Page 62 - All About History - Issue 28-15

MACHU PICCHU: THE CITY IN THE SKY

Estimates put the figure of labourers working on
the construction of the city at about 5,000 people, An Inca Home
remarkable considering that it would go on to
accommodate just 1,000 residents when built.
What happened to the rest of the workers when the TheyanaconaofMachuPicchulivedinsimple
city was ready is, like much of the story of Machu
Picchu, still a mystery. Buildings for various uses houses that often had just one room
make up the site, including a guard house, prison,
temples for worship of the sun and animals, and
water fountains, but by far the most prevalent type
of building on the site is housing. For an insight
into who exactly built the structures, perhaps
those who inhabited them are our best chance at
discovering the truth.
Many of the city’s 1,000 inhabitants, if not
most, would have been yanacona, the servants
of the Inca upper classes. As this was a royal
retreat, the yanacona were tasked with making
sure that everything was just as Pachacuti
desired. This would have included tending the
crops that were so neatly laid out across Machu
Picchu’s agricultural terraces, personally waiting
on Pachacuti and other members of the Inca elite,
handling administration of the city, taking charge
of upkeep of the buildings, and generally serving
the upper classes. The city would likely have
functioned in a similar way to a l h i
Victorian Britain, but on a larger
perhaps a present-day royal resid
in comparison, Buckingham Pal
keeps almost 200 staff, so it is
easy to imagine that in the far
more royally focussed society of
the Incas, the emperor would
keep a staff of 1,000.
The term ‘retreat’, often
used when describing Machu Doors
Picchu, is most likely a slightly Narrow doorways led into
the Inca houses. They were
misleading one, as it implies arches that would either be
that the site was used purely for coveredwithamatorleft
recreation. It is true that Pachacu Pachacuti, who is thought open to air the dwelling.
to be responsible for the Thelackofmortarinthe
and the nobility wouldn’t have b creation of Machu Picchu building process meant that
permanent residents but, far from gapshadtobesmaller.
being an Inca high-society holid
the site was a governmental and
hub. It was a focal point for Inca society and rule,
and many of the yanacona would have helped it
to function in this way by fulfilling administrative
roles. The yanacona consisted of members of the Stairways
At Machu Picchu, some of
lower classes, sometimes local, but there were also themostremarkableand
many that were imported from the edges of the baffling structures are stone
Inca empire. Research into the mineral composition staircases carved from a
singleblockofgranite.
of teeth in skeletons that were excavated in Machu Sets of steps made more
Picchu showed that some yanacona were from as traditionally from separate
far away as the Bolivian borders, near Lake Titicaca, blocks do also exist there.
and the northern highlands of South America.
Some yanacona were posted temporarily,
but for many it was a permanent position that
meant leaving behind family in favour of a life
of servitude. In order to secure this labour (and
perhaps more importantly, the loyalty) of their live-
in workforce, the Inca elite needed to offer certain
perks. These included gifts such as textiles and
land to work for themselves, and it is generally
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