Queen and mother Luna, Give us your water as a gift, And give us the love of your rains.
Hear how we call to you …
(Miloslav Stingle. State of the Incas. Glory and death of the sons of the sun)
Like here in Russia, in modern South America there are many people who sew old-fashioned suits for themselves, put on copies of ancient jewelry and, in this form, walk and dance among the ruins. Someone entertains tourists in this way, someone believes that in this way they preserve the culture of their ancestors. In any case, it is very interesting to look at them. After all, outwardly, with their facial features, they are all the same as in the days of Francisco Pizarro!
The laws of the Incas concerning the ore business and the labor of miners were simple and clearly defined, as, indeed, were all the laws of the Inca empire. Work in the mines was allowed only four months a year, and these were the warmest months. The workers were constantly changing; and no man could be sent to work in the mines without … his woman. On the steep slopes of the Cordillera de Carabaia (north of Lake Titicaca), where there was a humid climate, but there were large deposits of gold, special terraces for growing cereals were built for the needs of miners. Here and today you can find the ruins of ancient villages, the inhabitants of which were engaged in washing gold-bearing sand. Another method was also used, when dams were successively built across the river channel, and after the rains that had passed, stones containing grains of gold were collected in them. It is interesting that if in most other countries criminals worked in gold mines, then for the Incas it was a temporary obligation, not a punishment. Smelting of gold was carried out in furnaces stacked on the tops of the mountains, and traditional charcoal was loaded into them as fuel. The hole for creating thrust was usually oriented to the east, in the direction from where the wind most often blew, which created enough thrust to obtain the high temperature required for melting. However, if there was no wind, the Incas could use llama bellows.
Very few gold jewelry of the Incas have survived to this day, but they are. For example, this piece of jewelry can be seen at the Museum of America in Madrid.
And these gold beads are from there too. (Museum of America, Madrid).
The Incas mastered all the techniques known to other peoples and preserved in our days. These are casting, forging, soldering, riveting and stamping. Forced-blowing furnaces were known to jewelers in Cuzco, and so did the craftsmen depicted in a fresco in an Egyptian tomb at Saqqara (circa 2400 BC); where jewelers carry out melting in a similar way in order to obtain the desired temperature. The technology was rather primitive, but this was how the Inca craftsmen smelted so much gold that they cast full-length statues of the Inca rulers and exact likenesses of plants from gold for the Golden Garden in Cuzco. And it is not surprising, because all the gold of the empire just belonged to the Supreme Inca! Moreover, since the Incas kept an accurate record of all income by means of a letter to the kipu, it was possible to establish that 217 tons and 724.5 kg of gold were delivered to Cuzco annually, and they did not use any machines and mechanisms. Well, and they needed gold, including for the deification of their rulers, because after each Great Inca, after his death, they made a golden statue, and his palace was turned into a tomb, again decorated with gold.
But this piece is already from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Silver, however, was also the property of the divine Inca. But if the Incas associated gold with the brilliance of the Sun, then they considered silver to be the tears of the Moon. And although silver quickly dimmed due to the humid climate of the Andes, the Incas appreciated it and made many things from silver. Mercury was also known to the Incas, and they used it for gilding and silvering bronze items. Also, Peruvian craftsmen used various alloys with tin, but selected their recipes so that at first glance, products made from them look like gold. War mace heads were cast, heavy bronze levers used in construction, knives and a variety of surgical instruments, pins for fasteners, ornaments for the nose and ears, and tweezers to pluck hair. However, all this, as already noted, was used only by commoners, and the nobility used products made of gold and silver in huge quantities.
