Tambo Colorado is a well-preserved Incaadobe complex on the coast of Peru also know as Puka Tampu, Pucallacta or Pucahuasi.
Standort
The site is located on the south coast of Perú in the Pisco River Valley about 40 km along the highway to Ayacucho know as the Via de los Libertadores, close to the town of Pisco. Initial reports from the 2007 Peru Earthquake reported no major damage to the site.[1]
Tambo Colorado remains of original colours on Northern Palace adobe wallsFile:Cyark Tambo Colorado Rm42 2.jpgCurrent (pre-earthquake) condition of wall in Room 42, Northern Palace of Tambo Colorado, using a photo-textured laser scan
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Digital reconstruction of original Inca painting on Room 42 wall, Tambo Colorado.
The site owes its name to the abundant use of colors on the walls. Thanks to favorable (very dry) environmental conditions, many walls at Tambo, both internal and external, retain enough residual colored paint to accurately reconstruct what the original wall painting would have been like. Color here was often applied in horizontal strips of red, black, white, and yellow ochre atop stucco, and variation in color would accentuate architectural features such as niches. Trapezoidal niches at Tambo have one or two recesses each, likely used for the placement of important objects. As with all Inca constructions, the overall dimensions of niche construction are standardized across the entire site.
Lay-out
Plan of Northern Palace, Tambo Colorado, cut from a Laser Scan
The site is comprised of several structures around a large central plaza. The central plaza is shaped like a trapezoid with its largest side being 150 m long. The main structures are grouped together in a northern part and a southern part (Sector Norte and Sector Sur). These structures are known as the Northern palace and the two Southern Palaces, flanked by an Ushnu (raised ceremonial platform) and a building known as the Utilities Structure.
Use
It is believed to have been used by the Incas as an administrative and control site on the main road from the coast to the highlands.
Museum
A small on-site museum is located near the entrance of the complex.
