Mapmaking in the Central Andes

William Gartner

Outline

Mapmaking in the Central Andes

William Gartner

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44 pages

Abstract
AI

This paper discusses the nature of mapmaking practices among indigenous peoples of the Central Andes, challenging the notion that formal cartography was absent in this region prior to Spanish contact. It highlights the sophisticated agricultural, militaristic, and economic practices of Andean cultures that would suggest the presence of an ancient mapping tradition, particularly focusing on the significance of tools like the khipu and their possible applications as spatial representations. The analysis contrasts different accounts of mapmaking and representation, offering insights into the interaction between Andean art, history, and European influences.

Key takeaways
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Andean cultures likely practiced spatial representation, contrary to Bruno Adler's claims of a lack of formal mapmaking.
Intensive agriculture and long-distance trade existed in the Andes, supporting the potential for ancient mapmaking traditions.
The concept of 'ayllu' integrates social and territorial organization, influencing Andean spatial understanding.
Ephemeral mapping rites utilize amulets and landscape features to symbolize territory and cultural connections.
Inka culture employed khipus as a complex data system, potentially serving as maps within their bureaucratic framework.

Figures (51)

FIG. 6.1. REFERENCE MAP OF THE CENTRAL ANDEAN REGION. This map shows places and features mentioned in the text.

FIG. 6.2, CULTURAL CHRONOLOGY FOR THE CEN- TRAL ANDEAN REGION. This time line shows archaeologi- cal cultures, periods, and horizons of the central Andes. After Richard F. Townsend, ed., The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), 263.

After Carl Troll, “The Cordilleras of the Tropical Americas: Aspects of Climatic, Phytogeographical and Agrarian Eco- logy,” in Geo-ecology of the Mountainous Regions of the Tropical Americas (Bonn: Ferd Diimmlers, 1968), 15-56, esp. 48. FIG. 6.3. TOPOGRAPHY AND SPACE. Topography and other factors create distinctive sets of bioclimatic life zones in the Andes. Life zones change dramatically with altitude and across east-west and north-south transects at the same eleva- tion. The spatial organization of Andean cultural beliefs and subsistence economies reflects the differentiated landscape. This diagram shows a cross section through the Cordillera Real and the valley of the La Paz River.

FIG. 6.5. THE MILKY WAY’S APPARENT SEASONAL RO- TATION. In addition to the Milky Way’s nightly rotation, over the course of a year it again divides the heavens into quarters. First appearing in the evening sky during the dry season, the Milky Way (Mayu) stretches from the northeast to the south- west. During the rainy season, its early evening orientation is from the southeast to the northwest. These seasonal ro- tations find correlates in terrestrial, social, and cosmological organization. After Gary Urton. At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky:

FIG. 6.4. THE QUARTERED CIRCLE AND THE APPAR- ENT MOVEMENT OF THE MILKY WAY. The quartered circle is an image of social and spatial order in many Andean societies and is probably inspired by the apparent nightly ro- tation of the Milky Way. Celestial movements also mimic the organization of terrestrial space for the modern-day Quechua peoples of Misminay. The Inkas structured their spatial and social environment in a similar fashion, as evinced by the quadripartite division of Inka society into suyus.

FIG. 6.7. THE RADIAL ORGANIZATION OF ANDEAN LANDSCAPES. These two maps illustrate the ideal (a) and the actual (b) pattern of wedge-shaped landholdings belonging to the ayllus of San Andrés de Machaca, Bolivia. Ayllu land- holdings are grouped into two moieties, separated by the double lines that are alternatively distinguished as upper and lower or right and left. Rivers, mountains, roads, and agricul- tural works often form social and territorial boundaries in Andean communities. Aebeaw Tavwinwe ATK: © Pile Sesten: aw ba potenti lvtax nmacnaiind.

FIG. 6.8. INTERPRETATION OF Q’ERO AGRICULTURAL LANDHOLDINGS. This map of agricultural landholdings be- longing to two Q’ero moieties was drawn by the anthropolo- gist Gail P. Silverman-Proust according to Lorenzo Quispe’s interpretation of a textile made by his village of Chuwa Chuwa, department of Cuzco, Peru. The double line in the center re- presents the Pausi River, which separates the agricultural fields of the two Q’ero moieties. The three half circles and accom- panying radiating lines on either side of the river represent agricultural fields organized by elevation. From Gail P. Silverman-Proust., “Weaving Technique and the

FIG. 6.10. THE ORGANIZATION OF ANDEAN LAND- HOLDINGS AS A GRID. In addition to radial and strip divi- sions of land, grids were also employed in Andean spatial organization. A grid of shallow ditches separates Inka agricul- tural plots during the planting and growing seasons in this drawing by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. Springs, reser- voirs, ditches, and canals functioned as social and territorial boundary markers in traditional Andean society. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Royal Library, Copenhagen (Nueva crénica y buen go- bierno, fol. 1162).

