Inca Sacred Space: Landscape, Site and Symbol in the Andes

This title contains a selection of papers by leading scholars which were presented at a two-day conference at the British Museum in November 2010. The breadth of coverage across archaeology, anthropology, history and geo-archaeology makes this book an important source for readers seeking to understand Andean concepts of the sacred and how they were, and are, present within the landscape, at particular sites and through ritual performance. The papers focus on one of the most significant manifestations of Inca sacred space - the ushnu - a place of sacrifice, ritual and celebration, reviewing its concept from pre-Inca origins through interpretation in Tawantinsuyu, the Inca empire into its current Andean cultural context. The authors in this book examine the practical and symbolic principles underlying the construction of ushnus, the rationale for their placement, their function within the landscape and the activities that took place on them.