Gold figurine of a man 1400 -1533 Inca culture. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Golden figurine of a woman 1400 -1533 Inca culture. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
When the Great Inca Atahualpa, whom Francisco Pizarro kept as a prisoner, ordered the delivery of gold and silver to Cajamarca to ransom his person, then he filled a room 7.5 meters long and 4.5 meters wide. fit, although not up to the ceiling itself, but "at the height of the white line, which a tall man could not reach with his hand." As a result, this amounted to 1,326,539 pesos of pure gold and in addition 51,610 marks of silver. With modern money for this amount of precious metals, one could get more than $ 500 million. It is terrible that all this gold and silver in the form of articles was melted into ingots, since there was a royal order that all gold and silver from Peru should be melted down in the royal mints in Seville, Toledo and Segovia. " Well, and how many of the most beautiful works of art were lost, we can only guess. But the Spaniards themselves later recalled that they saw in Cuzco many statues and idols made entirely of gold and silver, as well as human-sized figures of women, hollow inside and of excellent work. Another conquistador wrote that he happened to see "many vessels of gold, lobsters that are found in the sea, and other golden vessels were carved with images of birds and snakes, even spiders, lizards and some beetles …". As for the royal secretary, who kept records of the golden trophies obtained by the conquistadors, seeing in what a high heap they were all piled up, he wrote: “Truly it was worth seeing … vessels, vases and dishes of various shapes, on which food was served to the rulers of the Incas … There there were four lamas of pure gold and very large ten or twelve life-size female statues, all of pure gold and of such beauty and fine work that they seemed to be alive …"
But scientists were lucky with textile products. Therefore, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has many different clothes, carpets and fabrics of Inca work. In particular, here is this original sleeveless tunic with two cats!
Inca tunic with geometric patterns from 1460–1540. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
It is interesting that the Incas carried out their conquests on the territory of ancient Peru not for the sake of conquests as such, but for the purpose of spreading advanced technologies. In any case, according to the ancient legend, "The Sun God ordered the Incas to go to the people and bring crafts and civilization to all the Indians, who then lived in savagery."That is, the myths reflect the desire of the Incas, first of all, to enlighten all other Indian tribes, while the Incas themselves consider themselves people chosen for this purpose by God himself. And obviously something allowed them to think so. Although it is known that in the Andes for two millennia, starting from the X century BC, such developed civilizations as Chavin, Paracas, Nazca, Moche, Tiahuanaco and others already existed, that is, much was created before them. But it turned out that in the XII century a people appeared on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the so-called Great Inca became the supreme ruler of which. And so this people moved to the new capital, the city of Cuzco, and began to spread their power over vast territories.
Feather tunic. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
True, the exact appearance of the Incas in the historical arena is unknown. Although we know that at first they were a small tribe, and it moved north in search of fertile lands, until it ended up in the valley of Cuzco. Here they managed to defeat the original owners of the local lands, after which they began to gradually subordinate the neighboring tribes to their power. They were lucky that at this time the entire territory of the Andes was inhabited by various tribes who spoke different languages, with their own mythology, religion, culture. At the same time, the level of culture they all had was approximately the same, so it turned out to be easy for them to integrate into a new society under the rule of the Incas. For all tribes, the basis of society was the land community, which owned the land together. Another thing is that it was the Incas who had a particularly heightened sense of organization. And they began to expand their possessions through conquest.
"Carpet with Stars". (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Patterned handbag. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Already at the end of the XIV century, they created a strong and numerous regular army. Moreover, conquering neighboring tribes, the Incas acted not only by force, but also tried to attract their elite to their side. It is interesting that, before starting hostilities, they three times offered the rulers of the opposing side to voluntarily submit to their power and become part of their empire, and only in case of a final refusal did they use weapons. After the victory, the conquered tribes were forced to learn the language of the Incas, and planted among them their customs and laws. But the local nobility and priesthood were given the opportunity to maintain their privileged position, and the local religion was not prohibited, although the conquered were required to worship the sun god. The Incas well understood the importance of preserving local customs, folk crafts and clothing, and not only did not encroach on them, but also created conditions for the development of local culture.
The Inca dishes were similar to the Mochica dishes, but still only similar. A stirrup bottle. Nazca culture. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
A vessel with a geometric ornament. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
As an example of such cultural integration, one can cite the Indians of the Chonos culture (on the territory of modern Ecuador), who in the 15th-16th centuries smelted copper of very high purity (copper content 99.5%), cast miniature hatchets from it 2 cm on the sides and 0, 5 cm thick and used them as money. However, this "coin" was in circulation throughout the western coast of South America, including the state of the Incas.
