Emlyn and Inca Info

Even though the Mini-Project is over, Emlyn has some pretty interesting info on his blog about the Incas.

-The Inca empire was divided into 4 quarters with Cuzco in the middle. Blood relatives of the emperor were governors of these 4 quarters.

-Below the emperor was the aristocracy. The pure-blooded incas had the most important post, but the leaders of conquered kingdoms were also accepted into this hierarchy, being considered Inca by adoption.

-Detailed records of population, gold, corn, etc were kept on quipus, knotted strings tied to a larger string.

-The Inca had a labor tax called mit'a. This meant that all the Inca people were requited to labor on various public works (roads, temples, giant rope bridges, etc) for a certain amount of time each year.-everyone lived in ayllu, a large communal group or family. each ayllu was allotted a certian amount of land by the emperor to farm on. Everyone in an ayllu shared everything.

-although for the most part, peasants stayed peasants, specially gifted boys were sometimes trained to be pages, temple attendants or the like. Specially beautiful girls were taken as concubines for royalty and sometime sacrificed.

-Each ayllu was a self-suffciant farming community. they used heavy wooden spades or foot plows called a taclla, stone-tipped clubs to break up clods, bronze-bladed hoes, and digging sticks.

-Since there were often years of droughts, Incas created complex canal systems to get water to their crops.

-The Inca priests not only prophesied the future and gave sacrifices to the gods, they also treated the sick. It was thought that illness was caused by the anger of the gods.

-Most illnesses were treated with healing ceremonies, but the Inca also knew how to preform surgery, amputations and even transplants.

-Inca music was played with instruments made of wood, reeds, pottery, bone, shell, and metal. The Inca music usually accompanied religious ceremonies and was played with only percussion and wind instruments.-Inca music had a very strong rhythm to it and sometimes almost pun the dancers into hypnotic trances.

http://encarta.msn.com/text_761560004___4/Inca_Empire.html