FIG. 6.11. MAP OF THE SHORE OF LAKE TITICACA, PUNO, PERU. Modern Aymara and Quechua maps, such as this one from Lake Titicaca, often combine Western and na- tive cartographic precepts. This map, from the files of the Pe- ruvian National Forestry Center (CENFOR), was part of a claim made by peasant communities regarding the control of reed beds. Following Western convention, rivers and the Lake Titicaca shoreline are illustrated in plan view, water is sepa- rated from land by a line, the map is drawn on a rectangular piece of paper, and the text is in Spanish. Vernacular features include the non-north orientation (in this case west is at the top) and the depiction of individual houses in frontal perspec- tive. Water channels that separate village territories are spaced to create parallel strips that reflect parity in political power and control of the resource based on community rights. An- dean peoples consider the sequence and shape of community territories more important than linear distance. | 2 LS ER CORE CE Te ey ot SG OT Reena Memes a) YSN eee «1. SNe

FIG. 6.12. SPATIAL ORGANIZATION AND CERAMIC DECORATIVE BANDS ON QUINUA POTTERY. The four types of pottery shown here are common utilitarian vessels used by Quinua inhabitants. The vessels encode important spatial knowledge critical to the social structures of the com- munity. Vertically stacked design bands on vessels a and b reflect landholdings and resource zones that are organized at multiple elevations. On c, a single vertical strip divides the ves- sel and mirrors the division of the community by a primary ir- rigation canal. Each individual in Quinua is a member of two kin groups, and this bilateral descent may be reflected in the bilateral symmetry of particular motifs on c and d. The circle at the center of the bowl, d, is analogous to the village as the center of the social and ecological environment. After Dean E. Arnold, “Design Structure and Community Or- canizatian in Qiuinina Pern @ in Cteyctuye and Coonitinn in

FIG. 6.13. Q7ERO PALLAY TEXTILE PORTRAYING MOUNTAINS. Quechua peoples living in the Q’ero Valley weave a two-sided cloth called a pallay. See figure 6.14. From Gail P. Silverman-Proust, “Weaving Technique and the Registration of Knowledge in the Cuzco Area of Peru,” Jour- nal of Latin American Lore 14 (1988): 207-41, esp. fig. 19.

FIG. 6.14. EXPLANATION OF THE Q’ERO PALLAY (FIG. 6.13). Q’ero peoples identify a specific valley by the type of mountain peaks that enclose it. The sawtooth motif (k’iraqey puntas) represents the mountains that enclose the Q’ero Val- ley. Subtle changes in the shape and size of the motif may sig- nify specific mountain attributes. The figure standing with arms upstretched and lowered is the incarnation of the ances- tor huaca Inkarri, while the central axis represents a natural or cultural boundary between villages such as the Q’ero River.

FIG. 6.16. QHESWA PALLAY TEXTILE FROM PISAC, PERU. The Qheswa pallay is a textile that represents spatial concepts. This textile may signify the location of agricultural landholdings in the Pisac Valley. See figure 6.17. From Gail P. Silverman-Proust, “Weaving Technique and the Registration of Knowledge in the Cuzco Area of Peru,” Jour- nal of Latin American Lore 14 (1988): 207-41. esp. fig. 2.

FIG. 6.15. QPERO PALLAY WITH INTI MOTIFS. This Q’ero textile incorporates four inti motifs that represent sunrise (inti llogsimushan), sunset (inti chinkiapushan), sun at noon (hatun inti), and sun at midnight (tawa inti qgocha), depending upon the weaver’s use of different yarn color and pattern combi- nations. Quechua women incorporate these motifs into their textiles according to the time of day they wish to portray, re- presented by the amount of sunlight available and shadow used. So ny on a. ek) n,n , .., eae

FIG. 6.18. LANDHOLDING AMULET FROM THE DE- PARTMENT OF LA PAZ, BOLIVIA. This amulet depicts a specific village plaza with a realistic rendering of various build- ings and a church (identifiable by an inscribed cross on the ex- terior wall). Seven llamas appear on each side of the village square, probably representing the livestock held by the ayllus composing the two village moieties. This type of amulet is usu- ally used in animal increase rites. A magician constructs a cere- monial mesa (tabletop shrine)-literally an ephemeral map representing the larger valley and an imagined spirit world- from the carved stone amulet and other ritual items, then di- rects spiritual forces to the locale signified by the amulet and the livestock it is associated with. TS OP ee RN. Acces enn ech TP Newwmweicn: “Thee 8 Mice

FIG. 6.19. CHHIUTAS IN THE PACARIQTAMBO CHURCHYARD AND PLAZA. During religious festivals at Pacariqtambo, Peru, ayllu representatives ritually “clean” as- signed chhiutas, rectangular strips of ground in the churchyard and plaza representing usufruct over parcels of land. The rit- ual cleaning of chhiutas symbolizes the commitment of each ayllu to maintaining village infrastructure. A topologic se- quence for the chhiutas is implied by the grouping of strips by ayllu and moiety. The sequence is anchored by the southern- most strip, which is the responsibility of Qoipa, a small village to the south of Pacariqtambo. Ee Se sn Te bay ene ON , : 5 See a EY 2) ee, a : ek aT

“1G. 6.20. PETROGLYPH FROM SALTA, ARGENTINA. According to Ercilia Navamuel, this petroglyph found at the archaeological site of El Duraznito is a map of the nearby pre- Hispanic city of Santa Rosa de Tastil and also shows an access ‘oad to the Las Minas quebrada. By permission of Ercilia Navamuel, Salta, Argentina.

ings are not laid out according to the cardinal directions but are oriented more than thirteen degrees clockwise of due east—possibly related to celestial phenomena. The Old Temple alignments symbolically unite Huantasan, a source of the temple waters, with the path of the Pleiades, a celestial harbinger of the rainy season.”

