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The Houses and ‘Fortress’ of Waskar:

Archaeological Perspectives on a
Forgotten Building Complex in Inka
Cusco
a
Ian Farrington
a
Australian National University
Published online: 19 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: Ian Farrington (2010) The Houses and ‘Fortress’ of Waskar: Archaeological
Perspectives on a Forgotten Building Complex in Inka Cusco, Journal of Iberian and Latin American
Research, 16:2, 87-99, DOI: 10.1080/13260219.2010.527282

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13260219.2010.527282

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 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research
Vol. 16, No. 2, December 2010, 87–99

The Houses and ‘Fortress’ of Waskar: Archaeological Perspectives

on a Forgotten Building Complex in Inka Cusco
Ian Farrington*

Australian National University

The Inka capital, Cusco, is basically interpreted from the historical documentation
of the Chronicles and early administrative texts. Despite the fact that History
and Archaeology offer complementary data and interpretative opportunities, the latter
has contributed very little to this understanding. In this paper, I demonstrate that
archaeology offers an appropriate explanation for buildings that were known as
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the houses and fortress of Waskar in the distribution of solares of 1534 but which
were never mentioned again. By using techniques of town plan analysis, urban
archaeology, and the comparative analysis of cultural assemblages, a high
platform now occupied by the Colegio San Borja and the Parque Tricentenario
above the northwestern corner of the plaza is argued to be the location of the
houses, while the slope below now in Calle Suecia and the Portal de Panes was
characterised by fine terraces, with zig-zag salients and gateways, that gave it the term
fortress.
Keywords: Inka Archaeology; Cusco Archaeology; Cusco History; urban Cusco

The topography and functions of Cusco, the capital and navel of the Inka world, have been
largely understood from interpretations of the chronicles and other historical sources, and
from its remaining stone walls.1 The most important of the former are the eyewitness
accounts of the chroniclers, such as Sancho de la Hoz and Pedro Pizarro,2 and the early
official documents, such as the Libro del Primer Cabildo.3 While the later chroniclers4
provided observations about the Inka city, their information can be unreliable as its fabric
had been progressively transformed, dismantled and replaced as a result of the
transference of ownership in 1534, and the destruction caused by the Manco II uprising of
May 1536.
In contrast, archaeological enquiry has played little part in this understanding of Inka
Cusco, despite the fact that there have been over 70 excavation programs since the
1950s. The reasons for this are three-fold. First, there has been a general belief among
most archaeologists of the city that the chronicles and their interpretation report
everything that needs to be known about it.5 This is despite the fact that these sources
often disagree on the location of buildings, their ownership and functions. Second, it has
been generally accepted that the stratigraphy encountered is so disturbed and mixed, with
so few intact deposits or occupation floors, that it is impossible to make any sense of it or
to interpret its contents. The normal accumulation of occupational strata on top of each
other is an impossibility in any ancient city that has been continually occupied for

*
Email: tawantinsuyu@optusnet.com.au

ISSN 1326-0219 print/ISSN 2151-9668 online

q 2010 Association of Iberian and Latin American Studies of Australasia (AILASA)
DOI: 10.1080/13260219.2010.527282
http://www.informaworld.com
 88 I. Farrington

hundreds of years because over time buildings are modified, dismantled and rebuilt, often
to different plans, while floors, pavements, and occupation layers are cut by rubbish pits,
burials, cess pools and wells, and trenches for footings, water supply, sewerage and other
utility services. In addition, soils and fill can be removed from, or even introduced to, an
urban plot further altering its stratigraphical profile. In Cusco, this has often resulted in
the association of Inka pottery with Colonial, Republican and even modern artefacts at
the same depth, but not always in the same stratigraphical lens. Advances in urban
archaeology in Britain6 have enabled the archaeologist to overcome these issues to a
large extent with a coherent approach based on careful stratigraphical analysis, the
detailed analysis of artefact assemblages and detailed histories of the plots under
investigation. Third, the excavated urban plots have been small and not chosen to answer
specific research questions about Cusco. They were simply those that had become
available through conservation works on baroque churches and Colonial houses in this
World Heritage city, or the massive hotel and commercial development of recent
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decades. This means that there has been no coherent approach and no requirement to
answer specific research questions, although the recent success of the large-scale
excavation program at Kusikancha, the former ‘23 de noviembre’ army barracks in
Calle Maruri, has demonstrated what can be achieved when such research questions are
addressed.7
By utilising basic urban archaeological techniques and historical information to
understand individual plot and street block histories, particularly their early history, as
well as site formation processes and the interpretation of artefact assemblages,
archaeology can be used to evaluate the generally accepted historical interpretations of
Inka Cusco and generate new ones. On this basis, I have reviewed the results of about half
of the mainly unpublished urban excavations and have added detailed field measurements
and architectural descriptions of extant buildings, walls, and streets to tease out the
topography of the Inka city.8 This research has enabled a clearer view of the Inka urban
plan and the functions of its various districts to emerge as well as evidence for an ‘early
Inka’ or Killke phase. Using the geographical technique of town plan analysis9 with these
data, the Inka city can be divided into three residential plan-units that were separated by
two irregularly shaped plan-seams that contained the main plazas and usnu complexes.10
Plan-seam A has a politico-administrative focus with its palaces, large halls and temple,
surrounding Hawkaypata, while plan-seam B contained the main religious focus of
Tawantinsuyu, the Sun temple known as Qorikancha, and a large secular plaza,
Limaqpampa (see fig. 1 below).
The residential areas were each planned differently into blocks of enclosed kancha,
comprising four to eight buildings around a central courtyard, which may mean that
each group performed different functions or housed different social groups. In the
historical documentation, various chroniclers have commented that the city was divided
socially and spatially into Hanan and Hurin sectors. However, analysis of the
assemblages and burials reveals very little difference between the kancha, as each had at
least one kitchen, its own brewing facilities and sub-floor human burials. No evidence
has emerged for large-scale craft production or for different social groups. The only
exception to date is that Hatunkancha, a large walled compound, has a different
arrangement of buildings and spaces as well as at least two high status burials with
significant amounts of high quality grave goods, indicating perhaps that it was inhabited
by an elite.11
To date, there has been very little archaeological excavation in the three known
palaces of Qasana, Kiswarkancha and Amarukancha and their associated large reception
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 89
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Figure 1. The main buildings and plazas of inka Cusco in 1533.

