platform. Both Cieza and Molina describe the Inca ruler and lesser lords
presiding over ceremonies from the tops of ushnu platforms such as the one
found in Vilcashuaman. Betanzos describes the ushnu as a place where common
people could pray and make offerings, and where libations were poured. Molina,
describing the Citua ritual, notes that the ushnu was the gathering point for
squadrons of soldiers running in the direction of the empire’s four suyus, and
where the ayllus and panacas (descent groups) of Cuzco’s Incas gathered in the
Aucaypata along with the ancestral mummies and mummies of former Inca
rulers and their attendants.
Ushnus were certainly important stages for Inca ritual performance. Whether
every ushnu had a similar cultural role remains to be proven.
Further Reading
Albornoz, C. de. “La Instrucción para descubrir todas las guacas del Pirú y sus camayos y haziendas.” In P.
Duviols, “Albornóz y el espacio ritual andino prehispánico.” Revista Andina 2, no. 1: 169–222, 1984
[1570–1584].
Anónimo. Relación de las Costumbres Antiguas de los Naturales del Peru. In Biblioteca de Autores
Españoles. Vol. 209, Crónicas Peruanas de Interés Indigena. Madrid: Atlas, 1968 [1580–1621].
Betanzos, Juan de. Narrative of the Incas. Translated and edited by Roland Hamilton and Dana Buchanan.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996 [1551–1557].
Cieza de Leon, Pedro de. The Travels of Pedro de Cieza de León, A.D. 1532–50, Contained in the First Part
of His Chronicle of Peru. Translated and edited by Clements R. Markham. Works Issued by the Hakluyt
Society, no. 33. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1864. Reissued, New York: Burt Franklin, 1964
[1553].
———. The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru. Translated and edited by Clements R. Markham.
Oxford: Hakluyt Society, 1883 [1554].
Coben, L. “Other Cuzcos: Replicated Theaters of Inka Power.” In Archaeology of Performance: Theater,
Power and Community, edited by T. Inomata and L. Coben. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006.
———. “Theaters of Power: Inca Imperial Performance.” PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2012.
———. “If All the World’s a Stage Then What’s an Ushnu?” In Inca Sacred Space: Landscape, Site and
Symbol in the Andes, edited by F. Meddens, K. Willis, C. McEwan, and N. Branch. London: Archetype
Publications, 2014.
Cobo, Bernabé. History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indian’s Customs and Their Origin, Together
with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History, and Social Institutions. Translated and edited by Roland
Hamilton. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979 [1653].
———. Inca Religion and Customs. Translated and edited by Roland Hamilton. Austin: University of
Texas Press. 1990 [1653].
Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca. Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru. Translated by
Harold V. Livermore. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987 [1609].
Hyslop, John. Inka Settlement Planning. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
Meddens, F. “Function and Meaning of the Usnu in Late Horizon Peru.” Tawantinsuyu 3:1–14, 1997.
Meddens, F., N. Branch, C. Vivanco Pomacanchari, N. Riddiford, and R. Kemp. “High Altitude Ushnu
Platforms in the Department of Ayacucho Peru, Structure, Ancestors and Animating Essence.” In Pre-
Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin, edited by John E. Staller, 315–55. New York: Springer,
2010.