The Destruction of the Yurac Rumi Shrine (Vilcabamba, Cusco Department)

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE YURAC RUMI SHRINE (VILCABAMBA, CUSCO DEPARTMENT)

Brian S. BauerUniversity of Illinois at Chicago

Miriam Dayde Aráoz SilvaAráoz Delgado Consultores Supervisores Arqueólogos Asociados S.C.R.L., Cusco

George S. BurrUniversity of Arizona

INTRODUCTION

The site of Yurac Rumi (also widely known1

as Ñusta Ispanan) is one of the most impressivecarved rock shrines of the Inca empire. It isapproximately one hundred aerial kilometersnorthwest of Cusco, within the vast subtropicalregion that the Inca called Antisuyu. Moreprecisely, the shrine complex is within the Incaprovince of Vilcabamba, near the abandonedtown of Vitcos. The province has gained fameamong historians, archaeologists, and otherstudents of the Inca, because it was from Vilca-bamba that the last independent Incas waged anearly forty year long war (A.D. 1536-1572)against Spanish control of the Andes. Theshrine of Yurac Rumi holds special importancebecause it was the last regional shrine to beworshiped by the Inca elite. In this article wediscuss the results of our recent excavations atthis shrine complex in conjunction with a suiteof eleven radiocarbon dates, many of whichwere taken from well preserved roofing materi-als. Our research provides insight into when theVilcabamba region was first conquered by theInca, and how the shrine was destroyed by theSpaniards. Our archaeological investigation

augments our understanding of the Vilcabambaregion, which, until now, has been largely basedon historical accounts.

The Vilcabamba region, to the northwest ofCusco, is a mountainous area of coca, yuca,fruits, dense forests, and an abundance of ani-mals not found in the highlands (Figure 1).Bernabé Cobo suggests that it was incorporatedrelatively early into the growing Inca empire. Hewrote, “[Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui] began hisconquests with the provinces of Vitcos andVilcabamba, a very difficult land to subjugatebecause it is so rough and covered with densejungle and many arcabucos” [dense forests](Cobo 1979:136 [1653]: Book 12, Chapter12]). Because Machu Picchu is thought to have2

also been established by Pachacuti Inca Yupan-qui (Rowe 1990), it has been suggested that theVilcabamba region was incorporated into theInca empire during the same military campaign,perhaps during the early 1400s (Hemming 1970;Lee 2000).

Also spelled “Yurak Rumi”.1

Cobo (1979: 135-137 [1653]: Book 12, Chapter 12)2

suggests that Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui passed through theVitcos region and arrived at the plain of Pampaconas. Itwas in Pampaconas that the Inca negotiated with the locallords, and they agreed to submit to the empire.

ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012): 195-211.

ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012) - 196

The Vilcabamba region, however, gains itsunique importance from the role that it held inthe final days of the Incas. In 1537, after theIncas failed to regain control of Cusco, theircapital city, from the Spaniards, many nativeloyalists withdrew into this mountainous region.

The leader of the resistance, Manco Inca,established himself at the town of Vitcos, as he3

attempted to restore control over what had beenthe largest indigenous state to develop in theAmericas. For nearly eight years Manco Inca4

both negotiated with the Spaniards and orga-nized raids against them. After his death, strongindigenous resistance continued under thesuccessive leadership of three of Manco Inca’ssons: Sayri Tupac, Titu Cusi, and Tupac Amaru.During this same period, the Spanish leaders ofCusco sent diplomats, priests, miners, and, attimes, military expeditions into the Vilcabambaregion, attempting to bring an end to the con-flict (Gose 2008; Hemming 1970).

During the long period of organized indige-nous resistance to Spanish rule, much of theInca royal court was centered in the town ofVitcos, and many of the major rituals were heldat the nearby shrine of Yurac Rumi. The shrineis described as a large white rock with an adja-cent spring (Murúa 1987[1611-1616]:270, Book1, Chapter 75; Calancha 1981[1638]: 1800-1801, Book 4, Chapter 2). The shrine alsocontained a complex of buildings (called a

House of the Sun), various attendants, and a5

head priest (Figure 2).

