The
Cusco Valley and the Incas are synonymous in most people's
minds, but the area was populated well before they arrived
on the scene and they simply built their empire on the toil
and ingenuity of generations of previous cultures. The Killki
culture, for instance, whose members learned to work the
hard diorite and andesite stones that abound here and, although
primarily agriculturists, built stone structures, dominated
the scene around 700–800 AD. Some of these structures
still survive, while others were incorporated into later
Inca constructions – the sun temple of Koricancha,
for example, seems to have been built on the foundations
a Killki sun temple. Early Inca pots, too, are stylistically
close to Killki-produced items, while classical Inca pots
demonstrate strong similarities to ceramics produced around
1000 AD by the Lucre culture, whose main site was at Choquepugio,
35km from modern Cusco. The Lucre also used significant amounts
of diorite stone in their constructions and, like the Incas
later, utilized such boulders in multi-angular, earthquake-proof
formations. Later Inca pottery shows a strong Wari influence. Hostels in Cusco |
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