The Last Days of the Incas (67 page)

Soon after becoming king, Pachacuti wasted no time in remaking the
world according to his unique vision, beginning with the city of Cuzco. There, he undertook a major rebuilding campaign, reorganizing the layout of the capital, tearing down old buildings, creating new boulevards, and ordering a host of palaces and temples to be built. All of these were constructed in a new style of stonework that Pachacuti preferred—later referred to as the imperial style—stones cut and fitted together so perfectly that the skill and artistry displayed would eventually become famous as one of the wonders of the New World.

Not satisfied with defeating the Chancas, however, the ambitious young king soon led his army into the nearby Yucay (Vilcanota) Valley, conquering two ethnic groups, the Cuyos and the Tambos. To celebrate these victories, Pachacuti ordered the construction of a royal estate, called Pisac, in the center of the Cuyos’ territory; he then ordered that a second royal estate to be built among the conquered Tambos, at a site called Ollantaytambo. The twin estates were unusual, however, in that they were destined to be privately owned by the conqueror himself. It was a model that would soon be copied by succeeding Inca emperors and also by a small number of high-ranking Inca elites. Theirs would be the only privately held lands within the rapidly expanding Inca Empire.

Pachacuti created his new estates with a number of specific purposes in mind, perhaps the most important of which was to support his own family lineage. Each new Inca emperor was supposed to found his own
panaca
, or descent lineage, in essence becoming the patriarch and founder of a new family line. The crops and animal herds raised on Pachacuti’s private estates were thus slated to be used to support the members of his royal
panaca.
After his death, the estates would continue to be used and maintained by his descendants.

A second purpose for building the royal estates was to commemorate Pachacuti’s recent conquests: when complete, they would serve as monuments that would reflect the new emperor’s boldness, initiative, and power. Finally, the estates were also meant to serve as secluded royal retreats—luxury resorts located well away from the capital where the emperor and a select group of relatives and elites could rest, relax, and commune with the local mountain gods.

As with the new palaces and buildings he had ordered built in Cuzco, Pachacuti was first presumably shown models of his proposed
estates in clay, complete with the projected buildings, agricultural terraces, and temples. Once Pachacuti had approved the designs, a legion of the kingdom’s finest architects, engineers, stonecutters, and masons went to work. Pachacuti, meanwhile—in his role as commander in chief—continued to expand the Incas’ realm, this time pushing northward into the Vilcabamba Valley. Wrote Father Cobo:

To commemorate his conquest of the Vilcabamba Valley, Pachacuti ordered that a third royal estate be built, this one very near the Chuquichaca bridge, on a high ridge overlooking what is now called the Urubamba River. The Incas apparently called the new site
Picchu
, meaning “peak.” Since the proposed citadel and nearby satellite communities were planned from the start to form part of a luxurious private estate, the entire complex would display some of the finest examples of Inca engineering and art.

The complex of what is now known as the ruins of Machu Picchu, in fact, was carefully planned and designed long before the first white granite block was ever cut and moved into place. The location, first of all, had to be both suitably sacred and spectacular; the site that Pachacuti selected was set high atop a ridge with an almost God-like view over the entire area and of the surrounding
apus
, or sacred peaks. It was essential that the site also contain a source of clean water—a substance sacred in itself—that could be used for drinking, bathing, and for ritual purposes.
Picchu
, in fact, possessed just such a crucial characteristic: on the large peak now known as Machu Picchu, and high above the proposed citadel, Inca engineers located a natural spring. They then designed a gravity-fed water system that would eventually carry water down from the peak to the ridgetop site where it would ultimately pass through sixteen descending ritual fountains.

Portions of the ridgetop were now carefully planed and flattened as workers created foundations of gravel, stones, and even subterranean retaining walls. Archaeologists who have excavated at Machu Picchu have reported that some 60 percent of the architectural engineering associated with the ruins actually lies beneath the ruins. Because of the heavy granite architecture and the region’s equally heavy rains, Inca engineers had to be certain that the locations chosen for building had solid foundations capable of withstanding both water and weight. Once the foundation was complete, construction finally began on the citadel itself, with workers cutting stone mainly from a quarry located on the same ridgetop, using a variety of stone and bronze tools. Only once the first stone blocks had been cut did construction begin on the buildings, palaces, and temples of Machu Picchu.

Workers and specialists from around the country now convened on the remote site, all of them supervised
by a bevy of architects and engineers. In order to equip the citadel with the latest, state-of-the-art technology, Inca astronomers worked alongside the engineers and stonemasons to fashion observatories that could accurately mark the summer and winter solstices as well as other astronomical events. Workers fulfilling their
mit’a
labor tax, meanwhile, busied themselves constructing roads to and from the royal estate, linking Machu Picchu with the capital, Cuzco, and with other newly built centers, such as Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and, eventually, Vitcos and Vilcabamba. Additional laborers were also put to work constructing large agricultural terraces in order to help provide food for the citadel’s future inhabitants as well as for ritual sacrifices. Soon, Inca labor and technology had transformed the steep, jungle-covered slopes into a staggered series of flat terraces that eventually produced fourteen acres of sacred corn.

