Archaeology | Ethnography | Ethnohistory | Geoarchaeology | In the Museum | Landscape analysis
Ethnohistory: Codex Murua
By studying original source material such as the Codex
Murua (known as the Galvin manuscript) it is possible to get a
much better understanding of how the remains we can see today were
not only used in the past, but how their location in the
landscape or in towns was considered to be of great
significance.
The Codex Murua was produced after the Spanish conquest of the
Inca Empire but its scenes of life, landscape and ritual were
very likely to have been drawn by an Inca working to give
the colonists an understanding of how his people lived.
An Inca king
Codex Murua 44v. Courtesy Sean Galvin.
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Vilcashuaman
An example of a stepped platform.
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Inca roads
Codex Murua 80v. Courtesy Sean Galvin.
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Modern evidence
Remains of Inca road systems in the Andes.
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Ushnus in the landscape
Codex Murua 79v. Courtesy Sean Galvin.
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Andean horizon
Ushnu locations offer specific views of the
landscape.
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