334 Philip Ainsworth Means, 



Difficult though it sometimes is to distinguish between early 

 and late Inca pottery forms, it is, in the writer's opinion, possible 

 to establish a series of vessels from Machu Picchu^® that will 

 serve to throw some light upon the development of the most 

 typical form of Inca (or Cuzco) pottery — the aryballus. But 

 the reader should take care to bear in mind that the simpler and 

 cruder forms, forms probably longer in use than the more 

 advanced types, undoubtedly continued to be employed by the 

 very late generations of the Incas' subjects as cooking utensils, 

 etc., while the finer products of the potter were reserved for less 

 heavy work. In spite of this, however, the fact remains that the 

 cruder types, being very like the Colla-Chulpa pottery both in 

 form and in material, were probably older types of vessels than 

 the decorated and graceful forms. The reader is urged, then, 



diately pre-Inca times lived without governmental organization of any 

 sort except that in times of danger a military officer with the title of 

 Sinchi was chosen. Besides this, in the opinion of Sir Clements Markham 

 (1912, pp. 159 ff.), there was a social organization based upon the family 

 at the head of which stood the piiric. Several purics combined together 

 into an ayllu or lineage. This system was carefully studied by Sir 

 Clements Markham, and we have to thank him for showing us what the 

 social conditions in the highlands before the rise of the Inca ayllu were. 

 He did not, however, lay stress upon the historical significance of all this. 

 Sarmiento (1907, pp. 40 flf.) tells us that just before the rise of the 

 Incas, there were, in the valley of Cuzco, six aylhis in the possession of 

 the region. Three of these, whose names he did not know, were native ; 

 three others, the Alcabisa, the Copalimayta, and the Culunchima, came 

 and settled amicably among them. Later on, the Inca also came from 

 not far off and settled at Cuzco. Strife arose between them and the other 

 families which was not finally subdued for some time. Like the heads 

 of all the other ayllus, the chief of the Incas bore the title sinchi. Hence 

 we get the name Sinchi Rocca, borne by the first historic Inca. 



^^ The name "Machu Picchu" is the one given to this site by Dr. Hiram 

 Bingham, who visited it for the first time in 191 1. Although the name is 

 not a wholly satisfactory one, it has been thought best to continue its use 

 here because the site has already become well known under it, and because 

 the name Vilcabamba-the-Old (or Vilcabamba viejo) is rather clumsy, a 

 fault which outweighs its greater historical accuracy. In any case, "Machu 

 Picchu" is preferable to the "Matcho Picho," "Macho Piccho" and so on 

 of such writers as Sartiges, 1851, and Wiener, 1880. The phrase machu 

 pichu means "old ridge." The late Sir Clements Markham was of the 

 opinion that the cc in the name "Machu Picchu" was a mistake. The 

 name is pronounced Pi-chu, not Pic-chu. 



