Ñawpa Pacha

Journal of Andean Archaeology

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MAX UHLE AND TAMBO COLORADO A CENTURY

LATER

Jean-Pierre Protzen

To cite this article: Jean-Pierre Protzen (2006) MAX UHLE AND TAMBO COLORADO A CENTURY
LATER, Ñawpa Pacha, 28:1, 11-40

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/naw.2006.28.1.003

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 M A X UHLE AND T A M B O COLORADO

A CENTURY LATER

Jean-Pierre Protzen
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In 1901 Max Uhle, the "Father of Peruvian Archeology," spent several weeks mapping, photographing, and
studying the Inca site of Tambo Colorado and its surroundings. Because the site has suffered noticeable deterio-
ration and damage in the intervening century, Uhles plans, photographs, and notes are of particular importance
to anyone investigating Tambo Colorado. But more important than the historic value of Uhles documentation
is the superior quality of his work. His plans are of an astonishing accuracy and his observations and reflections
most thoughtful and astute. The present article is a critical appreciation of Uhle's work at Tambo Colorado and
compares it to current findings.

En 1901 Max Uhle, el "padrino de la arqueologta peruana," pasd varias semanas levantando, fotografiando, e
investigando el sitio inca de Tambo Colorado y sus alrededores. Porque el sitio ha sufrido deteriorizacion y danos
durante el recorrido del siglo, los pianos, las fotografias, y las observaciones de Uhle son de alta importancia a
cualquier investigador del Tambo Colorado. Sin embargo, ademds de su valor historico, la calidad superior de la
documentacion de Uhle es de aun mas importancia. Sus pianos son sumamente precisos y sus observacidnes son
cuidadosas y astutas. Este informe es una examinacidn critica del trabajo hecho por Uhle en Tambo Colorado,
tanto como una comparacidn de aquel a los encuentros recientes.

DEDICATION INTRODUCTION

When first I considered investigating the Inca ruins of

Tambo Colorado, I was told by a mutual friend that
Craig Morris also intended to do work at the site. This
T ambo Colorado, undoubtedly the best preserved
common interest in Tambo Colorado led to our col-
laboration. We spent time together in the field, had
intense discussions, and wrote papers together. In fact,
we were still working on two articles when Craig past
away on June 14, 2006. In Craig the field of Andean
studies, and that of Inca studies in particular, has lost
a prominent and respected scholar. I will miss him
and I dedicate the present article—not one of those
we were working on—to his memory.
Inca site in the coastal region of Peru, lies about
35 km inland from the port city of Pisco and some
250 km south of Lima (Figure 1). After many years
of studying Inca architecture in the highlands around
Cuzco, and at Ollantaytambo in particular, I thought
of investigating how the Incas, in their conquest of
the coastal regions of Peru, adapted the distinct ar-
chitecture of cut stone they had developed in their
homeland around Cuzco to the local materials and
construction practices. Tambo Colorado seemed a
most appropriate object for such a study.

Jean-Pierre Protzen, Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, protzen@socrates.berkeley.edu

