Q’antu Raqay.
this is the higher sector of all P’isaq, about its name, its lost like the another’s, because during the colonial time the inkas were forced to forget everything that could remember them about themselves, and no many chroniclers mention the original names, that is why we just have hypothetical names, this sector is called as Q’antu Raqay, Q’antu is the name of a flower (kantua buxifoglia) that was considered as sacred during inka times and Raqay means inclosure, some people use to call this sector as Q’anchis Raqay, Q’anchis means seven (number) and Raqay means inclosure, its constituted by many buildings with “p’irka” (rustic) stile construction, has an open plaza from where you can see many Andean terraces that were used for agriculture, taking advantage the geography of the zone, on the top of the sector there are some rooms and to get there you have to walk along stairs and some handrail that were worked drilling some wall stone, when you arrive you see a double-jump door, that means that the construction in is sacred, there is a little plaza with 2 rooms at your left, 1 wall that surrounds the plaza and another room in front to you, this room has the shape of a Q’antu flower (Q’antu looks like a bell and the shape of this room is similar to a bell), perhaps it is the reason why the name of this sector, all the rooms and the wall have niches into that served maybe to put into images of some deities or sacred elements, because this area is connected with the cemetery, and possible here the andean priest gave the last good-bye to important mummies before to be out into their tombs (something similar to the deathwatch that we have nowadays).
According to some archeologist, they mention that probable the Q’antu Raqay sector is the most ancient construction of all the area of P’isaq, also they found remains from the “killke” pre-inka culture, which expanded until this area.
This sector was a control of access to the sacred valley and of course to the religious zone where just could get into the Willaq Uhma (andean priest) and some pilgrims who used to arrive to deposit their presents and offers.
Andean Terraces
In almost all the archeological park of P’isaq there are andean terraces that served as agricultural areas, the inka’s engineers took advantage of the geography of the mountain, they approached the lower fields and to add more agricultural spaces they built terraces on the hillsides of the mountain and that is how they could feed so many inhabitants like were during inka times, those terraces have also channels to be provided by water, that is why the andean territory is considered as one of the eight centers of origin of agriculture in the world.
Cemetery
In P’isaq nowadays we can see a good example of how was an inkas cemetery, this sector is called as Tank’ana Marka, Tank’ana means to push and Marka means province, this is a hillside of a mountain that has about 100 meters altitude keeping more than approximately 3 000 tombs, those tombs were looted during the colonial time, the Spaniards excavated tombs searching for precious metal like gold and silver, also for some precious stones that the inkas used to put with the mommy, now nobody can get there and take something out.
As this is a hillside its inaccessible, the inkas built a bridge to pass from one mountain to another and now we can see the foundations of this bridge, before the inkas put the mommy into his tomb they used to built like a road (trail, pass) where walk and take the mommy into his tomb, after they destroyed the road to avoid someone get there, and they started building another tombs lower than those that were full.
Q’alla Q’asa
This sector is also known as Hanan P’isaq (upper P’isaq), Q’alla means cut and Q’asa means pass, is the highest sector of all P’isaq and here appears a wall that surrounds and protects the sacred sector called as Intiwatana. During the excavations made by Arminda Gibaja, she found some special buildings that were used to raise into guinea pigs.
As this area is the highest, possible controlled all, because near this we will find some door that also controlled its access, the first door is called as Amaru Punku, Amaru means snake and punku means door, its original name is lost, probable nowadays inhabitants put this name by the wall because if we see this wall it looks like a snake when this goes along the mountain, at the back of this door we will see one hole worked just in a block of rock, it has a quadrangular shape and in the middle there is a depression that served to put into a small cylindrical piece of stone, in the another column was something similar but in this case the inkas used the presence of the rock to have its couple there, they tied a kind of door that consisted in some wooden sticks in vertical position and another in horizontal position, those doors were not like ours now, no were so save as now, because in all the road there are some control points, the kind of construction of this door is fine, if when you pass the door you have to walk up by some stair that were built according to nature without destroying it, the inkas built everything according to nature respecting it, after there is a tunnel, when the inkas sew this natural fissure they modified it, passing the tunnel there is a building called as pukara, it is a semi circular building that have some niches in, but according to the architecture those niches were for domestically use, it had a wall that surrounded which is destroyed now. From this part you have a good view of the sector called as P’isaqa, because from here the sector has the shape of a bird’s pick, similar to those that have the tinamou (in this group is the Nothoprocta ornata) and probable is by this reason why the name of P’isaq.
