Inca Bridges

The Incas were an incredibly developed ancient society that lived in South America between 1438 A.D. to 1532 A.D.. They created aqueducts, an advanced communication system called Khipus, and an entire transportation system (“Top 5 Ancient Incan inventions”). Alongside these inventions, the Incan people created very intricate woven bridges. These bridges were used to get across large chasms along top the Andes mountains. They were incredibly useful, and quite intricate to make. Unlike in Europe, where bridges were being made from stone, the Incas used the natural materials they had around them. These tools included alpaca and llama wool, stone structures, and wood. Due to the materials of the bridges being biodegradable and organic, the Incans had to rebuild the structure every year. The following writing describes how to build these intricate bridges.

The first step of making the bridges is to create the rope itself. Supplies for these ropes include llama wool, alpaca wool, and cotton. As said in the article “This Incan Bridge Is Made From Grass”, grass can also be used, and the specific kind known as ichu was used often by the …show more content…
Wooden planks must be placed horizontally and woven along the bottom of the bridge to add additional support alongside the ropes. Smaller twigs must also be woven together and placed upon the ropes, resembling a mat. The twigs will have to be switched out annually, alongside the ropes, in order to maintain the bridges durability. No wood is necessary along the guardrail, as the rope is suitable to hold on to. To attach the bridge on either side, stones are used a weight. The Incan people would often carve these stones into intricate sculptures for aesthetic reasons. However, the carving is unnecessary, and four stones of any shape must be placed at the four ends of the rope. The heaviness is relevant to how long the bridge is, and how much it