A family did not have many possessions. The housewife needed only a few simple cooking utensils for the meals she cooked – some blackened pots, a clay plate or two and clay spoons. She used the large gourds or clay pots she had made to store her water, corn, beans dried potatoes and peppers.
The hut had not furniture. Everyone sat on mats on the earth floor. As the thatching of the roof dried, it shed dust and bits of dried vegetation into the room, so the house was never completely clean and free of dust. Bits of thatching were forever getting...
CLOTHINGS OF THE INCA PEOPLE
The peaked wool caps with ear flaps, which men and boys wore outdoors, were woven of colored thread and decorated with tassels. A woven or plaited cotton band kept the men’s long hair in place. Everyone had a shoulder bag or two, since there were no pockets in the clothing. These were also woven.
Until a boy reached 14 or 15 years, he wore only a knee-length shirt and a hair band, both modeled after his father’s. Girls wore the same garments their mothers wore. These were very simple – a loose, long dress that left the arm bare, and a cape-like...
Inca Woman
An Indian woman made all the family’s clothing. She wove the long, narrow piece of cotton cloth that her husband used as breechcloth. The cotton came from the coast, where it grown in the warm valleys, and the Indians who lived in the mountains traded their wool yarn for it.
The Inca woman also wove her husband’s long sleeveless shirt, a square piece of cloth with a slit in the center. It reached to his knees, and the sides were either tied...
THE HOME OF AN INCA FARMER
The home of an Inca farmer was a square, single – room hut. Together
with a few of his relatives and friends, the farmer gathered stones for
the foundation of his home. He grooved and fitted them into place. The
walls of the hut were built of adobe brick. The men worked together to
make the brick, usually making enough to build more than one hut. They
dug up the clay dirt, poured water into it and mixed it with a spade.
The
roof was supported by five thin poles, one at each corner and one in
the center. It was made of thatch and covered...
HOME OF THE INCA PEOPLE
The ways of the land and of men change very slowly. Watching the people in a Peruvian highland village today, you can see many faces that resemble those carved in ancient stone and molded in clay. In the towns there are many people of Spanish descent and still more who are cholos – a mixture of Indian and Spanish - but in the villages the majority of the people are still Indian. They make up more than 60% of the population.
The Inca Indian, like the average Peruvian farmer today, did not want to leave his Inca village. He came to town to trade,...
The Inca Nobilities And Warriors On The Highways
The common people walked along the highway, but the Inca nobility were carried in litters. The floor of the litter was made of boards which rested on two long poles. The poles, in turn, rested on the shoulders of four men. The litters were enclosed by curtains, and inside there were low stools on which the travelers sat.
The litters of the emperor’s household glittered with gold and jewels, and were sometimes preceded and followed by a retinue of a few thousand warriors, armed and ready for combat.
The sight of Inca warriors marching down...
llamas and Alpacas
Although IIamas and Alpacas were seen on the highways, no one rode them – not even small children. These animals, natives of the Peruvian highlands, carry smaller loads than a man does.
They are not as hardy as burros, donkeys or camels, although IIamas, like camels, can get along without water for a long time.
Llamas can travel only 15 miles a day in the high altitudes of 12,000 – 16,000 feet. Sure-footed, they follow their leaders over...
Inca Market
Inca craftmen turned out small articles of wood, which they exchanged for pieces of IIama hide or some produce their family needed. Good potters, both men and women, traded their wares for the gourds that Indians raised.
Highland women traded IIama and alpaca wool for cotton grown in the valleys, and the fishermen in the coastal towns dried their catch and carried it in baskets to the highlanders. A family with a few extra ducks carried them alive to market to exchange for cloth or fish, sandals or copper pin.
When ducks were brought to market,...
Inca Administrators And Common People
The Inca administrators attempted to restrict the movement of the common people by allowing them only three markets days a month, but trading went on all the time, because the people enjoyed it.
Always there was an exchange of artifacts; and people, carrying bundles, went back and forth along the highways.
An Indian man placed his bundle in a sack and tied the ends of the sack across his chest. Heavier bundles were supported by a band across the forehead. A woman wore a shawl, fastened in front with a pin, and wrapped her bundle inside it.
She...
Legends About The Beginnings Of The Manco Capau ayluu
There are two legends about the beginnings of the Manco Capau ayluu. One says that Manco Capac and his family of three brothers and four sisters came out of a cave in the southwest of Cuzco. According to the other version, Manco Capac and his sister, Mama Ojllo were children of the sun and were sent down by the sun to an island in Lake Titicaca.
After searching for a suitable place to live, they founded the town of Cuzco, which became the capital...
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