Research Articles

Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Inca, or at least that is how this citadel high in the Amazon borderlands is advertised to the world at large. Indeed, the Spanish conquistadors failed to find this masterpiece of ancient complex construction during their campaign of cultural exploitation and degradation beginning with their arrival on the shore of what was to become called Peru in 1532. This famous site caught the imagination of the world when National G... continue reading

Four hours drive south of Lima Peru lies the Paracas Peninsula, part of which is an ecological reserve, where one can see wildlife such as sea lions, and a myriad of various sea bird species. The area is amazingly rich in seafood, and abundant fresh water exists just below the surface of the desert sands. Therefore, it would seem to be a perfect place for people to live. Stone tools, of various forms and styles of shaping have been found in the area, and c... continue reading

The vast majority of visitor trips to Peru go something like this; land in Lima, the capital, tour around the city for a day, and then fly to Cusco. Once there, while adjusting to the 12,000 foot plus altitude, a walk through the historic city center is a must, and then, the next day, take in Sachsayhuaman, the “fortress” of the Inca perched on a hill overlooking the city. But the main attraction still awaits; a fabled “lost city” abandoned by the Inca in ... continue reading

The greatest mystery about the Inca is not their accomplishments, but their origins. Where could such a sophisticated culture have come from? It is well written through accounts of the conquistadors, and Inca descendants that these people came to Cuzco as a fully developed society; teaching agriculture, metallurgy, animal husbandry, textile weaving, and the arts of warfare and politics, amongst other civilizing pursuits, to seemingly less developed people... continue reading

In part 1 I wrote about the Inca and how they were regarded as the descendants of the Viracochas, a people of mythic proportions seemingly lost in time and often thought of as being fictitious. Part of the reasoning behind this is the fact that much if not most of Inca history, which was mainly oral in nature, was crushed once the Spanish conquered Cuzco; the administrative, military and spiritual center of the Inca in 1533. What they did have as a “writte... continue reading

Something that has perplexed most if not all researchers of Peruvian history is the creator deity named Viracocha. Deemed to have been the ancestor of the Inca, it was he who created the first Sapa (high) Inca, Manco capac, as well as his full blood sister (and wife) Mama ocllo from the waters of Lake Titicaca, and told them to move from that place and create a new civilization. One thing that is often overlooked is that Viracocha and Viracochan are two c... continue reading