Huaca de Chena
[3] In 1976, archeologist Rubén Stehberg published the report "Chena's Fortress and its relation with the Inca occupation of central Chile".
[citation needed] This fortress possesses a set of nine enclosures situated at the hill's summit and two surrounding walls, which were initially interpreted as defensive structures.
[citation needed] This form, similar to that of an animal (unique in Chile), is akin to the figure of a puma which was also represented in the layout of the cardinal city of Inca Empire, Cusco.
[6] Fernando and Edgardo Elorrieta describe a great quantity of Inca buildings located in the sacred valley as resembling animal forms, some of them related to the constellations that were seen in the night sky.
The hind end of this feline presents apertures for doors, corridors and separations between walls, which allow for the passage of the first ray of sun on the solstice and the equinox.
This Andean sacralization of geography has long-standing precedents in the Andes, and should not be thought of as solely Incan, even if Tawantinsuyu adapted it to fit its political interests.
"The reasons that support this place as a ceremonial and not a military compound: The Incas had developed an astronomy based on the rising and setting of Inti (the Sun), Quilla (the Moon) and certain planets and stars, in particular, Chasca (Venus) and Collca (the Pleiades).
The abundant quantity of specialized literature indicates that the Inca astronomers realized highly precise observations and were constructing observatories throughout the territory that they occupied.
Because of the long distances that typically existed between villages and the need to cross them on foot, it is presumed that each settlement of relative importance relied on an observatory that allowed the inhabitants to manage their own calendar.
Aveni discovered two important buildings in the Inca city Wanuku Pampa whose orientation is glaringly different from the rest of the city: they align with the axis (zenith - antizenith), which later becomes known as the "standard time of Cuzco", suggesting that the Incas, not having been able to apply the same seasonal criteria throughout their entire empire (south of the tropics, the Sun never passes through the zenith, as is the case with Chena), had to maintain a coherence among the calendars between remote places of their empire and the capital.
[citation needed] By means of this simple method, and using mud and stones as construction materials, the Inca astronomers achieved observations of great precision.
A lack of detailed maps of the site by the San Bernardo and Calera de Tango municipalities has delayed the investigations.
The Quechuan Aymará community from Santiago stands out, as they negotiate with authorities in order to recover the Huaca de Chena as a ritual space for the current and future generations of descendants from the original Andean peoples.
The communities consider it very important that descendants from the Andean villages recover this sacred place (nowadays left in utter abandon), and therefore possess a ritual space of their own inside the city.