Thirty-two lineages are grouped into four rows. Each row corresponds to large-scale social and territorial divisions within the core Paracas culture area. The four major Paracas mahamaes—along the Pisco, Cafiete, Chincha, and upper Ica Rivers—are the probable corresponding landscape divisions. As with the chhiutas rite, the public

FIG. 6.23. PARACAS SPIRIT MAP ON A CARVED GOURD. This gourd was found in a tomb containing ceremonial and utilitarian artifacts necessary for life in the afterworld. The labyrinthine paths and three severed head as soul figures illus- trated might have helped the soul navigate in the spirit world. From Julio C. Tello, Paracas, vol. 2, with Toribio Mejia Xesspe, Cavernas y necropolis (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1979), 145 (fig. 23). By permission of the Uni- versidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Fondo Editorial, Lima, Peru.

FIG. 6.25, RAY CENTER GEOGLYPH FROM THE NAZCA PAMPA. The most common type of Nazca geoglyph is the ray center, a system of lines emanating from a central point. An obvious manifestation of radial organization, the emanating lines are most often aligned with water sources and are usually perpendicular to topographic contours controlling overland flow. Ray center lines often connect to other ray centers, and some of the lines are not straight but bent. Very few ray cen- ters exhibit astronomical alignments beyond that expected by chance. Ves see aE ak os ee ig Oe SD ES

FIG. 6.27. NASCA CERAMIC CHIEFTAIN VESSEL, SOUTH COAST OF PERU. The so-called Nasca chieftain vessels de- pict different individuals wearing funeral attire, hence each vessel represents a specific mummy bundle ancestor huaca. All Nasca chieftain vessels have the same structure, but they dif- fer markedly in artistic detail. The head, shoulders, and legs of ceramic Nasca chieftains protrude from their vessels, corre- sponding to Andean anatomical metaphors for the landscape: the head is the summit, the shoulders are the central slopes, and the lower hips signify the coastal plain where mountain rivers diverge. The legs have the sinuous shape of rivers and are dwarfed by the head, just as Andean summits tower over meandering drainage systems. This same sculptural technique is used to depict realistic hillocks on other Nasca vessels. Height of the original: 74.5 cm; widest diameter: 42.9 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Pert. Lima (C-54196).

FIG. 6.29. CERAMIC MOCHE LANDSCAPE VESSEL SHOWING HOUSE AND SHIELD. An exaggerated house and warrior’s shield, separated from the rest of the scene by a block of color, are shown between two sets of comparably sized mountains on this Moche vessel. A road connects the warrior’s house with the lower set of mountains. Valleys with two pinnate drainage systems represent two primary canals, with lateral lines representing secondary parts of the irrigation a ee en en ee : a . ee We, MN PES

FIG. 6.28. CERAMIC MOCHE LANDSCAPE VESSEL WITH ANDEAN FOX. This vessel is formed into an Andean fox tha stands over mountains of comparable height and a singl drainage system. The single set of mountains references higl elevation mountains (puna). The Andean fox may be a visua incarnation of a toponym or the fox (atoq) dark cloud con stellation. Height of the original: ca. 21¢ cm. Boyer Fund, , Logan Museun i ae a a 1 °°. +~WT

FIG. 6.30. CERAMIC MOCHE HOUSE COMPOUND MODEL, VIRU VALLEY. This vessel represents a Moche- period house compound with rectangular enclosures, living quarters, paths, and stairs, on a pyramidal mound. The color bands of the vessel represent discrete elevational surfaces. Dis- tance may also be implied by the color bands. Height of the original: 19 cm; width and depth: 11 cm. Pho- tograph courtesy of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peri, Tima (C-54641 2).

FIG. 6.31. AYMARA CONCEPTIONS OF SPACE. Historical and archaeological studies of Aymara kingdoms surrounding Lake Titicaca demonstrate a social and territorial organization based on “double dualisms,” a geometric structure replicated in the iconographic organization of the Bennett Stela (see fig. 6.32). The axis of taypi (Lake Titicaca) separates the realms of urco from uma and alaa from manca. After Thérése Bouysse-Cassagne, “Urco and Uma: Aymara Concepts of Space,” in Anthropological History of Andean Polities, ed. John V. Murra, Nathan Wachtel, and Jacques Revel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 201- 27, esp. fig. 12.2.

FIG. 6.33. TTWANAKU HOUSE MODEL, 500-300 B.C. This stone house model (four views), with carved door molding and cornice as distinctive architectural features, was found near the temple of Kalasasaya at Tiwanaku. During mapping rites, stone house amulets would have been arranged around a geo- graphic referent, such as the stone huacas at Kalasasaya. Photograph courtesy of the Direccién Nacional de Arqueo- logia y Antropologia de Bolivia, Secretaria Nacional de Cul- tura de Bolivia, La Paz.

