Inca Pyramids

The Incas build pyramids for various purposes and the Incas build hundreds of them all over the kingdom. The Inca pyramids build by the Incas were call Huacas. The word Huaca is use to define a religious or important ceremony place. For example, the Incas may call a river, mountain or tree as Huaca as long as it was believed that there lived some deity or ancestor.

Material used for Inca Pyramids

The Incas used mud bricks of clay, mixed with dry straw of corn plant, as binding material, to build their Inca pyramids. When the Inca people found a pyramidal complex build by other culture, they build their own Inca Temples on top of them. Some of these old pyramids range from 10 meters to 50 meters in height.

The pyramids were use for political and administrative purposes, just like a town hall, where the local authorities live and manage the community. All Inca cities have their pyramidal religious centers, right on the middle of the city.

The Inca government's main target was to build as many pyramids as possible, because they needed to use religion to keep control of the population. The local Inca Religion priest's main responsibility was to keep control of the population and administrate the wealth of the community.

Some Inca pyramids were used specifically for human sacrifices. The human sacrifices were a lot more common before the Incas. During the Inca empire, the practice of human sacrifices happened occasionally. In most of the cases, the human sacrifices happened to peaceful the gods, show respect to the Inca Gods or to punish hostage enemies.

Design of Inca Pyramids

Some pyramids were designed for specifically astronomical purposes. We know this today, because archaeologist found flat stone areas, with many large flat holes. The Incas filled up the holes with water. Next a priest looked at the water and saw the sky reflecting on the water. It is how they could follow the moves of the stars. This style of Inca pyramids were build all over the kingdom, as a community clock and Inca Calendar.

Inca Pyramids Curse Story

The Inca pyramids curse story begins with the looting of an Inca pyramid in the north of Peru. Ten men took part in the looting. They found pottery and gold artifacts that rapidly were sold for ridiculous prices. Months after they start to die in estrange accidents.

The police found the last two of them alive and when they were about to be captured, they started to run. The police shot them in the legs as warning to stop running and in that precise moment, they fell down and the bullets killed them instantaneously.

Inca Pyramids Facts

Peru has several hundreds of Inca pyramids all over the country. Many of them are suffering heavy erosion by action of the rain and wind. The Peruvian government is trying to keep track of all of them, classify them and protect them from treasure hunters. It's sad to know that only the 20 percent of known pyramids are under Peruvian government protection, the rest face their own luck against time and nature.