In 1568, while the Inca were still in controlof the Vilcabamba region, the ruling Inca (TituCusi Yupanqui) invited the Augustinian priest,Marcos Garcia, to enter the area and establish amission. About a year later a second Augustin-ian, Diego Ortiz, was also given permission tolive in the area. As Titu Cusi contemplated a6

full conversion to Christianity the relationship7

between the Incas and the Christians werestable, and the missions run by Ortiz and Garcialived in an uneasy state of truce with the YuracRumi shrine and its attendants. However, in1570, angered by their recent poor treatment bythe Inca and emboldened by a growing numberof converts to Christianity, the two priests anda small group of local people burned the YuracRumi shrine complex (Calancha 1981[1638]:1826, Book 4, Chapter 4]; Murúa 1987[1611-

The ruins of Vitcos are now called Rosaspata. 3

A Spanish raid into the region forced Manco Inca to pull4

back even further into the mountains, and to establish hisnew capital at the settlement of Vilcabamba, now calledEspiritu Pampa.

“Casa dedicada al Sol” (Murúa 1987[1611-1616]:270,5

Book 1, Chapter 75); “Casa del Sol” (Calancha 1981:1825 [1638]: Book 4, Chapter 4).

Diego Ortiz was killed by Inca loyalists in 1571 after6

being mistakenly linked to the death of Titu CusiYupanqui. His activities in Vilcabamba are especially welldocumented because the Augustinians, starting as early as1582, collected information on his death to support hiscanonization as a saint (Hemming 1970:476; Levillier1935, Volume 1:344). At least two other inquiries intoOrtiz’s death occurred in 1595 and 1599 (Aparicio 1989).There is overlap in the information presented by Murúa(1987 [1611-1616]) and Calancha (1981 [1638]) becauseboth of these authors had access to these earlierinvestigations while writing their own accounts (Hemming1970: 476, 629; MacCormack 1985: 441, 2008). BothMurua and Calancha relied on the 11 March 1595testimony of Juana Guerrero, the wife of Titu CusiYupanqui’s scribe, Martín de Pando, for their descriptionsof Yurac Rumi (see Aparicio 1989:163-169).

Titu Cusi Yupanqui was baptized in Cusco as a youth,7

and again in 1568 in the Vilcabamba region as an adult,but his relationship with Christianity remainedambiguous.

197 - Bauer et al.: Destruction of the Yurac Rumi Shrine

1616]: 270, Book 1, Chapter 75). In the wake ofthis provocative move, the Inca himself had torace to the shrine to restore order and to savethe priests from being killed by a large and angrymob. The next year, however, Titu Cusi sud-denly died while visiting Vitcos, and soon8

afterwards, in April 1572, Viceroy Toledoordered a massive raid on the Vilcabambaregion which resulted in the capture of the newInca (Tupac Amaru), and a general depopula-tion of the area soon followed. The city ofVitcos was abandoned, and the importantrituals that had been performed at the shrine ofYurac Rumi slowly faded from local memory.

BINGHAM AT YURAC RUMI

Over the centuries, the forests of Vilca-bamba reclaimed the city of Vitcos as well as itsnearby shrine. On August 9, 1911, less than amonth after he discovered Machu Picchu,Hiram Bingham entered the Vilcabamba regionlooking for the final capital of the Incas. Aftervisiting the ruins of Vitcos he was told of, andsubsequently found, a large, nearby, carved rockwhich stood above a spring. Bingham clearedthe forest around the rock the following day andfound various Inca buildings grouped in patio-units beside it. He also found a host of smallercarved rocks and an impressive terrace andcanal system beside the rock. Bingham (1912a,1912 b, 1912c, 1913, 1922) immediately recog-nized that this was the shrine complex of YuracRumi. He returned to the shrine site the nextyear (1912), drained the swamp at its base, andconducted limited excavations. Finding little,and being drawn to working at the larger site ofMachu Picchu, Bingham left the rest of the siteuntouched. Remarkably, no other archaeologi-cal projects have been conducted at YuracRumi, and only limited looting has taken place

there. Unlike most other known shrine centersin the Andes, the Yurac Rumi site remainsrelatively well preserved (Lee 2000; Samanezand Zapata 1996).

