Inca kancha
[1]: 195 The origin of kanchas may have derived from pre-Inca coastal architecture, especially from the Chimú culture, which flourished between 900 CE and the conquest by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470[1]: 81–84 or from the Wari culture which developed in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 CE.
[4]: kancha In modern Spanish the term cancha refers to a sport playground such as for football or tennis, recalling the enclosed space.
Among them Bernabé Cobo[6] stated «the main houses of the caciques (native lords) […] had large patios − where the townspeople gathered to drink during their festivals and celebrations − and more rooms».
Even the first Quechua dictionaries by Santo Tomás[7] and González Holguín[8] have different words for open spaces: panpa to describe an open, common space translated into Spanish as 'plaza' or a place where there are no houses or a space for eating, drinking and merrymaking; pata normally referred to a terrace, an andén or an elevated area, and finally "kancha" with the meaning of space delimited by buildings[2] The most sacred temple in Cusco the Coricancha (also spelled Qori Kancha) meaning the golden enclosure was in its layout a kancha, the one with the highest symbolic hierarchy: an area of about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft) enclosed by a stone wall with a central patio bordered by six single room shrines, each of them dedicated to a god of the Inca pantheon.
Despite important modifications carried out by the Spaniards by splitting into smaller properties and opening of more access gates, extensive remains of the fine stonework enclosing walls are found in Cusco.
[1]: 196 The function of the hundreds of kanchas in Huánuco Pampa is still a puzzle for archaeologists[9] It has been suggested[10] : 229 That the origin of kanchas may derive from pre-Inca coastal architecture, especially from the Chimú culture, which flourished between 900 CE and the conquest by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470[1]: 81–84 or from the Wari culture which developed in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 CE.
[3]: 17 Hyslop suggests another possible origin: the rectangular enclosures and the grid arrangement are found in the per-Inca Wari culture in the southern Peruvian Andes, close to Cusco.
These measures, together with the quality of the stonework, do not allow to classify these constructions as rural houses, but nothing is known as the hierarchical level of its original inhabitants is concerned.
[1]: 195 Today, although partly modified, without their imposing thatched roofs and deteriorated, they are inhabited by peasant families from Ollantaytambo, making this probably the oldest case of continuous occupation in all of South America.
