Inca Architecture

Inca architecture is the building tradition of the Inca Empire in the Andes, most famously represented by the royal estate of Machu Picchu. Its hallmark is a form of dry stone masonry, built without mortar, in which massive stone blocks were individually shaped so precisely that they fit together almost seamlessly with their neighboring blocks. Because the Inca had no iron or steel tools, builders cut and dressed these stones using bronze implements and harder stones quarried nearby, moving smaller blocks with llamas and larger ones with ropes and levers. This interlocking construction, with its thousands of irregularly shaped but tightly fitted blocks, has proven highly resistant to earthquakes because the stones can shift slightly against one another without the wall collapsing; notable structures built in this style at Machu Picchu include the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows and the carved outcrop known as the Intihuatana.