Choquequirao: Purpose of the Citadel in the Vilcabamba
Choquequirao (Choqek’iraw, “the golden cradle”) is a large Inca site in the Vilcabamba region of the eastern Andes of Peru, located on a ridge above the Apurímac River at an elevation of approximately 3,050 meters. The site covers an area of approximately 1,800 hectares and contains more than 180 buildings, including temples, royal residences, agricultural terraces, and a long sequence of fountains and water channels. Choquequirao is conventionally dated to the mid-fifteenth century and is attributed to the reign of the tenth Sapa Inca, Túpac Inca Yupanqui, the son and successor of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. The site is sometimes identified with the Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Inca resistance to the Spanish, and is reached by a difficult two-day trek from the town of Cachora, although access is improving with a planned cable car and a road.
The setting and the construction history
Choquequirao is built on a long, narrow ridge that runs roughly east–west above the canyon of the Apurímac River, with views across the canyon to the peaks of the Vilcabamba range. The site is divided into two main sectors, an upper sector on the western ridge and a lower sector on the eastern ridge, with a connecting terrace running along the central spine. The upper sector contains the principal religious and ceremonial buildings, while the lower sector contains the agricultural terraces and the buildings of the residential population.
The construction of Choquequirao is conventionally dated to the period c. 1450 to 1470, during the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui. The dating rests on the architectural style, on the carbon-14 dates of organic material from the site, and on comparison with the principal imperial estates — and most scholars place the building in the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui. The site is interpreted as a royal estate, similar in function to Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo, dedicated to the cult of the Sapa Inca, the cult of the sun, and the cult of the Apus, the mountain spirits, and of the Pachamama, the earth mother.
The site is also associated, in the chronicles of the early colonial period, with the resistance of the Inca to the Spanish. The chronicler Martín de Murúa, writing in the 1610s, recorded that Choquequirao was one of the principal cities of the Inca state at the time of the conquest and that it was a focus of the resistance after 1533. The association of the site with the Vilcabamba of the post-conquest resistance is widely accepted, although some scholars distinguish between Choquequirao, which is a pre-conquest imperial estate, and the Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Inca state, which is conventionally located in the lowland jungle of the Vilcabamba valley, further to the northwest.
The principal buildings
The principal buildings of Choquequirao are concentrated in the upper sector of the site, on a series of platforms cut into the ridge. The largest is a long rectangular building, sometimes called the Casa Real (Royal House), which is built of polygonal granite blocks, with trapezoidal doorways and niches. The Casa Real is approximately 70 meters long and is one of the largest secular buildings in the imperial Inca style. Other principal buildings include a small Sun Temple, a sequence of residential structures, and a series of storehouses built into the hillside.
The site is also notable for the presence of a series of chaquip figures, geometric representations of llamas formed by the arrangement of stones in the terraces. The figures, which number approximately 22 and which are found throughout the agricultural terraces of the site, are formed by the contrast between light and dark stones, with the white stones of the volcanic outcrops of the region being set into the dark soil of the terraces. The chaquip figures are interpreted as representations of llamas in the form used in the quipus, the knotted-string recording devices of the Inca, and as ritual features intended to ensure the fertility of the herds and the success of the agricultural season.
The long canal and water management
The water management of Choquequirao is one of the most elaborate in the imperial Inca system. A long stone-lined canal, known as the Amaicha, runs nearly the full length of the site, from a natural spring on the slopes above the ridge to a series of fountains and basins at the eastern end of the site. The canal is approximately 9 kilometers long and is built of polygonal stones, with a sequence of small drops and channels that distribute the water across the site. The canal is still in use in places, although it has been damaged by landslides in the twentieth century.
The water system of Choquequirao is similar to that of Machu Picchu, with a sequence of fountains and channels that bring water from a single source to the residential and ceremonial buildings. The system has been studied by Peruvian and international teams working with the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, and is cited in modern studies of Inca hydraulic engineering.
The agricultural terraces
The agricultural terraces of Choquequirao are built on the slopes of the ridge, on both sides of the upper and lower sectors, and are among the most extensive in the Sacred Valley. The terraces are constructed in the standard imperial form, with a polygonal retaining wall, a layer of large stones for drainage, a layer of q’illpa to retain moisture, and a top layer of cultivated soil. The terraces are still visible across the site, although they have been heavily damaged by erosion and by the abandonment of the site in the early colonial period.
The terraces were used to grow maize on the lower levels and potatoes on the upper levels, and the agricultural production of the site supported a population of perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 people, including priests, aqllakuna (chosen women), craftsmen, and servants. The terraces also served to stabilize the slopes against erosion and landslides, and the agricultural terraces of Choquequirao have been the subject of detailed study by Peruvian and international researchers.
The identification with Vilcabamba
Choquequirao has long been associated with the Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Inca state. The identification is based on the chronicles of the early colonial period, in particular the Relación de la conquista del Perú of 1534 and the work of Martín de Murúa, which mention a large Inca site in the region of Vilcabamba that was a focus of the resistance to the Spanish. The site is also mentioned in the records of the campaigns of the Spanish captain Martín García de Loyola against the Inca of Vilcabamba in 1572, in the course of which the last Inca, Túpac Amaru, was captured and executed.
The identification of Choquequirao with the Vilcabamba of the resistance is widely accepted, although the precise relationship between the pre-conquest imperial estate and the post-conquest resistance is not entirely clear. Some scholars argue that Choquequirao was a pre-conquest imperial estate that was used as a focus of the resistance after the Spanish conquest, while others argue that the Vilcabamba of the resistance was a different site, located in the lowland jungle of the Vilcabamba valley. The debate has been complicated by the difficulty of access to the site and by the limited archaeological work that has been carried out to date.