Killke culture

The Killke culture occupied the region around Cusco from 900 to 1200 A.D., prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 1200s. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/15/peru.temple.ap/index.html Pre-Inca temple uncovered in Peru - CNN.com ] ]

Killke culture flourished in highland Peru in the Late Intermediate Period around what is now Cuzco. The massive fortress Sacsayhuamán, was later used by the Incas, was originally built by people of this culture in the twelfth century. In 2007, excavations uncovered a temple on the edge of the fortress, indicating religious as well as military use of the facility. [ [http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2008/03/14/911994.html&cookieattempt=1 NEWS - Comcast.net ] ]

Archaeologists discovered, on March 13, 2008, the ruins of an another ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at Sacsayhuamán, overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco. Part of the temple was destroyed by dynamite blasts in the early 20th century, when the site was used as a stone quarry. The new excavations began in June 2007 and will continue for another five years to 2012. [CNN, [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/15/peru.temple.ap/index.html Pre-Inca temple uncovered in Peru] . March 15, 2008.]

Killke ceramics were first identified by John H. Rowe, though identified by him as early Inca. The vessels are often globular with vertical strap-handles, with simple linear geometric decorations of black or black on red over a white or buff slip [Rowe, John Howland, "An Introduction to the Archaeology of Cusco,"Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University" 27 (2); Rowe, John Howland "Inca Culture,"B.A.E." 21:200 ] .

ee also

*Huari culture
*History of the Incas

References

Bibliography

* Dwyer, E. B. 1971. "The Early Inca Occupation of the Valley of Cuzco, Peru." Unpublished PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley.
* Ixer, R. A. "The Petrography of Certain Pre-Spanish Pottery from Peru," http://www.goodprovenance.com/incapots.htm. Accessed 15 March, 2008.