Inca storage houses or silos can be found in many places along the Inca road. Called qollqa or colca in Quechua, these buildings were generally single rooms, with circular or rectangular stone masonry structures. A common construction manner included fieldstones set in mud and pebble mortar and capped with a thatched roof. The interiors of the circular structures were generally 4.5-5 meters in diameter; rectangular ones ranged between 3.5 and 6 meters. Although the walls have deteriorated, estimates for heights are about 3.5 meters.
According to historic records, materials stored in such buildings included gold, silver, textiles, maize, quioa, potatoes, rope, ceramics, birds, firewood, charcoal, grass, straw, chicha (maize beer), fruit, salt and fish.
The complex exchange system of the Inca road included a massive ability to store and transfer goods. Staple finances, as part of the state infrastructure tying local elites to the Inca rulers, included the construction of regional storage facilities for supporting temporary influxes of people, such as military excursions, and ceremonial activities. For the most part, subsistence goods only traveled under a hundred kilometers; but some, such as maize, could be transported up to 800 km to feed the town of Cuzco.
One estimate of the storage capability of the Inca was between one and two million cubic meters.
Sources and Further Information
Inca Empire Study Guide
The Inca Road System
D'Altroy, Terence N. and Christine A. Hastorf 1984 The Distribution and Contents of Inca State Storehouses in the Xauxa Region of Peru. American Antiquity 49(2):334-349.
Hyslop, John. 1984. The Inka Road System. Academic Press: New York.
McEwan, Gordon F. 2006 The Incas: New Perspectives. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
