INCA CULTURE

CARVED WOOD HUMAN FIGURES 

INLAID WITH SHELL

FACE OF A SHELL INLAID MALE HUMAN FIGURE
INCA CULTURE

ABSTRACT:

TWO INCA CULTURE CARVED WOOD AND SHELL INLAID HUMAN FIGURES 

DIFFERENT SIDE VIEWS OF MALE & FEMALE FIGURES

   This article illustrates two wood carved and shell inlaid human figures. One is a female and one is a male. Both are from the area of Cuzco, Peru and are in a private collection.

   The Inca culture establishes itself as a very large centralized empire by around A.D.1438. By the early 1500's their empire enveloped an area along western South America that stretched for 2,485 miles (4,000 km).


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MALE HUMAN FIGURE
INCA CULTURE---CUZCO, PERU
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This brightly colored figure of a male human was carved out of wood and covered on all sides with inlaid shells of various colors. He has a pleasant looking expression but his ears seem to large but they may actually represent  ear spools instead. He is holding some type of object in his two hands and in the side view he appears to be kneeling with a offering.

   The ancient city of Cuzco in south central Peru was once the capital of the Inca state. It was here that the Inca religion reach its highest expression and where the ruling Inca, known as the "sun of the sun", resided.


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FEMALE HUMAN FIGURE
INCA CULTURE---CUZCO, PERU
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This female human figure is very similar to the male figure pictured above. It's only slightly smaller and appears to be holding the same object in her two hands. There are no ears or ear spools on this figure and there seems to be hair rather than a hat which the male is wearing. This figure is also carved out of wood and covered on all sides with brightly colored inlaid shell.

   The Inca culture is known for its large system of roads. It's believed that the Inca ruler could receive dispatches from Quito by runners who could relay these messages across a distance of 1,865 miles (3,000 km) within a week. By the year A.D. 1532 the Inca empire had become the largest pre-Hispanic empire in the Americas. 1532 is also the year that the Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro destroyed it.

"REFERENCES"

1996, "The Oxford Companion To Archaeology", by Brian M. Fagan, pp. 340-348.
1997, "Past Worlds, Atlas Of Archaeology", Harper Collins, p. 20.
1969, "Discovering Man's Past In The Americas", By George E. Stuart & Gene S. Stuart, p. 171.

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