The Inkas of the south of the American Continent. discovery of a ceremonial center in Catamarca (Argentina) and its archaeoastronomical interpretation

Abstract

The present work explains one of the latest research carried out in the archaeological complex "El Shincal de Quimivil", the most important Inka administrative - religious center south of its capital: Cuzco. Located in the Argentine Northwest, it had, like the Cuzco Empire, its splendor in the 15th century until the arrival of the Spanish expedition of Francisco Pizarro, in 1532. We will make a brief historical - geographic tour of the Empire as an introduction and we will relate the latest findings in the temple nomenclatted as "Complex 19" in the aforementioned center of dominion, to culminate demonstrating that it was constituted by a series of temples, buildings administrative and sacred constructions, and discard the theory - accepted until the present time -, that the complex 19 was a military construction of defense, culminating with the current idea that in this center, rites and complex ceremonies were performed, attended by participants of neighboring towns, without having been determined yet, any military participation.