ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT MAUKALLAQTA AND PUMA ORCO, DEPARTMENT OF CUZCO, PERU

Abstract

From 1984 to 1987, the Pacariqtambo Archaeological Project conducted systematic surveys and test excavations in the northeastern half of the Province of Paruro, Department of Cuzco, Peru. The aim of the project was to investigate the rural organization of the people living in this section of the Inca heartland and their relations with the imperial city of Cuzco before the Spanish conquest. The study area, a total of 600 km.2 extended from the ruins of Huanacauri near Cuzco, in the north, to the town of Accha, 42 aerial kilometers to the south (fig. 1). It was bounded on the west by the Velille and Molle Molle rivers; on the east it included the drainage system of the Paruro River and farther south it was bounded by the Apurimac River. The survey and test excavation program was combined with historical research, which helped to define the sociopolitical organization of the region's rural population during the period of Inca rule (Bauer, 1987; 1992). The area included the site of Pacariqtambo, the sacred place where the Incas believed that their ancestors emerged from the earth. According to Inca mythology, the first Inca, Manco Capac, was summoned by the Creator God, Viracocha, to emerge from a cave called Tambo Taco, at a place called Pacariqtambo. The most detailed account of the Pacariqtambo origin myth is provided by Sarmiento de Gamboa (caps. 11 and 12; 1906, pp. 33-37). This report summarizes work at Maukallaqta, the largest and best known ruins in the Pacariqtambo region, and at the nearby site of Puma Orco. Maukallaqta comprises the ruins of more than 200 structures. It is situated on a wide, slightly curving mountain shelf on the western side of the Huaynacancha Quebrada, a small tributary of the Yaurisque River. On the other side of the quebrada is a massive stone outcrop called Puma Orco. Puma Orco is also distinguished by elaborately carved boulders at its base and a carved summit. Both of these sites have been explicitly associated with the Pacariqtambo origin myth of the Incas (Muelle, 1945; Pardo, 1946; Urton, 1989; 1990; Bauer, 1990; 1991, 1992).