 Nawpa Pacha 28
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Tambo Colorado had been investigated before,
among others by Adolph Bandelier and Emilio
Harth-Terre, but it is the study by Max Uhle, some
one hundred years ago, that is the most extensive.
Uhle stayed at the Hacienda Pallasca (Figure 2), the
grounds of which comprised Tambo Colorado, from
August 23 to October 7, 1901. During that time,
and among other things, he explored and mapped
the ruins and their surroundings, and took numer-
ous photographs. He reported on his work in the
Pisco Valley in five letters to his sponsor, Phoebe
Apperson Hearst, at the University of California at
12
Berkeley.1 In these letters Uhle not only relates his
activities and observations, but he also elaborates on
his understanding and interpretation of the site and
its surroundings.
Uhle's investigations in the Pisco valley are re-
lated to his earlier work in the adjoining valleys of
1 These letters are preserved at the Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Museum of Anthropology, in the Uhle Original Catalog, vols.
4 and 5. They have been transcribed, edited, and annotated
by Jean-Pierre Protzen and David Harris, and published (Uhle
2005).
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
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Figure 2. Hacienda Pallasca in 2003 (Photo JPP).
Ica to the south and Chincha to the north. Uhle had
a grand plan that he described as follows in his intro-
duction to the manuscript, "Das Thai von Chincha:"2
It was the author's plan—beginning with the
exploration of the valley of Chincha—to make
a broad cross-section through the regions of
southern Peru cultivated in ancient times. In
this, the valleys of Pisco and Ica, which have
never been studied before, were to be touched
first . . . . Next, progressing towards Cuzco, the
interesting regions of Lucana and the depart-
ment of Ayacucho, the former domiciles of the
Chancas made famous through ancient history,
were to be touched. And further, one could have
hoped to find on the way a key to the historic
culture of the Incas and the style of Cuzco
through the study of its neighboring cultures.
The rather extensively conceived program could
only be realized in its first part regarding the
valleys of Chincha, Pisco and Ica. After one year
2 Max Uhle, "Das Thai von Chincha," ms. (no. 26), held in
the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut Preussischer Kulturbesitz
(LAIPK) in Berlin, transcribed by Gerdt Kutscher, also in the
LAIPK, (no. 27). The numbers refer to the catalog numbers
of the inventory of the Uhle Bequest at the IAIPK.
13
of work on this [the first part] from September
1900 to October 1901, he [the author] was
reached by a recall to California to give a pre-
liminary account of his accomplishments to date.3
Working at Tambo Colorado I developed a deep
appreciation and admiration for Max Uhle's work.
3 Translation by JPP. The original text is as follows: "Der Plan
des Schreibers bestand die Erforschung des Thales von
Chincha zum Ausgang nehmend einen grossen Durchschnitt
durch die in alter Zeit cultivirten Religionen [Regionen] des
siidlichen Peru auf Cuzco zu zu machen. Bei diesem waren
die Thaler von Pisco und Ica die noch nie friiher studirt
worden waren, vorerst zu beriihren . . . . Bei dem weiteren
Vorstoss gegen Cuzco hin, waren die interessanten Gebiete
von Lucana und dem Departement von Ayacucho, einst die
Wohnplatze der durch die alte Geschichte beriihmten Chancas
zu beriihren gewesen. Und weiter hatte man hoffen diirfen,
auf geographischem Wege durch das Studium der Nachbar-
culturen einen Schliissel zur historischen Kultur der Inca und
des Stiles von Cuzco zu finden. Das ziemlich ausgedehnt
gedachte Programm konnte nur in seinem ersten die Thaler
von Chincha, Pisco und Ica betreffenden Theile gelost werden.
Nach einjahriger Beschaftigung mit diesem vom September
1900 bis Oktober 1901 erreichte ihn der Zuriickruf nach
Californien um vorlaufige Rechenschaft von dem bisher
erreichten zu erstatten." Ibid. p. 1.
 Nawpa Pacha 28
While my students and I went at our task with state-
of-the-art, "high-tech" surveying and documentation
gear,4 I kept wondering—and still wonder—what is
it that we can do or say about Tambo Colorado that
Uhle had not already done or anticipated? Uhle's
plans are of an astonishing accuracy, his observations
acute, and his reflections most thoughtful and as-
tute. The present article gives an all too brief sum-
mary of Uhle's accomplishments at Tambo Colorado
and compares it with our own findings to date.
THE SITE
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Tambo Colorado is strategically located where the
narrow Pisco Valley starts to open up and emerges
onto the coastal plains. Uhle, who arrived from lea
to the south, a rather arid region, found Tambo Colo-
rado to be set in a charming valley with ample water,
fertile soil, and evergreen trees, and speculated that
the setting may have been one reason the Incas chose
to settle here. Another reason for the specific loca-
tion ofTambo Colorado he saw in the fact that Tambo
Colorado not only lies on the important Inca road
that connected Chincha on the coast with the high-
lands and Cuzco, the Inca capital, but also because
in his mind,
[t]here is no doubt that the selection of this spot
for construction of the ruins has something to
do with the general line of communications with
the valley of lea5 (9/11: 19-20). 6
Uhle had heard all kinds of fantastic tales about
Tambo Colorado, including that it was of extremely
4 Among the equipment used was a Cyrax 2500 3D laser scan-
ner with which we surveyed the entire Inca complex.
5 Where exactly the road to lea joined the Chincha-Cuzco
road is not clear. John Hyslop situated the junction at Humay,
some 7 km down stream from Tambo Colorado (Hyslop
1984: 114). To this date, I have not yet found traces of the
Inca road to lea in that location.
6 The citation given here indicates the date of the letter (Sep-
tember 11, 1901 in this case), and the pagination refers to
the published version, edited and annotated by Jean-Pierre
Protzen and David Harris (Uhle 2005). This format will be
followed through this article.
14
old age and that it was decorated with hieroglyphs.
But as he wrote,
Instead, at Tambo Colorado I found evidence
of the most recent prehistoric period of Peru,
and instead of hieroglyphs, nothing but wall
paintings which, though interesting, have no
more hieroglyphic interest than white washed
walls . . . (9/11: 4).
Uhle was convinced that the ruins were
. . . Incasic, nothing but Incasic. Whoever has
gotten an impression of what is Incasic archi-
tecture, will not vacillate a moment in declar-
ing that these ruins are pure Incasic, and one of
the most interesting, and, in character, most
decided, monuments which the Incas have left
to us (9/11: 6).
If he was deeply impressed by the Inca ruins, he nev-
ertheless acknowledged that,
. . . not all ruins [are] of equal importance. The
principal buildings are those bearing pure
Incasic character. They occupy the middle part,
while those of inferior character form only some-
thing like annexes east and west of them (9/11:
21) (Figure 3).
Of these "annexes" he observed
. . . that they may not be of Incasic origin,
though the houses may have been built under
Incasic influence . . . (9/11: 29).
Uhle tried to get a broad picture of the site's
archaeology:
. . . I did not bind myself to the study of those
ruins alone. As I saw several other remains of
the pre-Spanish evolution here, too, I tried to
get a more or less clear impression of the his-
torical traces which civilized mankind left in
this valley before the invasion of the Spaniards
(9/11: 8).
He thought that the earliest of those "historical
traces" were at least some 1500 years old. Based on
ceramics familiar to him he distinguished three peri-
ods. The oldest one he associated with what he had
found at Santiago in the lea Valley. The second pe-
riod he identified as congruent with the style of
Chincha and the last, of course, as the Inca period.
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
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Figure 3. Map of section of Pisco Valley with Tambo Colorado by Max Uhle (Courtesy Ibero-Amerikanisches
Institut Preussischer Kulturbesitz).
Layout of the Inca Complex
The main Inca complex is arranged around a large
trapezoidal plaza and is enclosed all around by a wall
(Figure 4). The site was traversed by the already men-
tioned Inca road from the coast to Cuzco.7 As Uhle
recorded, the road entered the Inca complex on the
east through a double double-jambed doorway,8 now
destroyed. The nature of the gate on the west side is
unknown since it seems to have been damaged al-
ready in Uhle s time. Uhle attributed the specific lay-
out of the Inca complex to the particular topography:
The irregularity [of the plaza] may have origi-
nated from the difficulty of building palaces on
both the northern and the southern side of the
triangular plain. For that reason the northern
face of the buildings at the south of the plaza
was turned more to the west. In the other case,
7 This road still served as the main road from the Panamerican
Highway to Ayacucho and Cuzco until about 1996, when a
new road circumventing the ruins was built.
8 That is, double-jambed on both the outside and the inside.
15
the ground at the back would not have been
sufficient for the construction of the proposed
buildings (9/11: 22).
The clustering of the main buildings around the plaza
and the all-encompassing enclosure wall Uhle inter-
preted as showing
. . . that the owners of those buildings wished
to remain among themselves by exclusion of
other people, however prominent the others may
have been (9/11: 23).
Yet he also remarked that some of what he con-
sidered to be structures of "inferior character" stood
in some relationship to the "pure" Inca structures.
He found evidence for this in
. . . the four doors provided in the long eastern
prolongation of the solemn southern front-wall
of the northern Incasic palace. It was undoubt-
edly the intention, in the construction of this
sprolonged wall, not to allow any disturbance
of the refined impression given by the principal
plaza by structures of inferior quality standing
openly at one side of it, but at the same time to
 Nawpa Pacha 28
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Fig. 4. Site plan of Tambo Colorado by Max Uhle (Courtesy Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut Preussischer Kulturbesitz).
give full access to the plaza from those struc-
tures of inferior quality, as from back-rooms of
less importance. The simplicity of the four doors
left in front of those structures stands in accord
with such an explanation of the facts (9/11: 3 0 -
31) (Figure 5).
The western edge of the complex rests on a
massive, two-tiered terrace wall. Uhle noted that,
[t]he wall bordering the plaza at the west is much
ruined in its upper part, and it is difficult to
reconstruct all its original details.
Yet Uhle mapped the most salient feature of the plaza's
western enclosure, namely a dais-like structure, which
most researchers today identify as an 'usnu9, a cer-
emonial platform. From the remains still recogniz-
able along the western edge south of the usnu (be-
tween the usnu and the Southwestern Palace), we
can reconstruct in this area a small ramp leading to
16
yet another small platform. In the middle of the west-
ern edge of this platform was a large niche flanked
on either side by a series of small windows. The whole
9 John H. Rowe and I once wrote, "The 'usnu in Cuzco's square
was described by Pedro Pizarro (although he does not name
it) as follows:
. . a round stone which they took to be an idol, in the
middle of the plaza and around it was made a small pool . . . .
This stone had a sheath of gold which fitted it and covered it
all, and it also had a sort of small shed, made of woven mats,
round, with which they covered it at night.'
'Usnu were a recurrent feature of Inca towns. According
to other sixteenth century writers 'usnu were sugarloaf-shaped
stones set atop platforms with stairs. With time, the term came
to designate the entire structure and not only the stone on
top of it. These platforms served ceremonial as well as admin-
istrative functions; from their height the Inca lords spoke to
their people, presided over festivities, reviewed their armies,
or offered sacrifices to the deities" (Protzen and Rowe 1994:
235-246).
 Nawpa Pacha 28
[t]he southern palaces are similar in prominence
to the northern, in the most general kind of
arrangement and adornment (9/11: 26).
Yet, he ranked the Northwestern Palace, or Palace I,
highest:
Notwithstanding, the former [Palaces II and III]
were not at all reaching in importance the lat-
ter [Palace I], as can be seen by the more simple
disposition of the courts and rooms, and the
apparently less refined manner of decoration.
We have, therefore, reasons for being satisfied
that at least the most prominent of the three
Incasic palaces originally existing there, the
northern, escaped destruction so well (9/11: 26).
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Undoubtedly, Palace I visually dominates the whole
complex from its location at the foot of the hill (Fig-
ure 6):
Figure 6. Palace I visually dominates the whole complex from its location at the foot of the hill. Uhle photograph
(Courtesy Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology).
18
While the southern palaces are lying between
the plaza and the cultivated plain of the valley,
the principal palace faces all the valley, leaning
with its back against the hill-terrace,11 which
rises about 40 meters above the plaza. The pal-
ace itself rises in steps, gradually, from the front
backwards (9/11: 32).
However, how much "simpler" the Southwest-
ern and Southeastern Palaces actually were, is diffi-
cult to ascertain. Of the southeastern Palace (Palace
III) not much more than the foundations are still
visible and the Southwestern Palace (Palace II), as
Uhle himself acknowledged, was already much de-
stroyed when he saw it and its original layout diffi-
cult to reconstruct. Today the situation is even worse
since the two palaces suffered further losses in the
construction of the new road. Yet, a careful inspec-
11 By "hill-terrace" Uhle meant a riverine, or alluvial, terrace.
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado

