Inca Engineers


Introduction to Inca Engineering

Without paper or a system of writing, the architects and master masons who designed and supervised the construction of public buildings and engineering works in such cities as Machu Picchu and the fortress of Sacsahuamán built clay models and, in actual construction, employed sliding scales, plumb bobs, and bronze and stone tools.

Inca Engineers

Without wheeled vehicles for transport, the huge polygonal stone blocks for fortress, palace, temple, and storehouse were emplaced by ramp and rollers and were fitted with extraordinary precision. Wall corners were always carefully bonded. Adobe bricks and plaster were common, especially along the coastal desert. Buildings were usually of one story.

Inca engineering skil

One of the most remarkable evidences of Inca engineering skill was an elaborate network of roads, which in many places still survives. Streams were crossed by a log or stone bridge, placid rivers by balsa ferry or pontoon bridge, and chasms by a breeches-buoy contrivance or by a suspension bridge that might be as much as 200 ft (60 m) long.

Inca Engineers

Road sections were maintained by the nearest village, as were the shelters and military storehouses that were spaced a day's travel apart; a village also supplied messengers for its sector. These men, serving 15-day shifts, relayed messages about every mile. About 150 mi (240 km) could be covered daily, a distance that later took the Spanish colonial post 12 to 13 days to cover.

Tipon: Water Engineering Masterpiece of the Inca Empire reveals the beauty and the ingenuity of this little-known jewel of the Inca Empire. Located down the Huatanay River Valley by the Inca capital of Cusco, Tipon is a 500-acre, self-contained, walled settlement that served as an estate for Inca nobility.

More info on- Inca Discoveries, Yechnology and Science, Achievements and Legacy

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