{"product_id":"inca-sacred-space-nicholas-branch-9781909492059","title":"Inca Sacred Space: Landscape, Site and Symbol in the Andes","description":"This book focuses on one of the most significant manifestations of Inca sacred space - the '\u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e' - a place of sacrifice, ritual and celebration, where the sun god was worshipped and where astronomical observations were made to monitor the yearly seasonal cycle. Physically the \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e is a (stone built) stepped platform linked to a drain or a basin into which liquids can flow. The \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e is seen as a place for the circulation of sacred essences between the world of the gods, the ruler, his people and their ancestors. The authors in this book examine the practical and symbolic principles underlying the construction of \u003ci\u003eushnus\u003c\/i\u003e, the rationale for their placement, their function within the landscape and the activities that took place on them. The ingenious symbolic and practical architectural construction of the \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e complex was deployed to appropriate and transform newly conquered subject territories. The best-known surviving \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e platforms are conspicuous features at all the main settlements and administrative centres on the Inca royal roads, and at nodal points in the wider environment. This great arterial network and its associated \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e complexes were fashioned to enhance the productive capacity of the landscape and to regulate the flow of key agricultural commodities. When Pizarro took the Inca king, Atahuallpa, prisoner, he did this at a location of Atahuallpa's choice which we now know to have been the \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e platform at the centre of the Inca site of Cajamarca, in the Northern Highlands of Peru. The papers united in this volume review the nature, expression, role and function of the \u003ci\u003eushnu\u003c\/i\u003e concept from its pre-Inca origins through its interpretation in Tawantinsuyu, the Inca empire into its current Andean cultural context.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nicholas Branch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1909492051\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781909492059\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Archetype Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 318\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.69lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 11.60h x 8.20w x 0.70d","brand":"Nicholas Branch","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48799090966783,"sku":"9781909492059","price":140.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/inca-sacred-space-nicholas-branch-9781909492059","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}