tion of the remains of Palace II reveals that, besides

the double-jambed doorway that leads from the main
plaza into the first patio, and that which connects
the first patio with the second, a third double jambed
doorway12 led into a complex of rooms in the south-
west corner. Very likely there was also another foun-
tain in that same corner. The whole configuration
there invokes similarities to the northwest corner of
V
the Palace I. Furthermore, a close examination of what
once was a two-story structure in the northwest cor-
ner overlooking the main plaza, suggests a disposi-
tion of spaces that parallels those in Palace I, in par-
ticular that of the southwest corner of the latter.
Moreover, in floor area Palace II equaled, or perhaps
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even surpassed, that of Palace I. And finally, the close

connection of the northwest corner of Palace II with
what perhaps had been a direct access to the usnu
area, to my mind, speaks to the importance of the
Southwestern Palace.
How much less "refined" were the "decorations"
of Palace II? To answer this question we must first
look at what Uhle conceived of as decorations or or- Figure 7. Double-framed niche (Photo JPP)
naments in Palace I. He lists and describes the fol-
lowing elements: double-jambed doorways, simple
niches and double-framed niches (Figure 7), win-
dows, especially "stepped" windows13 (Figure 8),
crenellations (Figure 9) (which he calls "pinnacles")
on top of walls, lattice works (Figure 10) (which he
calls "open-work") that served as parapets (or "balus-
trades"), a figurative frieze (Figure 11), and last, but
not least, the colors (white, yellow, and red) with
which the walls are painted in horizontal bands (Fig-
ure 12) in a variety of combinations (9/11: 44-54).
Palace I has six double-jambed doorways to the
three remaining ones in Palace II—it may have had
more. In Palace II Uhle found the remains of lattice
work (today no longer preserved):

12 Only a fragment of the right jamb of this doorway with red

color remains today. This doorway either escaped Uhle's no-
tice or it was hidden from his view by debris.
13 In "stepped" windows the jambs, or sides of the opening, are

not vertical but step up on both sides—stair-like—in three

or four steps. Uhle thought of these windows as half of an
Andean Cross. Figure 8. "Stepped" window (building 47) (Photo JPP).

19
 Nawpa Pacha 28
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Figure 9. Crenels at back of court 9 (Photo JPP).

... I observed the traces of the former existence of
a complete open-work balustrade and a fragmenr
of this perforated balustrade-work was, besides
[his, found by me as thrown away in a neigh-
boring court of the same building (9/11: 60).
Palace II has numerous simple niches, yet, at
least in what remains of it, there are no double-framed
niches. This fact should be compared to the promi-
nent display of such niches in various spaces in Pal-
ace I. Several buildings in Palace I feature "stepped"
windows but none are found in Palace II. In con-
trast, in Palace II there are double double-framed
windows l4 in the wall separating the first from the
second patio, a detail not found in Palace I. Of a

Figure 10. La((ice-work (Photo JPP).

14 Tha[ is, double-framed on both sides of [he wall.

20
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
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Figure 11. Figurative Frieze. Uhle photo )h (Courtesy Phoebe A. Hearst Museum
of Anthropology).

figurative frieze there remains today a single frag-
ment in Palace I. In Uhle's time this frieze was al-
ready damaged but it still had six more or less intact
motifs. Considering the ruined state of Palace II, it
cannot be known whether a similar frieze did not
exist there. Crenels crown several walls and build-
ings in Palace I. Except for crenels on the north out-
side wall of Palace II facing the main plaza, no crenels
are found within this same Palace. But then again,
given the poor state of preservation, it is quite pos-
sible that all traces of such crenels have disappeared.
.. [D]ue to the fact that the most recent former
tenant used them [the rooms] as stables for cattle,
which enormously damaged the walls"15 (9/11: 25),

Figure 12. Walls were painted in horizontal bands (building 33) (Photo JPP).
15 Actually, the same held true of the Northwestern Palace when
I visited it for he first time in 1982!

21
 Naivpa Pacha 28
it is very difficult to establish the kind of wall paint-
ing that once adorned Palace II. Nevertheless, color
patches on the walls can be detected, which suggest
that Palace II was painted similarly to Palace I in
white, red, and yellow colors. It does appear, how-
ever, that the painting of walls was limited to the
perimeter walls of the first court—none of the build-
ings accessible from it seem to have been painted on
the inside—to the second court, and to the build-
ings accessible from it. It also appears that the color
yellow was not used as profusely as in Palace I.
In light of the above comparison, Uhle's claim
that Palace I was the most prominent compound at
Tambo Colorado is not without merit. Yet, whatever
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the significance of Palace I, Tambo Colorado should
not—and cannot— be interpreted solely in view of
that palace on the grounds that it is the most impor-
tant or because it is the best preserved. Tambo Colo-
rado needs to be understood as a whole, and in that
whole the plaza, the western edge, the eastern com-
pound and the other palaces—in particular Palace
II—had their place and function. Rather, the excel-
lent state of preservation of Palace I should be taken
as a source for a better understanding of the more
damaged structures and perhaps even help us to re-
construct them. It is in this sense that I now turn to
Palace I, of which Uhle has made a more detailed
plan and about which he has written extensively.
THE NORTHWESTERN PALACE
The Plan
Uhle mapped Palace I in more detail (Figure 13) and
cut two sections through it. This plan and the sec-
tions are of an astounding accuracy, particularly when
compared with the results obtained from scanning
(Figures 14, 15). There are some minor deviations
probably due to the fact that, when Uhle recorded
his plan and sections, the courts and other spaces
were still covered with much debris. Today all that
has been cleaned up and some damaged walls have
been repaired. Uhle's plan shows very few errors: he
missed a few niches in spaces 3 and 25, the plan of
space 53 is more complicated than Uhle shows it,
22
Uhle has a passage between space 18 and 19 where
there is none, and that is all.16
Hierarchy of Spaces
Uhle perceived the interior of the Northwestern Pal-
ace to be
. . . divided by several main walls into several
(about 7 different) blocks . . . , which are each
subdivided in many different rooms of very dif-
ferent size (9/11: 37) (Figure 16).
The disposition of the blocks and the layout of the
whole palace, Uhle argued, were
. . . planned by a thoughtful architect, who pro-
ceeded, after much deliberation, in the direc-
tion that each room of a certain purpose might
get the right location within a larger whole of
similar rooms of similar purpose, in order that
each block comprising several rooms might cor-
respond to a certain category of rooms . . . (9/
11: 38).
He further commented on the laborious access-
ways to some of the blocks from the first court. For
example, to get to block 7, which is adjacent to court
1, one has to go from this court through court 9,
past block 5 and 6 through very long corridors.
Uhle's division into blocks leaves out space 3
and all three courts. To better represent the spatial
organization of the palace, one that takes into ac-
count all spaces as well as the intricacy of the ac-
cesses, we have proposed a different representation.17
It is one of a nested hierarchy. Upon entering the
palace through the double-jambed doorway from the
main plaza one finds oneself in Compound A from
which the surrounding spaces are accessed. To reach
spaces in the rest of the palace, Cluster B, one has to
pass a second double-jambed doorway into court 9,
from where two more double-jambed doorways lead
to Compound C and to the other remaining spaces in
Cluster D, respectively. Cluster D in turn is divided
into Cluster E and F, which then again are divided
16 The numbers correspond to those given by Uhle in his plan
of the Northwestern Palace.
17 Protzen and Morris, 2004
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado

J3u
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<U
u
V)
'2
q
'C
v
E
o
(/3
<u
<H
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U
JU
IS
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into Compound G and H, and J and K, respectively
(Figures 17, 18).
This hierarchy of spaces in Palace I only repre-
sents the access structure. For a more comprehensive
picture, this hierarchy should be seen in conjunc-
tion with both, special architectural details and the
painting of the walls and niches. Details and paint-
ings appear to mediate the position of the various
compounds and their spaces in the hierarchy.