halls to the extent that little is known about their internal layout, activities and rituals.
Assemblage analysis from the few investigations have so far indicated that they were
little different from the general residential areas, providing similar kitchen, brewing,
burial, and offering data. In this paper, I want to analyse the presence of a fourth
palace on Hawkaypata and a brief historical reference as ‘las casas de Waskar’ and ‘la
fortaleza de Waskar.’ There are three questions to be investigated: where are these
places? Are they associated with an Inka king, such as Waskar? And, why was one called
a fortress?
 90 I. Farrington
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Figure 2. Hawkaypata and plan-seam A, showing the three palaces, Qasana, Amarukancha and
Kiswarkancha (Ochullo), their large hall groups and the probable location of the Houses of Waskar.

Although the invading army had arrived in Cusco on 15 November 1533, it was not
until 23 March 1534 that Francisco Pizarro took symbolic possession of the city by carving
a notch in the wooden picota that had been erected on the usnu platform in the centre of
Hawkaypata. He requested that all who intended to stay register themselves for urban
property and pronounced that the large hall adjacent to the temple palace of Kiswarkancha
should become the church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción.12 On 29 October 1534, just
eleven and a half months after they had first entered the city, a letter, written by Francisco
Pizarro, was read out to the 90 or so Spanish residents assembled in the plaza, officially
confirming their individual allocation of urban solares.13
Effectively, the leadership took ownership of the larger properties, particularly the palaces
and other main buildings surrounding the main plaza. For example, Francisco Pizarro took the
Qasana palace (four solares) on the western side, while his son, Gonzalo, occupied the
adjacent large hall (two solares). Hernando de Soto was granted the smaller palace of
Amarukancha and its large hall (two solares) on the eastern side. The small palace, called
Ochullo or Kiswarkancha, on the northern boundary terrace of the plaza, was allocated to the
Alcalde, Beltrán de Castro (one solar), while one Inka large hall housed the church and the
Cabildo was to occupy a second.14 Several other Spaniards were issued single solar plots,
presumably a kancha, in the immediate vicinity, behind these palaces and large halls.
Diego de Almagro, the second-in-command, was granted the three solares of the so-
called ‘casas de Guaxacar’.15 This property neighboured/bounded on both Qasana in the
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 91

rear and that of Gonzalo Pizarro to one side, which themselves lay next to each other on the
plaza. This means that the main royal palace extended around the rear of the large hall.
However, the boundary for Gonzalo Pizarro’s building was described as the ‘fortaleza de
Guaxacar.’ Despite these early data, there are no other sources that mention these
buildings, except for Pedro Pizarro, who wrote in his chronicle in 1571 that ‘Almagro se
aposentó en otros aposentos que estauan junto a la yglesia que aora es la yglesia mayor.’16
In other words, he located it to the west of the original church, known as Triunfo.

