8/13/2019 Dearborn Et Al 1998 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dearborn-et-al-1998 1/20 The Sanctuary of Titicaca: Where the Sun Returns to Earth David S. P. Dearborn; Matthew T. Seddon; Brian S. Bauer Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 9, No. 3. (Sep., 1998), pp. 240-258. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1045-6635%28199809%299%3A3%3C240%3ATSOTWT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P Latin American Antiquity is currently published by Society for American Archaeology. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/sam.html . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Mon May 14 09:19:29 2007
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TH E SANCTUARY OF TITICACA: WHERE THE SU N RETURNS TO EARTH
David S. P. Dearborn, Matthew T. Seddon, and Brian S . Bauer
In 1r1knmythology tirge snridstone rock on the lslnn d of the Scrri, in Lake T itiear n, n . ~ she origin place of the slrn. It was
there that the sun first ernerged nnd desigrlnted the Irikn ns his children . U nde r Inkcr rlrle, and perha ps bef or e, this rnck was
c destinnrion of pilgrit~iswh o went t o ~r.or.ship nid riiake offerin gs t o the slrri. We present eriderlce that set of solar r~icirkers
existed on tr ridg e 17orthit.est o f t h e scrcred rock. T hes e structlrres,frnrrled the slrnser for gro ~r ps f nn rch ers o n the Jlrrle sol-
stice, rietrr the tittle o fr ke slit1 festil,n l, Irlti Rcryrni. H i~ ro ri c r7forrnntiorl couoled ~r .ithhe orgcrni:nriori of nrchneologicnl sites
within the snrictlror? a reo on th e isltrrld s~r gge sts hat elite s nnd cornrilon pilgririis nln ho1.e obser1,ed the s~rn setrom differ-
ent /ocatioris.
Seglirl In riiirologin Inka, 1 1 1 1 0 grciri r~ cc r rreriisctr sobre la Isln del S ol eri el Lcrrgo Titicnctr ern el I~ rgcir. e or ige n d el So l. Flieeri este rl~isr~ioitio qlre el prir~ierSol se opo rec id, eritonces riornhrd a 10s iricns con70 S L I A hijos. EI I In 4p ocn d el rririo de 10s
11ikns. .qlri,-d trntes, esrtr rvc o err1 del desr ino de perig rinos , 10s c~ ra les legrrror~ nrtr trdorcrr .hocer ofiendtrs nl Sol. Nosotros
nq ~r ipr ese r~ tan ios de rnnrcadores solnres fireron plresros sobre Irn cerro cercarlo hrrcio el rioro e~re1,idericin qlre 1 17 cor~j~rriro
de la roctr sngrtr do. Esros rtrsgos rrrquitectdriicos tiltr,~c rrvn o 1,isttr tle tr bnjtrdtr del Sol crlrudedor del festirn l sol ar de In ti
Rnytni. Ln i11forrr7ncidri istdricn , jutito corl el ptrrrdn del In orgcit~i,-ticidn le 10s sirios trrq ~reo ldgiro s enr ro tie drvn del snrl-
rlrnrio en Itr islo slrgiere qlre 1o.r oereg ri17o s .In elite podrinr~obser~,trrn prrerttrs de l Sol er Itr rtrrde de sd e ~rbi coc ior les ifr r-
elites de ltr gerirr corn~iri.
n the early decades of the sixteenth century, used to support the elite claim to power. Most
the Inka empire, Tahuantinsuyu, encomp assed specifically, we combine historical material with
muc h of the And ean world. In just a few gen- newly discovered archaeological e vidence fro m
erations, the people of C usc o had created the the Island of the Sun to illuminate a mec hanism
largest state in the Americas. transforming their by which the sun appeared to participate in Inka
city from a mountain village into an imperial cap- ritual during the June solstice and compare that to
ital (Figure 1). The noble class of Cusco claimed activities that took place in the Inka capital.
