David Dearborn

LLNL 

Ancient Andean Astronomy
 
 Rulers of their world, the Inca proclaimed themselves to be children of the
 sun.  Spanish accounts of their ceremonies include descriptions of solar
 observations made using a system of horizon markers around Cuzco.  Variation in
 these accounts cloud the precise nature of the observations, but a pair of such
 markers have now been found at the birthplace of the sun, Titicaca.  With this
 new evidence, we begin to understand the nature of these observation, but more
 questions arise.  What other types of observations were made?  How accurate
 were their observations, and what did they learn from them about the world?.
 More important, how was this sky watching activity integrated into the Inca
 imperial system?  Answers to such questions are difficult to obtain, but with a
 combination of ethnohistoric accounts, archaeological fieldwork, and
 ethnographic research, it becomes possible to piece together the sky watching
 practices of the Inca, and understand how it contributed to organizing their
 empire.