Marcos University, where he completed his medical degree. He was then
awarded a fellowship to attend Harvard University, where he earned a
Master’s degree in Anthropology. His fellowship was extended, so that he
could travel to Europe to take archaeology and anthropology classes in
London, Berlin, and Paris, before returning to Peru.
A brilliant career followed his return. Over the following four decades, and
until his death in 1947, Tello established a pair of archaeology museums and
shaped the archaeology programs at Lima’s two leading universities. He
founded several anthropology journals, and carried out a series of major
surveys and excavations along the coast and in the highlands. He also was
elected to the Peruvian congress and introduced laws to protect the nation’s
archaeological heritage, as well as measures to improve the health and
education of Peru’s indigenous population.
Most of Tello’s research was devoted to the study of pre-Inca cultures,
particularly Chavín (see Chronology, Pre-Inca), but he directed
investigations in Cuzco, where he discovered Wiñay Wayna, near Machu
Picchu, and at Pachacamac, near Lima, where he excavated and
reconstructed the residence of the acllacuna, the chosen women. In his
writings, Tello emphasized that the Incas’ remarkable accomplishments were
made possible by the legacy of the preceding Andean civilizations. He also
argued forcefully that the Incas could only be understood by combining
historical research with archaeological fieldwork.Further Reading
Burger, Richard L., ed. The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello: America’s First Indigenous
Archaeologist. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009.
■RICHARD L. BURGERTEMPLES
Unlike other ancient civilizations, there is no architectural template for Inca
places of worship that distinguishes them from secular public buildings, or even
from those related to religious activities such as the acllahuasi, or house of the
chosen women (see Acllacuna).
First of all, devotion was not necessarily directed at images and sacred objects
that could be placed within a room. Instead, it focused on places scattered across
a sacred landscape, usually far removed from settlements: snow-covered peaks,