wall to take a look at the top. The wall seemed to also function as an aqueduct, but
I had some reservations, since the distance in between the sides of the opening was
large enough for an eighteen wheeler truck.
Marie, Jamie, and I had an argument that started my conflict with the western
archaeologists and anthropologist’s. Their theories regarding the structures and
peoples I met during my journey were colored with Western bias. I felt that something
important was missing, and as I continued my journey, I found that I had
allies, who were the local, red and brown skinned people.
“Where’s the rest of the aqueduct?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It looks like they just stopped on the two sides. Are you sure this is an aqueduct?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know, it’s starting to look structural to me. Wouldn’t they at least finish
the job?”
“They probably used something organic in between.”
“What? After all that work with stone, and then they’d use something organic
to bridge the gap? That doesn’t make sense. That’s like a half ass job.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“OK, they obviously are able to cut out this huge slab of stone,” I said as I
pointed to the big stone next to me, “fit it in, without mortar, so tight that my knife
can’t fit in it, and then you’re going to tell me that they just left the top off without
finishing it?”
“See, that’s the difference between you engineers and us archaeologists.”
“What’s that?”
“You always try to see what the practical use of something is.”
“Well, to build this thing, you’d have to think like an engineer. It takes engineers
to build things. If you’re going to spend that much energy to build something,
you’d want to do it well, and you’d want to complete it. I would think the emperor
would’ve thought the same way.”
“Well, archaeologists try to find the why behind something.”
“The why behind what?”
“Why did they build this?”
“It’s a wall. The reasons are pretty obvious. But they wouldn’t just leave an
aqueduct incomplete.”
After touring the ruins, we went back to Cuzco, and hung out in Mama Africa,
I had some reservations, since the distance in between the sides of the opening was
large enough for an eighteen wheeler truck.
Marie, Jamie, and I had an argument that started my conflict with the western
archaeologists and anthropologist’s. Their theories regarding the structures and
peoples I met during my journey were colored with Western bias. I felt that something
important was missing, and as I continued my journey, I found that I had
allies, who were the local, red and brown skinned people.
“Where’s the rest of the aqueduct?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It looks like they just stopped on the two sides. Are you sure this is an aqueduct?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know, it’s starting to look structural to me. Wouldn’t they at least finish
the job?”
“They probably used something organic in between.”
“What? After all that work with stone, and then they’d use something organic
to bridge the gap? That doesn’t make sense. That’s like a half ass job.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“OK, they obviously are able to cut out this huge slab of stone,” I said as I
pointed to the big stone next to me, “fit it in, without mortar, so tight that my knife
can’t fit in it, and then you’re going to tell me that they just left the top off without
finishing it?”
“See, that’s the difference between you engineers and us archaeologists.”
“What’s that?”
“You always try to see what the practical use of something is.”
“Well, to build this thing, you’d have to think like an engineer. It takes engineers
to build things. If you’re going to spend that much energy to build something,
you’d want to do it well, and you’d want to complete it. I would think the emperor
would’ve thought the same way.”
“Well, archaeologists try to find the why behind something.”
“The why behind what?”
“Why did they build this?”
“It’s a wall. The reasons are pretty obvious. But they wouldn’t just leave an
aqueduct incomplete.”
After touring the ruins, we went back to Cuzco, and hung out in Mama Africa,
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