FIG. 6.35. PROPOSED TIWANAKU SURVEY INSTRU- MENTS. Arthur Posnansky suggested that Tiwanaku survey- ors used a device to lay out their capital city and to align civic-ceremonial architecture with the heavens. According to his speculative scheme, a pedestal is leveled by means of a wa- ter-filled container. Surveyors then anchored the appropriate length diopter into a drilled plate on top of the pedestal to ob- tain a line of sight. a Ye, | 7 a | i a > ns, a a

FIG. 6.36. SILVER DIOPTERS FOUND AT TIWANAKU. Sev- eral silver diopters with unpointed handles were found near Tiwanaku. Arthur Posnansky believed Tiwanaku builders used these instruments to obtain a line of sight. See figure 6.35. From Arthur Posnansky, Tibuanacu: The Cradle of American Man, 2 vols., trans. James F. Shearer (New York: J. J. Au- gustin, 1945), vol. 2, fig. 16a.

Traditional Cartography in the Americas FIG. 6.37. PROPOSED CHIMU SURVEY INSTRUMENTS. This photograph and explanatory diagram represent how the fifteenth-century Chimt culture might have used survey in- struments in public works projects, particularly canals. This speculative system, developed by Charles Ortloff, was inspired by an unusual ceramic bowl with a cruciform hole through an attached hollow stem found in the Viri Valley. When the water-filled bowl is leveled by adjusting the bowl and attached stem embedded in a bowl of sand until the water reaches the rim, the sighting tube, which is designed to be parallel to the surface of the water, provides an artificial horizon. A desired angle of slope for building a canal can be achieved as follows: using markings on the cruciform openings, a given angle of de- clination can be set for sighting on a calibrated staff, which can then trace out a contour at the desired height on the sur- rounding terrain to produce the correct slope. Alternatively, horizontal angles can be observed by moving the sighting tube sideways in the cruciform opening. Surveying field tests with such a device yielded accuracies typical of Chimti canal bed slope angles.

[non-Inka]). Swyus in turn were grouped into hanan (upper) and hurin (lower) Cuzco. The map on the left illustrates the area defined by all forty-one ceques, although certain ceques extended to the edge of the Inka empire. After Jeanette E. Sherbondy, “Water and Power: The Role of Irrigation Districts in the Transition from Inca to Spanish Cuzco,” in Irrigation at High Altitudes: The Social Organiza- tion of Water Control Systems in the Andes, ed. William P. Mitchell and David Guillet (Arlington, Va.: Society for Latin American Anthropology, American Anthropological Associa- tion, 1993), 69-97, esp. 75 (fig. 3.1) and 77 (map 3.1). FIG. 6.38. THE INKA CEQUE SYSTEM. On the right is an idealized diagram of the forty-one sighting lines (ceques) that radiate out from Cuzco’s Temple of the Sun, Coricancha, to points on the local horizon and beyond. The dots represent the 328 huacas on the ceques, one for each day of the sidereal lu- nar year. Springs, fountains, and critical points of the Cuzco Valley irrigation system constitute approximately one-third of the buacas. Inka rulers used the ceque lines as cultural and ter- ritorial boundaries when they resettled the Cuzco Valley. A suyu, one of the four provinces of the Inka empire, minimally consisted of nine ceques with at least one member from each social class (collana [Inka], payan [honorary Inka], and cayao

FIG. 6.39. INKA MAPPING RITE DRAWN BY FELIPE GUAMAN POMA DE AYALA, CA. 1615. Topa Inka arranges amulets representing mountain huacas of the Cuzco Valley in front of the carved stone huaca called Cocopona. Topa Inka’s text talks about the perceived role of mountains in the hydro- logic cycle and the generation of weather patterns. The con- struction of ephemeral maps during rituals is millennia old in the Andes and continues to the present. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Royal Library, Copenhagen (Nueva crénica y buen go- bierno, fol. 261).

FIG. 6.40. THE SAYHUITE STONE. The Sayhuite Stone is one of many carved stone landscapes found in the department of Cuzco. Miniature agricultural terraces, grooves representing rivers and irrigation canals, paths, gates, architectural plat- forms, and altars are found on the stone, suggesting it is a model of a real region. The built landscape is covered with fan- ciful creatures including monkeys, pumas, camelids, snakes, frogs, lizards, and crabs armed with arrows. The animals may represent geographic information in several possible ways: sig- nifying toponyms or parajes; illustrating myths that are loca- tion specific; and representing boundaries. Bram Brricn Giidani and Rahertn Maoni The Andoc (New

FIG. 6.41. THE Q’INKU (KENKO) STONE. The Q’inku Stone portrays many of the same animals and components of the built landscape found on the Sayhuite Stone. However, the configurations of landscape elements differs. The Q’inku and the Sayhuite Stones depict landscape settings, although it is not clear if their topography is actual, imagined, or a combination of both. By permission of Edward Ranney, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

FIG. 6.42. INKA ROAD SYSTEM DRAWN BY FELIPE GUAMAN POMA DE AYALA. According to historical ac- counts, Inka administrators conceived of their domain through roads and described the location of peoples and places with re- spect to the Inka highway. As shown above, stone monuments along the highway marked critical points in the Inka road sys- tem and referenced the tupu, a standardized measure of one to one and one-half leagues. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Royal Library, Copenhagen (Nueva crénica y buen go- ey 2 oe ee ae

FIG. 6.43. KHIPU SHOWN WITH “CARTA” PLACARD. Fe- lipe Guamdn Poma de Ayala’s sixteenth-century letter to the king of Spain illustrated a khipu along with a sign that ex- plained it as a “carta.” The Spanish term carta has been used to signify maps and other documents. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Royal Library, Copenhagen (Nueva crénica y buen go- bierno. fol. 202).