OVERVIEW OF THE 2008 EXCAVATIONS

The Yurac Rumi shrine is in a small, butsteep-sided, river valley at an altitude of approx-imately 3,080 m.a.s.l. Now, as in Inca times, thevalley slopes are covered with dense vegetation,while the valley floor has been cleared andterraced. The complex is relatively small, lessthan 80 meters square, and is some twentyminutes by foot from the royal palace structuresof Vitcos. The sculpted rock of Yurac Rumi is inthe center of the shrine complex, and the springmentioned by the chroniclers still emerges frombeneath it, and flows north into a small court-yard framed by a suite of buildings (Figure 3).The area immediately to the south of the sacredrock contains a large open plaza (approximately25 by 20 meters), and a series of small carvedrocks. The area to the southwest of the YuracRumi contains a second set of buildings with aninterior courtyard and a large looters’ pit.

During June and July of 2008, Bauer andAráoz Silva conducted field-work at YuracRumi. The project included fourteen (one meterby one meter) test units, as well as six largerexcavations. The goal of the smaller units was9

to gain information on the stratigraphy of thesite, while the larger units were dug to morefully investigate specific areas and buildings. At

The exact date of Titu Cusi Yupanqui’s death is not8

known. However it most likely occurred in 1571, or earlyin 1572.

Major funding for this project was provided by the9

National Geographic Society, the University of Illinois atChicago, the Curtiss T. Brennan and Mary G. BrennanFoundation, the Institute for New World Archaeology,and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at theUniversity of Arizona. We thank Vincent Lee forproviding the building drawing used in this work, as wellas Andean Past reviewers Steven A. Wernke and StevenKosiba for their comments on improving the manuscript.

ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012) - 198

the conclusion of the field-work, a series ofcarbon samples were submitted for dating underthe direction of Burr at the Accelerator MassSpectrometry Laboratory at the University ofArizona. While a report on the full excavationis currently in preparation, here we discuss thecontributions of the radiocarbon dates to ourunderstanding of the shrine complex. Ourresearch suggests that the shrine was establishedduring the early expansion of the Inca empire. Furthermore, we find overwhelming evidencethat the shrine was destroyed by fire, and thatthe ritual complex was then briefly reoccupied,before being completely abandoned. Thesearchaeological data strongly support the narra-tive accounts given by Murúa (1987 [1611-1616], Calancha (1981 [1638]), and Cobo(1979 [1653]).

DATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SHRINE

Excavations in the plaza and courtyards ofthe shrine documented that the open areas ofthe complex were covered with hard-packedgravel floors during its final years of use. Fur-thermore, excavations in the buildings revealedthat most of the structures contained well-prepared, green clay floors. Importantly, in twodifferent units we also found evidence of earlierfloors, made with crushed white granite.

The crushed white granite floors were firstidentified in Unit P9; a one by one meter exca-vation in the Southwest Courtyard. The excava-tion revealed a humus level followed by a thickstratum of disturbed soil, representing the back-dirt of a nearby looters’ pit. The third stratumwas composed of colluvially redeposited materi-als (i.e. slope wash) laid down after the site wasabandoned. Next came a series of closelyspaced, relatively thin levels, each two to three centimeters thick. The first was the pebble floorwhich extends across much of the courtyardarea. This was followed by a floor of finelycrushed, white granite. Next came a lens of

dark earth, followed by another floor of crushedwhite granite. Under the second granite floorwas a thin layer of earthen fill used to level thisarea of the site, and a then thick stratum, morethan thirty centimeters deep, of very darkbrown, clayish loam which is thought to be thenatural sediment of the valley before the Incaoccupation (Figure 4).

