Huaca de Chena facts for kids
Huaca de Chena, also known as the Chena Pukara, is an important Inca site. It sits on Chena Mountain, near the towns of San Bernardo, Calera de Tango, and Maipo Province in Chile. Long ago, Tala Canta Ilabe, the last Inca leader in this area, held a special sun festival called Inti Raymi at its sacred platform, known as an Ushnu.
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What Does "Chena" Mean?
The word Chena comes from the Quechuan language. It means "puma in heat," referring to a female cougar during a specific time.
A Look Back: History of Chena
The Incas from the southern part of their empire, called the Qullasuyu, built this site. The Chena Mountain fortress, or pucará, is found at Cucará Point. This is near the start of Catemito Road. In 1976, an archeologist named Rubén Stehberg wrote a report about "Chena's Fortress." He discussed its link to the Inca presence in central Chile. Engineer Hans Niemeyer helped by mapping the area.
Southernmost Inca Sacred Place
Today, the Pucará de Chena is known as the southernmost Inca sacred site. Even though there was some debate about its use by the Incas long ago, it is now recognized as a very special place.
Amazing Architecture
This site has nine enclosed areas at the top of the hill. It also has two walls around it. At first, people thought these walls were for defense. But in 1991, a new idea came out. This idea suggested that the walls of the pucará look like an animal, maybe a feline (like a cat). This means they might not have been for defense. Instead, they could have shown the three parts of the Inca view of the world, called their cosmovision.
A Feline Shape, Just Like Cusco
This animal shape is very special and unique in Chile. It is similar to the shape of a puma that was also part of the design of Cusco. Cusco was the main city of the Inca Empire.
Sarmiento de Gamboa, an old writer, said that Cusco's builder made the city look like a puma. Fernando and Edgardo Elorrieta also found many Inca buildings in the sacred valley that look like animals. Some of these shapes are even linked to stars seen in the night sky. They also found that these buildings were connected to astronomy.
The back part of this feline shape has openings like doors and hallways. These allow the first rays of the sun to pass through during the solstice and equinox. On the winter solstice (around June 21), the first sun ray goes through four doors in one direction. Months later, on the summer solstice (around December 21), the last sun ray follows the same path but in the opposite direction.
The Huaca de Chena: A Sacred Spot
A huaca (Quechuan Wak'a) is a sacred place. It is a space used for special ceremonies. The descriptions of Chena's Pucará suggest it was, and still is, a huaca.
"This way of making geography sacred has a long history in the Andes. It wasn't only an Inca idea, even if the Tawantinsuyu (Inca Empire) used it for their own political goals. Also, this way of seeing the world didn't just stay in the main Andean region. Wherever the Inca government or its influence reached, this special way of understanding and organizing the physical world also spread."
Why It's a Huaca, Not Just a Fortress
Here are the reasons why this place is thought to be a ceremonial site, not just a military fort:
- No weapons were found during digs.
- Water is far away, about 2.5 kilometers.
- The living spaces could only fit about six people. This is not enough for a large group of soldiers needed to defend such big walls.
- The pucará has an animal shape (like a "puma"). This is common for Inca ceremonial centers.
- The pucará has three separate areas. These can be seen as the "Inca Tripartition of Pachacuti Yamqui" (a lower zone, a land zone, and a sky zone).
- Finally, in the main area, there is an Ushnu. This is a special platform for observations. It's interesting that a straight line can be drawn from Chena's ushnu to where the Sun sets on every winter solstice. This point is on the La Costa Mountain chain.
Chena: An Ancient Astronomical Observatory
The Incas were very good at astronomy. They studied the rising and setting of Inti (the Sun), Quilla (the Moon), and certain planets and stars. These included Chasca (Venus) and Collca (the Pleiades). In 1996, a new article suggested that the pucara might be a ritual site and an astronomical observatory, not just a fortress. Many writings show that Inca astronomers made very exact observations. They built observatories across their empire. These observatories were important for making calendars for farming, religious events, and daily life.
The Inca Calendar at Chena
Villages were often far apart, and people had to walk everywhere. So, it's believed that each important settlement had its own observatory. This allowed people to manage their own calendar. The Inca settlement near Santiago likely had one too.