FIG. 6.45. KHIPU OFFICIAL WITH KHIPU AND ABACAL MAIZE TABLET (YUPANA) DRAWN BY FELIPE GUAMAN POMA DE AYALA. A khipu official displays the tools of his trade. Specialized khipu secretaries kept census, tribute, and production accounts and may have recorded historical events, ceremonial rites and laws, calendrical and astronomical infor- mation, and geographic narratives on their khipus. Historical sources indicate that khipus were used with other artifacts such as picture boards or yupanas. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of

FIG. 6.46. THE KHIPU AS A MAP OF THE PACASMAYO VALLEY. Martti Parssinen has suggested a method whereby the khipu could function as a map. The Inkas assigned num- bers to all provincial capitals within the empire. Toponyms would consist of syllables derived from categories of produc- tion, culture-historical events, and many other possible geo- graphic descriptors. Strands on the right side of the khipu indicate the category of provincial capitals. Numbers assigned to the capitals are represented by knots in the tens (Xs) and ones (dots) positions. The number twenty-two is the provincial number for Palta, and twenty-one stands for Chan Chan. Each strand on the left side would correspond to a general category of goods, such as “cultivated plants.” Specific items in each category would be recognized according to their assigned numbers. For instance, potato (papa) would be recognized by the number three on the “cultivated plants” strand. Place- names would be formed by joining the syllables of each item together phonetically, and the location of the place would be relative to the provincial capitals. Pacasmayo is between Palta and Chan Chan. CO eee Oe ee a: oi. ee ee mE: ¢ ee ee ee ee ! SO SORE Coe mm eS ak cone

FIG. 6.47. THE HOUSE OF MANCO CAPAC DRAWN BY JUAN DE SANTA CRUZ PACHACUTI YAMQUI SALCA- MAYHUA, 1613. This figure combines Inka ancestral mytho- logy with Inka spatial conventions. Santa Cruz Pachacuti illustrates the “house” of Manco Capac—founder of the Inka royal family—as the cave from which he, his three brothers, and their wives all emerged and began their journey to establish the Inka empire. The windows of Manco Capac’s house (three squares) represent the three openings of the Tampu T’oco cave, identified in Inka oral traditions. The location of these caves is probably at Pacariqtambo, about thirty-five kilometers south of Cuzco. The silver tree on the left signifies Manco Ca- pac’s maternal ancestry, and the golden tree on the right re- presents his paternal lineage. The text describes the golden tree as a house and the silver tree as a buaca. Manco Capac’s right to rule is created from the union of his house (golden tree), or human occupation of the land, with the land itself (silver tree) (R. Tom Zuidema, Inca Civilization in Cuzco, trans. Jean- Jacques Decoster [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990], 9). Photograph courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (Sig- natura MS. 3169, fol. 8v).

FIG. 6.48. THE TEMPLE OF CORICANCHA, 1613. Native chronicler Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua drew this profile view of one of Coricancha’s walls to illustrate how the Inkas spatially and socially ordered their environ- ment. See figure 6.49. Photograph courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (MS. 3169, fol. 13v).

FIG. 6.49. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE WALL AT CORI- CANCHA (FIG. 6.48). Nine of the symbols and scenes identified in figure 6.48 are astronomical and include repre- sentations of the sun, moon, planets (the morning star and evening star), single stars, asterisms, and constellations. The Pillcomayo River (Pilcomayo?) flows from a representation of the pacha mama, or earth mother. The earth is shown as a disk, rotated to aid its identification, with mountains illus- trated in profile. Above the Pillcomayo is a lightning bolt. At the base of the temple a man and woman stand above a grid representing the surface of the earth. To the right of the woman is a representation of water, or more likely a reservoir (estanque) for an irrigation system.

FIG. 6.51. THE PONTIFICAL WORLD DRAWN BY FELIPE GUAMAN POMA DE AYALA. Guaman Poma adopts West- ern rules of mimetic naturalism to identify the places and regions of the pontifical world. However, he retains the geo- metry that Andean peoples have used for millennia to illustrate geographic relationships, such as the quadripartitioning of space around a powerful center and the ordering of social and territorial space into “upper” and “lower” positions. Size of the original: ca. 18 X 12 cm. Photograph courtesy of the Royal Library, Copenhagen (Nueva crénica y buen go- bierno, fol. 42).

