PERUVIAN ARCITIEOLOGY. The Span ish Conquest came at the height of the power of the Incas in Peru. This people was of Quichua stock and they had conquered the tribes of the present country as well as those of Bolivia, Ecua dor. and Chile, and had subjected them to their remarkable organization. The Incas, at their be ginning a clan of the Aymara, had their ancestral seats on the shores of Titicaca, where they built a number of cities, the greatest of which was Tialmanaco. Comparatively few in number, they moved north and settled in the valley of Iluilca mayo. After taking Cuzco. the home of an ear lier culture, they grew more powerful. and began their conquest about the year 1200. At first stone worshipers, they later became sun-worshipers, and fixed this cult upon the people whom they subjugated. The success of the Incas was due to their despotic commune, by which they fixed the people to the soil, and in return for the regu lated labor of all insured the well-being of each. The organization consisted of a priest-king, a council, hierarchy, rulers of districts, and grades of officials. The growth of Inca power occupied about three centuries, and since their history is somewhat well known they occupy a dispropor tionate station among the peoples of Peru. It is known that other civilizations preceded that. of the Incas to which they merely superadded their peculiar organization.
There are three well-marked races in Peru, which are associated with three civilizations. Of these the Kechua or Quichua (q.v.) occupied the region from the river Andasmayo, above Quito, to the Rio Alaure hi Chile, except a narrow area ex tending from the basin of Lake Titicaca to the coast. They were an inland people, living in the high mountain valleys, the basin of Titicaca. the CoIlao, and on the eastern slopes of the Andes, above the forested zone. from which they were excluded by the wild tribes. The Aymara (q.v.), who preponderate among the existing Indians of Peru, are of Quichuan stock. A second civiliza tion displaced by the Incas is that of the Quito Kingdom of Ecuador, which was the northernmost extent of the Inca dominion, and whose inhab itants were the Cara of early writers. A third civilization was that of the Muchik, called Yunga by the Incas and Chimu by the Spaniards. of which Pachacamac (q.v.) was an important city. The Chimu kingdom extended from the Gulf of Guayaquil south to Callao, the port of Lima ; also south of this was the domain of another re lated people and civilization.
It seems probable that the oldest civilization in Peru existed in the Collao south of Lake Titicaca, where are found the rude stone circles and dohnens of Sillustani. which resemble the monuments of Northern Europe. (See MEGA LITIIIC MONUMENTS. ) it is thought by some writers that the authors of the highland culture came from the south, settling in the Collao, hunt ing the huanaco and practicing rude agriculture, and spreading into the basin of Titicaca, which has a prominent place in Peruvian origin myths.
Thence they spread throughout the mountain region, having domesticated the llama and occu pying the lower valleys for the purpose of raising maize. In the highland region are found the numerous evidences of Quichua greatness; the stupendous and elaborate ruins of Tiahuanaeo (q.v.) and Pumapungn; the tombs of Sipa in the Santa Valley, formed out of cubical blocks of stone: Iluanneo, where is a temple of five sto ries of rooms and corridors close against a moun tain wall, and built of great blocks of carefully dressed stone laid in mortar, and adorned with statues: the statues of Chavin, like those of San Augustin in Colombia : the remarkable square or round eliu/im or burial towers. found about 1 mayo Lake, in the Collar), and in Bolivia.
(Melina architecture is expressed in massive stone furnished by the environment, and grades from the rude monolithic structures of the Collar) to the finely constructed and finished Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. at the best period. in plan the buildings were rectangular. inelosing rooms, or with rooms surrounding a court. There were few external openings. except the doors, so that the walls had a blank appearance, with s? ulpture or ornament. The door jambs I4-an toward each other so that the threshold is wider than the lintel. This feature is invariable in Inca architecture. The non-use of the arch and the lack if timber did not prevent the erec tion of building; of more than one story. The pitched roof, were of cane, thatched with and grass. The houses of the people were flimsy structures that have not survived. In many l rock ma-,es have been modified in a markable markable manner, the most common form being the so-called seat,. which are single or in tiers. No obstacles seem to have balked the highland with their bruising tools of stone they shaped granite hills, tunneling, cutting steps, platforms, fountains, or tombs as they saw fit ; at this day it is difficult to see the purpose of many of their works. One of the moet complicated of these sculptures. thought to be a hygrometric ob servatory, is found at Queneo, near Cuzco. On the same grand scale arc the reservoirs, baths, fountains, .and aqueducts; the terraced fields, called andtnes, covering the mountain sides; bridges, roads, and road inns or tambos; for lre-ses, prisons; sun dials, rock tombs, and ehulpa tombs, which prevail in the track of the ancient lii:Alland civilization. On the objects connected with daily life, rather than in architectural deco ration, this iwople lavished the art of the metal worker, potter, and weaver, producing many de signs expressive of a luxuriant fancy, but rarely showing a sense of the beautiful.