check that they were going to war in good order (Pachacuti Yamqui 1993 [1613]: 33, 244-8) ‘The colonisers had dificuities in understanding the mul- tiple functions of these platforms, so their interpretations ‘were confusing and diverse. Later, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, travellers such as Mariano Eduardo Rivera y Ustériz (1841), Mariano Eduardo Rivera y Ustériz ‘and Johann Jakob von Tschudi (1851), and Charles Wiene: (1993 18801) among others also described these features, particularly those located in major Inca settlements that hac been re-founded and resettled such as Huéiuco Pampa, Pumpu, Vileashuamén and Tamburco. Archaeological references to ushnus in the Andes Until recently, only a few ushus located in the mi (of fo one side of squares in urban centres, tambos administrative centres had been subjected to any systematic study (Mortis and Thompson 1985; Matos Mendieta 1994THE INCAS IN THE TERRITORY OF THE CHANKAS: USNUKUNA PLATFORMS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS Table 14.1 Usinu latins in Ayacucho. Name Distict/province Period Te ‘Mesayoepata T Chungui Trea Rectangular pation Qoriwayrachina Chungui Inca Rectangular plaiorm Intiwatana 1 ‘Anco Inca Rectangular platform Inswatana 2 Chungui nea Rectangular platform Inwatana 3 Chungul Inca Rectangular platform Cchaupiqasa Chungui Inca Rectangular platform Quinoawillka Antaparco Fcafcolonial Rectangular & circular platforms actaputa Antaparco Jnca Rectangular platform Yanaqucha Quinoa Inca Rectangular plato Limagawarina Quinoa Inca Rectangular platform Condormarca Huamanguilla Inca Rectangular platform Sokapirgan Chiara Incalcolonial Rectangular & circular platforms ‘Mugupata / San Lorenzo Vischongo Chanka Circular pltiorm Anavarki Vileashuarnin Inca Rectangular platform pata vileashuamén ‘nea ‘Rectangular platiorm ‘oapamisan 1 Chuschi Ica Rectangular platform Iokapamisan 2 Chuschi Inca Rectangular platform ‘Condoray 1 ‘Chusch Inca Rectangular platform ‘Condoray 2 Chuscht Inca Rectangular platform Altaniyoc Chasehi Inca Rectangular plat sokaragay Chiara Inca Rectangular platform Socapirca Waminan Chiara Inca Rectangular plaiorm ‘Usnupatapampa Chiara Inca Rectangular platiorm sbkapirgapata Chiara Inca Rectangular platiorm use Vileashuamén Inca Rectangular platform | “Seaupiowqu Huancapi Charika Truncated summit esau Huancapi Chanka Truncated summit Urqupata Canaria Chanka Circular platform warmichayuq Canaria Inca Rectangular platorm ‘Sesayucpata 2 Huancaryalla Jnca Rectangular platiorm setiwatana 4 Soesamarea Inca Rectangular platform Qatunmesapata ucara Inca Rectangular platform “Cchuyresapata ‘Aucara Inca Rectangular pltiorm Jevinatana 5 ucanas ‘ca Rectangular platform sexiwatana 6 Lucanas Inca Rectangular platform ‘Usqunia t Lucanas Inca Rectangular platform Usqunta 2 ucanas Inca Rectangular platform Qatungoriwayrachina ‘carmen Salcedo, Inca Rectangular platform Uchuyquriwayrachina Puquio Inca Rectangular plato : leiwatana 7 Huamanquiguia Inca Rectangular platform secwatana 8 Sacsamarea lca Rectangular platfoom Mesapata t Puquio Inca Rectangular platoon Mesapata 2 Puguio Inca Rectangular platform Wamanpirga 1 Chipao Inca Rectangular platorm Wamanpirga 2 Covacora Inca Rectangular platorm Uakata 1 Lucanas Inca Rectangular plat Lakata2 Lucanas Inca Rectangular platform Uakata 3 Lucanas inca Rectangular platform Uakata 4 Lucanas Inca Rectangular platform Uakata 5 Lucanas Inca Rectangular platform Wamanillo Sacsamarca Inca Rectangular platform Uayei lucanas Inca Rectangular platform Vileashuarin vileash yarn Inca Rectangular platform pes 159symbolise the imperial ideology of the Incas and their official religion as fixed architectural elements. They played an important role in the expansion ofthe Inca state and in the control ofits subjects through the official religion. They responded to an architectonic pattern that was common across the Inca Empire. According to Brian Bauer and Charles Stanish ‘The Inca press established temples ane! major huacas dedicated tothe state religion across the Andes... The ‘most powerful imperial shrines were also the final destination of pilgrimages. As important religious enttes with farsreaching. political and economic implications, the Inca state invested heavily in these shrines. They built splendid atarsand temples there to perfor complex public rituals, which involved costly offerings and very large numbers of participants. Sometimes, these offerings included human sacrifices (Bauer and Stanish 2003: 21-2) ‘Through the long and complex historical formation of the ancient Andean world, the forces of nature were sacral- ised, and a whole series of sacred places and elements of| the landscape were identified and worshipped. Widespread beliefs prevailed where these features were seen to have supernatural powers and influence over the wellbeing of the population and contributed to anthropomorphising the sscred landscape. Previous studies of ushnus in Ayacucho The ushnu of Vileashuamén is the most_ monumental