Evidence of a similar level of crushed whitegranite was found in P11. This unit, measuring1.0 by 1.2 meters was placed in the northeastsector of the site, against the back wall of thebuilding facing the sacred rock. The excavationssoon revealed an irregular, hard-packed earthenfloor with large fragments of classic Inca pottery,carbon, and some minute burnt bone fragments.Beneath the earthen floor was a level fill, ap-proximately twenty centimeters thick, which

rested above a two centimeter thick floor ofcrushed white granite. This floor had been wellprepared and rested directly above a thin,greater than one centimeter, level of red clay,which may have been used as a sealant to pro-tect the granite floor in this waterlogged area ofthe site. Beneath the red clay, was a thick10

stratum, fifty to sixty centimeters, of multiple filllevels which was used to raise the interior areaof the structure (Figure 5).

There is little doubt that the crushed whitegranite in the floors identified in units P9 andP11 was the direct by-product of the Incas’carving the many granite boulders that liewithin the shrine complex. A carbon sample,(AA83415) collected from within the upperfloor of crushed granite in P9, yielded an AMSradiocarbon date of 601±34 BP. A carbonsample, (AA83416) collected from the crushedgranite floor in Unit P11, provided an AMSdate radiocarbon age 496±51 BP. The cali-

Similar thin levels of red clay were also noted within the10

profiles of two excavation units (P7, P8) on the terraceabove the shrine complex.


brated dates from these samples suggest that theshrine was established in the late 1300s to mid-1400s (Table 1).

DATING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SHRINE

The destruction of Yurac Rumi can benarrowed down to a relatively short time period. The two priests, Ortiz and Garcia, witnessedand signed a document dictated by Titu CusiYupanqui (2005[1570]:139) in the Inca town ofVilcabamba on February 6, 1570, after whichthey returned to the town of Puquiura nearVitcos. According to Calancha (1981[1638]:11

1825-1827, Book 4, Chapter 4), when Ortiz12

and Garcia arrived in Puquiura there were manypeople from different towns waiting for them.Some were bemoaning deaths which had beencaused by the “demon” of Yurac Rumi, whileothers were trembling in fear from the havocand destruction that the demon was causing totheir families, herds, and fields because they hadbeen baptized. Angry, and perhaps humiliatedby the events that had taken place in the city ofVilcabamba, Ortiz and Garcia announcedthrough the town crier that all the convertsshould gather the next day at the church on theplaza, and that each person was to bring fire-wood, because they were going to burn theshrine. The following day the priests and theirfollowers marched to Yurac Rumi, encircled itwith firewood, and, after conducting an exor-cism, they burned the temple and the rock.Murúa (1987[1611-1616]:270), provides manyof the same details. However, Murúa suggeststhat Yurac Rumi was burned about a month

after the two priests returned from seeing theInca in Vilcabamba. No matter which chroni-13

cler is more accurate, the burning of the shrineappears to have taken place sometime betweenmid-February and mid-March 1570.14

Our 2008 excavations at Yurac Rumi con-firm that the shrine was destroyed in a massivefire. Each of the buildings that we sampledcontained thick levels of burnt building materi-als, including large amounts of burnt plaster, aswell as carbonized roof remains. These excava-tions also revealed that each of the buildingshad well maintained floors at the time of thedestruction. A few complete ceramic vessels(both for storage and cooking) were found onthe floors, and one structure yielded a bronzehalberd (yauri) head which appears to havebeen left in the rafters of one of the buildingswhen it burned (Figure 6). Furthermore, someorganic artifacts in use at the time of the burn-ing were preserved in carbonized form. Forexample, we recovered a carved wood staff thathad been resting on one of the floors. It shouldbe noted, however, that overall our excavationsfound very few artifacts within the structures,suggesting that the priests and attendants hadhad time to remove the most valued itemsbefore the complex was burned.

17 February 1570 in the Gregorian calendar.11

Antonio de la Calancha wrote a history of the12

Augustinian order in Peru which was published in 1638. There is no evidence that he lived in the Cusco region.However, as an Augustinian himself, Calancha had accessto the records of the order, including the inquiries whichwere conducted on the death of Ortiz (Hemming 1970;MacCormack 2008).

