miles) south of Cuzco, even the densest and best bedrock is fissured enough so
that blocks can easily be broken out of the rock face. To break out the stone,
quarry workers may have used copper or bronze pry bars such as those exhibited
in various museums in Peru or they may have used wooden or metal wedges.
The stones quarried at Rumicollca are much smaller than those at Kachiqhata;
they weigh 50–600 kilograms (110.2–1,323 pounds). Unlike the Kachiqhata
stones, the ones at Rumicollca have been nearly finished in the quarry.
Several authors suggest that the Incas may have broken up big stones or
detached them from bedrock by cutting grooves along a desired fracture line.
They worked oblong holes into these and inserted wooden wedges. The evidence
for this technique at the quarries is rather scant, however, and by no means
conclusive.
Detail of a finely fitted stone wall at Hatunrumiyoc in Cuzco reveals the pit marks
left by stone hammers. The smaller, finer pit marks along the edges of the building
blocks show that smaller hammer stones were used to cut the edges. Jean-Pierre
Protzen