a mandate to rule the empire through their direct
descent from Inti, the powerful Sun God. As the The Solar Cult n Cusco
empire expan ded across the Andean world, it was The importan ce of the solar cult in Inka social
not necessary for the Inka to introduce a new organization was unmistakable, and, as might be
deity into occupied regions, they needed only to expec ted, the most complex man ifestation of this
assert successfully and demonstrate their relation- cult develop ed in Cusco. Because of the concen-
ship to this widely recognized god. In this article, tration of literate Sp aniards in Cusc o, its solar cultwe discuss how the Inka empire expanded into also is the best documented (Baue r and Dearborn
the Lak e Titicaca region and usurped the Island of 1995). The mo vem ents of the sun across the hori-
the Sun, the mythical origin place of the sun. We zons of the Cusc o Valley served to organize the
also explore how state-sponsored solar rituals, ritual calendar of the imperial capital. This sun
both in Cusco and on the Island of the Sun, were watching was augmented by a system of solar
David S P Dearborn niversity of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Livermore. CA 94550
Matthew T. Seddon niversity of Chicago. Department of Anthropology, Chicago. IL 60637
Brian S. Bauer he University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Anthropology . Chicago. IL 60607
Latin American Antiquity, 9(3 ), 1998. pp. 240-258.Copyright by the Society for American Archaeology
Dearborn S eddon and Bauer] THE SANCTUARY OF TlTlCACA
V
outer pillars are 3 estados high and separatedby 2.5 brazas
0
la Vega Four pillars mark asolstice. The outer pillars are 4 estados high
and separated by about 20 m.
2
Altitude - Anonymous chronicler: Four pillars; the outerpillars are 200 paces apart and the inner ones 50paces apart. A sunset between the inner pillars- was viewed from Haucaypata, marking anAugust planting date.
5 ~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 1 12900 2950 3000
of pillars mark the solstice; otherpillars mark the sun s motion for months ofapproximately equal length.
5 o J 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ,
2950 300029 Azimuth
Figure 2. The motion of the sun along the horizon of C usco was marke d by pillars. Although mentioned by many ea rlychroniclers, the description of these pillars vary dramatically (1 estado is approximately the height of a man, andbr z is the span of a man s arm s, approximately a fathom).
(1991:72 [ca. 1608]), refers to a local specialist Cusco was a different case. The horizons sur-
called a yanca who watched the way sunlight fell rounding the imperial capital held a series of large
on a walL3 These individuals were local special- solar markers, visible to e veryon e, that w ere used
ists who monitored the motion of the sun to as part of enormou s public rituals held in the cen-
obtain specific dates for planting an d harvest fes- tral square of the city. Most accou nts describe the
tivals. It is important to note, however, that the pillars as existing in pairs, or in sets of four. Theytime, the derivative of these observatio ns, was were structured to frame a sunset or sunrise, not
passed on to the village without large-scale public simply to mark a single point on the horizon. The
demonstrations. exact number of people who could watch the sun
Figure 4. The Island of the Sun; after crossing the narrow straits from the C opacabana Peninsula pilgrims broughtofferings to the sanctuary housing the Sacred R ock.
Island of Titicaca w as dedic ated to the sun in pre- by the Inka, and a series of structures were built
Inka times.8 Cobo 1990:92 [1653:Bk. 13, Ch. there. If we c an believe the early Co lonial writers,
181) is very direct on this point, Wh atever the the island was of such importance that it was vis-
origin of this shrine may have been, it was very ited by all the ruling Inkas following its incorpo-ancient and highly venerated by the people of the ration. It is said that Pacha cuti, Topa In ka, and his
Collao before they were subjugated by the Inka successor, Huayna Chpac, all visited the island.
kings. Th e sanctuary was accepted and enhanced Even H uisca r, who lost the empire in a civil war
restricted and available only to pilgrims, priests,
and those who maintained fields on the island. To
gain access, the pilgrims had to speak with a con-
fessor and do penance. They also abstained fromsalt, meat, and chili peppers, after which they
could proceed to Copacabana where a second
confession was made. They then traveled by boat
from the ma inland to the island and wa lked to its
northern end where the Sacred Rock was located.
