Inca Engineering

The Spanish arrival began the decline of the Inca Empire but it could not wipe out  Inca engineering feats. These significant accomplishments still impress. 

The Inca managed these achievements without iron works, without written language, and (because of the mountainous, irregular terrain) often without the use of wheels. After almost five hundred years, many Inca works remain;  the construction of those who followed has often succumbed to time, elements, and seismic shifts.

The Inca built as much as 25,000 miles of trails, with the main roads leading out of Cusco in four directions. People still hike the Inca trail that leads to Machu Picchu (I took a train). 

They built walls of scrupulously cut, massive stone blocks fitted so precisely that nothing was required to hold them together.  There is no sign of space between the stones, and many of those walls still stand. The Spanish often built over the sturdy Inca walls, and the 'buildovers' didn't always endure.

Remnants of Inca walls, now part of Spanish buildings like those in the Plaza de Armas

Newer construction built around  meticulous Inca stone walls

In one of the most mountainous areas of the world, the Inca created terraces for farming, turning steep slopes into a series of flat step-like surfaces. They developed irrigation systems, using gravel layers under the terrace tops. The crushed rock enables excess water to drain away from crops while assuring water for human consumption. And the stones that support the flat steps retain the heat of the day, providing thermal protection for crops in the cool night air.

Inca terraces supported by gravel at Sacsayhuaman 

Pisac terraces

I saw the evidence of Inca engineering skill in the tour that took me to Machu Picchu.  Only in hindsight, when I was preparing to write about it, did I begin to fully appreciate the Inca Empire's accomplishments and their endurance.

I live in the Boston area.  Here we often joke that we have two seasons: winter and pot-hole repair.  Yet almost five hundred years after the Inca built them, the trail to Machu Picchu is still available to travelers; Inca stone walls support newer construction; the mountainside terraces still stand.

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