Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo

Antiquity, June, 1994 by Ann Kendall

The word 'Inca' is a publisher's must on the cover of any book about South America's past, and it is a bonus to find a work true to its title, dealing with exactly what it sets out to do.

The focus on the Inca town of Ollantaytambo, which is rich in material for a study of architecture and construction, allows Protzen, who has investigated Inca architecture over the last decade, to show the variety and richness of the forms, materials and technology over more than one phase of the Inca style. He is able to provide physical evidence for two main periods of building. He identifies the first, following in the tradition of his mentor, John H. Rowe, in the conventional ethnohistorian's view, with the reign of Pachacuti Inca dated as AD 1438-71 (Rowe 1944). This he identifies with the main architectural phase of the town's grid system of enclosures. The second is in the much better documented reign of the Manqo Inka, who rebelled in 1536 against the imposition of Spanish rule. Manqo Inka was in Ollantaytambo for only a year while he attempted to turn it into his new capital, holding the town briefly against the Spaniards and then taking his retinue with him into the wilds of Vilcabamba and founding the Neo-Inca state which lasted until 1572.

A rigorous investigation of how the Incas worked their materials and carried out their major masonry works is long overdue. Everyone interested in the organization of Inca architecture and its execution will be delighted that here is a book that describes evidence on that subject from quarry to site and uses replicative experiments to gain an understanding of the technology employed.

There is a full mntroduction in chapter 1 to the context of Inca building works, and a general description of the site and its area. Since there is no good general guide to Ollantaytambo this is acceptable, even if the section reads a bit like a guide-book. This is accompanied by wide-ranging observations across a spectrum of disciplines to provide more background for the general reader, with frequent quotes and references to Rowe, who encouraged Protzen to develop his investigations into Inca architecture, applying his architectural training from 1982. The writing style is easier than the more conventionally dry archaeologist's approach, and following his most useful descriptions, he does not lose sight of the strictures of what comprises real evidence. Where such evidence is not available, or cannot be followed up without further investigation, he overcomes this deftly with 'I am led to this view . . .'.

The meat of the book begins in chapter 2 with useful descriptive data and architectural plans, supported with pertinent photographs. Having described the main sectors of Ollantaytambo he tackles the surrounding storehouses, of which there are 19. These he places in the two standard types, which he calls 'rectangular chambers' (compartmented) and 'rectangular'. His discussion of their functional details is useful though not extensive. However, he adds to this a valuable experimental dimension in which he tests certain hypotheses concerned with their ventilation and humidity characteristics. He also calculates the local storage capacity at 2640 cu. m, providing the detailed data in an appendix.

In chapter 6 he moves on to the question of construction, starting with field evidence from the three Kachiqhata quarries. He tackles sources, ramps and working areas with obvious enthusiasm, and his findings are well illustrated with Emily Stussi's drawings. He finds the Inca built 8.8 km of an elaborate network of roads, or ramps, easily traced because of the numerous abandoned blocks, and estimates about 40,000 cu. m of dirt and rocks had to be moved to build it, demanding considerable planning.

He goes on to discuss the provision of quarrymen's quarters, providing details of some of the Inca infrastructure of the area, including the site of Choqetaqarpu, which he rightly assesses as being too prestigious for this purpose.

In chapter 7, on materials, he moves from the main area in situ evidence of rock types to arcillaceous materials, while for the ill-preserved organic materials he makes good use of ethnohistory, weaving descriptive passages from such Spanish colonial sources as Juan de Betanzos, Bernabe Cobo, Cieza de Leon and Garcilaso de la Vega.

When he comes to assess other habitation sites in the quarry area, which might have had a bearing on providing quarters for quarrymen, he includes those with non-Inca and pre-Inca remains. He sensibly does not pretend to be an archaeologist in attempting to interpret architectural and pottery styles outside his own more limited brief within the Inca period. However, I believe he might have found it rewarding to consult archaeologists at the Institute of Culture (INC) who have made an archaeological registration of the area. Similarly, he might have consulted more extensively with excavators of Inca sites as to some of the aspects few which he provided limited descriptions in chapter 13, such as: floors of buildings, foundations of structures and the make-up of these and whether any imprints for scaffolding might have been observed in excavations.