the civilization of Mexico, and the term Maya to apply to the civilization found in Yucatan and Guatemala. Actually there were many Peruvian tribes that had been independent nations long enough, before they were conquered by the Incas, to develop remarkable artistic ability in ceramics and textiles.
One of the most interesting places in the world is Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Empire of the Incas. In the days of the Spanish Conquest of Peru it was the largest city in America. On a hill behind it is a very old fortress, for centuries a place of refuge. The northern wall of that fortress is perhaps the most extraordinary structure built by ancient man in the western hemisphere. In fact, as an achievement of engineering, it stands without parallel in American antiquity. The smaller blocks in the wall weigh 10 or 20 tons. Larger blocks are estimated to weigh 200 tons. A few of the largest weigh 300 tons! And yet they are fitted accurately together. There are no clamps. There was no cement used in constructing the wall. The gigantic polygonal blocks cling so closely together that it is impossible to insert the point of a knife between them. And they were brought from quarries more than a mile away where they were fashioned by people using stone tools. They were moved over an inclined plane by levers. The Incas had no iron or steel, but they had bronze crowbars of great strength. They had no derricks or pulleys or wheels but they had thousands of patient workers.The determination and the perseverance of the builders staggers the imagination.
ARCHITECTURE
As we study their architecture we see that it is marked by good proportions and symmetrical arrangement as well as by massiveness and solidity. Some of their temples and palaces were built of carefully selected ashlars of white granite. The lower tiers of a wall are made of larger blocks than the upper. This gives it a look of massive security. The upper courses, gradually decreasing in size, lend grace and dignity to the structure. Since instruments of precision were lacking, everything had to be done by the trained eye of the artistic architect. The result is softer and much more pleasing than that of the mathematically correct walls of our world. Everyone who visits Machu Picchu will agree that its builders were superb stone masons.
In the city of Cuzco, as well as in other well-known Inca towns, the walls of temples and palaces are not perpendicular but slope slightly inward. They are of so-called Egyptian style, being narrower at the top than at the bottom.
If one visits outlying places one finds story-and-a-half houses with gable ends. They seem to be characteristic of structures which were built not very long before the Spanish Conquest. Usually on the outside of each gable end may be seen a row of roughly cylindrical blocks or stone pegs bonded into the wall and projecting a foot or so from its surface. At first sight one might suppose this characteristic feature of Inca architecture to be merely ornamental, since these stone pegs suggest the idea of being the petrified ends of wooden beams and purlins. This pleasant theory of wooden origin, reminiscent of Doric architecture, seems to be incorrect. In the gable ends of some modern Indian huts wooden pegs similarly placed are used as points to which the thatched roof is tied. It would appear, therefore, that the stone pegs bonded into the Inca gables were not merely ornamental but served a useful purpose.
One day, in the process of carefully cleaning the gable ends ofa very finely built Inca house at Machu Picchu, we made an interesting discovery of an architectural feature which had hitherto entirely escaped the notice of archaeologists or architects. Buried in the sloping edge of the gable wall was a thin slab of rough stone with a chamfered hole, or eye, about 2 inches from the outer end. We called this an eye-bonder. It was set into the gable wall at right angles to its slope in such a way as to be flush with
One of the most interesting places in the world is Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Empire of the Incas. In the days of the Spanish Conquest of Peru it was the largest city in America. On a hill behind it is a very old fortress, for centuries a place of refuge. The northern wall of that fortress is perhaps the most extraordinary structure built by ancient man in the western hemisphere. In fact, as an achievement of engineering, it stands without parallel in American antiquity. The smaller blocks in the wall weigh 10 or 20 tons. Larger blocks are estimated to weigh 200 tons. A few of the largest weigh 300 tons! And yet they are fitted accurately together. There are no clamps. There was no cement used in constructing the wall. The gigantic polygonal blocks cling so closely together that it is impossible to insert the point of a knife between them. And they were brought from quarries more than a mile away where they were fashioned by people using stone tools. They were moved over an inclined plane by levers. The Incas had no iron or steel, but they had bronze crowbars of great strength. They had no derricks or pulleys or wheels but they had thousands of patient workers.The determination and the perseverance of the builders staggers the imagination.
ARCHITECTURE
As we study their architecture we see that it is marked by good proportions and symmetrical arrangement as well as by massiveness and solidity. Some of their temples and palaces were built of carefully selected ashlars of white granite. The lower tiers of a wall are made of larger blocks than the upper. This gives it a look of massive security. The upper courses, gradually decreasing in size, lend grace and dignity to the structure. Since instruments of precision were lacking, everything had to be done by the trained eye of the artistic architect. The result is softer and much more pleasing than that of the mathematically correct walls of our world. Everyone who visits Machu Picchu will agree that its builders were superb stone masons.
In the city of Cuzco, as well as in other well-known Inca towns, the walls of temples and palaces are not perpendicular but slope slightly inward. They are of so-called Egyptian style, being narrower at the top than at the bottom.
If one visits outlying places one finds story-and-a-half houses with gable ends. They seem to be characteristic of structures which were built not very long before the Spanish Conquest. Usually on the outside of each gable end may be seen a row of roughly cylindrical blocks or stone pegs bonded into the wall and projecting a foot or so from its surface. At first sight one might suppose this characteristic feature of Inca architecture to be merely ornamental, since these stone pegs suggest the idea of being the petrified ends of wooden beams and purlins. This pleasant theory of wooden origin, reminiscent of Doric architecture, seems to be incorrect. In the gable ends of some modern Indian huts wooden pegs similarly placed are used as points to which the thatched roof is tied. It would appear, therefore, that the stone pegs bonded into the Inca gables were not merely ornamental but served a useful purpose.
One day, in the process of carefully cleaning the gable ends ofa very finely built Inca house at Machu Picchu, we made an interesting discovery of an architectural feature which had hitherto entirely escaped the notice of archaeologists or architects. Buried in the sloping edge of the gable wall was a thin slab of rough stone with a chamfered hole, or eye, about 2 inches from the outer end. We called this an eye-bonder. It was set into the gable wall at right angles to its slope in such a way as to be flush with
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