Ancasmarca

Ancasmarca,[1] also known as Pitusiray[2] or Sallcasa,[3] is a 5,198-metre-high (17,054 ft) mountain in the Urubamba mountain range in the Andes of Peru. It is located in the Cusco Region, Calca Province, Calca District, north of the Vilcanota River. Ancasmarca is situated northeast of Huamanchoque, southeast of Canchacanchajasa, south of Sahuasiray, and southwest of Ccerayoc and Condorhuachana.[1][3]

For the district in the La Libertad Region, Peru, see Angasmarca District. For the mountain southeast of Wamanchuqi in the Calca District, Calca Province, Cusco Region, Peru, see Pitusiray.

Ancasmarca
Pitusiray / Sallcasa
The Urubamba mountain range as seen from the southwest. Chicón is on the left. Huamanchoque and Ancasmarca are visible on the right side in the background of this image.
Highest point
Elevation	5,198 m (17,054 ft) [1]
Coordinates	13°15′06″S 71°59′07″W
Geography
Ancasmarca Peru
Location	Peru, Cusco Region
Parent range	Andes, Urubamba

Mythology

Around 1575, the Spaniard Cristòbal de Molina wrote about the origins of the site in Relación de las fábulas y ritos de los Incas (Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas). According to him, after consulting with his llamas, a shepherd foresaw the great flood. He took refuge with his 6 children on top of the Ancasmarca hill, which elevated as the waters rose. When the water cleared, the shepherd's children repopulated the region. For Molina, this was proof that the Andes had experienced the great flood told in the Bible by Noah. Other versions of the story explain that the lamas were sad because the stars were high in the sky and the animals understood what was coming.[4]

Etymology

The word Ancasmarca is of Quechua origin and could have two different meanings:[5][6]

• Anqas or ancash: blue; marka: village; "blue village"
• Anca: eagle; marka: village: "village inhabited by eagles"

See also

• Periodization of pre-Columbian Peru
• Ancient Peru

References

1. Mapa de peligros de la ciudad de Calca, Informe final, Proyecto INDECI – PNUD PER / 02/ 051, Ciudades sostenibles (see map of Calca)
2. "South America Maps". Joint Operations Graphic. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
3. escale.minedu.gob.pe - UGEL map of the Calca Province (Cusco Region)
4. David Knowlton, Stars, Llamas, and People: The Origin of Ancasmarca, Cuzcoeats.com, 27 May 2014
5. Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)
6. (in Spanish) Complejo Arqueológico de Ancasmarca – Calca, Cusconoticias.pe, 22 October 2014

Further reading

• Cristòbal de Molina (January 2011). Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas. University of Texas Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-292-74398-4.
• José Gonzáles Corrales (2003). Investigaciones arqueológicas en Ancasmarca Calca José Gonzáles Corrales (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Cultura Cusco. p. 61.