Kuelap
Kuelap is a former fortress of the Chachapoya and a village in the northern Peruvian Andes . Kuelap is located high above the river valley of the Río Utcubamba near the city of Chachapoyas in the province of Luya .
The village of Kuelap, which belongs to the Tingo district , is located at approx. 2900 m above sea level a little below the fortress.
The fortress stands on a ridge and housed over 300 individual houses on its three levels. Archaeologists disagree on whether the fortress was a permanently inhabited village or whether the residents of the surrounding villages only moved there in an emergency. They refer to the area in the vicinity as the area with perhaps the highest density of undiscovered and unexplored "places of historical interest" in all of South America.
In January 2017, a cable car was opened that leads shortly after the village of Nuevo Tingo to the entrance area, making the site much more accessible.
construction
fortress
The fortress was built by the Chachapoya, whose culture existed from 900 to around 1400. She was rediscovered in 1843 by Don Juan Crisóstomo Nieto, a judge from Chachapoyas. The ruin complex is 580 m long in the north-south extension, and the greatest width in the east-west direction is 110 meters. In the places where there is not already a very steep slope, it is secured with a wall up to 21 meters high. Entry is only possible via one of the three high, but extremely narrow, entrances, through which, for strategic reasons, only one person can enter. The main entrance is designed in such a way that, should an enemy intrude, they can be thrown out again at the exit directly opposite.
Different social classes were settled on the different levels of the fortress, which can be recognized by the decoration of the houses with typical Chachapoya elements and patterns. The nobility presumably lived on the top level, the "Castillo"; the "upper village" was inhabited by members of the military. In the "lower village" there are simple houses, often with a basement. The structure of the division of the room with kitchen and grinding stone can still be seen in some places. In the middle of the fortress there is also a square house, which probably goes back to the Incas , as the Chachapoya traditionally built their houses round. It is believed that it was used for gatherings of the highest social class.
Watchtowers
The fortress is bordered by watchtowers on the north and south sides , from which one can see which of the villages in the area that exist today go back to the Chachapoya. From the watchtowers you have a view of almost all the villages in the area, including La Jalca , the place where the Chachapoya probably first wanted to settle, and in the vicinity of which, in addition to many archaeological sites, one was decorated with Chachapoya symbols 16th century church.
El Tintero
El Tintero , in German inkwell , is one of the great mysteries of Kuelap, because to this day nobody can say for sure what it was used for. The building is so named because it resembles an inkwell that tapers from top to bottom. How the construction came about has not yet been clarified. In the meantime it has to be supported from many sides in order not to collapse. Inside the "Tintero" bones of predatory animals were found. There are numerous theories about its usage. Some think it was used for torture purposes, as a prison, or to carry out the death penalty, others think it is an observatory because the rays of light from some cracks meet in the middle on certain important days.
Since Kuelap is not as famous as Machu Picchu , the funds flow only sparingly. The construction workers and archaeologists from the INC ("instituto nacional de cultura", National Cultural Institute), who are entrusted with the restoration of the fortress, work with the same means as the Chachapoya, namely with wooden scaffolding and muscle power; There is no electricity in the village of Kuelap. The archaeological house has a generator , but the water supply is quite unreliable. The road ends about a kilometer before the fortress in the "Malca", shortly after the village of Quisango. From there you can only get to Kuelap on foot or on a mule.
literature
- Federico Kauffmann Doig: Origen de los Chachapoyas: andinización en la Alta Amazon , in: Los Chachapoyas , Lima 2013 (Spanish)
Web links
- Kuelap Fortress ( Memento from April 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Kuélap - information and tips
- Kuelap Archaeological Complex - UNESCO World Heritage Center , accessed July 10, 2018
Individual evidence
- ^ Adriana von Hagen: An Overview of Chachapoya Archeology and History. (PDF) Retrieved July 12, 2018 (English).
Coordinates: 6 ° 25 ′ 4.5 ″ S , 77 ° 55 ′ 24 ″ W.