A TERRA-COTTA Fl^UTE, OR WHISTLE, OE A 

 RARE PATTERN 



Found at Machu Picchu. Natural size 



TERRA-COTTA DICE, OR TAEEY PIECES 



Not used b}^ the Incas, so far as we know, 

 but probably by the megahthic folk previous 

 to the invention of the Inca qidpu, or knotted 

 string. Very little is known about these, and, 

 while fairly common at Machu Picchu, few, 

 if any, have found their way into the larger 

 museums of the world, i^ times natural size. 



and other stone tokens of a sort that 

 were not used by the Incas, so far as we 

 know. It is possible that these stone 

 tokens and counters, together with cer- 

 tain stone slabs found near them, repre- 

 sent an ancient method of reckoning and 

 keeping records before the invention of 

 the knotted string, or quipn. For a fur- 



ther discussion of these record stones see 

 pages 1 86 and 203-206. 



In the more recently built parts of 

 Machu Picchu, where we have evidence 

 of late Inca architecture, practically none 

 of these record stones were found ; nor 

 were any found in the graves which con- 

 tained the more recent skeletal material 

 and typical Inca potter3^ The record 

 stones may be the remains of the old sys- 

 tem which was abandoned by the advice 

 of the soothsayers, as Montesinos has it. 

 As a matter of probability, it seems likely 

 that the invention of the more convenient 

 quipu caused the far more uncertain "rec- 

 ord stone" to disappear. 



■A MILITARY SCHOOL 



Montesinos, continuing his description 

 of the Tampu-tocco kingdom, takes it for 

 granted that Tampu-tocco was at Paccari 

 Tampu, as all the other chroniclers have 

 done, even though there is nothing there 

 to fit into the traditions. He says that 

 Pachacuti established there a kind of uni- 

 versit}', where the nobles were trained in 

 military exercises and' the boys were 

 taught the method of counting on the 

 qui pus. 



Finally, a few centuries later, when the 

 loyalty and military efficiency of the little 

 kingdom of Tampu-tocco was on a higher 

 plane, the king and his council decided to 

 attempt to reestablish themselves near 

 Cuzco ; but an earthquake in the neigh- 

 borhood of Cuzco, which ruined many 

 buildings and caused the rivers to over- 

 flow their beds and to pass into new 

 channels, followed by the destruction of 

 towns, the killing of a large number of 

 people and the outbreak of a plague, pre- 

 vented the attempt from being successful. 

 But in Tampu-tocco there was no pesti- 

 lence, nor apparent!}^ did the earthquake 

 affect that point. 



It is worth remembering in this con- 

 nection that a severe earthquake in Cuzco 

 would do great damage in the village of 

 Paccari-tampu, but might do none at 

 Machu Picchu, built as it is in the middle 

 of an intrusive granite formation, where, 

 so far as one can judge from the effects 

 on the ancient buildings, there have been 

 no very severe earthquakes. 



The inhabitants of Tampu-tocco be- 

 came more and more restless, needed 

 more arable land, and at length set out to 



176 



