The Inca Empire endured for only about a century before the Spanish conquistadors swept through in the 1500s, toppling the civilization. Their final ruler, Atahualpa, met his end on July 26, 1533, and the Spaniards initially buried him in a Christian rite. Yet legend says his loyal followers later exhumed the body and re‑mummified him according to traditional Inca customs.
Before the Spanish could fully consolidate power, the Incas began abandoning their iconic citadel of Machu Picchu, fleeing the invading forces. Their downfall erased a society renowned for an extensive road network, a law‑abiding culture, and sophisticated agriculture that fed a sprawling population.[1] Though the Andes isolated them, the legacy they left behind continues to intrigue scholars and travelers alike.
10 Things You Might Not Know About the Incas
10 Suspension Bridges
When the Spanish troops first entered Peru, they were utterly astonished by the sight of rope suspension bridges spanning yawning chasms. The conquistadors, convinced of their own superiority despite the Incas’ lack of a wheel, could not fathom how such airy structures were erected from twisted fibers of grass and alpaca wool. Amazingly, the ancient technique lives on each year at Q’eswachaka, the last surviving Inca suspension bridge, where local villagers reconstruct the span in just three days using the same age‑old methods.
The situation could have been even more perilous. The legendary Inca Bridge, a stone pathway that once led to Machu Picchu, was a razor‑thin trail perched over a 76‑meter (250‑foot) drop. Its designers even installed a removable wooden section that acted as a drawbridge, allowing defenders to pull the planks away and send unwelcome attackers plummeting to their doom. Although the path is now closed to tourists because of its danger, modern hikers have still met tragic ends on the Inca Trail, often by straying too close to a cliff while snapping selfies.
9 Fantastic Irrigation Systems
The jagged Andes are hardly the ideal environment for farming, yet the Incas engineered an elaborate network of terraces and irrigation channels that turned steep slopes into productive farmland. They carved wide, step‑like platforms into mountain sides, creating flat plots that could support crops across roughly one million hectares at the civilization’s height.
Stone retaining walls protected these terraces from frost, while layers of soil, gravel, and sand facilitated water flow. The Incas also devised a sophisticated drainage system that captured meltwater during the wet season, allowing their fields to endure months of drought without damage. Remnants of these ingenious waterworks are still visible throughout the highlands today.
8 They Really Liked Potatoes
When it comes to tubers, the Incas were absolute aficionados, cultivating over 3,000 distinct varieties of potatoes. These humble spuds grew wild across southern Peru and Bolivia for millennia before the Incas began domesticating them on a massive scale.
The Spaniards, chasing legends of El Dorado, stumbled upon this subterranean bounty and never imagined that a simple brown tuber would eventually outshine gold in global importance. After being introduced to Europe, the potato was initially met with suspicion, relegated to animal feed until aristocrats began to savor it as a culinary curiosity. Rumor even has it that Marie Antoinette once wore a potato blossom in her hair.
Archaeologists believe the Incas practiced a sophisticated seven‑year rotation for potatoes, experimenting with countless varieties to maximize yields. One can only wish they’d also discovered carrots along the way.
7 They Really Were Sun Worshippers
The Inca pantheon placed the Sun god Inti at its apex, treating him as a direct ancestor of the ruling lineage. Inti was frequently portrayed in human form, his visage framed by a golden mask from which radiant sunbeams burst. Numerous Sun temples still stand today, notably at Sacsayhuamán and the famed Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu.
During the winter solstice in late June, sunlight streams through a specially aligned window, casting a perfect rectangle of light around the altar and projecting a razor‑thin shadow that points toward an as‑yet‑unidentified target. The same phenomenon occurs at the summer solstice in December, when the opposite window receives the sun’s rays. Scholars speculate that this precise illumination may have helped determine optimal planting times.
6 It’s Written In The Stars
The Incas were master astronomers. They laid out the capital city of Cusco in a radial pattern that mirrors both sunrays and certain constellations, using careful observations of celestial motions to schedule agricultural cycles.
At Machu Picchu, two mirror‑like pools are thought to have served as reflective observatories, allowing stargazers to watch constellations reflected in the water’s surface. The Incas also recognized Venus, treating it as a servant of the Sun that sometimes led, sometimes followed, but always remained close to its master.
Among their many observatories, the Coricancha in Cusco stood out, once entirely sheathed in gold. Though the Spanish razed the temple to erect a cathedral, the underlying Inca foundations survived, proving the durability of their engineering; even when an earthquake later destroyed the church, the ancient stonework remained unshaken.
