How They Built: the Andes
A ten‑minute look at the stone‑cutting, labor organization, and engineering that created the great Andean monuments, and the questions that still puzzle scholars.
Chapters
- 0:07 Foundations of Power
- 0:58 Tools and Techniques
- 1:40 Engineering the Landscape
- 2:05 Unanswered Questions
On-screen text
- 0:07 Foundations of Power
- 0:14 Foundations of Power
- 0:31 200‑tonne stones moved without iron tools Historical record · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Sacsayhuamán documentation (1994)
- 0:49 Legend of giants placing stones Tradition / scripture · Inca oral tradition, as recorded by Garcilaso de la Vega
- 0:58 Tools and Techniques
- 1:05 Tools and Techniques
- 1:31 Acoustic design in stone façades The Institute's interpretation · John H. Rowe, “Acoustic properties of Inca stone architecture” (1975)
- 1:40 Engineering the Landscape
- 1:56 Canals regulated water flow Historical record · Ollantaytambo irrigation channels, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (1998)
- 2:05 Unanswered Questions
Sources
Historical record: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Sacsayhuamán documentation (1994) · Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1617) · J. H. Angles, “Stone Tools of the Inca”, Journal of Andean Archaeology 12 (1998) · Machu Picchu site plan, Instituto Nacional de Cultura (2000) · UNESCO World Heritage documentation, Machu Picchu terraces (1999) · Ollantaytambo irrigation channels, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (1998) · Quipu of the Inca Empire, Museo de Arte de Lima (catalog 2005) · Pedro Cieza de León, Crónica del Perú (1553)
Tradition / scripture: Inca oral tradition, as recorded by Garcilaso de la Vega
The Institute's interpretation: John H. Rowe, Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest (1946) · Terence D'Altroy, The Incas (1992) · John H. Rowe, “Acoustic properties of Inca stone architecture” (1975) · John H. Rowe, Inca Culture (1946)
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 53 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (23) — the next things to make
- Groups of Quechua laborers marching with tools toward a construction site.
- Groups of Quechua laborers marching with tools toward a construction site.
- An Inca noble with a staff reviewing a stone layout on a raised platform.
- An Inca noble with a staff reviewing a stone layout on a raised platform.
- Close‑up of a mason sharpening an obsidian blade, dust rising.
- Andean quarry with workers chiseling stone using hammerstones, early 1500s.
- Andean quarry with workers chiseling stone using hammerstones, early 1500s.
- A team pulling a stone on wooden rollers up a slope.
- A team pulling a stone on wooden rollers up a slope.
- Engineering the Landscape: Illustrate how the Incas integrated architecture with agriculture, water, and transport.
- A terrace wall with visible stone channels directing water.
- A terrace wall with visible stone channels directing water.
- A quipu with colored cords being read by a scribe.
- A quipu with colored cords being read by a scribe.
- Workers weaving and tightening a massive grass rope bridge over a gorge.
- Workers weaving and tightening a massive grass rope bridge over a gorge.
- Stylized silhouettes of giants moving stones across a ridge.
- Close‑up of a perfectly fitted stone joint, a researcher measuring it.
- Close‑up of a perfectly fitted stone joint, a researcher measuring it.
- A family receiving a parcel of land from an Inca official.
- A family receiving a parcel of land from an Inca official.
- Stylized silhouettes of giants moving stones across a ridge.
- Stylized silhouettes of giants moving stones across a ridge.