Encyclopedia of the Incas

built as a blanket policy, but as needed, to support difficult campaigns of
expansion or counter threats by hostile unconquered people. For instance,
cordons of forts in Ecuador’s Guayllabamba, Chilo, and Manchachi valleys
correspond to documentary descriptions of the Inca offensive campaign against
hostile Cayambe and Caranqui peoples late in the empire’s history.
During the period of hostilities, garrison forces were stationed at the larger
forts more or less permanently. Architectural complexes at some forts would
have accommodated sizable populations, who might have included not just
soldiers, but their wives or families as well. For instance, evidence of weaving
and textile-working at Rumicucho in Ecuador suggests that women were present.
Mitmacuna (colonists from elsewhere in the empire) are routinely mentioned in
the chronicles as garrison populations, placed both in frontier forts and in
provinces whose loyalties were suspect. Interior garrisons in the provinces have
been hard to identify archaeologically. A hilltop garrison of mitmacuna in the
Lurín valley near Lima kept watch for trouble, and Inca complexes on
recaptured rebel hill forts in the Titicaca basin were probably garrisoned. But
many interior “garrisons” of loyal mitmacuna may not have been fortified at all;
their mere presence would have discouraged sedition, and formed the first trip
wire of alarm in case of rebellion.
Inca forts varied considerably in construction, size, layout, and defensibility.
Construction sometimes showcased elaborate Cuzco-style masonry, but more
often reflected regional traditions and conditions, perhaps making use of local
labor. For example, shoot holes are found in Inca forts in the southern empire,
but not in the central or northern Andes, while trenches are found in the north
and not in the south.