Location
Historical sources place the Inka royal palace, Qasana, on the western side of Hawkaypata
and next to the large hall called Cora Cora, while study of the two most persistent features
of the urban landscape, the street and plot boundaries, and their distribution, as well as the
few surviving Inka walls, suggest that its enclosure wall façade is now protected by the
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arcades of the Portal de Panes. While it is reported to have had a magnificent red and white
gate, flanked by towers,17 little survives to confirm its location. Its finely made andesite
façade has been punctured many times by doors and windows of shops and restaurants
facing the plaza to the extent that little survives externally, although in the café Roma, its
side wall is a property boundary and displays the original enclosure wall to its full height
with three characteristic trapezoidal niches. These demonstrate that the palace buildings
were not attached to the enclosure wall.
The architectural plans of smaller rural royal palaces, such as Quispeguanca and
Chinchero, comprise a residential kancha flanked by a large hall.18 This arrangement can
also be found for the three palaces around Hawkaypata, as is particularly visible in the
street plan adjacent to Qasana, where there is a long narrow block between Procuradores
and Suecia streets. It has a plaza façade of 28.3m in width and a length of over 100m.
While the plot gradually rises to the west, its platform is cut into the hillside on the north
and west. This must have been the location of Gonzalo Pizarro’s property, the large hall of
Cora Cora that, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, was ‘un hermosı́simo galpón que en
tiempo de los Incas, en dı́as lluviosos, servı́a de plaza para sus fiestas y bailes. Era tan
grande que muy holgadamente pudieran 60 a caballo jugar cañas dentro de él,’19 while
Pedro Pizarro added that it was ‘un aposento muy largo, con una entrada a la culata de este
galpón, que dende ella se ve todo lo que ay dentro, porque es tan grande la entrada quanto
dize de una pared a otra, y hasta el techo está todo abierta. Estos galpones eran muy
grandes, sin auer en ellos atajo ninguno, sino rrasos y claros’.20 Today, it has no extant
Inka walls or footings. It is known that it was torched and subsequently dismantled and
sown with salt in 1546 because it was the house of the traitor, Gonzalo Pizarro.21 The only
excavation in this location was small-scale and yielded a typically disturbed stratigraphy
and an Inka assemblage, quite similar to that found elsewhere in the city.
This evidence would mean that the ‘houses and fortress of Waskar’ must have been
located above this block in the vicinity of Calle Suecia and the northwestern corner of the
plaza. In this area, the ground rises steeply to over 12m above the level of the plaza to a school,
Colegio San Borja, and the Parque Tricentenario. Nowadays, Calle Suecia runs steeply
downhill into this corner from the northwest, while a short, steep street, Cuesta del Almirante,
climbs up from the plaza to the level of Calle Tucumán and the Casa del Almirante.
John Hemming deduced that Almagro’s property was on the hill immediately above
the square, referring to it as Cora Cora, which, he claimed, was strategically occupied by
the Inka troops during the 1536 uprising.22 While John Hyslop and Brian Bauer concurred,
the latter thought that it must have been an impressive building for Almagro to occupy and
 92 I. Farrington

suggested that it was probably located on the site of the Casa del Almirante, a Colonial
casona with many re-used Inka stone blocks in its fabric.23 However, from town plan
analysis, it can be concluded that the latter merely occupies an Inka residential kancha in a
street block,24 and indeed there is nothing about this location to warrant the descriptive
term ‘fortress’. The more probable area for Waskar’s houses lies immediately to the west
of Casa del Almirante and on the opposite side of Calle Ataúd. This is a large, fairly level
platform of two terraces and about 4300sqm in extent. Nowadays, it comprises the Parque
Tricentenario at the east end and the Colegio San Borja on a terrace to the west and cuts
into the hillside as far as the terrace of Waynapata at its western boundary. On the southern
side, there is a steep descent through a series of dilapidated terraces into the backyards of
the properties along Portal de Carnes and Calle Suecia.
Little is known about the occupational history of the slope and terraces. As part of the
policy to give the plaza a more Spanish feel, in the middle of the sixteenth century, houses
and shops with arcades were erected on the vacant terraces towards the plaza corner25
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(now Portal de Carnes) and a new street (now Calle Suecia), lined with houses and
businesses, was built from there towards Waynapata. A second street (Cuesta del
Almirante) was also constructed over terraces from the junction of the Inka streets,
Tucumán and Ataúd, directly to the plaza.
On the main platform, Almagro’s property must have been returned to the crown after
his execution in 1538. In the late seventeenth century, a school was built on the site for the
education of the sons of local kurakas called El Real Colegio de San Francisco de Borja.26
It functioned until 1825, when it closed and became a prison. In the mid-nineteenth
century it was acquired by the state and a school, the Colegio San Borja, was functioning
there in the late 1870s. The school was completely rebuilt in 1939. A small plaza had lain
at the junction of Ataúd, Tucumán and the Cuesta for several centuries and this has
recently become a public park. It appears that Calle Ataúd was widened, presumably for
access by horse drawn carriages and motorcars, probably during the late nineteenth or
early twentieth century.
From an archaeological perspective, this area has few visible Inka vestiges and there
has been virtually no excavation. The most impressive part is the 8 –10m high terrace wall
of Waynapata that defines the western end of the platform. In Calle Ataúd, street widening
has left a remnant length of Inka wall, 25m long and about 1.2m high, that now supports
steps to a school entrance. In its fine polygonal, well-fitted limestone face, the outward
sloping jambs of a street entrance, which had been closed with similar stones, can be
clearly seen. This is probably the remains of the northern enclosure wall and a gateway,
3.22m wide that would have led into the area now occupied by the school. Unfortunately,
there is no standing architecture in the school grounds and there have been no
archaeological excavations to search for footings and occupation layers.
On the southern side, two limestone blocks of a terrace wall can be seen in situ in the
lower façade wall of Calle Suecia #310 (the Hotel del Prado Inn), and a longer length of a
lower terrace forms part of the façade in Portal de Carnes. During various architectural and
archaeological surveys, such as the post-earthquake UNESCO studies and those of PER-
39 of the late 1970s,27 magnificent Inka terrace wall remnants, constructed of very large,
well-fitted, polygonal and rectangular limestone blocks were discovered at distances
between 5m and 10m inside several properties along Calle Suecia (#368, #348, #326,
#320, and #310). This evidence would suggest that there were at least three magnificent
monumental terraced walls made of well-fitted limestone blocks in this corner of the plaza
and extending further west above the location of the Cora Cora large hall.
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 93
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Figure 3. The houses and fortress of Waskar with known terrace walls and probable alignments in
calle Suecia and Portal de Carnes.

