by the state. These also warehoused fodder for llama caravans, which sometimes
rested overnight in adjacent corrals.
Tambos ranged in size from simple, one-room roadside structures to more
elaborate, multiroom compounds with adjacent storage facilities and corrals.
Some tambos were part of larger administrative centers, while the majority stood
alone, along long stretches of road. Some medium-size tambos, especially in
Collasuyu, may even have played a role in local administration, while others
had a variety of functions beyond providing food and shelter for travelers, such
as pottery production, road control, mining, military support, and chasqui duty
(messengers who ran in relay; see Roads).
Classic Inca tambos are usually found in isolated areas, alongside a road, and
included facilities for lodging and storage. The architecture is Inca in style—
often a cancha or walled compound, made up of several rectangular or square,
one-room structures surrounding a central patio (see Architecture). They were
built of fieldstone or adobe, although the occasional tambo does boast fancy
stonework. In the highlands, tambos were thatched with bunch grass. Some
tambos on especially busy sections of Inca road—especially between Cuzco and
Quito—contained callancas, long rectangular structures with several doorways
opening onto a plaza (see Architecture) that could accommodate large groups of
travelers, especially during inclement weather.
Further Reading
Espinosa, Ricardo. La Gran Ruta Inca: El Capac Ñan [The Great Inca Route]. Lima: Petroperu, 2006.
Hyslop, John. The Inka Road System. New York: Academic Press, 1984.
■ADRIANA VON HAGENTELLO, JULIO C.During his life, Julio C. Tello achieved international recognition and
dominated the archaeology of Peru, both intellectually and institutionally. He
was a charismatic figure, known for his unflagging energy and determination,
even in the most difficult of field conditions. In 1880, the year of Tello’s birth
in the highland village of Huarochirí, archaeology in Peru consisted of
descriptive accounts of ruins by foreign travelers. Tello was the first Peruvian
trained as a professional archaeologist. His style of anthropological
archaeology emphasized fieldwork, but combined it with a knowledge of
ethnology, bioarchaeology, and ethnohistory. Tello attended Lima’s San