The chroniclers seem to suggest that many of
the pilgrims were not allowed to enter the imme-
diate sanctuary, but a mv ed at one or more gates
where they handed their offerings to the priests of
the shrine (Figure 5).9 Ramos Gavilfin
(1988:93-95 [1621:Ch . 131) and Cobo (1990:97[1653:Bk. 13, Ch. 181) both describe a large
architectural comp lex in the sanctuary area that is
today called the Chincana and noted the presence
of another small set of buildings that was later
called Mama Ojlia by Bandelier (1910:216).10
Furthermore, they describe a flat area in front of
the Sacred Rock that already had been looted for
offerings. Ramos G avilfin and Cobo also tell of a
round altar stone in front of the rock that no
longer exists. This round stone had a hole into
which large amounts of chich (corn beer) werepoured d uring ceremonies.
The sanctuary area on the Island of the Sun is
still readily iden tifiable and has been v isited and
described by a number of explorers (Bandelier
1910; Hyslop 1990; Squier 1877). This area is
separated from the rest of the island by the
remains of a wall (Figure 6), and contains two
separate clusters of Inka buildings (Mama Ojlia
and the Chincana) as well as the plaza area near
the Sacred Rock (Figure 7). There also is evi-
dence of a large Tiwanaku occupation in the sanc-tuary area at the site of Ch ucaripupata, suggesting
that the ritual use of the area predates the Colla.
The northern end of the sanctuary area is defined
by a small ridge, Tikani, that forms the north-
western horizon. As part of the archaeological
project, we examined the sanctuary area for evi-
dence of large, rectangular pillars like those used
Figure6. Sanctuary area as seen from the sanctuary wall and gateway. In the foreground are the ruins of Mama Ojliain the center is the Sacred Rock and Tikani Ridge is in the upper right.
Dearborn Seddon and Bauer] THE SANCTUARY OF TlTlCACA 249
une
iset .
Sacred
Rock
ake
iiticaca
Figure 7. The north end of the Island of the Sun held a sanctuary area. A trail led to the sanctuary, through a gate-way. Within the sanctuary there are three sets of Inka rema ins, Mam a Ojila, the Sacred Rock Titikala) with its adja-cent plaza, and the Chincana. There also is a platform Site 19 adjoining the sanctuary wall and two small structureson Tikani Ridge.
in Cusco, as well as any structure suited to spe-cialized astrono mical activities. The highlights of
that inspection are presented below.
The Sacred Rock Titi kala )
The Sacred Rock (also called Titikala) from
which the sun rose is a large exposed slab of red-
dish sandstone (Figure 8) that lies near the center
of the sanctuary area (Figure 9). roughly rec-
tangular plaza was constructed adjoining this
rock. The northeast side of this plaza is formed by
a vertical rock face that rises nearly 5 5 m andruns for about 80 m. The northwest side of the
plaza, about 35 m long, is largely formed by the
remains of an Inka wall, with multiple, small,
trapezoidal windows and a door. The southeastedge of the plaza is defined by a slightly shorter
terrace. The southwest side of the plaza is cro ssed
by a road tha t leads from the san ctuary gateway to
the Chincana. It was in this plaza near the rock
that the round stone was located into which
chicha was pou red as an offering to the sun.
The far side of the rock descends down to the
lake. Ramos Gavil6n (1988:115-116 [1621:C h.
171) and C obo (1990:97-98 [1653:Bk . 13, Ch.
181) call this broad descending side, the con vex
side of the stone, and state it was covered incumbi, a finely woven cloth. They indicate that
the plaza side of the rock was faced w ith sheets of
gold and that an altar was loca ted in a prominent
Figure 10 Structures on the Tikani Ridge. Two rubble filled structures flanked the June solstice sunset position asviewed from the plaza area.
the Sacred Rock area, were constructed of well- Rock area. There is ab undant historical evidence
fitted stone, while those parts that faced away associating the June solstice with the Inka solar
from the Sacred Rock were given less detailed fes t ival cal led In t i Raymi; Ramos Gavi lan
attention. This selective construction suggests 1988: 153-154 [1621:B k. 1, Ch . 41) suggests that
that the walls facing the Sacred Rock were the this festival was observed on the Island of themost important. Finally, they are the only struc- Su n. As a result, we propos e that these structures,
tures on the ridge, and they flank the June solstice like those described in Cusco, served as solar
sunset position when viewed from the Sacred markers.