Structures and Artefacts: Social Implications

The second question, whether this location was associated with an Inka king, specifically
Waskar, cannot be answered from an archaeological perspective. However, the analysis of
artefactual assemblages and any sealed contexts found in excavation may be compared
with those from residential areas throughout Cusco to assess whether they are qualitatively
of a higher status.
During his short reign, Waskar, the twelfth Sapa Inka, is known to have been concerned
with urban and estate developments at Calca and Muyna outside the city,28 while in Cusco
itself, Sarmiento de Gamboa stated that he had constructed two palaces, Amarukancha on
the plaza and Qolqampata above it.29 Although his rural activities are well documented,
what he built and where he lived in Cusco is much more problematic, as it is for most Inka
kings. For example, Garcilaso de la Vega attributed Amarukancha to Wayna Qhapaq,30
while Qolqampata had associations with the eighth Inka, Pachacuti Inka Yupanki,31 and the
post-conquest Inkas (i.e., Manco II, Paullu, and Carlos). However, the attribution of these
 94 I. Farrington

particular houses to Waskar made only a few months after the Spanish arrival in Cusco must
indicate that they had been given some knowledge about the owner, builder, or occupant.
Its location on terraces above the plaza can be considered appropriate for the residence of
a king or noble. However, my analyses imply that the palace, Qasana, was the principal
royal residence, where the Sapa Inka lived, and that the other palaces around the plaza were
probably those of other senior members of his family.32
There have been only two excavations in this area. One took place in the Parque
Tricentenario on the corner of Cuesta del Almirante and Ataúd under the auspices of the
INC-Cusco.33 Typical disturbed and mixed deposits were encountered in several trenches,
which also yielded several finely worked andesite and limestone building blocks from
dismantled Inka structures. In addition, a large quantity of camelid bone was found and a
considerable number of very finely decorated Inka potsherds were recovered, including
inter alia several decorated ceramic offering components, such as maka34 rims and
zoomorphic plate handles. An earlier find in this area was made in 1905, when the German
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archaeologist, Max Uhle, collected four small objects from a property ‘immediately west of
the Casa del Almirante’.35 They comprise a copper llama figurine, a miniature cooking pot,
a thin piece of metal leaf and a stone bead. These items suggest a relatively high status for
this area as they may have formed elements of an offering; unfortunately, there is no record
of their archaeological context.
The second was an excavation program, under the direction of Julinho Zapata, of
fourteen trenches on the southern terraces dug in the ground floor rooms, patio, and
backyard of a house at Suecia #348, where a length of an Inka terrace wall forms the rear of
its patio, 10.5m from the street.36 The aims of these excavations were to map any evidence
of walls and footings and to understand its deposits. The stratigraphy was exceptionally
disturbed in most trenches in all three locations, with very few in situ contexts. The
recovered materials ranged from plastic bags, glass, modern coins, iron nails and leather
shoes to fragments of Republican and Colonial tiles, large quantities of potsherds, a very
high proportion of which were Inka in origin, and camelid bones.
As mentioned, the upper courses of an Inka limestone terrace wall were extant in the
patio and deep excavations (up to 2.9m below the surface) in different parts of the property
exposed another wall, only 1m behind it, as well as a monumental double-jamb gateway,
with a stone staircase and a drainage canal.37 These were made of very large, finely worked,
pillowed, limestone blocks that had been very carefully fitted together in polygonal style.
They stood two or three courses in height and its walls, 1.5m –2m thick, rested on
substantial footings. The gateway measured 2.14m in width between the outer jambs and
1.22m between the inner ones and stood in a salient or bastion that faced east and projected
about 5m from the general wall alignment at the rear of the patio. There were also traces of a
second salient only 5.5m in front. This wall therefore followed a zigzag course and, if this is
the same monumental wall as that observed in the other properties along Calle Suecia, then
it ran on a zigzag course across this flank of the plaza.
Another Inka terrace wall was found in excavations in the backyard, while the rear
property boundary comprised a third, that was Colonial or later in construction, to extend to
the level of the school platform. The overall height difference at this point between the street
and the platform is 10.14m, which was covered by three terraces, standing 2.96m, 3.5m and
3.68m respectively. Given the amount of fill in this property and the depth of the first
gateway step and the floor beside it, then the original wall height of the first terrace must
have been in the order of 4.9m, that is from a surface that is about 2m below modern street
level. In addition, the wall traces in the façade of Calle Suecia #310 and Portal de Carnes
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 95

