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"t ~ . (f\'" It,~ "t". •• ,..•·>.'.i.~ .....C :. .~ lit~ '~t(""" ,,:,.~. _,_ J .. t~_ \,"+:!j '~~; SECRET TUNNElS OF THE INCAS By Javier Sierra. Translated from the Spanish by Doris L. Phillips In January 1533, the Spanish conquest of Peru reached its most dramatic point. The Inca Kmg, Atahualpa, prisoneF of Pizarro and his men, promised to pay a huge ran som in gold and silver for his freedom. To speed the gathering of the gold and silver, Atahualpa consented to let three of his Spanish captors enter the sacred Temple of, s amount of gold was not sufficient for the ransom to be given on the deadline set by Pizarro, and this gave him a perfect excuse to execute Atahualpa on the afternoon of 24th June 1533. FoUowing the death of Atahualpa, Pizarro returned to Cuzco to continue the looting of the Coric.ancha. There stiU remained the gold statues in Dbe garden and tthe impressive gold solar disc which gave tthe Temple ,its name. But, in spite of the opportunity the Spaniards had to find them, Ithese most important treasures were nOI foun~. They had beel'! hidden in some unknown place, out of their reach. The chronicler Cristobal de Molina wrote in 1553, referring to the gold solar disc: "The solar disc was hidden by the Indians in such a way that to this day it has not been found." This gave way to the speculation that the most valuable and. sacred Inca objects were being kept in sub terranean rooms, accessible only through secret tunnels. Several stories relating to this served to perpetuate the myth that a tunnel leading to the Inca treasure begins at the Coricancha Temple and exits near the massive ruins of Sacsayhuaman, in a place known as the Chinkana Grande (Big Cave). The Chinkana Grande today is no more than a big hole a few metres deep under a colossal hewn stone. In 1989, the investi gator Fernando Jimenez del Oso tried to NEXUS • 65 the Sun (the Coricancha) and take all the precious objects necessary to meet the amount of the ransom. Thus these men were the las.t ones to· see that sacred ambit in all its splendour before proceeding to remove seven hundCMd sheets of gold weighing about five pounds .each from its walls, and snatching gold masks and scep~res from the mummies of the Inca emperors, ancestors of Atahualpa. However, although conside.rable, the @) QJ <0 n-.......... ~==' FEBRUARY -MARCH 1995