23
 Nawpa Pacha 28
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Figure 15. Comparison of Uhle's sections through

Palace I with our scan data.

24
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
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Figure 16. Uhle divided Palace I into seven blocks.

PLf\N
OFTHC
NorthernPal
AT
TAMBO COLOR

Figure 17. The nesting of clusters and compounds.

25
 Nawpa Pacha 28
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Figure 18. Access hierarchy of spaces in Palace I.

Architectural Details While there are ample non-Inca precedents for

the unusual architectural details at Tambo Colorado,
Tambo Colorado features some details that are most
the question remains, why are they found here? Were
uncommon to Inca architecture. Among these de-
they incorporated into Inca architecture under the
tails are the already mentioned crenellations, lattice-
impulse of local cultural and construction practices,
work, figurative frieze, very wide windows,18 and
or were they brought here by the Incas from some
"stepped" windows. Where these elements came from
other conquered territories?
is unclear. Elsewhere we mentioned that a very simi-
The unusual details, or elements, are not evenly
lar figurative frieze had been found at Chincha and
distributed over the entire palace. "Stepped" windows
that the motif seemed to bear similarities to Chimu
distinguish compound H; they are exclusively found
designs.19 The latticework, too, is reminiscent of Chan
Chan and the Chimu. The crenels reminded Uhle
of the decorations on silver pins he had found near
lea and the "stepped" windows he interpreted as half
of an Andean cross. Of the crenels (or "pinnacles,"
as Uhle called them) found on the pins (his "scep-
ters") (Figure 19) he noted that,
[t]hese pinnacles were silver-plated and gilt alter-
natively. Undoubtedly these very pinnacles had
a signification, and undoubtedly they were marks
of a high rank, as of caziques . . . (9/11: 50).

Of the "stepped" windows Uhle thought that,

[I]t must have been unavoidable, that if the whole
figure had widely known religious signification,
the presence of the half of that figure must have
reminded people of the same signification (9/
11: 51).
Figure 19. Drawing of "scepter'
The windows in question are over 1.50 m in width as com- with crenels by Max Uhle
pare with the usual 40 to 50 cm. (Courtesy Phoebe A. Hearst
Ibid. p. 269 Museum of Anthropology).

26
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
on buildings 45, 47, and 50. Furthermore, build-
ings 47 and 50 are the only buildings in the whole
palace to be crowned with crenels. And then, the
entire Compound H is distinctively set apart by
crenels that run along its front, or south, wall.
The only other place where crenels are found is
on the wall that separates court 9 from court 1, and
in this sense, this wall clearly sets off Compound A
from Cluster B, that is to say, the rest of the entire
complex.
A latticework runs the length of gallery 66, high
at the back of the entire palace as if framing it. Yet,
latticework also exclusively crowns building 65 in
Compound G. And the only other place where lat-
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016
tice work was found was at the front or south wall of
Compound G enclosing fountain area, 58 and 57.20
Wide windows are limited to buildings 60 and 65 in
Compound G.
A distinctive pair of double-framed niches high
above the ground marks the south outside walls of
buildings 60 and 65 in Compound G, and build-
ings 47 and 50 in Compound H. Otherwise, double-
framed niches at an accessible height over the ground
are limited to the walls of courts 9, 16, and 42.
The use of a figurative frieze was restricted to
Compound J. It exclusively crowned the two story
building (32/41).
Another architectural feature are fountains (or
"baths" as Uhle called them). Fountains are a common
feature of many Inca sites, and in particular of royal
estates, such as Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Pisaq,
and others. Two fountains exist in Palace I, one in
compound G, the other in compound K.
The Colors
As already mentioned, most walls, niches, doorways,
and windows at Tambo Colorado were painted in
white, yellow, and red colors in various combinations.
Inventory. Uhle made a meticulous inventory
of the paintings on the walls, niches and windows
of most spaces in Palace I. He noted that
20 Only the base of this lattice work is still visible.
27
[m]any covers of colors, sometimes separated
by thin layers of uncolored clay, had been ap-
plied in most of the cases . . . . Very often a
different, older color shone through the later,
covering color (9/11: 63).
However, in his inventory Uhle mostly recorded
. . . that color which forms the most recent paint-
ing, and which corresponds to the decorative
condition in which the palace was left at the
time of the destruction of the empire (9/11: 63).
If the colors and color schemes found at Tambo
Colorado are not simple decorations but are, as sus-
pected, also of symbolic significance, then it behooves
us to know what all the combinations of colors were
that were used and which color or color scheme re-
placed which in successive applications. Understand-
ing the changes may also help understand the sig-
nificance of the colors and color schemes.
With this in mind, we proceeded to record all
the colors and color schemes and their successions
used by the Incas on as many walls, niches, and win-
dows as possible in Palace I. In some cases, especially
on walls with a western exposure, the colors have
faded to such a degree that it is impossible to deter-
mine what the original color schemes were. We es-
tablished that some walls, niches, and windows were
repainted up to five times, and—as Uhle noted—
with sometimes a new coat of plaster in between two
coats of paint (Figure 20).
With these data in hand, I mapped all the ac-
tual color schemes we found on walls onto a list of
all possible arrangements of 1, 2, and 3 colors in 1,
2, 3, and 4 bands (Figure 21). The rationale for this
approach is that color schemes that have not been
used may be as informative as those actually applied.
This recording reveals that out of the 45 theoreti-
cally possible combinations, only 17 were in fact
applied. Some rules may now be formulated about
what schemes were excluded: there are no walls
painted all in yellow, yellow as a band never appears
at a the bottom of a wall, a yellow band is never
sandwiched between two white bands, and if a red
and a yellow band occur together, then there is at
least one more band, red or white.
Three additional wall painting schemes of 3
 Nawpa Pacha 28
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016
Figure 20. Walls have been painted over up to five times with sometimes a
new layer of plaster between two coats (east outside wall of building 60).
(Photo JPP).
colors and 5 and 6 bands also exist. These have not
been plotted against all theoretical possibilities as only
single instances with no variations are found in the
field. A further, singular scheme does not fit any of
the above patterns; it consists of a sophisticated tri-
angle design found exclusively in room 47 as the sec-
ond coat between an earlier and a later, entirely white
coats (Figure 22). Uhle made no mention of this tri-
angle design, probably because it came to light in
more recent times through the abrasion of the cover-
ing white coat.
The inhabitants ofTambo Colorado over time
manifested an obvious predilection for some schemes.
The following chart shows the frequencies with which
each scheme was used (Figure 23).
The niches, both simple and double-framed, I
plotted in a similar fashion (Figure 24). Double-
framed niches have four surfaces, the face (IF) and
the reveals (IR) of the little niche inside the larger
niche with its face (OF) and its reveals (OR), each of
which can be painted in a different color. Simple
niches have only a face (OF) and reveals (OR), both
of which too can be painted in different colors. The
table shows that for simple niches 7 out of 9 possi-
bilities were actually used and 24 out of 81 for double-
framed niches. The following exclusionary rules seem
28
to apply: There are no simple niches with a red face
and either white or yellow reveals, no double-framed
niches painted only in white and yellow, and no such
niches with two of the four surfaces painted yellow
and the other two surfaces painted one in red the
other in white.
Subsequently, I plotted the sequences in which
one color scheme on walls was replaced by another
(Table 1). The most frequently changed schemes were
Schemes 6 and 17, and the most frequent changes
occurred in the three courts, 1, 9, and 16/42. The
latter is of interest because the courts are the most
representative spaces and accordingly are the spaces
that seem to have received the most attention. The
single instance in which the color scheme has been
changed five times is the west side wall (or east out-
side wall of 60) of the fountain in Compound G.
Compound G, as will be argued below, may have
been the highest ranked in Palace I.
Significance. Uhle gave various reasons why he
thought recording the colors was critical. Among these
were that,
. . . it might be important to know which of the
colors were given to the niches of each room of
the building, as it might have been the case that
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado

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29
 Nawpa Pacha 28

Table 1. Color scheme replacement sequences.

