The Architecture of Kuelap: The Art and Architecture of the Pre-Columbian Chachapoya

This book is a detailed study of the enormouspre-Columbian ruin Kuelap in the Department of Amazonas, Peru. The textprovides a description of this area of northeastern Peru and anarrative historiography of the ruin. From the time of Kuelap’s introduction to themodern world in 1843, the Kuelap has always been considered afortress. This study is a reconsideration of this militaristic framing.The following chapters also critique the belligerent stereotypeassigned to the northern Andean highlands for the Late IntermediatePeriod (1,000 to 1,400 AD). The text also explores the historicaldigression, concerning Chachapoya studies, caused by this mindset. Theories are then presented which will offer aplausible scenario for the construction and occupation of Kuelap. Werethe enormous walls erected to imitate the ubiquitous form in theregion, the cliff face? A new iconography for the Chachapoyaarchitectural frieze work is also considered. This system positions thesegeometric friezes as aspects of the human head: eyes, ears andnose. Closing remarks provide suggestions for continuedinvestigations regarding the ruin.