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Dean E. Arnold, "Design Structure and Community Organization in Quinua, Peru," in Structure and Cognition in Art, ed. Dorothy Koster Washburn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 56-73.
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Robert V. H. Dover, Katherine E. Seibold, and John H. McDowell (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 46-66, esp. 59-60. thony F. Aveni (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), vii-x, esp. viii.
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Aveni, "Order in the Nazca Lines," 110-11. Statistical analysis has also shown that the lines do not point toward hill summits. See C. L. N. Ruggles, "A Statistical Examination of the Radial Line Azi- muths at Nazca," in The Lines of Nazca, ed. Anthony F. Aveni (Phila- delphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), 247-69, esp. 268. 81. Aveni, "Order in the Nazca Lines," 98.
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See Maria Reiche, "Giant Ground-Drawings on the Peruvian Desert," in vol. 1 of Verhandlungen des XXXVIII. Internationalen Amerikanistenkongressess (1968) (Munich: Klaus Renner, 1969),379- 84; idem, Mystery on the Desert (Stuttgart-Vaihingen, 1968);
and Paul Kosok, Life, Land, and Water in Ancient Peru (New York: Long Island University Press, 1965), 49-62, for examples of earlier studies. More recent analysis includes Aveni, "Assessment of Previous Studies," 15- 23 (note 76); idem, "Order in the Nazca Lines," 88-98 (note 79);
and Ruggles, "Statistical Examination," 261-69 (note 80).
Helaine Silverman, "The Early Nasca Pilgrimage Center of Cahuachi and the Nazca Lines: Anthropological and Archaeological Perspectives," in The Lines of Nazca, ed. Anthony F. Aveni (Philadel- phia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), 207-44, esp. 232-40, and idem, "Beyond the Pampa: The Geoglyphs in the Valleys of Nazca," National Geographic Research 6 (1990): 435-56, esp. 444-46.
Persis Banvard Clarkson, "The Archaeology of the Nazca Pampa: Environmental and Cultural Parameters," in The Lines of Nazca, ed. Anthony F. Aveni (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), 115-72, esp. 136-51, and Silverman, "Beyond the Pampa," 446-47.
For example, Aveni's epilogue in The Lines of Nazca, ed. An- thony F. Aveni (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), 285-90, esp. 289.
Urton, "Andean Social Organization" (note 19).
Johan Reinhard, The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on Their Origin and Meaning, 3d ed. (Lima: Editorial Los Pinos, 1987), esp. 9- 11 and 55-56, and idem, "Interpreting the Nazca Lines," in The An- cient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes, ed. Richard F. Townsend (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), 291-301.
Reinhard, "Interpreting the Nazca Lines," 298; Richard F. Town- send, "Deciphering the Nazca World: Ceramic Images from Ancient Peru," Museum Studies 11 (1985): 116-39, esp. 122-24; and Isbell, "Prehistoric Ground Drawings," 146 (note 6).
Peters, "Ecology and Society," 281-82 (note 68). On the "dark cloud" animal constellations, including the llama, see Urton, At the Crossroads, 170-73 (note 14).
Tello and Xesspe, Cavernas y necropolis, 464 (fig. 125) (note 73).
R. Tom Zuidema, "Significado en el arte Nasca: Relaciones iconograficas entre las culturas inca, huari y nasca en eI sur del Peru," in Reyes y guerreros: Ensayos de cultura andina, compo Manuel Burga (Lima: FOMCIENCIAS, 1989), 386-401, esp. 399-400.
Katharina J. Schreiber and Josue Lancho Rojas, "The Puquios of Nasca," Latin American Antiquity 6 (1995): 229-54. Monica Barnes and David Fleming, "Filtration-Gallery Irrigation in the Spanish New World," Latin American Antiquity 2 (1991): 48-68, argue, however, that puquios originated in colonial times.
Kolata, Tiwanaku, 87-88 and 93-94 (note 16). The [nkas be- lieved that Viracocha emerged from Lake Titicaca to create the earth and cosmos at Tiwanaku. Kolata's interpretation of Tiwanaku's urban design is called into question, however, in William Harris Isbell, review of Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization, by Alan L. Kolata, American Anthropologist 96 (1994): 1030-31.
Kolata, Tiwanaku, 8-10, 96-98, 108-9, and 111-17, and Reinhard, "Chavin and Tiahuanaco," 415 (note 57). Both Kolata and Reinhard attach significance to the summit of Akapana as one of the few places where one can see the pilgrimage points and weather shrines of Lake Titicaca and the nearly 6,500 meter-high crest of Mount Illimani. 105. Therese Bouysse-Cassagne, "Urco and Uma: Aymara Concepts of Space," in Anthropological History of Andean Polities, ed. John V. Murra, Nathan Wachtel, and Jacques Revel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986),201-27, esp. 201-13.
Bouysse-Cassagne, "Urco and Uma," 215.
Murra, "Aymara Kingdom," 117-18 and 125-28 (note 12).
Bouysse-Cassagne, "Urco and Uma," 209 and 215-21 (note 105), and Kolata, Tiwanaku, 89 (note 16).
Kolata, Tiwanaku, 143.
Kolata, Tiwanaku, 135, and Carlos Ponce Sangines, Descripci6n
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, Nueva cronica y buen gobierno, 3 vols., ed. John V. Murra, Rolena Adorno, and Jorge L. Urioste (Madrid: Historia 16, 1987), and Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua, Relacion de antiguedades deste reyno del Piru, ed. Pierre Duviols and Cesar Itier (Lima: Institut Fran~ais d'Etudes Andines, 1993).
John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas (New York: Har- court Brace Jovanovich, 1970), 18.
Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas, and General History of Peru, trans. Harold V. Livermore (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966), 124.
Betanzos, Narrative of the Incas, 278 (note 123).
John Howland Rowe, "What Kind of Settlement Was Inca Cuzco?" Nawpa Pacha 5 (1967): 59-76, esp. 65-66 and pI. 34; Be- tanzos, Narrative of the Incas, 74 (note 123);
and Sarmiento de Gam- boa, Historia de los Incas, 233 (note 123).
R. Tom Zuidema, "The Lion in the City: Royal Symbols of Tran- sition in Cuzco," Journal of Latin American Lore 9 (1983): 39-100, esp. 40-42 and 78-87. The Inkas equated the puma with the hydro- logic cycle, since its sinuous tail mimics river bends while its reddish brown coat recalls the color of the sediment-laden river waters around Cuzco during the rainy season.
As exemplified, for example, by Nicolaes Visscher's 1633 map titled Leo Hollandicus, sixteenth-and seventeenth-century European maps often stylized the political boundaries of a country as an animal. Monica Barnes and Daniel J. Sliva, "El puma de Cuzco: ~Plano de la ciudad Ynga 0 noci6n europea?" Revista Andina 11 (1993): 79-102. 131. Quotation from Betanzos, Narrative of the Incas, 69 and 71 (note 123); see also John Howland Rowe, "An Account of the Shrines of Ancient Cuzco," Nawpa Pacha 17 (1979): 1-80, esp. 10.
