On The Royal Highways Of The Inca

New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers, 1966. First Edition Assumed . Hard Back. Very Good/Good. 8 1/2" X 10 1/2. 311 Pages Indexed. Owner's name on first title page in ink. No other marks or stamps. Tan cloth with black spine lettering and black embossed decoration on front. Tight square book with faultless interior. Dust jacket price 17.50 is unclipped. Front of jacket has some edge wear while the back has 1 1/2 inch chunk missing and a taped repair Includes a three page stiff insert listing of the more than 100 Illustrations with Index to Notes on the Plates. Most of the illustrations are black and white photographs with a few line drawings, maps, and chronological tables. Dominated by the grandeur of the Andes, Peru was for centuries the center of one of the world's greatest civilizations, the rich and fabled Inca Empire. Artifacts of at least three pre-Columbian cultures continue to be discovered; huge stone structures, fortifications, bridges, and farms in existence as early as 1200 A.D. still dot the landscape, lending substance to the legends of an ingenious, treasure-laden people. This book is based on four expeditions to Peru undertaken by HeinIich Ubbelohde-Doering, director of the Munich Museum of Ethnology, between 1931 and 1964. The author re-creates the physical as well as the cultural milieu of the aborigines who inhabited this corner of South America before the Spanish conquest of the Sovereign Inca, Atahuallpa, and his vast empire. He delves into the great Inca heritage --- its still-standing cities, twenty-foot high fortress ramparts, terraces, and the impressive network of footpaths serving as a communications link between mountain villages, which attest to the imposing skill of the Inca engineers of over five centuries ago. Dr.Ubbelohde-Doering moves beyond the examination of archaeological findings to apply his observations of the present to the clarification of the past. By studying today's Indian population --- descendants of the the Incas, who still use the llama for transportation, the paths of their ancestors for communications, and retain a basically agrarian culture --- and by examining the Peruvian environmental conditions, which include some of the most rugged terrain in the world, he has been able to trace much about the day-to-day habits of past Inca life. He vividly portrays the mode of existence and the achievements of the early Peruvian Indian. In the dramatic photographic essay that accompanies the text, Dr. Ubbclohde-Doering captures the vast resources of this unchanged land --- the majesty of the Andes; the solitary beauty of Cuzco, capital of the Inca empire; the independent spirit of its Indian citizenry; its exotic primitive clay sculptures and colorful ancient treasures --- and in so doing supplies a unique and meaningful complement to his text.