12. The Inca - Cities in the Cloud
Fall of Civilizations Podcast
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Sace Waman - The Puma's Head
The chimu were a desert people who built the vast, triangular mud brick city of chan chan on the coast of northern peru. They had grown rich diving for the highly prized shells of the mollusk spondilus that thrived off their desert coast. But by the year 14 70, the chimu too were conquered, and inca power in the region was now all but unchallenged. At cuzco, the incas celebrated their imperial ascendancy with the construction of an enormous ceremonial centre called Sace waman. Its walls are built of vast interlocking stones carved so perfectly they fit together without mortar - it's impossible to fit even a pin between them
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