must represent similar, lower, well-made limestone terraces, yielding therefore a total of
five across this corner of the plaza.
About 1.95m in front of the excavated gateway, there were vestiges of a compacted red
clay and gravel Inka floor, associated with an ash lens, containing charcoal, animal bones,
a corroded piece of copper and a large quantity of Inka potsherds. Another ritual deposit
was discovered near the second terrace wall, in a sandy layer at a depth of 2.7m below
the surface. It contained Inka ceramics, charcoal, ochre and clay lumps, llama bones,
including three burnt ones and a tooth, a fragment of slate and some small stones.
A large quantity of Inka sherds was recovered from these excavations, either associated
directly with the occupation layers and floors or in the fill layers above them. Several vessel
forms could be distinguished, including two-handled casserole pots, bowls, jars, large and
small serving plates, and maka for serving chicha. However, the most notable characteristic of
this assemblage is the high quality of both vessel finish and decoration. For example, there is a
large number of designs, ranging from standard Inka geometric patterns on maka and plates
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through crosses and dots to relatively rare figurative images, such as human beings, felines,
camelids, birds, suri (Rhea sp.), spotted frogs, scorpions, flies, butterflies, snails and even
spondylus shells. Some human figures display specific costumes and carry a staff. Other
representations comprise plants, such as maize and chili peppers, and the chakitaqlla, or
Andean footplow. Only the assemblage from the Parque Tricentenario investigations matches
this collection in the city. In comparison with those from more famous locations in Cusco,
Saqsaywaman, Machu Picchu, and Chinchero, it is of exceptionally high quality, probably
reflecting use in a very prestigious location.
No Inka buildings have been found on the terraces to account for the quantity and
quality of the pottery. Similarly, the rich burnt offerings, discovered near the gateway and
terraces, overlooking the plaza, are typical of ritual activity in similar impressive
locations. However, such activities do not account for the quantity of materials found. The
main source of items must be from above and must have been dumped as fill to ‘level-up’
a construction platform prior to the erection of Colonial buildings and street immediately
after the conquest. This means that the platform buildings, the houses of Waskar, were
probably dismantled and their occupational debris and some construction materials were
pushed over the edge to the terraces below. It should be noted that the excavator, Julinho
Zapata, found that the footings of most Colonial terraces, building walls, and arches were
discovered to be grounded in this deposit, while the Inka terraces and gateway had been
buried to build up a level surface for the new building project. Not only these Colonial
building plots but also the streets, Calle Suecia and the Cuesta del Almirante, have
been constructed over the top of Inka terraces that had already been filled and levelled
during the early Colonial period. The quality of the pottery in this fill certainly confirms
that there had been an important elite structure, perhaps a royal residence, on the platform
above and that it had been dismantled and the site cleared for other uses, quite early in the
Colonial period.

Why was it called ‘Fortaleza’?

There are several reasons for the Spaniards giving this place the name fortaleza. First, the
‘houses’ or palace of Waskar were built on a ridge that towered 10 –12m above the plaza
and above the Cora Cora large hall. The hill or ridge top location of most mediaeval
Spanish castles must have led to a common belief that all such positions were defensive,
particularly if surrounded by a wall, and therefore led to the assumption that any
construction on top was a fortress. Using this same logic, many other Inka places in the
 96 I. Farrington