Color Scheme Sequences Where Found

1 > 6 U18
1 > 16 > 16 4 > 40 U59a(U60)

4 > 6 U10, U18

4 > 17 U45

6 > 16 U38, U40

Figure 22. This triangle design appears in a single 6 > 16 > 3 U01
space (47) in Palace I. (Photo JPP). 6 > 16 > 6 U01, U56/59
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016

11 > 47 U16/42

15 > 3 U09

16 > 6 U09, U63

16 > 40 U21, U24a,
1 3 4 6 7 11 14 15 16 17 21 24 27 31 34 40 43 46 4 7 48 4 9
COLOR SCHEMES U28, U29, U54
Figure 23. Frequency of color scheme uses.
17 > 11 U16/42
the various colors had been applied in a signifi- 11 U16/42
17 > 31 >
cant way in relation to the different quarters of
17 > 34 > 3 U01
heaven, of which they were expressive (9/11: 68).
17 > 34 > 17 U01
and because,
17 > 34 > 17 > 6 U01
. . . it was possible that single colors might have
expressed a particular function for a room . . . 21 > 7 U46(U47)
(9/11: 68).

As to the possible significance of the colors Uhle wrote, 34 > 6 U01

I exposed in another work (the poor "Pacha- ? > ? > 34 > 17 U16/42
camac," not yet printed) that various colors were
significative in the following way:21
white for the worship of the Sun
?blue perhaps for the infinite ori- red and blue also for the Inca (the color of
gin of the world his llautu, for instance)
red for the Inca red and yellow for the "crown prince" as Gar-
cilaso expresses the rank of
that person with the right of
Evidently, the list of colors and their significance Uhle al-
luded to did not make it into the final, printed version of succession who wore the
"Pachacamac . ..", for there one reads on p. 92: "In a former "royal" llautu in the colors red
report was pointed out the significance attached to certain and yellow, also for other im-
colors . . ." (Uhle 1903). I have not yet located this report mediate relatives of the Inca
and thus do not know on what information Uhle based his brown for the caziques, chiefs etc. of
interpretations. the provinces, etc. (9/11: 69).

30
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado

SIMPLE NICHES DOUBLE-FRAMED NICHES

SCHEME NO. OF SCHEME NO. OF SCHEME

COLORS NO. COLORS COLORS
OF OR NO. COLORS IF IR OF OR IF IR OF OR NO.
0 0 0 W W R Y 46
W W 1 wwww W W W W 1 w W Y R 47
w Y 2 1 YYYY Y Y Y Y 2 w R W Y 48
w R 3 RRRR R R R R 3 w Y W R 49
Y VV 4 W W W Y 4 w R Y W 50
Y Y 5 W W Y W 5 w Y R W 51
WWWY WWYR
Y R 6 W Y W W 6 R W W Y 52
R W 7 Y W W W 7 Y W w R 53
R Y 8 W W Y Y 8 R W Y W 54
R R 9 w Y W Y 9 Y W R W 55
w Y Y W 10 R Y W W 56
WWYY
IF: INNER FACE Y W W Y 11 Y R W W 57
IR: INNER REVEAL Y w Y W 12 W Y Y R 58
OF: OUTER FACE Y Y W W 13 w Y R Y 59
OR: OUTER REVEAL W Y Y Y 14 w R Y Y 60
Y W Y Y 15 Y Y R W 61
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016

WYYY
Y Y W Y 16 Y Y W R 62
Y Y Y W 17 Y R Y W 63
3 WYYR
W W W R 18 Y W Y R 64
W W R W 19 Y R W Y 65
WWWR
w R W W 20 Y W R Y 66
R W W W 21 R Y Y W 67
W W R R 22 R Y W Y 68
W R W R 23 R W Y Y 69
W R R W 24 W R R Y 70
2 WWRR
R W W R 25 W R Y R 71
R W R W 26 w Y R R 72
R R W W 27 Y R W R 73
W R R R 28 Y W R R 74
R W R R 29 Y R R W 75
WRRR WYRR
R R W R 30 R R W Y 76
R R R W 31 R R Y W 77
Y Y Y R 32 R W R Y 78
Y Y R Y 33 R Y R Y 79
YYYR
Y R Y Y 34 R W Y R 80
R Y Y Y 35 R Y W R 81
Y Y R R 36
Y R Y R 37
Y R R Y 38 SPECIAL CASE WITH COLOR BLACK
YYRR
R Y Y R 39 3 I BRY IB ||R 1|Y ||R 11 82 |
R Y R Y 40
R R Y Y 41
Y R R R 42
R Y R R 43
YRRR
R R Y R 44
R R R Y 45

Figure 24. All possible combinations of niche coloring schemes. Schemes actually found in the field are rendered
in colors.
Brown is not an actual color found at Tambo Colo-
rado, unless one is willing to equate the unpainted,
adobe-colored surfaces with brown.
Uhle did find that
. . . bluish-lead coloring [was] used for the deco-
ration of the niches, in the combination red—
bluish-lead—red . . . [on] the southern front of
the northern palace (9/11: 69).
He interpreted this
. . . to be significative for indicating to the out-
side people: "This is the powerful Inca's habita-
tion!" (9/11: 69).
I searched in vain for the niches Uhle described;
none had any "bluish-lead" paint. I did however find
11 double-framed niches with a bluish-black paint
on the south side of the plaza on the outside wall of

