The Houses and 'Fortress' of Waskar: Archaeological Perspectives on a Forgotten Building Complex in Inka Cusco

Abstract

The Inka capital, Cusco, is basically interpreted from the historical documentation of the Chronicles and early administrative texts. Despite the fact that History and Archaeology offer complementary data and interpretative opportunities, the latter has contributed very little to this understanding. In this paper, I demonstrate that archaeology offers an appropriate explanation for buildings that were known as the houses and fortress of Waskar in the distribution of solares of 1534 but which were never mentioned again. By using techniques of town plan analysis, urban archaeology, and the comparative analysis of cultural assemblages, a high platform now occupied by the Colegio San Borja and the Parque Tricentenario above the northwestern corner of the plaza is argued to be the location of the houses, while the slope below now in Calle Suecia and the Portal de Panes was characterised by fine terraces, with zig-zag salients and gateways, that gave it the term fortress.