GEOMETRIC ELEMENTS IDENTIFIED IN THE INGAPIRCA ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX

Abstract

Ingapirca is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Ecuador; thus, it has been the object of analysis from a military, political, religious, strategic, and astronomical viewpoint. This work aims to describe the geometric elements present in those archaeological remains, from a direct observation thereof and through the bibliographic review of previous studies. It has been determined that the Cañari-Inca culture employed geometric elements in their edifications. The most frequent geometric elements were: lines, circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, trapezoids, ovals, cubes, spheres, semi-spheres, cylinders, which can be found, for example, in the vestiges of roads, rooms, ceremonial centers, stairways, water channels. No evidence of a measurement pattern has been found; however, with what has been observed, it is shown that their mathematical knowledge, in the geometric aspect, is comparable with that of other pre-Columbian civilizations.