31
 Nawpa Pacha 28
the Southwestern Palace (Palace II) (Figure 25). The
color combination there is bluish-black (IF), red (IR),
yellow (OF) and red (OR). If Uhle's interpretation
that blue/red signifies the Inca himself, the presence
of these niches on the Southwestern Palace would
drastically reverse his own idea that Palace I was the
all-important one. It is worth noting that this par-
ticular color scheme with blue/red appears neither as
the first nor last coat, but as the second or third. If
we bear with Uhle's interpretation, does that mean
that the Inca himself "lived there" at some time, but
then was replaced by someone else?
Craig Morris and I suggested that Maria Rostwo-
rowski's combination of a myth recorded by Antonio
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016
de Calancha about a golden, a silver, and a bronze
egg having given rise to elite men, women, and com-
mon people respectively, with the known Inca social
ranks of kollana, payan, and kayao (Rostworowski
1983: 147) may offer possible alternative avenues
for the interpretation of the symbolism of the colors
(Protzen and Morris 2004: 274-275):
Figure 25. The color black is found in eleven niches on
the plaza side of Palace II (Photo JPP).
32
Color22 Rank Reference
Gold—yel!ow(?) Kollana Elite men
Silver—white(?) Payan (Elite?) women
Bronze—red(?) Kayao Common people
Rostworowski's scheme is interesting because it
considers social ranking, yet it does not explain the
color combinations found at Tambo Colorado. If,
indeed, the colors stand for the inhabitant of a space,
how is one to understand a room painted in the col-
ors white/yellow/red? Our knowledge of the mean-
ing the Incas attached to colors and color combina-
tions is rather limited and our ability to "read" that
meaning is, therefore, purely conjectural and only
tentative.
Uses And Functions
Thus far I have followed Uhle's lead and used the
term "palace" for the structures at Tambo Colorado.
But were the complexes Uhle describes really pal-
aces? What do we know about Inca palaces, their
organization and functioning, their constituent parts,
their appearance? Where, besides Cuzco and the royal
estates, would the Incas build palaces and why? Who
would be living there, when, and for how long? An-
swering these questions is beyond the scope of the
present essay, but a few observations are in order.
References to, and descriptions of, Inca palaces
do not abound in the chronicles of the 16th and 17th
century. Yet, as we have pointed out elsewhere (Protzen
and Morris 2004: 273), Martin de Murua has left us
a rare description of an unspecified Inca palace in an
unspecified location, but presumably in Cuzco:
Tenia el Palacio Real, llamado entre ellos Cuus-
manco, dos soberbias puertas, una a la entrada
del y otra de mas adentro, de donde se pareci'a
lo mejor y mas digno de estas puertas . . . . A la
primera puerta, en la entrada della, habi'a dos
mil indios de guarda con su capitan . . . . A esta
puerta primera, donde estaba la guarda dicha,
se segufa una plaza, hasta la cual entraban los
22 Theassociation of metals with colors is our interpretation of
the Calancha/Rostworowski scheme.
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
que con el Ynga venian acompanandole de fuera
y alii paraban, y el gran Ynga entraba dentro
con los cuatro orejones de su consejo, pasando
a la segunda puerta, en la cual habfa tambien
otra guarda . . . . Mas adelante de esta puerta,
estaba otra gran plaza o patio para los oficiales
del Palacio, y los que tenfan oficios ordinarios
dentro del, que estaban allf aguardando lo que
se les mandaba, en razon de su oficio. Despues
entraban las salas y recamaras, y aposentos,
donde el Ynga vivfa . . . (Murua 1986: 347
[1616]).
Apart from mentioning the quarters of the Inca,
which he said were ample and richly decorated,
Murua refers to an armory that adjoined the second
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016
doorway and somewhere in the palace a "capac marca
huasi," some sort of treasury where the Inca's riches
were kept. Murua, however, falls short of informing
us about other possible facilities and their arrange-
ment within a palace.
According to Murua "cuusmanco" was the name
for Inca royal palaces. Yet, Gonzalez Holgufn translates
"cuyus manco" as "casa de cabildo o del juzgado de
tres paredes y una descubierta" (Gonzalez Holgui'n
1989: 440 [1608]), suggesting not a palace but a
specific building type. To complicate matters further,
Gonzalez Holgurn identifies yet another "casa de
cabildo," the "camachicona huaci" (Gonzalez Holgufn
1989: 38 [1608]). Whether palace or building type,
as Nair has shown, there seem to be good reasons to
believe that "cuyus manco" were directly associated
with the Inca himself, or at least with royalty (Nair
2003: 133-147).
Uhle's Interpretation of the Palace's Uses and
Functions. At the time of his work at Tambo Colo-
rado, Uhle probably did not have access to Murua,
for this text was not published until several years
later.23 It is thus astounding to realize how closely
Uhle's own interpretation of the function and uses,
in particular that of the first and second courts, ech-
oes Murua's description:
23 Although Murua's manuscript was known since the 18th cen-
tury, it was not published until 1922 (Barrenechea 1986:
480-481).
33
According to my mind, court 1 served for the
first general reception of visitors on the build-
ing; rooms 2 - 8 around it, which lack special
decoration on doors and niches, may have served
for the general house-keeping of the palace.
Guards, posted upon the terrace which faces
the court from the north, to the sides of the
entrance of court 9, may have received visitors
there. Court 9 was of higher formality . . . I do
not know if room 16 and court 42 (which may
have only been entered by means of the west-
ern gate of court 9 and by passing through the
small gallery 13) were particular reception rooms
for the Inca (9/11: 72-73).
Of block 3 (Compound C) Uhle wrote,
People of the more intimate service of the Inca,
and who were also probably Incas of lower rank,
may have occupied rooms 10-14, which,
though lacking special decoration on the niches
of the interior, were, however, distinguished by
a framed door at the western entrance of the
passage that led to these rooms (9/11: 72).
With regard to the function of his block 4 (Com-
pound H) Uhle was hesitant:
I do not know with certainty the purpose for
which spaces 43—52 may have been determined.
But I take the peculiar shape of the decorations
of rooms 47 and 50 as a hint that this series of
rooms may have had something to do with reli-
gious purposes (9/11: 73).
Based on the distribution of colors, Uhle noted
an east-west division of the Northwestern Palace:
I wish to say, that I consider all the rooms west
of courts 1, 9, and 42 (with the exception of
the rooms 3 and 2, which had different en-
trances from court 1) as the private habitation
of the Inca . . . . For there has been much more
use made of the red and yellow than in the rooms
nearer to the entrance from the street (9/11: 70).
Considering only the colors applied to the in-
side walls of rooms, Uhle's observation regarding the
distribution of colors, especially of yellow, is certainly
confirmed. On the east side of the palace yellow ap-
pears only in a single instance, viz. in room 45 in
Compound H (Figure 26). This figure also shows
that color scheme no. 40 (White/Red/Yellow/Red)
 Nawpa Pacha 28

CS. W/0 YELLOW COLOR SCHEMES WITH YELLOW

CS 0 CS 1 CS 3 CS 6 j CS 15
CS 11 CS 16 CS 17 CS 27 CS 31 CS 34 CS 4 0 CS 47

W ! R R Y Y L W Y R R
R
R i Y Y R R Y R Y Y
W R
Y R Y R R
W W j R W W
R W W W W

COMP. A X X
1
COMP. C X X
1
UJ COMP. H X ! i
CD
=>
J
D u COMP. G X X X X
-I
U
u.
COMP. J X X
D
-1
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016

u COMP. K X

1
i
Patio 54 X X X

Patio 31 X X X

Patio 37 X ii X

"YELLOW" DIVIDE
UHLE'S E-W DIVISION
1 SINGLE INCIDENT
X MULTIPLE INCIDENTS

Figure 26. Incidences of color schemes by compounds.

occurs uniquely in Compound K, distinguishing that
compound from all others.
If we expand the selection to include the patios
within the compounds, color scheme no. 40 is also
found in Compound G (space 54) and Compound J
(spaces 31 and 37), both on the west side. This fur-
ther supports Uhle's notion of an east-west division
based on colors.
To Compounds G (Block 5) and K (Block 6)
Uhle attributed a special significance not only be-
cause of the predominance of the color yellow, but
also for their general layout and location. Both com-
pounds, as seen above, include a fountain, the only
compounds to have one. Of the two compounds, he
thought Compound G to be the most important in
the whole palace, mainly because of its eminent po-
sition with a view out to the plaza and access to the
gallery at the back. Uhles interpretation of these two
compounds was that G served as the private domain
of the Inca, and K was for the women. He wrote that,
I would not oppose here the interpretation that
the former group of rooms served as apartments
for the male, the latter for the female inhabit-
ants of the building, and I will defend this opin-
ion unless faced with proof of a better explana-
tion of the existing facts (9/11: 77).
I certainly have no "proof of a better explana-
tion" and I am not about to challenge Uhle, yet there
are other considerations that may influence the as-
signment of uses or functions to specific rooms and
compounds. In absence of written sources or defini-
tive archaeological information on the uses and func-
tions of buildings, hierarchical order, architectural
details, colors, the dispositions of rooms or build-
ings, type of rooms or buildings, construction mate-
rials, and perhaps visibility, specific views and align-

