Inca ritual destruction of Pambocancha
Topiltz...@webtv.net
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1199007.htm]
Incans smash and burn before leaving
Heather Catchpole
ABC Science Online
Tuesday, 21 September 2004
Incan pilgrims smashed and burned their own temple, and a tower
containing a golden statue of a king, rather than letting them fall into
Spanish hands, says an Australian archaeologist.
Ian Farrington from Canberra's Australian National University is
excavating the temple site in Peru with Professor Julinho Zapata from
the National University de San Antonio Abad del Cusco.
The site, called Pambokancha, is 30 kilometres from the Incan capital of
Cusco.
The site had religious significance, and local villagers still use the
hill behind it to celebrate the festival of Santa Barbara on 4 December,
the same date used from Incan times.
Farrington told ABC Science Online from Peru that the site was unusual
because it suffered damage only at the hands of the Incas. Nearby
villagers had taken stones from some of the buildings, but the site was
never looted.
"[The Incas] literally closed the placed down," said Farrington. "It's
the find of a century."
Incas systematically smashed pottery and burnt offerings as part of
closing ceremonies held before they left the area ahead of the
Spaniards' arrival.
Archaeologists had found other sites that had closing ceremonies. But
Farrington said this was the most extensive, with 70 to 80 buildings
containing evidence of closing ceremonies.
The Incas took away items from the site before leaving the area,
including some bodies from tombs, Farrington said.
Whales up a mountain?
The archaeologists found pottery from all over the empire in a state of
"remarkable preservation", said Farrington. The pottery was from as far
north as Ecuador and as far south as Argentina. They also found lapis
lazuli, gold and silver.
The archaeologists also found carbonised organic remains, including
whalebone and sharks' teeth, indicating they had been cooked.
He said it was strange to find the remains of Pacific marine animals at
the site, which is high in the Andes mountains.
"The Incas certainly didn't hunt [the whales]. They would have been
stranded on the beach and salted and offered to the king."
The distribution and range of the objects indicated the place was a site
of pilgrimage, Farrnington said, and may have been the site of a royal
palace. Farrington said the architecture at the site included a 12-metre
tower that documents said once housed a golden statue of the king.
"We suspect this statue was part of what the Incans took away to Cusco,"
said Farrington. "The treasure was eventually handed to the Spaniards."
Farrington said the architecture broke all the patterns they knew of.
"[There were] curved walls, and buildings built in step-fret style, with
triangular shapes set at right angles," he said, adding that the unusual
buildings were a sign of power and authority.
But he said they had yet to find ordinary houses.
"We'd like to find some domestic remains here; it seems strange there
aren't any."
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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