Willkarakay

Understanding the site

The site is described as a control point above Patallacta. It is a separate archaeological place, despite the close relationship in position and the fact that photographs from the same stop may share a folder name.

A deeper history beneath the hilltop

Excavations on the Huillca Raccay promontory documented occupation approximately from 600 BCE to 100 CE. Gill Hey’s research describes houses, terraces, hearths, pits and burials, with changes in buildings and funerary practices through that sequence. These findings concern the earlier occupation of the place. They should not be presented as the construction dates of the exposed Inca-period walls in this photographic series. [2]

Why this site is special

Its position allows the viewer to think about the hilltop structures and the lower valley together. A commanding view makes a lookout interpretation understandable, but visibility alone cannot demonstrate that every room had a military purpose. The deeper excavated history makes that distinction especially important. This was a place with a long sequence of human use, rather than an isolated structure whose whole story can be read from its silhouette.

Reading the landscape

These photographs show the hilltop buildings above Patallacta, including the views originally filed in my Llactapata sequence. Look through the openings toward the mountains, then compare the close walls with the broader setting. The elevated structures and the valley terraces belong to distinct sites.

Look more closely

• Compare the hilltop buildings with Patallacta’s valley-floor terraces.
• Look through the openings toward the surrounding ridges.
• Follow how the walls divide the narrow hilltop into spaces.

How does this elevated viewpoint change your understanding of the settlement below?