Sacsayhuaman, 2
Vocabulary
| weigh | surgery | impressive |
| upon | fortress | overlook (2) |
| knot | precision | strike/struck/struck (2) |
| stone | massive | impossible |
| seem | human | provide for |
| hand | masonry | immensity |
| set (2) | combine | interlocking |
| ton | area (3) | numerical |
| ruins | survive | devastating |
| hilltop | currency | think/thought/thought (2) |
| display | architect | occupation |
| expand | homeland | begin/began/begun |
| citizen | skeleton | construction |
| empire | estimate | responsible |
| form | complete | mandatory |
| basis | function | earthquake |
| valley | range (3) | culture (2) |
| across | successful | addition (2) |
| variety | evidence | archaeology |
| science | medicine | monumental |
| skull | show (2) | exceptional |
| brain | indicate | master (2) |
| use | record (2) | miraculous |
| shape | string (2) | write/wrote/written |
| data | scale (4) |
Video
Transcript
An even more impressive display of Inca masonry overlooks the city, at Sacsayhuaman.
Upon their arrival, the Spanish were struck by the immensity of this fortress, and the scale of its massive stones. So large it seemed impossible that human hands could have set them in place.
Some of the blocks are estimated to weigh over two-hundred (200) tons. Their precision combined with the variety of their interlocking shapes is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes.
Archaeological studies indicate that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates to about 900 AD by the Kilkee culture. Beginning about the 13th century (1200s), the Inca expanded on this monumental construction.
It is estimated the construction took fifty (50) years and twenty-thousand (20,000) men. All male citizens of the Inca empire were responsible for not only providing for their own family but also completing mandatory government services.
This system formed the basis of the Inca economy which functioned completely without currency.
Within two-hundred 200 years the Incas expanded from their homeland in the Cusco valley across a three-thousand (3,000) mile (4,800 km) range of western South America.
In addition to being master architects, the Incas were exceptionally skilled in all areas of science and medicine. This skull shows evidence of a successfully completed brain surgery.
What is even more miraculous is that the Inca were able to expand into one of history’s great empires without the use of writing.
The Inca recorded all of their numerical information using quipus. Made using anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand strings number data would be recorded as knots
Questions
Sacsayhuaman. Sacsayhuman is a French-style palace overlooking the city of Cusco, Peru. True or false?
Machu Picchu. Were the Spaniards unimpressed by Sacsayhuaman?
Nazca Lines. Does the foundation of the fortress or citadel of Sacsayhuaman consist of ordinary, stone bricks? How would you describe them?
Stone Spheres. Earthquakes have toppled the stone masonry. Is this right or wrong?
Puma Punku, Tihuanaku. Was Sacsayhuaman built around 2,500 BC, or about the same time as the Pyramids of Giza?
Stonehenge. Did about a hundred construction workers build Sacsayhuaman in about two-and-a-half years?
Canac. The Inca used coins and bills. Is this correct or incorrect? Did they have writing?
Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. Did the Inca only excel in constructing monuments?
Tikal. I have visited Sacsayhuman. I have heard of Sacsayhuaman. Yes or no?
Chichen Itza. How do you think Sacsayhuaman was created?
Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Have you visited the pyramids of Egypt or Mexico or other grand monuments?
Angkor Wat. What might happen in the future?
Baalbek Stones. My friends and I would like to be an archaeologist, engineer, ethnographer, journalist or blogger.
