INCA RUINS IN PERU

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 29 January 1936, Page 2

INCA RUINS IN PERU

SECRETS OF THE PAST. Valuable archaeological data on the Inca civilisation which flourished in Peru from approximately 1100 A.D. to 1530, the date of the Spanish conquest by Pizzaro, is now being prepared for the archives of the school of American research of the Archaeological Institute of America by students of the University of Southern California and the University of New Mexico as the result of a joint expedition of the two universities into South America last summer (says the "Christian Science Monitor”). Dr. Edgar L. Hewett,' professor’ of achaeology and anthropology at the University of Southern California and director of the research institute, headed the party composed of eight students from each university, Mrs Hewett, and Professor Verle Annia of the College of architecture. STUDIED VARIOUS RUINS

With its headquarters in Cuzco, Peru, the “archaeological capital” of South America, the expedition studied the Inca ruins of Pachacamac, Anco*, Machu Picchu, and Saesahnaman, and crossed the Andes and Lake Titicaca to visit the pra-Inca ruin of Tiahuan-aco near La Paz, Bolivia, ; • • Huge and magnificent buildings characterised the Inca ruins, according to Marion Hollenbach, assistant in archaeology at the University of Southern California, one of the explorers. “Zig-zag fortress walls surround each ruin,” she reported. “Made of enormous boulders, some weighing 150 tons, these walls present an interesting problem for one who has been unable to solve how the Incas raised them in place, lacking moder ntools. FIT LIKE A GLOVE “Despite their weight and lack of mortar, the rocks are fitted so perfectly that not even a knife-blade can be thrust into the cracks between them. The Spanish conquerors called the fortress of Saesahnaman ‘the ninth wonder of tlie world.’ . ' ’ ~ “The Incas at the height of their cilivisation were not a warlike people. The cities were heavily fortified to keep off constant invasions by neighbouring tribes.

“Usually situated on the side of a high mountain, the cities carried- on within the walls and received ;their water by means of elaborate aqueduct systems. Some of these canals have been discovered and are still in good condition. HAD MOBILE GOVERNMENT

“The walled towns were .the administrative centres of the region in which thev were located. The Incas had developed a well-knit administrative system over their empire, and at times whole colonies were transplanted from one location to another. “The rise of the Incas began around 900 A.D. when they began conquering and subjugating-the people around them and wove them into a * vast organised political and social state. All land vas held by the state and apportioned out to the people according to a complex system of land laws. The civilisation was primarily an agrarian one, although they did extensive work in gold and silver designing. “Religious rites of the Incas centred around the worship of Viracocha, the Sun-God,” Miss Hollenbach continued.

TRAVELLED LIKE MOLES “At the site of Saesahnaman. subterranean passages are supposed to have connected nearly all buildings, and one long tunnel leads to the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco.

“Although the Incas attained a high state of civilisation, they are believed to have had no wiytten language, and the story of the past lias had to be reconstructed by the study of their ruins and from accounts of the Spanish conquerors,” she declared.

While in Peru, the students had an opportunity to visit and talk with the direct descendants of the Incas. After the Spanish conquest, the Inca civilisation declined and the natives to-day follow agricultural pursuits, living in small adobe huts. They speak the same language, and the strongest phases of the culture they have preserved are the haunting and melancholy folk-songs. Near the village of San Jeronimo, the natives stopped their wheat threshing to sing for the visitors.