Tarawasi
Tarahuasi Limatambo · Tara Wasi
Late Horizon Inca Imperial 1440–1536 CE·Inca·🇵🇪 Cusco, Anta, Limatambo District, Peru
About
About Tarawasi
Chinchaysuyu road tambo and polygonal usnu (c.1450): exquisite 30 m polygonal usnu platform with 28 niche windows, octagonal andesite stones perfectly fitted without mortar, ramps, baths and kallanka for Qhapaq Ñan travelers Cusco–Abancay. Colonial tambo built atop with 18th-century hacienda arch reuse. Most finely jointed wall outside Sacsayhuamán, displaying Inca 'pillow-faced' cushion ashlar next to Cuzco imperial style.
Why it mattersMaster type for Inca polygonal palace architecture and Qhapaq Ñan tambo model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why 28 niches — lunar?
- 02Quarry source of octagonal andesite
Theories
- 01Usnu marks Limatambo valley pacarina
- 02Tambo as chasqui relay and army lodge
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1440–1470 CE (Pachacuti)
- Period
- Late Horizon Inca Imperial 1440–1536 CE
- Culture
- Inca
- Builders
- Inca (Pachacuti)
- Purpose
- Road tambo, usnu shrine and traveler lodge on Qhapaq Ñan
- Abandoned
- c.1534 (Spanish road continued use)
- Rediscovered
- Colonial hacienda overlapped; excavated 1940s–60s
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1440
Pachacuti road building includes Tarawasi usnu
1946
Rowe surveys usnu masonry
On the ground
Structures & features
13.4692° S · 72.4364° W · 2870 m · 2 mapped features
Polygonal Usnu Platform
usnu30 m cushion-face polygon wall with 28 niches
13.4695° S · 72.4360° WKallanka and Baths
tamboKallanka hall and baths beside Qhapaq Ñan trace
13.4685° S · 72.4370° W