THE BUILDING OF SACSAHUAMAN

Abstract

The Inca ruin of Sacsahuaman, located in the heights above Cuzco, Peru, is probably the most impressive example of megalithic architecture in the New World. The precision with which the gigantic, irregular boulders of its outer terrace walls have been fitted has astounded observers since the conquest (fig. 1). How, exactly, those stones were set so perfectly in place has remained one of the great mysteries of Andean archaeology. The work had apparently been completed or abandoned prior to the arrival of the Spaniards and the Incas neither reported nor left records of their methods. In the absence of any evidence other than the structure itself, numerous theories have been advanced to account for the construction of this enigmatic monument, though none have been sufficiently detailed or convincing to achieve widespread or serious acceptance among scholars and scientists. Exotic explanations involving laser beams (Fawcett, 1953), liquid stone solvents (Daniken, 1970), and giant builders have been advanced, presumably on the assumption that the work was otherwise beyond the means of primitive people. In rejecting such fanciful theories, most opinion has gravitated instead to some sort of trial and error approach involving multiple movements of each stone, as first proposed by Garcilaso in 1604 (Garcilaso de la Vega, 1961, bk. 7). Support of such a method nevertheless stems largely from the lack, to date, of any plausible alternative, since no studies have yet been published suggesting precisely how a trial and error system might have worked on such large stones.