INCA

INCA Empire/ Inka Empire/ Incan Empire

• largest empire in south America in the pre Columbian era
ETYMOLOGY
• Inca means “ruler or lord”
• Inca referred to their empire as tawantinsuyu
• tawa “four”, ntin “suffix naming a group.
Suyu “regions or provinces”

Antisuyu: An exotic and forbidding

landscape
Contisuyu: The Road to the sea
Chinchaysuyu: Innovative
Engineering and Valuable resources
Collasuyu: High Planes ang Herds
• Capital: Cusco/ Cuzco
• Official Language: Quechua
• Common Language: Aymara, Puquina,
Jaqi, Muchik
• Religion: Inca Religion
• Government: Divine, Absolute Monarchy
HISTORY
• MANCO CAPAC (Manco Cápac, Manco
Inca, Ayar Manco)
• first governor and founder of the Inca
civilization in Cusco
• son of Inti (sun god) and Mama Quilla
(goddess of moon)
• brother of Mama Occlo (daughter of the
moon)
• sent by the sun to find a suitable place
• carry a special golden rod (tapac-yauri)
at all times
AGE AND DEFINING GENDER
• ‘WAWA’ – term for new born. Families
did not invest very much into their child
• 3years old - a "coming of age" ceremony
occurred, called the rutuchikuy. Child had
entered the stage of "ignorance".
• 17 years old – “folly stage” the celebration of
maturity signified the child's sexual potency.
• WARACHIKUY- celebration of maturity for boys
• QIKUCHIKUY – celebration of maturity for girls.
• Adults were allowed to have sex without
being a parent.
• Ages of 20 and 30- people were considered
young adults. Young adults only reached full
maturity and independence once they had
married.
MARRIAGE
• the age of marriage differed for men and
women:
• Men typically married at the age of 20.
• Men with highly ranked in society could have
multiple wives
• lower in the ranks could only take a single
wife.
• Women usually got married at the age of 16.
THERE WAS NO COURTSHIP IN THE INCA EMPIRE.
MARRIAGES WERE ARRANGED
DEITIES
The Incas were polytheists who worshipped
many gods. These included:

Viracocha (also Pachacamac) – Created all

living things
Apu Illapu – Rain God, prayed to when
they need rain
Ayar Cachi – Hot-tempered God,
causes earthquakes
Illapa – Goddess of lightning and thunder (also
Yakumama water goddess)
Inti – sun god and patron deity of the holy
city of Cusco (home of the sun)
Kuychi – Rainbow God, connected with
fertility
Mama Killa – Wife of Inti, called Moon
Mother
 Mama Occlo– Wisdom to civilize the
people, taught women to weave cloth and
build houses
Pachamama – The Goddess of earth and
wife of Viracocha
Quchamama – Goddess of the sea
 Sachamama – Means Mother Tree,
goddess in the shape of a snake with two
heads
Yakumama – Means mother Water.
Represented as a snake.
When she came to earth
she transformed into a
great river (also Illapa).
Science,
Mathematics
and Technology
Sun Temples
Inca grouped the stars into
constellations
Stars that are linked in a connect the-dots
manner
Pleiades
Huacas
Shaman
The dark spots or blotches on the
milky way
Animal constellations
Lunisolar Calendar
365 day solar
calendar
328 day lunar
calendar
• Capac Raymi • Anucaycusqui (June)
(December) • Chaguahuarquis
• Camay Quilla (July)
(January) • Yapaquis (August)
• Jatunpucuy • Coyarraimi
(February) (September)
• Pachapucuy (March) • Humarraimi (October)
• Arihuaquis (April) • Ayamarca
• Jatuncusqui (May) (November)
Quipu
Quipu
• collection of cord
with knots in them.
• consisted of colored
spun and plied
thread or string from
llama or alphaca
hair.
• or made of cotton
cords
Quipu was used for:
• tax obligations
• census records
• calendrical
informaton
• millitary
organization
example.
The Mita System
Mita System (turn system)
• Mita system was one of the best invention of Inca
government.
• Enormous construction of highways and structures
were possible because of their Mita system.
• Once a person turned into fifteen, it became
obligatory to participate in the Mita.
• In this system all the people worked for
government in exchange the government would
provide food, clothing and medication.
 They travel their land by walking or
riding on llamas, they build more than
30,000 km of roadways.
CHASQUIS
Messenger of Inca Empire
What they do: Should be:
• Travel 320km a
day • 18-25 years old
• Deliver message, • Run very fast
gifts and foods • Lungs are good
• Legs are strong
• Good swimmer
• Able to read and translate
quipus
PATUTU

QUIPUS

TRUNCHEON & AXE

HUARANCA
They are allowed to chew:

COCA LEAVES

SACRED LEAF
INCAS ARE EXPERTS OF FIBER:
As greatest weapon
• Sling
• Ships
• Armor
• Canyon
• Bridges
INVENTED:

AQUEDUCTS

TERRACES FARMING
 PANPIPE

DRUM
 TEXTILES

FREEZE-DRY

PANPIPE
 MACHU PICCHU
“LOST CITY OF THE INCAS”
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui
9TH RULER OF INCA

200 BUILDINGS
1450-1460 BUILT
7,970 FT MOUNTAIN RIDGE
INTI WATANA HITCHING POST OF THE SUN
• one of the
strangest and
most enigmatic
structures.