Dearborn Seddon and Bauer] TH SANCTUARY O TlTlCACA 55
Pilgrims Perspect ive of the Solst ice
In Inka times the whole island was considered
sacred, and access was controlled. The chroni-clers suggest that, although most pilgrims were
permitted to cross over to the island, only a few
were allowed to approach the Sacred Rock itself.
It appears that most visitors could observe the
Sacred Rock only from a distance. Furthermore, it
is possible that even select individuals of excep-
tionally high status who were able to visit the
rock itself, like the ruling Inka, removed their
sandals before proceeding past the gate. A similar
description of social space and hierarchy can be
found in Garcilaso de la Vega s description of theapproach to the Coricancha (Temple of the Sun)
in Cusco:
... two hundred steps before they reached i t
[Coricancha] they removed their shoes, with the
exception of the king who only took them off at the
very door of the temple. The Inka and m embers of the
blood went in like natural children and worshipped
the image of the Sun. The curacas [local lords], being
unworthy o f entering the high place, since they were
not children of the Sun, stayed outside in a large
square which today stands before the temple gate.Garcilaso de la Vega 1966359 [1609:Pt. 1, Bk. 6,
Ch. 211 translated by H. V. Livermore).
These descriptions may help explain a small set
of Inka-period remains that we found next to the
sanctuary area (Figure 7 . The sanctuary wall on
the Island of the Sun is still visible, and an open-
ing where the trail to the Sacred Rock crosses the
wall was probably once a gateway. From this
opening, the wall extends downhill toward a lake
and up towards the top of a ridge. Near the crestof this ridge, the wall changes direction and pro-
ceeds down the other side.
Near the ridge summit, there is a roughly rec-
tangular platform area (Figure 15 defined by ter-
race and wall foundations. This platform contains
fragments of Inka pottery and is the only con-
120 rn to Sanc tua ry Ga teway
T o J u n e s o l s t ~ c e u n s e t a n drldge structures
Stone Foundation
Hypothesized
Figure 15 Site 19 is an Inka platform attached to the outside of the sanctuary wall. From this platform the June sol-stice sun is seen to set over the Sacred Rock Plaza and between the two structures on Tikani Ridge.
Figure 16 The sanctuary area as seen from the platform Site 19 , the only structure built along the sanctuary wall.From this platform, the June solstice sun sets over the Sacred Rock and the Plaza, and between the two ridge struc-tures.
structed feature appended to the wall. The plat-
form, located outside the sanctuary area, was pre-
sumably accessible to all pilgrims. In fact, access
may have been provided by a trail that still has
sections of paving. This trail runs above and par-
allel to the current one, at least as far as Kasapata,
a large Inka occupation most likely mentioned by
Rarnos Gavilin (1988:84 [1621: Ch. 111) and
Cobo (1990:93 [1653:Bk. 13, Ch. 181).
The Sacred Rock and Tikani Ridge are easilyvisible from the platform (Figure 16). The
frontage width of the platform is just over 30 m,
matching the separation between the foundations
on the ridge and the width of the Sacred Rock
plaza. The location and size of this platform are
such that, for dates near the June solstice, most of
the people on it would see the sun setting over the
rock and the plaza, as well as between the pil-
l a r ~ . ~e propose that, with access to this struc-
ture, pilgrims who were not allowed direct access
into the sanctuary area still could have partici-pated with priests and other elites in the plaza area
to observe the sun return to earth between the
horizon pillars.
ummary
While Cusco was the home of the Inka and the
capital of their empire, it was not the origin place
of the sun, their patron. This distinction was
accorded to the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca.
When the Inka empire expanded into the Titicaca
region, they took physical control of that island.
The Inka built, or enhanced, the solar temple
there and incorporated it into their own dynastic
origin myth. The remains of the Inka sanctuarystill can be seen today beside the sandstone crag
from which the sun ascended.
From a position in the sanctuary plaza, the
June sun appears to rise over the concavity of the
Sacred Rock that housed an idol to the sun. The
sun then crosses the sky and returns to earth over
a nearby ridge. There, the sunset position is
flanked by two rubble-filled structures that are
consistent in shape and scale with the descriptions
of the solar markers surrounding Cusco. It is dif-
ficult to determine how high the ridge structureswere, but even today they are easily visible from