Sacsayhuamán

Last August, Eliana and I went with her father to see these Incan ruins. The site is called Sacsayhuamán. It really is amazing to see. The place looks like a fortress, because of its high stone walls, and I remember Elianas father saying that it was used by the Inca military. I read that it is a mystery how they cut the stones to fit so perfectly together, because all they had was simple tools. And even after hundreds of years, and powerful earthquakes, a piece of paper will not fit between the stones. While we were there, there was a lot of excavation work being done, and it looked like they were uncovering canals. The nearby city of Cusco was the stronghold of the Inca empire, and a lot of underground passages were built that went from Sacsayhuamán to different sites in Cusco. I don't think they want people in there, because some have gotten lost, and died inside of them.
The native Incans did not have a regular written language, but instead used Quipu's. I took that photo of a Quipu in a museum in Lima. I wanted to learn more about these, and so I found a good site on the internet. The information on the Quipu depended on the color of the cords, the placement of the cords, space between the cords, the types of knots and the placement of knots on a cord. It was a numerical system, and they would make a Quipu that had information about their progress of crops, amount of taxes collected, the advancement of an enemy, etc.
The Incan empire was overcome by the Spaniards in the 1500's, and I read that a great battle occurred at Sacsayhuamán in 1536.
(Eliana took that photo of me with her father).