34
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
ments, all are aspects that may provide clues for a
possible interpretation of the architecture.
Building Types. Intriguingly, Uhle conceived
of each palace as a single building, occasionally re-
ferring to it as a "house." But he did realize that,
. . . the Incas did not follow our system to roof
one house by one roof all over, but that the dif-
ferent rooms had separate roofs, more or less
each like separate pavilions (9/11: 39).
Seeing each palace not as a single structure, but
as an agglomeration of separate buildings, arranged
around courtyards and along passageways, seems,
indeed, a more appropriate perspective. But what
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:41 01 April 2016
were these buildings? Here perhaps Guaman Poma
may fill the gap that Murua left. He enumerates a
variety of structures that allegedly were part of an
"incap uaci" (house of the Inca), among those are
"cuyus manco," "carpa uaci," "suntur uaci" (round
house), "quenco uaci" (house of many corners),
"marca uaci" (two-story house?),24 "punona [punona]
uaci" (sleeping house), "camachicona uaci" (house
of council), "churacona uaci" (storage house), and
"aca uaci" (chicha house) (Guaman Poma 1980: 302
[1613]).25 Some of these names refer to either the
building's inhabitants, shape, function, or to the ac-
tivities that took place in them. In the absence of
more precise knowledge about the building types,
their inhabitants or functions, and knowledge of ac-
tivities in the buildings at Tambo Colorado, we are
left with only the shape for the identification of par-
ticular buildings. Of Guaman Poma's list only "marca
uaci" seems to be immediately applicable, viz. to
buildings 32/41 in Compound J and 65 in Com-
pound G. Of others we are left guessing.
Regarding the shape of the buildings, one finds
that the building types at Tambo Colorado are fairly
standard Inca buildings. They are 1) single-room,
rectangular buildings with one or more doorways in
one of their long sides, 2) two-story, rectangular
buildings with one room per floor and external ac-
24 Gonzalez Holgufn renders "marca huaci" as "cassa doblada
con altos" (1989: 231 [1608]).
25 For an extensive discussion of Guaman Poma's building types
see Nair 2003: 133-172.
35
cess only to the second floor, and 3) buildings with
one of their sides wide open.26 Buildings of the first
kind make up the majority of buildings in Palace I,
of the already mentioned two-story buildings there
are two, and there are three buildings with a wide-
open side, 22 and 27 in Compound K and 33 in
Compound J.
The open side on the third type of buildings is
one of their long sides. These buildings are, how-
ever, of two types. Buildings 22 and 27 have in fact
four walls with a very wide doorway taking up al-
most the entire wall. Building 33, on the other hand,
has indeed only three walls. Both of these types of
open-sided buildings are found elsewhere in Inca
architecture, for example at Machu Picchu or Chacha-
bamba in the Urubamba Valley. Does building 33
represent one of Gonzalez Holguin's "cuyus mancos"
with "tres paredes y una descubierta"? Guaman Poma
depicted two buildings, a "cuyus manco" and a "carpa
uaci," both with one of their short sides wide open
(Guaman Poma 1980: 303 [1615]). His "cuyus
manco" is a building with four walls and a wide door-
way-like opening, where as the "carpa uaci" is a three-
sided building with is fourth side entirely open up
into the gable. If Guaman Poma can be trusted, then
the church at Chinchero was built upon a "cuyus
manco," and the church at Huaytara upon a "carpa uaci."
Neither of these buildings bears much resemblance
to the open-sided structures at Tambo Colorado,
Machu Picchu or elsewhere; they are much smaller
and, as pointed out above, are open on one of their
long sides. I consider them a different category, the
function or use of which remains to be determined.
If any structures served as living quarters, i.e.,
as "punona uaci" or sleeping houses, I would suggest
that they were the spaces 47 and 50 in Compound
H, 60 and 65 in Compound G, 23 and 25 in Com-
pound K, and 32 in Compound J. All of these rooms
are equipped with a platform, raised some 25 to 30
cm above the floor at the entrance. Uhle, as many
26 Of the Inca buildings with one side wide open, there seem
to be two types, small ones like at Tambo Colorado and
Machu Picchu, with one of their long sides open, and large
ones such as at Huaytara with one of their short sides wide
open. It is the latter that I believe corresponds to Gonzalez
Holgufn's "cuyus manco."
 Nawpa Pacha 28
researchers after him, interpreted these as "sleeping
platforms":
I consider room 60 as having been the bed-
chamber of the Inca, on account of the step-
like elevations . . . existing in that room. These
might well have served him as bedstead and pil-
lows (9/11: 74).
Layout of Compounds. The buildings in com-
pound A are arranged around a courtyard in a stan-
dard configuration called a kancha. The "ideal"
kancha has four buildings, one to each side of the
courtyard and directly accessible from there, with
"left-over" open spaces in the four corners. Many
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variations of this "ideal" can be observed, e.g., with
more than four buildings or buildings only on three
sides as is the case in Compound A. Of the other
compounds, only Compounds C and G may rea-
sonably be construed as variations of a kancha, in
which a courtyard (10 in Compound C, and 54 in
Compound G) gives access to all other buildings.
Although Compound H also has a courtyard (44), I
am reluctant to call it a kancha because of the more
circuitous access patterns to buildings 47, 50, and
52, and the "left over" spaces.
Compound J cannot be fitted into the kancha
mold by any stretch of imagination. It rather appears
as a series of spaces arranged along a pathway that
lead from courtyard 31 to space 41, the second floor
of the southwest corner building.
Compound K shares with all the other com-
pounds (except J) the fact that it has a single entrance,
although not a conspicuous double-jambed doorway.
Rather, the spaces within K are reached through a
forecourt (29) off a long corridor (30) and an almost
imperceptible doorway. Its layout, too, is a series of
spaces arranged along a pathway, however a more
"orderly" one. The spaces are all neatly arranged along
a "spine," the corridor 21.
Hierarchy Revisited
Compounds G and H (Cluster E) and Compounds
J and K (Cluster F) are at the same level, at the top of
the access hierarchy, yet they are by no means equiva-
lent. Cluster E is also physically at the top of the
36
Palace and visually dominating it, while Cluster F
lies low with only part of Compound J directly over-
looking the main plaza and Compound K entirely
hidden from view from within and without the Palace.
Moreover, Compounds G and H form a dis-
tinct pair in ways Compounds J and K do not. G
and H are tied together by courtyard 42 and their
respective double-jambed entryways symmetrically
facing each other across the courtyard. In contrast,
Cluster F with its discreet access could be read as a
single compound instead of two, J and K, were it
not for the seclusion of the spaces in K that sets it
apart from J. Compounds G and H are further tied
together by harboring the only buildings with double-
framed niches on the outside walls.
Based on these observations, I would argue that
Compounds G and H were the most important ones
in Palace I. Yet, they are also distinct from each other.
It will be remembered that Compound H is special
on account of the "stepped" windows and crenel-
lations, and Compound G on account of the wide
windows and latticework. What function or whom
did these compounds serve? I am tempted to agree
with Uhle, that Compound G may have been the
quarters for the Inca himself—if ever he stayed at
Tambo Colorado—or of his representative. It is the
largest of the private compounds and it has a foun-
tain. If Compound G indeed served the Inca, then
Compound H must have played a similarly exalted
role. But, what that role may have been, I do not
know. Was it for the noble women?
What about the functions of Cluster F? One
could see a certain symmetry between Compounds J
in Cluster F and G in Cluster E. The two-story build-
ing in F echoes the one in G: the former in the south-
west corner at the front of the palace, the latter in
the northwest corner at the back of it and both in
visual contact with each other. Could one make the
argument that if Compound G served the Inca, then
Compound J accommodated a local chief? This
would account for the hierarchical differentiation
between Cluster E and F. It does not, however, ex-
plain compound K with its most ornate color scheme,
a fountain, and the buildings with an open side. As
with the significance of the colors, a lot more infor-
mation will be needed before questions of function,
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
use, and occupancy of the various structures in Pal-
ace I can be resolved, if they ever can be.
If we were to follow Murua literally when he
wrote "[j]unto a esta segunda puerta estaba la armeria
del Ynga" (Murua 1986: 347 [1616]), one might be
tempted to interpret Compound C as an armory. In
my view, Compound C is too formal for this pur-
pose. In the access hierarchy, Compound C with its
double-jambed doorway is the counterpart to Clus-
ter D, (which comprises all the private compounds)