The Mercedarian friar Martín de Murúa lived in Cusco13

at least from 1585 to 1588, more likely even longer, andhe was stationed as the parish priest of Curahuasi on thesouthern edge of the Vilcabamba region in 1595 (Ossio2008a). It was during these decades that he collectedinformation on the history of the Incas and the earlyconquest of the Andes by the Spaniards. He personallyinterviewed many of the Spaniards who had lead raids intothe Vilcabamba region, as well as some of the natives whohad lived there (Adorno and Boserup 2008; Ossio 2008b).Like Calancha, he had access to the Augustinian recordsconcerning the death of Ortiz (Aparicio 1989).

The testimony of Juana Guerra states that the burning14

took place “a cabo de un mes, poco más o menos” [At theend of a month, more or less] (Aparicio 1989:164).

ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012) - 200

The most intriguing information on themassive burning of the shrine comes fromExcavation Unit U6, where the ceiling and roofof the structure appear to have fallen relativelyquickly (Figures 7, 8). During the course ofexcavation we exposed samples of burned andunburned mountain grass (Stipa ichu) used asthatch, carbonized mountain bamboo (Chusqu-quea scandens) used as battens, carbonizedrafters made from alder (Alnus acuminata), andcarbonized rope made from local grass (Calama-grostis heterophylla) used in lashing the battensand rafters. These charred ceiling and roofingmaterials rested directly on the green clay floorof the building, and were covered with a 30centimeter thick stratum of burnt plaster andother materials (Figure 9).

A hard-packed earthen floor, enhanced bya few slate paving stones, above the burnt wallplaster stratum, but below a large scale collapseof the structure walls, provided evidence of abrief reoccupation of the shrine after it had beenburnt by the Augustinians. It appears that this15

reoccupation also ended in fire, because thehard-packed earth floor was also covered with alens of ash and burnt wood (Figure 10).

The recovery of various identifiable organicceiling and roofing materials within a buildingwith a known destruction date provided aunique investigative opportunity. We wanted toexamine how the dates of various plant speciesincorporated into the different parts of the roofcorrelated with each other, as well as with theknown destruction date of the shrine. As aresult, AMS measurements were run on a rope(AA83417 [1], AA83417 [2]), a batten (AA83418 [1], AA83418 [2]), the outer layers of a

roof support (AA83419 [1], AA83419 [2]), thegrass thatch (AA83422), and carbon associatedwith the reoccupation of the structure (AA83420, AA83421). The results of the radiocar-16

bon assays are presented in Table 1 and Figure11. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

The Inca empire is well known for its elabo-rately carved rocks, many of which were wor-shiped as shrines. One of the most celebratedexamples of such a rock shrine is Yurac Rumi inthe Vilcabamba region. A series of radiocarbontests were run on carbon collected at the shrineduring excavations in 2008 to help determine:1) when the shrine was first established, 2)when it was destroyed, and 3) when it wasreoccupied. Not surprisingly, the two carbonsamples from the reoccupation level providedthe latest dates. However they were only slightlylater than the majority of the ceiling and roofingmaterials which burned when the shrine wasinitially destroyed. Although we may neverknow with certainty, it is possible that parts ofthe shrine were immediately re-consecrated bylocal inhabitants following the actions of Ortizand Garcia, and that those more limited struc-tures were burnt again approximately two yearslater in 1572 as Spanish forces swept throughthe region in their successful campaign to cap-ture Tupac Amaru and to end the independentInca state established in the Vilcabamba region.

The burnt ceiling and roofing materials ofthe shrine also provided intriguing results. Thesampled batten, roof support, and thatch all

The reoccupation of Yurac Rumi may have been limited15

to only certain areas of the shrine complex. Sometimeafter this brief reoccupation, many of the buildings of theshrine complex appear to have been systematicallydestroyed, with major architectural features, such as thestone roof pegs, pulled from the walls.