Cusco region, such as the Muyuqmarka temple at Saqsaywaman and the terraced temple at
Ollantaytambo, were also termed ‘fortress’ by the Spaniards.
Second, the height difference between the plaza and palace was made even more
dramatic by the horizontal lines of three to five terraced walls in white limestone. These
would have contoured the hill slope as ramparts, that were framed by the tall roof of the
Cora Cora large hall on the left and the houses and large halls of the Kiswarkancha palace
and temple on the right, itself slightly elevated on a lower terraced platform.
Third, the monumental zigzag terrace wall alignment made of very large, well-fitted
limestone blocks, certainly defined one terrace just above the plaza, if not several others. At
least one ceremonial routeway passed through it to the next level via a prestigious double-
jamb stepped entrance located in a salient. The plan of the uppermost terrace and school plot
also reveals a sharp change of course to the extent that it could be considered to be another,
higher salient. Such zigzag walls are quite rare in Inka architecture and invariably they are
placed in front, or around the base, of an important place, such as a waka (shrine) or temple,
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often leading up to it from a plaza or patio. For example, the Salapunku ritual complex at
Chokelluska on the banks of the Vilcanota river has a single zigzag wall in front of a large
scree pile and some cliff paintings, while in the Cusco valley, they are noted at carved rock
complexes, such as Little Qenqo and Lanlankuyoq. However, the most famous is the triple
walled complex at Saqsaywaman that demarcates the northern side of the Sun temple of
Muyuqmarka. It is built of very large pillowed limestone blocks fitted together in polygonal
style, and is over 300m in length. The three walls each vary in height from 3m to 6m. Each has
46 wall lengths, forming a zigzag of 23 salients and in each wall there are three monumental
single-jamb entrances, each placed in a salient, with stone steps up to the next level. Three
ceremonial routeways therefore lead from the plaza through these walls to the temple complex
itself. This area was, and still is, called a fortaleza.
The zigzag form of these walls must have also reminded the conquistadors of the
defensive breastworks and salients in castles and town walls so common in mediaeval
Spain. Their response to this architecture was therefore to identify it as a fortress. Indeed,
during the 1536 uprising, Saqsaywaman and possibly the houses and fortress of Waskar
were used as defensive positions by Manco II. They were attacked and eventually
recaptured by the Spaniards.

Discussion
This small case study reveals that archaeological research can significantly enhance
understanding of the planning, buildings, and functions of Inka Cusco. The recent
discoveries of the usnu platforms in Hawkaypata and Limaqpampa38 have provided the
first concrete evidence of the location and function of these very important politico-
religious structures, while town plan analysis has enabled a clearer view of the residential
kancha, the unusual Hatunkancha compound with its kallanka and small plaza as well as a
standard layout for Inka palaces.39
While there are no later references to the ‘houses and fortress of Waskar’ after October
1534, archaeological observation and excavation have been able to demonstrate the
general location of these ‘houses’ and determine the nature of the ‘fortress’. At least three
terrace walls, each 3– 4m in height, made of large well-fitted blocks, defined the upper
terraces, immediately below the structural platform and at least the lowest of these
alignments, if not all, followed a zigzag course with double-jamb gates and steps placed in
certain salients. One of these must have connected not only with the platform buildings but
also with the street entering Calle Ataúd from the school. The wall remnants in the façade
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 97

of Calle Suecia #310 and that of the Portal de Carnes indicate that there were also two
lower limestone terraces that flanked the plaza.
Further archaeological work needs to be done in the various properties along Calle
Suecia to determine which lengths of terrace link together in order to determine an overall
plan of this very interesting, but unknown, part of Inka Cusco. As a result of this analysis,
there now needs to be an extensive excavation program in the grounds of the Colegio San
Borja to determine the plan and occupation of the buildings that once stood on that site and
their role in Inka Cusco. The school site has much open space that could be investigated
and, while disturbed deposits will be found, that can be dealt with, there should also be
footings, floors and perhaps much more that could be revealed about the ‘houses of
Waskar’.

Acknowledgements
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I am grateful to Julinho Zapata who kindly showed me the results of his excavations in Calle Suecia
#348 and to other archaeologists working in Cusco, notably Walter Zanabria, Alfredo Mormontoy,
Raymundo Béjar and Octavio Fernández, who have discussed their finds with me. I am grateful to
Julie Dalco and Lisa Solling, who assisted in the collection of field data, and to Tom Farrington for
producing the plans.