5 They Only Occasionally Sacrificed Children
Much has been made of the Inca practice of child sacrifice, and archaeological evidence does confirm its occurrence, though it appears to have been a last‑resort ritual. In most cases, the Incas offered a llama—preferably a rare black specimen—to their deities, believing that the animal’s sacrifice would secure a bountiful harvest. Llamas were prized for their wool, meat, and manure, and served as essential pack animals across the rugged terrain.
During the Festival of the Sun, chroniclers recount that a black llama was placed on an altar, its head turned eastward. While still alive, the animal’s left side was sliced open, and its heart, lungs, and entrails were removed in one swift motion. A particularly auspicious sign was thought to be the lungs still quivering after extraction.
When famine or other dire circumstances struck, the Incas turned to capacocha, the sacrifice of a child—often a pubescent girl—considered a noble offering. The empire’s position along the Pacific Ring of Fire meant frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, while periodic El Niño events caused devastating floods. In such bleak times, priests ordered the highest sacrificial rites to appease the gods.
Unlike the llama, the human sacrifice was regarded as an honor. Only the most beautiful children were selected from across the empire, and their journey to the sacrificial site was marked by feasts and celebrations. Travelers would escort them for hundreds of kilometers, bestowing gifts and reverence along the way.
When the moment arrived, the children were given coca leaves and alcohol to dull their senses, then either strangled, drained of blood, or buried alive. They were often interred in groups, surrounded by lavish gold, silver, and ceramic offerings.
Excavations in 2004 at Choquepukio, near Cusco, uncovered the remains of seven children alongside an elaborate assemblage of artifacts, confirming the practice of capacocha in the region.
4 They Gave The Phrase ‘Big Head’ A Whole New Meaning
The Inca elite, following a tradition inherited from earlier cultures, practiced artificial cranial deformation—binding infants’ heads with wooden boards and tight bandages until the skull took on an elongated, teardrop shape. This practice, akin to Chinese foot‑binding, signaled high status and distinguished the aristocracy from common folk.
Long before the Inca Empire rose, the Collagua people of southeastern Peru already employed head‑binding to set elite infants apart. When the Incas expanded, they adopted the custom to integrate these groups, though the practice eventually faded. Portraits of later Inca rulers, such as Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui—the mastermind behind Machu Picchu—show no signs of cranial alteration.
The deformation process began shortly after birth and could continue for months, even up to two years. Modern studies suggest that, despite the dramatic reshaping of the skull, brain volume remains largely unchanged, and the procedure appears to have negligible adverse effects on cognitive function.
3 Telling Time Inca‑Style
Known as intihuatanas—or “hitching posts of the Sun”—these stone solar clocks functioned as both sundials and ceremonial altars. Two survive today, one perched atop Machu Picchu. As the Sun’s shadow sweeps across the four‑cornered stone, it marks the passage of time and signals the appropriate moments for agricultural rites.
In the year 2000, a crane toppling during a beer commercial shoot shattered one corner of the stone into a dozen fragments. Restoration proved challenging because the stone expands and contracts with temperature fluctuations, threatening the longevity of any repair work.
Since that incident, filming has been prohibited at the site to protect the delicate structure.
2 They Couldn’t Write, But They Were Great At Counting
The Inca civilization lacked a conventional writing system, a fact that complicates modern scholarship. Among Bronze Age societies, they stand out as the sole culture without any form of script.
Instead, they devised a complex knot‑based record‑keeping method known as khipus or quipus. These devices, composed of colored cords and intricately tied knots, served primarily for counting and tracking financial transactions. Some colonial accounts claim that khipus also encoded narratives, biographies, and letters, though no definitive non‑numeric meanings have been deciphered.
Researchers believe the spacing between knots represented quantities of stored goods—corn, beans, potatoes, and the like—allowing administrators to monitor inventories across the empire’s vast granaries.
1 Inca Stonemasonry—How Did That?
The most striking legacy of the Incas is their mortar‑less stonework, exemplified by the massive walls of Sacsayhuamán, where individual rocks can weigh over 100 tons.
Quarries supplied huge blocks that were initially roughly hewn with bronze tools. Workers then transported these monoliths using a combination of ropes, wooden logs, and levers. Many stones still bear the indentations where wooden poles were inserted to grip and maneuver them into place.
Once on site, the stones received a second round of precision carving. The resulting joints fit together with such exactness that no mortar was required. Builders polished the surfaces with grinding stones and sand, achieving a seamless finish.
The interlocking system incorporates specially shaped keystones—some boasting up to 13 or even 32 corners—that lock adjacent blocks together. This ingenious design allowed the structures to absorb seismic shocks, as the stones could shift slightly yet settle back into their positions during earthquakes.
For years, the technique remained a mystery, but archaeologists now believe that craftsmen first created a clay mold of the desired shape, traced it onto the stone, and meticulously chiseled away excess material until the perfect fit was achieved.