All samples were processed in The National Science16

Foundation-University of Arizona Accelerator MassSpectrometry facility. Calibrated dates were generated byCalib 5.1 beta, courtesy of the University of Washington(Stuiver and Reimer 1993). Dates were calibrated usingsoftware employing southern hemisphere data (SHCal04calibration curve) (McCormac et al. 2004).


yielded very similar calibrated dates whichclustered in the late-1400s to the mid-1500s. These age estimations make sense if the shrinewas established, as suggested by the dates fromthe granite floors, during the late 1300s to mid-1400s. However, the rope which was used to tiethe thatch together provided surprisingly earlydates. Our sample yielded calibrated probabilitydates in the late-1200s, suggesting that the rope;was more than 200 years older than the rest ofthe roof. Indeed, the results suggest that therope may have even predated the Inca occupa-tion of the Vilcabamba region. Contaminationagents could have been introduced as a result offiber preparation before the weaving of the rope,however, the Inca are not known to have usedsuch agents. While it is possible that the Incas17

used older materials in the construction of theshrine, the dates of the rope seem excessivelyearly, and we currently cannot fully explain theresults.

The precision of radiocarbon assays can beincreased by using pooled means of different butrelated samples. In this study, the two samplesfrom the reoccupation can be pooled together,18

as can the samples from the batten, the roof19

support, and the rope. The results of the20 21

pooling, presented in Figure 12, helps to illus-trate how close the reoccupation dates are tothe roof dates, and how much earlier the ropedates are.

Two separate test excavations found evi-dence of crushed granite floors in the YuracRumi shrine. The incorporation of the crushedgranite into the floors of the complex must havemade them architecturally stunning, and rein-forced the ritual nature of the area surroundingthe sacred central stone. Use of the “wastage”from the carving of the Yurac Rumi stone as apaving material for the plaza space is consistentwith Inca aesthetics. The pulverized debitagefrom a huaca like this would not have beencategorized as mere spoilage, but somethingmore akin to a religious relic. Its use as a floor-ing material would have bound the site togetheras a single, sacred complex.

Carbon samples were collected from two ofthe granite floors. Although the radiocarbon22

ages of these two samples are separated by someone hundred years (601±34 BP, 496±51 BP),their calibrated 1-sigmas do have considerableoverlap in the earliest decades of the cal AD1400s. We currently believe that these samplesdate the establishment of Yurac Rumi as ashrine, and document when the Inca first ex-panded into the Vilcabamba region. The factthat these levels were later buried, and thatadditional floors were established above them,indicates that a series of modifications occurredat the shrine after its initial dedication. Thedates are consistent with suggestions that theregion was incorporated relatively early into theInca empire, during its initial expansion period,most likely during the reign of Pachacuti IncaYupanqui.

In other cases, conservation agents might also make a17

rope test older than it really is, but in this case the samplewas taken in the field and sent directly to the laboratoryfor analysis.

Samples AA83420, AA83421.18

Samples AA83418 (1), AA83418 (2).19

Samples AA83419 (2), AA83419 (1).20

Samples AA83417 (1), AA83417 (2).21 Samples AA83415, AA83416.22

ANDEAN PAST 10 (2012) - 202

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Lab N Site context Material * C F C age BP Calibrated dateso 13 14

[start: end] relative area

AA83415 Granite floor Unidentified carbon -25.1 0.9280 ± 0.0039 601 ± 34 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1326: cal AD 1341] 0.250409

[cal AD 1390: cal AD 1419] 0.749591

Two-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1316: cal AD 1355] 0.326466

[cal AD 1382: cal AD 1435] 0.673534

Median probability: cal AD 1397

AA83416 Granite floor Unidentified carbon -27.5 0.9401 ± 0.0060 496 ± 51 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1411: cal AD 1464] 0.955148

[cal AD 1470: cal AD 1476] 0.044852

Two-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1394: cal AD 1509] 0.922702

[cal AD 1579: cal AD 1620] 0.077298


AA83417 (1) Rope Calamagrostis

heterophylla

Quechua: Hiro ichu

Reed grass

-23.7 0.9075 ± 0.0059 780 ± 52 One-sigma range:

[cal AD 1225: cal AD 1298] 1.0

Two-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1190: cal AD 1191] 0.001013

[cal AD 1202: cal AD 1322] 0.859046

[cal AD 1347: cal AD 1387] 0.139941


AA83417 (2) Rope Calamagrostis

heterophylla

Quechua: Hiro ichu

Reed grass

-24.2 0.9089 ± 0.0056 767 ± 49 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1230: cal AD 1250] 0.205490

