The Lost Half of Inca Architecture

The fabulous empire of the Incas is justly famous worldwide for the marvelous stonework evident at Machu Picchu and the many Inca ruins in and around their imperial capital at Cuzco, Peru, as well as dozens of lesser-known sites up and down the Andes.

Altogether absent today, however, are the magnificent roofs of native thatch that once crowned these beautifully crafted structures. Even the sixteenth century Spanish conquistadores who destroyed the Incas’ world were impressed by the scale and beauty of Inca thatch-work. Their accounts unfortunately record hardly any construction details though, leaving present-day researchers few clues other than rare enigmatic masonry attachment points as to how these roofs were built.

This paper benefits from the author’s analysis of an extremely rare and virtually intact Inca structure high in Peru’s remote Cordillera Vilcabamba. Once sheltered by a roof subject to violent Andean storms, this building exhibits numerous stonework details aimed at holding the roof fast in high winds. From these details, the entire scheme of construction becomes clear, as proposed in this paper.