Ingapirca — Ecuador’s Inca Ruins

Ingapirca is an Inca and Canari (indigenous people) archeological site about an hour and a half north of Cuenca.  Although not as famous as Peru, these are the largest Inca ruins in Ecuador.  On Saturday, we visited the site with a guide and were given a brief overview of the ruins.  The major building still intact is the “Temple of the Sun.”  Offerings and rituals took place in the “Temple,” including human sacrifices.  A large stone marks the tomb of 14 skeletons, which lie in the fetal position.  It is thought that these skeletons were human sacrifices.  In addition to human sacrifices, offerings of food were given on a frequent basis.  All food grown within the encampment was used for offerings.  Today, many of the indigenous people grow corn, quinoa and potatoes for use as offerings before planting season.

Tomb

“Temple of the Sun”

View from the “Temple of the Sun”

The Inca’s are known for their use of calendars and we were shown a large rock with carved out holes used for this purpose.   The Inca’s filled the holes with water and used the reflection of the moon in the water to determine a timeline.  The Inca calendar consisted of 13 months with each month having 28 days.

After the tour we were encouraged to visit the “Inca Face.”  We took a brief walk past the settlement and arrived at a large rock walk with a carved out Inca face.  Our guide suggested it could be natural formation, however, many believe it is hand carved.  When I suggested to my Spanish teacher the Inca Face was hand carved, I was told adamantly it was naturally made.

Inca Face — Naturally Made or Hand Carved?

Posted by Ingelise Guy