Studying ushnus
The project team has used a range of scientific and historical techniques to examine ushnu landscape and environment.
Methods from the fields of archaeology, geoarchaeology, cultural geography were used, while examination of the British Museum collection helped further understanding. This has been complemented with ethnohistorical and ethnographic research, which reveals the cultural meanings placed on ushnus and mountain peaks visible from them.
The project team studied 30 ushnus over a series of field seasons in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2008. All sites are located in the Ayacucho and southern Huancavelica regions of modern Peru, within 260 km2 of each other.
The findings have proved to be of great academic importance and were first discussed in public at a conference in Lima, Peru in 2008. A forthcoming conference in London (November 2010 at the British Museum) will feature a number of leading international specialists, and the resulting collected papers will be published in what promises to be a landmark volume.
Research methods
Archaeology
As well as unearthing artefacts, the team discovered that the way ushnus were built and their location was significant
Ethnography
Peruvians who live near the ushnus today were interviewed to get first-hand evidence of what the platforms mean today
Ethnohistory
Historical accounts show how ushnus were used for performance, so the soundscape was tested
Geoarchaeology
Soil from different locations was used to fill the ushnus which the Inca believed created a sacred bond between one location and the other
Landscape analysis
Researchers used a geographical information system (GIS) to help with their landscape analysis - what could be seen from the ushnu was significant
In the Museum
The British Museum holds one of the most significant Inca collections outside Peru and the project has shed new light on it