with its double-jambed entryway across court 9. My
interpretation of Compound C is similar to Uhle's:
it may have served for special receptions of dignitar-
ies. Or perhaps better yet it was the "camachicona
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uaci," that is, the council chambers of the Inca?
THE SOUTHWESTERN PALACE
Uhle already commented on the similarities of the
layout of Palace I and II with a first outer, and sec-
ond inner court, and their accesses through double-
jambed doorways (Figure 27). Unfortunately the
structures around the second court are too much
destroyed to establish further similarities, yet, as
mentioned above, I do see parallels with the western
section of Palace II and Cluster F (Compounds J
and K) in Palace I. Both are reached along a rather
circuitous pathway through the second court with-
out any other exit; both have a fountain, both have
open-sided buildings, and both have a two-story
building overlooking the main plaza.
 Nawpa Pacha 28
What is of particular interest about the western
section is that, in contrast to its counterpart in Pal-
ace I, it appears to have had openings (windows) out
to the West and down the valley. The whole section,
spaces 19 (the fountain), 20 (the open-sided build-
ing), 23 and 24 in particular, had a distinct orienta-
tion to the West, just as the usnu and the adjoining
platform between the 'usnu and Palace II did. The
proximity of Palace II, its possible direct access (space
14) to the 'usnu, and their joint orientation to the
West suggest a connection to the setting Sun and
possible associated religious rituals.
The colors in Palace II, as in Palace I are white,
red, and yellow, although yellow seems to have had
only limited applications. Most painted walls were
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white at the bottom with a red band above. The color
red in Palace II differs in hue from that in Palace I; it
is more "pinkish" in appearance.27 Specks of yellow
are found high on the east side of building 25 and
on the west side of building 8. Most prominently,
yellow was applied as a first coat in the niches within
the open-sided building 20. If indeed, yellow was
associated with higher ranks, this would further un-
derline the significance of the western section.
TAMBO COLORADO REVISITED
The name "Tambo Colorado implies that the site
was a tampu, that is, one of the way stations along
the Inca road. Although "Tambo Colorado" is not
the original name of the place—what it was is not
known28—the assumption that the site was a tampu
is not unreasonable. Tampu served as lodging and
supply stations for travelers on official Inca state busi-
ness, and were built at more or less regular intervals
along the Inca roads.
Uhle does not mention the Inca tampu system
in his reports, but he seems to have discovered it:
27 The red color in Palace I varies between 10R6/4 and 10R6/
6, whereas in Palace II it takes on values 10R4/6 and 10R5/
6 on the Munsell Soil Color Chart.
28 I have been told by a tourism official in Pisco that Julio Tello
had unearthed the Inca name for Tambo Colorado:
Naykaskha. I have not yet been able to find the text in which
Tello allegedly mentions this name.
38
The map of Peru made by Raimondi shows a
geographical name "Ingahuasi" about 63 kilo-
meters directly east of our "Ingahuasi" on the
road to Ayacucho . . . . Measuring now the dis-
tances on the map, it curiously appears that the
distance between Tambo Colorado from our
Ingahuasi above Huaitara, in a direct line on
the map amounts to also nearly exactly 65 kilo-
meters . . . . It seems, therefore, necessary to
infer from that that the distances from Tambo
Colorado to the first "Ingahuasi" above Huaitara
and from there to the second Ingahuasi, the
hacienda of cattle, each represented one jour-
ney in the Incas traveling through his empire.
If I am right in making this conclusion from all
the circumstances surrounding our Ingahuasi,
and coming into view during its study, it seems
to me something has been also done for im-
proving our understanding of the governmen-
tal machine of the interesting Incasic empire
(1/02: 60-61). 29
To this Uhle added in the margin:
measuring from the Incasic palaces near Tambo
de Mora (Chincha valley) to Tambo Colorado,
in a direct line on the map, one finds about 79
km as the distance. As the roads of the coast are
more comfortable than those of the mountains,
this distance appears to be the length of another
(third) journey during the Inca's traveling.
Tampu were built in a variety of sizes, from small
stations with no more than a couple of buildings to
large centers that may have doubled as administra-
tive headquarters for an entire region. Some of the
tampu included facilities for royalty. Tambo Colo-
rado seems to fit this latter category of tampu.
Not much is known about the organization of
the various tampu. But we may assume that at least
the larger tampu, such as Tambo Colorado, may have
followed patterns similar to other Inca settlements.
Among these patterns is a division of the settlement
into hanan and hurin, or "upper" and "lower" sec-
tions. Applied to Tambo Colorado, one could con-
sider the Northwestern Palace to correspond to hanan,
and the Southwest Palace to hurin. Rostworowski's
29 The reference here is to Uhle's letter to Phoebe A. Hearst of
January 1902.
 Protzen: Max Uhle and Tambo Colorado
scheme, according to which hanan represented the
Inca warrior, and hurin the Inca religious elite
(Rostworowski 1983: 162), would seem to fit rather
well with our observations that the Southwestern
Palace, or Palace II, seems to be closely associated
with religious functions.
Another thought may be to see in the three pal-
aces, Palace I, II, and III, at Tambo Colorado a tri-
partite division along the ranks kollana, payan, and
kayao, respectively. This interpretation is not in con-
flict with the hanan-hurin division, but rather
complements it. It assigns a role to Palace III as a
palace for "common" people, perhaps the local elite.
I hope that what I have said is not only a tribute
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to Max Uhle, but also a demonstration of the con-
tinued relevance of his work to our own investiga-
tions. He asked the very same questions that pre-
occupy us today: Tambo Colorado, what was it? Who
lived there and what were they doing? What was the
use and function of the various compounds and
spaces? How did relate to the pre-existing structures?
What did the colors mean? Etc.
Anything we could add to Uhle's thoughts stem
from our further detailed investigation of, say, the
color schemes, from a much expanded literature on
Inca civilization, and from our expanded knowledge
and understanding of Inca architecture and planning
practices. At the time of Uhle's investigations at
Tambo Colorado, he had not yet come upon the
major sites and buildings in and around Cuzco. His
encounters with Inca architecture had been with what
he may have found in Bolivia, to buildings on the
Islands of the Sun and Moon in Lake Titicaca, and
to Inca reappropriations of earlier architecture at
Pachacamac and Chincha. It is thus not surprising to
read his exclamation when he first came upon Tambo
Colorado:
. . . Incasic, nothing but Incasic . . . . pure
Incasic!
39
REFERENCES CITED
Gonzalez Holgufn, Diego
1989 Vocabulario de la lengua general de to do el Peru
llamada lengua Qquichua, o del Inca [1608].
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos,
Editorial de la Universidad, Lima.
Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe
1980 El primer nueva coronica y buen gobierno [1615].
Edicion crftica de John V. Murray Rolena Adorno,
traducciones y analisis textual del quechua por
Jorge L. Urioste. Collecion America Nuestra,
America Antigua, 31, Siglo Veintiuno Editores,
S.A. Mexico.
Hyslop, John
1984 The Inca road system. Academic Press, Orlando.
Murua, Martin de
1986 Historia general del Peru, [1616]. Edicion de
Manuel Ballestros. Historia 16, Series: Cronicas
de Americas, 35. Madrid.
Nair, Stella E.
2003 Of remembrance and forgetting: the architecture
of Chinchero, Peru, from Thupa 'Inka to the
Spanish Conquest. Unpublished Ph.D. disserta-
tion, Department of Architecture, University of
California, Berkeley.
Protzen, Jean-Pierre
1993 Inca architecture and construction at Ollan-
taytambo-, with original drawings by Robert
Batson. Oxford University Press, New York.
Protzen, Jean-Pierre, and Craig Morris
2004 Los colores de Tambo Colorado: una reevaluacion.
Boletin de Arqueologla PUCP 8: 2 6 7 - 2 7 6 .
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima.
Protzen, Jean-Pierre, and John H. Rowe
1994 Hawkaypata: the terrace of leisure. In Streets: criti-
cal perspectives on public spaces, edited by Zeynep
(Jelik, Diane Favro, and Richard Ingersoll, pp. 235-
246. University of California Press, Los Angeles.
Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, Maria
1983 Estructuras andinas del poder: ideologla religiosa
y politica. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP),
Lima.
 Nawpa Pacha 28

Uhle, Max
1903 Pachacamac; report of the William Pepper, M.D.,
LL.D., Peruvian expedition of1896. The Depart-
ment of Archaeology of the University of Penn-
sylvania, Philadelphia.

2005 Exploration in the Pisco Valley: Max Uhles re-

ports to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, August 1901
to January 1902, edited and annotated by Jean-
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