Molina, Fdbulas y mitos, 58-134 (note 8).
R. Tom Zuidema, "Catachillay: The Role of the Pleiades and of the Southern Cross and a and f3 Centauri in the Calendar of the Incas," in Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, ed. Anthony F. Aveni and Gary Urton (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1982), 203-29, esp. 204-11. Certain ceques are aligned with the rising and setting of celestial objects, although the only obser- vations made from Coricancha were the December solstice sunset and the helical rising of the Pleiades. Ceques are also aligned with topo- graphic features such as mountain passes and points of historical inter- est. For example, one ceque extends from Cuzco to Huanacauri to Vil- canota and finally to the ruins of Tiwanaku nearly three hundred kilometers away. These sites are all related to the birth of the sun in Inka origin myths. Not surprisingly, this ceque was an important pilgrimage route.
Jeanette E. Sherbondy, "Irrigation and Inca Cosmology," in Cul- ture and Environment: A Fragile Coexistence, ed. Ross W. Jamieson, Sylvia Abonyi, and Neil A. Mirau (Calgary: University of Calgary Ar- chaeological Association, 1993),343-51, esp. 348. 135. Examples of using ropes to measure space are recounted by Be- tanzos, Narrative of the Incas, 45 and 55 (note 123).
Zuidema, "Catachillay," 206 (fig. 2) (note 133), and Rowe, "Shrines of Ancient Cuzco," 3-4 (note 131).
"Ritual Pathways of the Inca: An Analysis of the Collasuyu Ceques in Cuzco," Latin American Antiquity 3 (1992): 183-205, esp. 202. 139. See, for example, "Comments," in Archaeoastronomy 10 (1987-88): 22-34.
See Mariusz S. Ziolkowski, "Knots and Oddities: The Quipu- Calendar or Supposed Cuzco Luni-Sidereal Calendar," and Robert M. Sadowski, "A Few Remarks on the Astronomy of R. T. Zuidema's 'Quipu-Calendar,''' both in Time and Calendars in the Inca Empire, ed. Mariusz S. Ziolkowski and Robert M. Sadowski (Oxford: BAR, 1989), 197-208 and 209-13.
R. Tom Zuidema, "Bureaucracy and Systematic Knowledge in Andean Civilization," in The Inca and Aztec States, 1400-1800: An- thropology and History, ed. George A. Collier, Renato I. Rosaldo, and John D. Wirth (New York: Academic Press, 1982),419-58, esp. 445- 46. 142. Aveni, "Order in the Nazca Lines," 50-71 and 110-13 (note 79).
Hyslop, Inka Settlement Planning, 102-28 (note 16).
Rowe, "Shrines of Ancient Cuzco," 21 (shrine Ch-4:8), 35 (shrine An-4:7), and 41 (shrine Co-2:2) (note 131).
Guaman Poma, Nueva cr6nica, 1 :252-54 (note 124).
Rowe, "Shrines of Ancient Cuzco," 15 (note 131). See also Rein- hard, "Chavin and Tiahuanaco," 396-97 (note 57).
Hyslop, lnka Settlement Planning, 114 (note 16);
John Hem- ming and Edward Ranney, Monuments of the Incas (Boston: Little, Brown, 1982), 164-67; and Maarten van de Guchte, "'Carving the World': Inca Monumental Sculpture and Landscape" (Ph.D. diss., Uni- versiry of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990).
Rebeca Carrion Cachot de Girard, El culto al agua en el antiguo Peru: La Paccha elemento cultural pan-andino (Lima: Museo Nacional de Antropologia y Arqueologia, 1955), 10-18.
Zuidema, "Lion in the City," 95 (note 129).
Enrico Guidoni and Roberto Magni, The Andes (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1977), 147 and 167.
Hyslop, Inka Settlement Planning, 115-17 (note 16).
Maarten van de Guchte, "El cicio mitico andino de \a Piedra Cansada," Revista Andina 2 (1984): 539-56.
Hyslop, Inka Settlement Planning, 115 (note 16), and Rowe, "Shrines of Ancient Cuzco," 21 (shrine Ch-4:6) (note 131).
William J. Conklin, "The Information System of Middle Hori- zon Quipus," in Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Amer- ican Tropics, ed. Anthony F. Aveni and Gary Urton (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1982),261-81. Several researchers have ex- plored a possible link between khipus and the Nazca ray centers, as well as the roles of both in the radial organization of landscape. See, for ex- ample, Tony Morrison, Pathways to the Gods: The Mystery of the An- des Lines (New York: Harper and Row, 1978), 122-29, and Aveni, "Order in the Nazca Lines," 50-71 (note 79).
Betanzos, Narrative of the Incas, 51, 90-91, and 161 (note 123);
Cabo, History of the Inca Empire, 94, 99, 142, and 253-56 (note 25);
Guaman Poma, Nueva cronica, 1: 196-97,338-40,352-53, and 362-65; 2: 858-60 and 966-69 (note 124);
Molina, Fdbulas y mitos, 57-58 and 128 (note
Matienzo, Gobierno del Peru, 24, 51-56, 116, and 119 (note 32);
and Vega, Royal Commentaries, 98, 124-25,226-27,262,267,269-70, 274-75,326,329-333, and 397 (note 126).
Marcia Ascher, "Mathematical Ideas of the Incas," in Native American Mathematics, ed. Michael P. Closs (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986),261-89.
Marcia Ascher and Robert Ascher, Mathematics of the Incas: Code of the Quipu (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1997), esp. 12-35 (origi- nally published as Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture [Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1981)). Various combinations of z-and s-patterned spun yarns consistently covary when tied together in left-and right-oriented plies. Urton's research suggests that spinning and plying variations, along with khipu knot directional- ity, encode binary classes of meaning. See Gary Urton, "A New Twist in an Old Yarn: Variation in Knot Directionality in the Inka Khipus," Baessler-Archiv, n.s. 42 (1994): 271-305, esp. 291-92.
L. Leland Locke, "The Ancient Quipu: A Peruvian Knot Record," American Anthropologist, n.S. 14 (1912): 325-32; idem, "A Peruvian Quipu," Museum of the American Indian 7, no. 5 (1927): ]- 11; and Erland Nordenskiold, "The Secret of the Peruvian Quipus," in The Secret of the Peruvian Quipus, Comparative Ethnographical Stud- ies, vol. 6, pt. 1 (1925; reprinted New York: AMS Press, 1979).
For detailed comparisons between khipus and the ceque system see John Howland Rowe, "Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Con- quest," in Handbook of South American Indians, 7 vols., ed. Julian H. Steward (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1946-59), 2: 183-330, esp. 300, and R. Tom Zuidema, "The Inca Calendar," in Native American Astronomy, ed. Anthony F. Aveni (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977), 219-59, esp. 231.
Molina, Fdbulas y mitos, 122-23 and 128 (note 8).
Matienzo, Gobierno del Peru, 119 (note 32).
Although most discussions of radial organization center on the ceque system of Cuzco, radial systems of thought had architectural and material manifestations throughout the Andes during the late hori- zon.
See Hyslop, Inka Settlement Planning, 202-15 (note 16);
John Hyslop,Inkawasi, the New Cuzco: Canete, Lunahuand, Peru (New York: Institute of Andean Research, 1985), esp. 52-56; and Jeanette E. Sherbondy, "Organizaci6n hidcaulica y poder en el Cuzco de los Incas," Revista Espanola de Antropologia Americana 17 (1987): 117-53, esp. 118-20.