Notes
1. See, for example, Brian S. Bauer, Ancient Cuzco. Heartland of the Inca, Austin, Texas UP,
2004, pp. 107– 57; and John Hyslop, Inka Settlement Planning, Austin, Texas UP, 1990, pp. 29 –
68.
2. Pedro Sancho de la Hoz, Relación, in H. H. Urteaga, (ed.), Colección de Libros y Documentos
Referentes a la Historia del Perú, Tomo 5, Lima, Sanmarti, 1917 [1534], pp. 122– 202; and
Pedro Pizarro, Relación del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reinos del Perú, 2nd edn, Lima,
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1985 [1571].
3. R. Rivera Serna, ‘Libro Primero del Cabildo de la Ciudad del Cuzco’, Documenta, 4, 1965,
pp. 441– 80.
4. Juan de Betanzos, Narrative of the Incas, R. Hamilton and D. Buchanan (trans. and eds), Austin,
Texas UP, 1996 [1551]; Bernabé Cobo, History of the Inca Empire. An Account of the Indian’s
Customs and Their Origin Together with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History and Social
Institutions, R. Hamilton, (trans. and ed.), Austin, Texas UP, 1979 [1653]; Bernabé Cobo, Inca
Religion and Customs, R. Hamilton, (trans. and ed.), Austin, Texas UP, 1990 [1653]; Garcilaso
de la Vega, Comentarios Reales de los Incas, C. Aranı́bar, (ed.), México D.F., Fondo de Cultura
Económica, 1995 [1609]; and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Historia de los Incas, A. Rosenblat,
(ed.), Buenos Aires, Emecé, 3rd edn, 1943 [1572].
5. A number of leading twentieth century archaeologists of Cusco have consistently argued this
case, using the chronicles to identify buildings and functions, while essentially denying
archaeology any role in the establishment of our knowledge. For example, John H. Rowe, ‘What
kind of city was Inca Cuzco?’ Ñawpa Pacha 6, 1967, pp. 59 – 76; John H. Rowe, ‘Hawkaypata:
como fue la plaza de los Inkas’, in John Rowe, (ed.), Los Incas del Cuzco. Siglos XVI – XVII–
XVIII, Cusco, Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Región Cusco, 2003, pp. 231– 35; Luis A. Pardo,
Historia y Arqueologı́a del Cuzco, Callao, Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado, 1957; Bauer, Ancient
Cuzco, pp. 107– 37; and Hyslop, Settlement Planning, pp. 29 – 68.
6. For example, Martin Biddle, ‘Archaeology and the history of British towns’, Antiquity, 42, 1968,
pp. 109– 16; Martin Biddle, The Study of Winchester. Archaeology and History in a British
Town, Oxford, Oxford UP, 1984; Martin Carver, Underneath English Towns. Interpreting
Urban Archaeology, London, B.T. Batsford, 1987; and Martin Carver, ‘The Nature of Urban
Deposits,’ in J. Schofield and R. Leech, (eds), Urban Archaeology in Britain, London, Council
for British Archaeology Research Report 61, 1987, pp. 9 – 26.
7. The barracks were handed over to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura to be redeveloped into its
headquarters in Cusco. Research questions were defined, an excavation program was planned,
 98 I. Farrington