• served as some
kind of sundial or
calendar
TEMPLE OF THE SUN

• Only priests and higher

nobles were permitted to
enter, with no
commoners allowed
inside

• Natural outcrop of rock

inside the Torreón may
have served as a ritual
alter
 TEMPLE OF THE CONDOR
• Its wings are formed
by two diagonal
outcrops of rock
rising up above the
temple entrance,
with the condor’s
head and beak
carved into a smooth,
flat rock on the
ground.
 TEMPLE OF THREE WINDOWS
3 windows represent each part
of the world:

The underground (Uku-Pacha)

the heaven (Hanan-Pacha) and
the present or the actual time
(Kay-Pacha).

These windows also represent

the rise of the sun, an important
event in the everyday life of
the Inca population.
THE MAIN TEMPLE

• one of the main

public temples at
Machu Picchu,
where large
ceremonies would
have taken place
THE GUARD HOUSE

• the Caretaker’s
Hut

• building for
security and
defense
 “temple of the sun” or torreon
• has an elliptical design similar to a sun
temple found at the Inca capital of Cuzco
• located near where the Inca emperor is
believed to have resided at Machu
Picchu
• a rock inside the temple could have
served as an altar
 intihuatana
• Intiwatana (Intihuatana is the more commonly used
Spanish reading)
• translates from the native Quechua language as “place
to tie up the sun”
• with inti being the word for sun, wata being the verb
root for “to tie” or “to hitch”, and –na a suffix indicating
tools or places
• the four sides of the Intihuatana represent the 4 cardinal
points (north, south, east, and west)
• its primary function was most certainly astronomical
• Cervesur
 “royal mausoleum”
made to celebrate the
cermony of the
Mother Earth
(Pachamama)
 ashlar
• stones that were used to build more than 200 buildings at
Machu Picchu
• cut and molded to fit together perfectly, without the use
of mortar (cement)
• placed together like a jigsaw puzzle
• the lack of mortar allows rocks to move independently
during an earthquake
• the rocks were irregularly shaped
• the terraces around Machu Picchu were also built with
ashlar stone and provide an efficient drainage system
 MEDICINE
Coca leaves

• any of the four cultivated plants in the family

Erythroxylaceae, native to western South
America.
• even in areas where its cultivation is unlawful
• known throughout the world for its
psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine
• native people use it as a stimulant
 Wild tobacco

• Scientific name: Nicotiana rustica

• Aztec tobacco or strong tobacco
• It is a very potent variety of tobacco
 chicha
• Chicha morada (Peruvian purple corn)
is believed to reduce
blood pressure
• Chicha de jora is also being
researched as an
anti-inflammatory
agent on the prostate
 Maize beer
• Corn beer is a beer style made
from corn (maize)
 balsam
• Scientific name: Impatiens
• one of the most popular annual flowers,
due to their brightly color blooms and
their ability to grow in shady areas
• referring to the sudden bursting of the
ripe seed pods when touched
 saponins
• glycosides with a distinctive foaming
characteristic
• found in many plants, but get their
name from the
soapwort plant (Saponaria)
• the root of which was used historically
as a soap
 Surgery

Trepanation
-operation on the brain
Since AD 1000
Oldest skull has no healing bone,
operation is fatal
1400’s
- Perfected
- 90% Survival Rate
- Low Infection Level

Method : Scrape the Skull

Cranial Anatomy
Undergone more than Once

Individual has operation 7 times

 Who:
Adult men to treat during combat
Cure epilepsy / Chronic Disease
Natural Antiseptics Natural Anesthetics
Balsam Saponin Maize Beer
 Types of Doctor
• Watukk – Diagnose and examine patient’s life
• Paqo – Treatment of the soul
• Hanpeq - Cure patients using herbs and mineral
• Sancoyoc (Surgeon Priest) - broken limbs, pull
out teeth
• Journey on becoming a Doctor
*Passed from father to son
*Inca School of Medicine of Cuzco

• Skilled Surgeon:
Travel with the army
Treated noble from Large cities
 Agriculture
Cleverness and resourcefulness of Incas

Snow-capped
high peaks
of Andes

Agricultural and Irrigation System

 Terraces Farming
Procedures:

1. Stone
2. Step of
retaining
terraces :
walls
medium
sized
gravel
topped
3. Layer of with
Topsoil above mixture
mixture of of fine
gravel and sand.
sand.
Moray terraces

3,500 meters above sea level

Engineering and agriculture

combined perfectly

Manipulate temperature
Bottom:
Warmer, no air flow, stone terraces radiates heat

Each terraces represents different ecological zones

Advantages:
1. Healthier and diverse diet
2. Mitigate against the impact
of hunger, droughts, flood,
pest and frost
 Aqueducts
• used to irrigate their terraces and for bringing
fresh drinking water (even for baths)
• carved into whole rocks
• provide water during drought
Traditional tools used by Inca farmers:
Chaki taklla
• foot plough made up of a wooden pole with a sharp
point, made from stone
• the farmer used his foot to sink a chaki taklla into the
soil to produce a groove aiding plowing, sowing and
building
Rawk’ana
• a hoe used to harvest tubers, to remove weeds and to
plant small seeds
Waqtana
• a heavy club like tool used to break up the soil
THANK YOU!