Evidencias arquitectónicas de filiación Inca en el Valle Sagrado de Tulipe

Abstract

The natural and cultural landscape of the northwest of Pichincha and the entire subtropical territory of the Chocó Andino is full of archaeological remains attributed to the Yumbos, a farming and trading people whose existence dates back to 500 AD and who, due to volcanic eruptions of the Guagua Pichincha, disappeared in 1660.
Among their tangible evidence are hundreds of truncated pyramids or “tolas”, petroglyphs, movable materials, a peculiar network of “culuncos” or paths that linked the coast with the mountains and, above all, the Great Ceremonial Center of pools in the Sacred Valley of Tulipe. To the southwest of this valley and in association with the set of sunken structures, we have rescued a small sample of terraces or platforms with their retaining walls, built with boulders and humus soil mortar. The function of these terraces was twofold: topographically, they corrected the gradient of the small channel that carried the water to the pools; and, at the same time, they served as a tribune, from where the countless participants could observe the festive rituals that