[cal AD 1261: cal AD 1304] 0.662807

[cal AD 1363: cal AD 1377] 0.131703

Two-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1215: cal AD 1323] 0.803562

[cal AD 1346: cal AD 1388] 0.196438


AA83418 (1) Batten Chusququea scanden

Quechua: Kurkur

Mountain bamboo

-25.9 09481 ± 0.0061 428 ± 52 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1446: cal AD 1509] 0.666726

[cal AD 1580: cal AD 1620] 0.333274

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1438: cal AD 1628] 1.0


AA83418 (2) Batten Chusququea scanden

Quechua: Kurkur

Mountain bamboo

-23.7 0.9466 ± 0.0058 441 ± 49 One-sigma range:

[cal AD 1442: cal AD 1504] 0.763347

Two-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1428: cal AD 1524] 0.636179

[cal AD 1529: cal AD 1531] 0.005259

[cal AD 1535: cal AD 1626] 0.358562


AA83419 (1) Roof support Alnus acuminata

Spanish: Aliso

Alder

-22.8 0.9484 ± 0.0058 426 ± 49 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1447: cal AD 1508] 0.670719

[cal AD 1583: cal AD 1619] 0.329281

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1441: cal AD 1626] 1.0


Continued:

Table 1: Carbon samples from Yurac Rumi

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Lab N Site context Material * C F C age BP Calibrated dateso 13 14

[start: end] relative area

AA83419 (2) Roof support Alnus acuminata

Spanish: Aliso

Alder

-27.3 0.9524 ± 0.0061 392 ± 51 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1461: cal AD 1512] 0.428560

[cal AD 1548: cal AD 1563] 0.113319

[cal AD 1569: cal AD 1622] 0.458120

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1453: cal AD 1635] 1.0


AA83420 Reoccupation Unidentified carbon -25.6 0.9575 ± 0.0062 349 ± 52 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1502: cal AD 1594] 0.792765

[cal AD 1613: cal AD 1638] 0.207235

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1457: cal AD 1658] 1.0


AA83421 Reoccupation Unidentified carbon -25.6 0.9557 ± 0.0062 364 ± 52 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1499: cal AD 1598] 0.835896

[cal AD 1610: cal AD 1630] 0.164104

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1458: cal AD 1646] 1.0


AA83422 Grass thatch Stipa ichu

Quechua: Ichu

Mountain grass

-23.6 0.9470 ± 0.0061 437 ± 52 One-sigma ranges:

[cal AD 1442: cal AD 1507] 0.716657

[cal AD 1586: cal AD 1618] 0.283343

Two-sigma range:

[cal AD 1432: cal AD 1626] 1.0


Table 1 (continued): Carbon samples from Yurac Rumi


Figure 1: The Vilcabamba region northwest of Cusco.

Figure 2: Panorama of Yurac Rumi (2008).

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Figure 3: Plan of Yurac Rumi based on Bingham 1912a, Lee 2000:472, and 2008 and 2009 site measurements by Bauer.

P=pozo, a one meter by one meter excavation. U=unidad, an excavation unit greater than one meter by one meter.


Figure 4: Unit P9, northwest profile showing aseries of floors. Carbon was recovered from theupper granite floor level.

Figure 5: Unit P11, northeast profile. Note thecrushed granite floor.

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Figure 6: A bronze halberd recovered within the burned debris in Unit 1.

Figure 7: Excavation U6 revealed the interior ofone of the buildings along the plaza at YuracRumi. Two large roof supports can be seen in thisphotograph, as well as the remains of battens withgrass rope (lower left) and a crushed storage jar(center right). Each of these items rests directlyabove a carefully made green clay floor, and wascovered with a thick level of burned plaster andother building materials.


Figure 8: Battens on Inca floor in Unit U6.

Figure 9: Reconstruction of a building at Yurac Rumi, showing parts of the roof identified during our 2008 excavations.

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Figure 10: Profile of U7.

Figure 11: Radiocarbon dates from Yurac Rumi.


Figure 12: Radiocarbon dates from Yurac Rumi using pooled means.

The Destruction of the Yurac Rumi Shrine (Vilcabamba, Cusco Department)

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