Note 85 — Chapter XV

The civilized inhabitants of the Chilca region came originally from the interior, probably from the Yauyos region. This event occurred, presumably, somewhere about 800-900 of our era, for, by the time the Incas were founding Cuzco (ca. 1100), they found themselves strong enough to make raids into the interior. Joyce points out that these raids may have occurred even earlier, at a time when the Tiahuanacu empire still flourished. At any rate, there was an important contact with the interior cultures at an early date. The Chincha also were constantly at war with the Chimu, Chuquimancu and Cuismancu who each ruled large and civilized coast states. The Chincha were conquered by the Inca either in the reign of Pachacutec or in that of Tupac Yupanqui (more probably the former) somewhere about 1450. According to Estete, their ruler (under Inca tutelage) in the time of the Conquest was Tamviambea. The cultural development of the Chincha was, artistically speaking, not so high as that of the Chimu. It was, however, in pre-Inca times, relatively complex. They practised trephining successfully (an art derived from their Yauyu ancestors), and they also frequently indulged in the anterio-posterior type of cranial deformation. Their general physical condition was good. They numbered about 25,000. Cf. Cieza, Tr., p. 228; Garcilasso, II, pp. 146-149; Joyce, 1912, pp. 95, 187; Markham, 1912, pp. 237-239; Tello, 1912; Hrdlicka, 1914, pp. 22-24; Lafone-Quevedo, 1912, p. 115.