FAQs

What evidence supports an ancient mapmaking tradition in the central Andes?add

The research indicates that Andean peoples practiced significant agricultural and military activities, which typically foster formal mapmaking economies, yet evidence of formal maps remains elusive. Cultural practices suggest they engaged in ephemeral mapping and significant spatial representation using various methods throughout their history.

How do Andean mapping rites differ from western mapping practices?add

Andean mapping rites often involve ephemeral and performative aspects, where amulets spatially represent landscapes and invoke spiritual forces, diverging from the static nature of Western maps. Rituals and community responsibilities are integral to these rites, emphasizing social relations over purely cartographic representation.

What role do huacas play in Andean spatial representation?add

Huacas serve as sacred geographic referents and are central to legitimizing territorial rights and maps within Andean culture. They symbolize both the landscape's spiritual significance and social order, thereby intertwining cultural narratives with geographic understanding.

How is the ceque system integrated into Andean spatial organization?add

The Inka ceque system organizes geography and spirituality through sighting lines linking sacred sites, functioning as a comprehensive map of social and political territories within their culture. It aligns with geographical formations and rituals, demonstrating the interconnectedness of space, society, and belief.

What metaphors are commonly used in Andean landscape representation?add

Andean cultures frequently employ body-landscape and animal-landscape metaphors, embedding social concepts in geographical representation. This symbolic use highlights the intrinsic connection between landscapes, identity, and cultural narratives, as seen in artifacts from various Andean societies.

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