SH Archive 1850s Peru, Lima, Panama structures by Ephraim George Squier

[KD Archive]

Came across an interesting book published by Harper & Brothers in New York in 1877. It is titled - Peru. Incidents of travel and exploration in the land of the Incas, and was authored by Ephraim George Squier. The book contains some fairly interesting images of various structures observed by the author around 1850s. Basically, wanted to hear your opinion on what Mr. Squier observed 170 years ago. Who do you think might have contributed to the existence of those buildings?

Ephraim George Squier

1821-1888​

• Squier was born in Bethlehem, New York, the son of a minister of English heritage and his Palatine German wife. In early youth he worked on a farm, attended and taught school, studied engineering, and became interested in American antiquities. The Panic of 1837 made an engineering career unfeasible, so he pursued literature and journalism. He was associated in the publication of the New York State Mechanic at Albany 1841-1842. In 1843-1848, he engaged in journalism in Hartford, Connecticut and then edited the Chillicothe, Ohio weekly newspaper the Scioto Gazette.
• In 1849 he was appointed special chargé d'affaires to all the Central American states, and negotiated treaties with Nicaragua, Honduras, and San Salvador. In 1853 he made a second visit to Central America to examine a line for a projected interoceanic railroad, and to make further study of the archaeology of the country. In 1856 he received the medal of the French Geographical Society for his researches. In 1858, he married Miriam Florence Folline who had recently had a previous marriage annulled.
• About 1860, he became editor-in-chief for Frank Leslie's publishing house, and supervised the publication of the first two volumes of Frank Leslie's Pictorial History of the American Civil War. In 1863 Squier was appointed U. S. commissioner to Peru, where he made an exhaustive investigation of Inca remains and took numerous photographs of them. He later gave a series of 12 lectures on "The Inca Empire" for the Lowell Institute for their 1866-67 season. In 1868 he was appointed consul-general of Honduras at New York, and in 1871 he was elected the first president of the Anthropological Institute of New York. He conducted ethnological studies, especially in Nicaragua, Honduras and Peru.
• On returning from Peru, he continued working for Frank Leslie, but gave it up when his health failed. In 1873, his wife divorced him, and married Leslie a year later. In 1874 his health became so seriously impaired as to preclude further original research, and though he subsequently recovered sufficiently to direct the final preparation and revision of his work on Peru for publication, the affection resulted in his death. He was a member of numerous historical, archaeological, and scientific societies. He died in Brooklyn, New York.

The Builders
allegedly

Peru, Panama, Lima...
Incidents of travel and exploration in the land of the Incas

​

- Peru. Incidents of travel and exploration in the land of the Incas

• the book has multiple illustrations not related to architecture. Highly recommend to take a look at those.

- E. G. Squier - Wikipedia

*****
​

KD: I'm anything but expert on the Inca culture, but really... are we being told that Incas built structures like these? Arches, Columns, etc?

Wondering if all of these have survived since Mr. Esquier visited their sites. One of the images clearly states "Demolishing Huaca, Limatambo"

Note: This OP was recovered from the Wayback Archive.

Note: Archived Sh.org replies to this OP: 1850s Peru, Lima, Panama structures by Ephraim George Squier

 

[IntoTheGrey]

In the picture labelled "End Wall of the Temple of the Sun, Cuzco", If you look at the stones you can see a difference in the way the structure is made. The blocks on top being a lot more crude than the smooth blocks beneath them.