xample of this type of structure in the Department of Ssecucho and has been studied by Enrique Gonzilez ©, jorge Cosmopolis and Jorge Levano (1996) and hn Hyslop (1990) among others. In one of the earliest sxchaeological studies of ceremonial Inca architecture s the Ayacucho region, published in 1945/46 by Pablo Genera and other students of Julio C, Tllo (Carrera et al 7945/6), the authors describe several ushnu platforms located in the basin of the river Pampas, in places such 2 Qinwamayu, Hyancapi-Fajardo, Sondondo in Aucara, abana, and Andamarca-Lucanas. They note: In the plain of Huarmichayoc, up in the puna, we spotted a kind of mound with a coral. Itturned out to 160 est description of an isolated ushnw platform, situated in 2 high altitude location close to an old Inca road. Some years later, in the 1950s, the archaeologist Carlos Guzman Ladrén de Guevara reported the existence of another sii- larly isolated Inca ushmu platform in the upper teaches of the village of Quinoa: These ruins are locally known with different names, such as Limaccahuarina, Incaraccay and Incanaptianan. They include a building in the shape of truncated pyramid, and with a rectangular base and two or three platforms on top. The east side has a ind of staircase that leads tothe top ofthe building, which is very badly preserved. The stones that once ‘were part of its walls are now scattered around, as a result of the destructive power of men and time (Guzman Ladrén de Guevara 1959: 246), ‘These pioneering archaeological studies conducted in Ayacucho, the territory of the Chankas, can now clearly be seen to refer to Inca ushnus, even ifthey were not orginally identified as such, They confirm their presence inthe region and their relation to the road system. The construction of these features formed part ofthe Inca strategic occupation of the Chanka territory, contributing to guaranteeing com- munications between different areas, and their security, control and supply; part ofthe expansion and efficiency of the regional imperial administation. Data have been collected on a total of 53 platforms and truncated mountaintop sites across the Department of Ayacucho, Of these 48 (90.6%) are of Late Horizon date or Inca cultural aflation. Of the remainder, four (or 7.5%) are ‘of Late Intermediate Period date and two (3.8%) appear tobe colonial. Two seem to have both Late Horizon Inca as well as colonial period components (Fig. 14.1 and Table 14.1). The Inca ones all have near square to rectangular plan forms in outline and most are multitiered and are associ- ated with stairs. The Late Intermediate Period Chanka group comprises circular platforms (wo) and truncated mountain summits (ovo). The Chanka group is associated with Chanka- related cultural material, in particular Argalle style pottery. ‘This is not only of note because ofthe dating evidence this provides, butalso because it constitutes a material diference from the Late Horizon Inca sits that have a death of cultural material and appear to have been kept deliberately clean of| artefactual evidence. The two circular platform sites have platforms measuring approximately 15 m in diameter, con- structed of smallish (10-15 cm) sorted unmodified stones. Both havea single tier just over I m in height. The truncated mount levelle the col damag badly built p haphas there i Is some the oth that we a.comTHE INCAS IN THE TERRITORY OF THE CHANKAS: Dea Posen WS 184-188 rtf spray | Figure 14.1 Map of ushinu locations in Ayacucho, ‘mountain summits comprise flat spaces in excess of 30 m acr0ss with a curb line of stones outlining and defining the levelled area. Both ofthe two attributed to the Inca as wel as the colonial periods have remains of rectangular significantly damaged Inca platiorms surmounted by large round to oval badly constructed rubble or feldstone (in @ range of sizes) built platforms. Both of the postinca components are of haphazard appearance. Other than te platforms themselves, thereisno associated ancient cultural material although there issome evidence of curent ritual use with these and many of the other platforms comprising dried flowers, broken bottles that would have contained aguardiente and in one example «a complete sheep carcass contained in a stone caim USNUKUNA PLATFORMS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS Usnukuna platforms in Ayacucho Inthe case of the Inca ushnus, their construction techno- logy presents three basic types of stonework techniques: rustic, cellular and sedimentary. The rustic style consisis of tuneut stones placed one upon another rather haphazardly, with the spaces between the stones filled with Soil and small pebbles. The stones were taken from nearby places for quarries and vary in types and sizes — from very large to rather small Tis kindof stonework was commonly used in the foundations othe platforms and to level their bases. The cellular style consists of finely carved! and polished stones ‘with polygonal shapes that were carefully placed as organic 161