Brian S. Bauer

Pacariqtambo and the Mythical Origins of the Inca

In this study the Pacariqtambo origin myth of the Inca, as described in a number of different Spanish chronicles, is analyzed through examining archaeological data from the Province of Paruro (Department of Cuzco, Peru). The findings suggest that the rock outcrop of Puma Orco, located in the District of Pacariqtambo, may represent the Tambotoco of the Pacariqtambo origin myth, and that the nearby Inca ruins of Maukallaqta may have contained an oracle of the first mythical Inca, Manco Capac. It is suggested that these ruins were built by the ruling elite of Cuzco to commemorate their mythical progenitor and to legitimate their sacred status within Inca society.

Ritual Pathways of the Inca: An Analysis of the Collasuyu Ceques in Cuzco

The ceque system of Cuzeo was composed of at least 328 shrines (huacas) organized along 42 hypothetical lines (ceques) that radiated out of the city of Cuzeo, the capital of the Inca. Ethnohistoric research indicates that the system was conceptually linked to, and essentially reproduced, the fundamental social, political, spatial, and temporal divisions of the Cuzeo region and Inca society. As such the ceque system is one of the most complex, indigenous Prehispanic ritual systems known in the Americas. This article summarizes the basic organizational features of the ceque system according to ethnohistorians and reviews the current literature. Archaeological data document the likely positions of 85 shrines and the probable courses of nine ceques in Collasuyu, the southeast quarter of the Cuzeo Valley. The courses of the nine Collasuyu ceques are then compared with predicted courses set forth in current models of the system. The findings suggest that numerous internal inconsistencies, if not errors, exist in the seventeenth-century documentary source that describes the ceque system and that the courses of the ceques may have variedfar more than is suggested in the literature.

The Hospital of San Andrés (Lima, Peru) and the Search for the Royal Mummies of The Incas

Abstract The fate of the mummies of the Inca kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has been the focus of more than a century of historical and archaeological research. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were deposited in the Hospital of San Andrés in Lima in 1560. In this work, we summarize what is currently known concerning the fate of the royal Inca mummies as well as the results of a recent ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological testing program that we conducted on the hospital grounds. The excavations revealed the location of the hospitals first cemetery, the remains of a nineteenth-century fountain, an early colonial trash pit, and, most intriguingly, a vaulted structure. While we did not find the royal mummies, the historical research and archaeological fieldwork yielded new information on the history of the San Andrés compound and life in Lima during early colonial times.

The Cusco ceque system as shown in the Exsul immeritus Blas Valera populo suo

In this article I discuss a recently discovered drawing of the Cusco ceque system. A previous study of the drawing suggests that it is an inaccurate reproduction of the system. In contrast, I propose that the drawing is accurate and organizes information on the system in ways not considered by scholars before. While the accuracy of the drawing is confirmed, the question of authorship remains open.