Inca aqueducts
The Inca built such structures to increase arable land and provide drinking water and baths to the population.
In seasons when too much mountain snow melted, the floodwaters were carried to huge masonry reservoirs for storage, channeling water to their cities and religious centers.
In his published chronicles detailing his travels through Peru, he noted seeing a large wall as he headed east from Cuzco, which scholars argue he was referring to the aqueduct at the Piquillacta archeological site.
Inca engineers in Machu Picchu were able to use an ingenious stone collection system to increase the yield of the perennial spring that normally only had substantial flows as mountain snow melted in the warmer months.
Those engineers reinforced the existing Wari wall by using andesite[9] and the characteristic Inca technique of mortarless masonry.
[10] This engineering marvel required complex topographical surveying and analysis, not unlike what would be done in a modern building project.
[14] There are mass burials situated in the cliffs alongside Pisac, leading experts to believe that the land was considered sacred before Inca improvements were placed there.
Inca emperor Pachacuti is attributed as the constructor of the estate which is divided into four sectors, all connected through elaborate waterways.
The water features at Pisac originate from a spring that diverges into two canals which feed the many baths and fountains inhabiting the estate.
Both an Inca bath and a water holding tank are connected via an open 1 km long canal that runs through the main plaza in the center.
Some of the fine masonries of the area are shown in the water's access points; trapezoid-shaped openings, steps, and niched walls decorate the elaborate hydraulic system.
[17] Built by Topa Inca and envisioned by his son Huayna Capac to be a second capital along with Cuzco, Tomebamba has some extensive networks of hydraulic construction that archeologists such as Max Uhle had ever seen.
[18] While most of the ancient city is unrecoverable due to modern construction, there is still evidence of expansive drainage systems, canals, baths, a pool, and even a manmade lake.
[19] The derelict remains of perhaps the last imperial settlement of the Inca empire, Caranqui, harbors some evidence for significant hydraulic architecture.
As part of the northern expansion of the empire, Huayna Capac demonstrated complete control of water and possibly other fluids.
After massacring the local men by drowning them in the nearby lake, Yaguarcocha, the Emperor erected an expansive water-system that was capable of captivating the empire's most elite.
The temple is assuredly "estanque", a pool in which Pedro Cieza de León wrote about in his 1553 book Crónica del Perú.
[20] [21] Famed American architect of the twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright, had known interests in Inca architecture.