and the whole site systematically investigated. See Ernesto Vargas Paliza, Kusikancha. Morada
de las momias reales de los Inkas, Cusco, INC-Cusco, 2007.
8. Ian S. Farrington, Cusco. Urbanism and Archaeology at the Navel of the Inka World,
Gainesville, Florida UP, in press.
9. Michael R. G. Conzen, Alnwick Northumberland. A Study in Town-Plan Analysis, London,
George & Son, 1960.
10. An usnu complex is generally found in or adjacent to a public plaza. It had politico-religious
functions about which important ceremonies were performed and witnessed. It comprised a low
platform and a hole or canal to receive libations. Farrington, Cusco, Chapters 6 –8.
11. Ian S. Farrington, ‘La arqueologı́a del Cusco: un estudio de Hatunkancha’, paper to be read at
the Simposio Tawantinsuyu 2010, XVII Congreso Nacional de Arqueologı́a Argentina,
Mendoza, October 2010.
12. Rivera Serna, ‘Libro Primero’, pp. 447 and 469; Diego de Esquivel y Navia, Noticias
Cronológicas de la Gran Ciudad del Cuzco, F. Denegri Luna, H. Villanueva and C. Gutiérrez
Muñoz, (eds), Lima, Biblioteca Peruana de Cultura, 1980 [1749], p. 84.
13. Rivera Serna, ‘Libro Primero,’ pp. 468– 72.
14. According to the book of the first Cabildo, the initial choice for its location was in the
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Amarukancha large hall on the corner of Calle Loreto and the plaza. Rivera Serna, ‘Libro
Primero,’ p. 455. It is not certain whether it ever moved to this other building.
15. Waskar was known to the Spaniards as Guaxacar. Rivera Serna, ‘Libro Primero,’ p. 469:
‘Señalose al Magnifico Señor Francisco Piçarro a Caxana que es la morada que el antes tenia con
la delantera que a la Plaza tiene e de alli para adentro quatro solares que lleguen sobren o falten a
la calle que va por las espaldas de la guerta que viene de Xauxa y va a las casas de Guaxacar
por linderos [d]el rio y de la otra parte los terrados en que posaba Alonso Diaz. Señaloronse al
Capitan Diego de Almagro Mariscal en estos reynos en las casas de Guaxacar tres solares a la
parte que los quisiere tomar [ . . . ] Señalose a Gonzalo Piçarro dos solares en las casas donde
agora avita con la delantera que tienen a la Plaça por linderos el solar del Señor Gobernador y de
la otra parte la fortaleza de Guaxacar.’ My emphasis.
16. Pedro Pizarro, Relación del Descubrimiento, pp. 87– 88.
17. Cobo, Religion, p. 58.
18. Ian S. Farrington, ‘The mummy, estate and palace of Inka Huayna Capac at Quispeguanca,’
Tawantinsuyu, 1, 1995, pp. 55 – 65.
19. Garcilaso, Comentarios Reales, p. 442.
20. Pedro Pizarro, Relación del Descubrimiento, p. 160.
21. Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru,
H. Livermore, (trans. and ed.), Austin, Texas UP, 1966, p. 1202 [1609].
22. John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas, London, MacMillan, 1970, pp. 121– 22 and 564.
23. Hyslop, Settlement Planning, p. 42; and Bauer, Ancient Cuzco, p. 122.
24. Farrington, Cusco, Chapter 8.
25. It is understood that shops and arcades were built on the corner of the Plaza de Armas and the
Calle (Cuesta del) Almirante in 1556. Paulo O. D. Azevedo, Cusco Ciudad Histórica:
Continuidad y Cambio, Coedición Proyecto Regional de Patrimonio Cultural PNUD/UNESCO,
Cusco, 1982, p. 50, citing Jesús Manuel Covarrubias Pozo, Segundo Libro de Actas, acuerdos-
proveimientos-mandatos y ordenanzas de los magnı́ficos señores del Cabildo, Justicia y
Regimiento de la Ciudad del Cuzco, Cusco, H. G. Rozas, 1963, pp. 133, 169, and 192. Garcilaso
de la Vega Comentarios Reales, p. 440, who left Cusco in 1560, added: ‘Al norte de la iglesia
mayor, calle en medio, hay muchas casas con sus portales que salen a la plaza principal. Servı́an
de tiendas para oficiales.’
26. Vı́ctor Angles Vargas, Historia del Cusco (Cusco Colonial), Tomo 2, libro segundo, Lima,
Industrial Gráfica, 1983, pp. 657–60; Charles Wiener, Perú y Bolivia, Lima, Instituto Francés de
Estudios Andinos, 1993 [1880]; and Azevedo, Cusco Ciudad Histórica, pp. 152– 53.
27. George Kubler, Cuzco. Reconstruction of the Town and Restoration of its Monuments, Report of
the UNESCO Mission of 1951, Paris, Museums and Monuments III. UNESCO, 1952; Santiago
Agurto Calvo, Cuzco - la Traza Urbana de la Ciudad Inca. Proyecto Per 39. UNESCO and INC-
Cusco. Cusco. 1980.
28. Betanzos, Narrative, pp. 195– 96 (for Calca), and p. 176 (for Muyna).
29. Sarmiento, Historia, p. 253.
30. Garcilaso, Comentarios Reales, pp. 69 and 443.
 Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 99

31. Cobo, Religion, p. 56.

32. For various reasons, I have previously argued that the spatial and proprietary dimensions of the
Inka ‘king list’ and chronology have been overstated and that a more pragmatic approach would
view that the estate of the Sapa Inka always lay to the west of the city, fulfilling the spatial role of
Qhapaq Ayllu and that the principal and largest royal palace, the Qasana, also lay on the western
side of the plaza. The other smaller palaces were probably utilised by their relatives and dead
Inkas. Ian S. Farrington ‘Ritual Geography, Settlement Patterns and the Characterization of the
Provinces of the Inka Heartland,’ World Archaeology, 23, 1992, pp. 368– 85; and Farrington,
Cusco, Chapters 7 and 10.
33. Anon. Proyecto Arqueológico en el Parque Tricentenario, Informe final presentado al INC-
Cusco. Cusco. 1999.
34. Maka is the quechua name for the so-called Inka bottle or aryballus.
35. Alfredo Valencia Zegarra, Colección Arqueológica Cusco de Max Uhle, Cusco, Instituto
Nacional de Cultura-Cusco, 1979.
36. The description of the stratigraphy and finds was made available by Julinho Zapata from his
unpublished work entitled: Informe Final del Proyecto de Evaluación Arqueológica Realizado
en Inmueble Número 348 de la Calle Suecia, Informe presentado al INC-Cusco, 2003. However,
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the interpretations of these data are my own.

37. E. Vargas Paliza, Kusikancha, pp. 59 – 64, gráficos 4.1– 4.2, and 4.4 – 4.8.
38. For the discovery in Hawkaypata, M. Cornejo Gutiérrez, Informe Preliminar de Investigación
Arqueológica Plaza de Armas. Informe presentado al INC-Cusco, Cusco, 1996; for that in
Limaqpampa: ‘En plaza Limacpampa INC exhibe muros incas en museo de sitio subterráneo’,
El Sol (Cusco), 30 December 2009, p. 1; and Farrington, Cusco, Chapter 7.
39. Farrington, Cusco, Chapters 6 – 8.