The Incas also knew when the Sun passed directly overhead (the zenith) and directly below (the nadir). These points formed a special time axis. In the Inca city of Wanuku Pampa, two buildings faced differently from the rest of the city. They lined up with this zenith-nadir axis. This was known as the "standard time of Cuzco." This suggests that Incas needed to keep calendars consistent across their empire. In Chena, we haven't found this type of alignment with "Cuzco's time zone."
Observing the Sun
June 23 is the holiday of Inti Raymi, the Inca New Year. Incas would stand at a certain spot and watch the first ray of Sun pass through a gap between two walls. The Sun would rise behind the Ushnu, or altar. To keep this holiday alive, its date was later combined with other Christian feasts like San Juan Bautista (June 24) and San Pedro and San Pablo (June 29 and 30).
Winter Solstice Sunrise
The sunrise on the winter solstice is very special at Chena's ushnu. It happens at a "key" point where the closest hills meet the horizon. It also lines up with the highest hill (1,166 meters high) to the south of the Cuesta Zapata. This might not be a coincidence. High hills were often linked to water worship in many old cultures.
Finding North and South
To find true north, ancient astronomers could watch the star Vega (Lira's Alpha). The Incas called it Urcu Chillay or macho llama. Around the winter solstice, they would observe where it rose and set. The middle point between these two spots would show them north. This simple method likely helped early astronomers find the North-South axis. A diagram, made after more than ten years of watching astronomical events at the site, shows how Inca astronomers likely used this system. They probably designed the huaca and made their observations of the stars using just their eyes.
Santiago's First Ceque Line
During the Inti Raymi celebration in 2006 at the Huaca de Chena, a young archeologist named Ricardo Moyano noticed something. He saw the sun rise in a dip in the hills, similar to a place called Portezuelo del Inca. This name had never been fully explained before. Based on this, Rubén Stehberg believes this might be the first "ceque" line found in Santiago.
In Cuzco, ceques were imaginary lines that started at the Coricancha. They stretched out to each huaca, creating a total of 328 huacas. These lines helped organize political, social, and religious life. The Coricancha was the most important temple of the Inca culture. At dawn on the equinox, the Sun passes through a door in the eastern enclosure and then through a corridor. At sunset, it goes back the other way. The diagonal line of the entrance corridor marks the North-South line. Using simple materials like mud and stones, Inca astronomers made very precise observations this way.
Ancient Burial Grounds
33°36′39.94″S 70°45′15.81″W / 33.6110944°S 70.7543917°W Two cemeteries were also found at the foot of the hill. They are believed to belong to the Diaguita and Inca people. They are about 600 meters apart. The Diaguitas cared a lot about their burials. This showed their belief in a life after death, where the llama played a big role. Their special pottery, called dual ceramics, suggests they believed in two worlds. Shamans were seen as the link between these worlds. When the Incas arrived, they brought the tradition of building altars and sacred places on the highest hills in the valley.
Neglect and New Discoveries
Left Behind
Sadly, this important site has not been well cared for. The towns of Calera de Tango and San Bernardo are in charge of it. But they don't have enough money to maintain it properly. A barbed-wire fence seems to have been moved illegally, taking over some of the Huaca's land. A lack of detailed maps from the towns has slowed down research. Today, there are farms where the cemeteries to the west were found. At the top of the hill, the repairs done in the 1960s are almost gone. Only the bases of some walls remain, and parts have disappeared completely. Hikers have accidentally taken stones from the walls to build campfires. The signs put up years ago still say the pucará was only for military use. They don't mention the new discoveries. A serious effort is urgently needed to save and bring back this important part of the ancient past.
Used Again for Sacred Purposes
Even though the site is physically neglected, many groups have been rediscovering the Huaca in the last ten years. The Quechuan Aymará community from Santiago is one such group. They are talking with officials to get the Huaca de Chena back as a sacred place. They want it for current and future generations of people who are descendants of the original Andean peoples. These communities believe it is very important for descendants of Andean villages to reclaim this sacred place. It is currently left uncared for. Having their own sacred space inside the city would help them connect physically and spiritually with their cultural heritage.
See also
In Spanish: Fortaleza incaica de Chena para niños
- The Chilean Inca Trail