When Machu Picchu was finally ready for use sometime in the 1450s or 1460s, the first ruler of the newly created Inca Empire, Pachacuti, no doubt arrived there on his royal litter, accompanied by royal guests, a large retinue of servants, and at least part of his harem. The citadel’s furnishings, plumbing, food, supplies, servants, and cooks had all been carefully prepared so that the emperor would be able to relax along with his guests. Then, as now, clouds wreathed the surrounding peaks, alternately exposing and obscuring them. Unlike the ruins today, however, the gabled roofs of the buildings were covered with fresh yellow
ichu
thatch while the stones of the citadel were white and freshly cut and glistened in the sun.

Similar to the recent architecture in Cuzco, much of the stonework here had been cut in the imperial style that Pachacuti preferred; some of the buildings, in fact, were constructed with boulders the size of small cars, each cut, fitted perfectly into place, and weighing up to fourteen tons.
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The water from the nearby peak of Machu Picchu, meanwhile, descended into the citadel through a stone-lined aqueduct and arrived first at Pachacuti’s living quarters, thus allowing the emperor to come into contact with only the purest water available. A stone-cut pool in Pachacuti’s dwelling allowed the emperor to bathe in complete privacy while the emperor’s residence also had the only water-flushed lavatory at Machu Picchu.

As Pachacuti bathed himself in his private bath,
the voices of his guests would have floated across the plaza outside along with the distant sounds of metalworkers tending their forges and hammering out gold and silver ornaments, utensils, and jewelry. Strings of llama trains constantly arrived, looking from a condor’s perspective like lengths of knotted
quipu
cords; the food and supplies they carried up from the jungle and down from the Andes was carefully unpacked at a station just outside the citadel. Even at this private retreat,
chaski
runners appeared periodically with messages for the emperor and other officials, who in turn sent their commands back to Cuzco and to other parts of the empire. Wherever the emperor went, in fact, his royal court followed. Thus, whenever Pachacuti was in retreat at Machu Picchu, this lofty, isolated citadel temporarily became the power center and locus of the entire Inca world.

Unlike the ruins of Machu Picchu today—which are owned by the Peruvian state and are open to the public, and where tour buses disgorge hundreds of thousands of visitors each year—Machu Picchu in the time of Pachacuti was an exclusive and private affair. The roads here—like the roads elsewhere in the empire—were open only to those individuals traveling on state business. Other than Pachacuti’s immediate family, the workers who kept the citadel functioning, and the invited elites who traveled here on canopied litters, often decorated with precious metals and iridescent bird feathers, Machu Picchu was unknown to the rest of the empire’s inhabitants. Machu Picchu, quite simply, was Pachacuti’s Camp David—a royal resort built by a man who had almost single-handedly transformed a small native kingdom into the largest empire the New World has ever known.

The citadel of Machu Picchu was thus the third and perhaps most important jewel in the crown of architectural monuments that Pachacuti had created, after Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Balmy and warm, the site was no doubt a welcome respite from the often freezing winter weather of the Inca capital and from the high Andes in general. Even after Pachacuti’s death and long after the emperor had been ritually embalmed and mummified, Pachacuti’s servants no doubt continued bringing their divine emperor to visit Machu Picchu and to visit the other estates he had carved out of the Andes, his sightless eyes seeming to gaze off into the distance as the members of his royal
panaca
continued to enjoy the fruits of their founder’s unparalleled conquests and labors.

Since Machu Picchu was Pachacuti’s private royal estate, the question
remains, however, how it was related to Manco Inca’s rebel capital of Vilcabamba. Once again, the answer lies partially within the Incas’ oral histories. According to interviews the Spaniards conducted among the Incas in the sixteenth century, Pachacuti is said to have halted his advance after conquering the Vilcabamba Valley. His son, Tupac Inca, however, apparently then extended Inca control down into the Pampaconas Valley and eventually to the area of the future town of Vilcabamba itself.

After Pachacuti’s military conquest, the Vilcabamba Valley underwent a set pattern of development that the Incas soon replicated throughout their empire. First, engineers and
quipucamayocs
(accountants) were sent in to assess and catalogue the resources of the new territory. The task of the
quipucamayocs
was to conduct a census of the local population and to enter data onto their knotted string cords about the province’s arable lands, native crops, sources of metals (copper, tin, gold, and silver), and other resources. Inca engineers then created clay models of the new area, complete with the location of native settlements, which were taken to Cuzco in order to show to the emperor. Thus informed, Pachacuti and his advisers next decided on how to reorganize the population, where Inca roads should be constructed, and where royal mines and new communities should be established.

Once the overall development plan had been approved, Inca administrators sent
mit’a
laborers to the new province, to build or improve roads into the area and to line the roads with typical Inca
tambos
and storehouses; they then stocked the latter with supplies for the government officials, workers, and for the
mitmaqcuna
colonists who would soon be permanently moved into the area.
Chaski
posts, too, were set up, so that the new province could be connected to the empire’s communication system of relay runners. If canals, bridges, agricultural terracing, or towns were needed, Inca administrators then brought in the corresponding architects, stonemasons, and engineers.

As the newly conquered province was being reorganized so that its indigenous people and resources could be smoothly exploited by the Inca elite, construction also began on the new provincial capital. In general, the Incas preferred their provincial capitals to be situated on level areas with good visibility over the surrounding region. In the upper Vilcabamba Valley, Pachacuti himself probably selected a hilltop site located at an elevation of ten thousand feet and that overlooked
the fertile valley below. The official town built there became known as Vitcos and eventually contained royal houses, a plaza, an administrative complex, storage facilities, a sun temple, a hilltop fortress, and residential dwellings.