Visiting Pisac

Pisac is most known for its Incan ruins and large market.  Our first stop of the day was at the ruins.

When the Inca Empire conquered the Sacred Valley, they constructed a large complex on a mountain ridge overlooking the site of the current town.  The consensus is that it was constructed by the Inca emperor Pachacuti no earlier than 1440.  Most scholars agree that he built it as a multi-purpose residence, citadel, observatory, and religious site to support his family and descendants, provide a secluded royal retreat located well away from Cusco where he and the nobility could relax between military campaigns, undertake ritual and religious ceremonies, serve as a refuge in times of danger, and commemorate his victories over the Cuyos.  Despite its size and proximity to Cusco, the Inca complex is not mentioned by any of the Spanish chroniclers.

Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish conquerors destroyed Pisac in the early 1530s.

We had a fascinating 90-minute guided walk around the complex.  

The most striking feature of the Pisac ruins are the terraces used for growing crops.  They are over 1000 years old.  The Incas didn’t cut into the mountains because they are made of rock.  Instead, they built the terraces on top of the mountain using rocks found locally.  The walls are 4 metres high, and the terraces formed are up to 8 metres across.  They filled them with pebbles, small rocks, and sand from the river bed and topped them with rich alluvial soil.  This meant that, when it rained, the surplus water drained through the sand and fed back into the river.  The terraces never got waterlogged or flooded.  It was the perfect irrigation system. 

The Incas understood cultivation.  They grew corn on the lower terraces, quinoa on the mid terraces, and potatoes on the high terraces because they had worked out that this would give them optimum yields and the best quality crops.  They introduced crop rotation, leaving terraces fallow in alternate years to allow the soil to rejuvenate.  In these years, they allowed their llamas and alpacas onto these terraces to fertilise them.  They could block off and open the ends of each terrace as needed according to where they wanted the animals to roam.  Humans could go from one terrace to another via a series of floating staircases, but animals couldn’t navigate these.

The Incas were so clever when it came to cultivation methods!  The terraces they created still exist today in original condition.  The Peruvian government doesn't allow these terraces within the archaeological parks to be used now, but the same methods of construction are still used elsewhere today.

When it comes to how the Incas lived at Pisac, 40 to 60 families would live in one village.  They lived very simply, one family per room.  The heat from the cooking would heat the home.  They kept their animals inside with them.  In each village, there was a communal work and storage area.

For drinking water, the Incas built channels to direct spring water from the higher levels to the lower levels.  They then installed pipes to get the water to the villages. 

When a couple married, they were given between one and three terraces (up to 6000 square metres) to farm themselves.  For every child a couple had, they were given another 3000 square metres of land, so more children meant more wealth. 

The Incas didn't have any formal religion as we understand it.  They worshipped the sun, the sea, the rivers, and the land.  They were very much part of the nature that was all around them.  That's what they revered.  They believed that the river that runs through the bottom of the Sacred Valley was part of the Milky Way.  They observed the Milky Way above the valley and the river below as a reflection of each other.

When an individual died, they were interred in a tomb carved into the mountain.  They were buried with their most treasured possessions and bound with ropes into the foetal position so that they could ascend to the upper world and be reborn.

If a person was bad or committed criminal behaviour in this world, they were not buried in the foetal position.  Their bodies were discarded, and it was believed that their spirit would disappear.Read more