Inca civilization - Arts and technology

Arts and technology

Monumental architecture

Digital reconstruction of original Inca painting on Room 42 wall, Tambo Colorado.
Inca architecture was by far the most important of the Inca arts, with pottery and textiles reflecting motifs that were at their height in architecture. The main example is the capital city of Cuzco. The site of Machu Picchu was constructed by Inca engineers. The Inca constructed stone temples without using mortars yet the stones fit together so well that one could not fit a knife through the stonework.
The rocks used in construction were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was compressed. The tight fit and the concavity on the lower rocks made them extraordinarily stable. In areas with fewer stone resources, buildings were constructed using materials such as mud-brick adobe, which would then be covered in stucco and painted for additional durability. At the late Inca settlement of Tambo Colorado, for example, color was often applied in horizontal strips of red, black, white, and yellow ochre atop stucco, and variation in color would accentuate architectural features such as niches.
The Inca had an extensive road system which consisted of two main roads as described in the following quote by Cieza de Léon: "The Incas built two roads the length of the country. The Royal Road went through the highlands for a distance of 3,250 miles, while the Coastal Road followed the seacoast for 2,520 miles."
Ceramics, precious metal work, and textiles

Almost all of the gold and silver work of the empire was melted down by the conquistadors. Ceramics were painted in numerous motifs including birds, waves, felines, and geometric patterns. The most distinctive Inca ceramic objects are the Cusco bottles or ¨aryballos¨. Many of these pieces are on display in Lima in the Larco Archaeological Museum and the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History. Textiles were important in that they showed social status, and could also be used as armor. Another important use of textiles was in the creation of rope bridges across gorges.
Agriculture and farming

The Inca lived in mountainous terrain, which is not good for farming. To resolve this problem, terraces were cut into steep slopes, known as andenes, in order to plant crops. They also used irrigation. They grew maize, quinoa, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, chili peppers, melons, cotton, and potatoes. Though all of their agriculture was important, their main food source was potatoes, unlike the Maya and the Aztecs, whose main food source was maize. The Inca was the first civilization to plant and harvest potatoes. Quinoa was also a main crop. They would use their seeds to make different foods.
The Inca were the first civilization to use the freeze-dry method of storage. They would leave potatoes outside in the cold, then stomp on them in the morning to push out the water, and allow them to dry in the sun. This process would be repeated 3 or 4 times, until the dried potatoes were ready for storage. At this point they were called chuño.
Discoveries
Mathematics and medicine
An important Inca technology was the Quipu, which were assemblages of knotted strings used to record information, the exact nature of which is no longer known. Originally it was thought that Quipu were used only as mnemonic devices or to record numerical data.
The Incas had no iron or steel, but they had developed an alloy of bronze superior to that of their enemies and contemporary Mesoamericans. The Andean nations prior to the Incas used arsenical bronze at best. The Incas introduced to South America the tin / copper alloy which is today commonly associated with "Bronze Age" metallurgy.