Inka Uyo,Temple of fertility

The Inca Uyo site in Chucuito, Peru. The site contains dozens of mushroom shaped erect stone penises few feet long.

In the Aymara language Inca Uyo means “dwelling or place of the Inca.” The site is well recognized for its Inca building style and its use of stone materials.

Built between 1300-1500 BCE, the Temple was not only a place people came to pray for children, but also to worship the sun so that it would continue to shine so Pachamama would remain fertile and the crops would grow.

The goddess of the earth and fertility name is Pachamama. Her main Inca temple contains penises of stone. The stone penises are from half meter up to 1.3 meters and they represent the fertility of the Inca Empire. The Pachamama goddess is viewed as the mother earth.

The fertility ritual involved offerings of roses that were placed in a crevice carved into the stone at the bottom of the Falo. Coco leaves would also be offered and placed into the groove in the head of the stone penis. The woman then sits on the stone above the rose petals at the front of the monument whilst the man sits behind her with his legs straddled around the Falo. Together they pray for children.

The Amerindian women of the Inca empire would visit the Templo de la Fertilidad and sit on the columns to increase their fertility. Inca priests would pour chicha (ceremonial maize beer) over them, and read the path of the beer to determine the gender of the baby-to-come. An opposing view has the purpose of the temple directed at men and says that it was intended to help men improve their virility.

Was the site a fertility temple to begin with, or has it been touted as such for enough number of years that fiction has become an accepted fact? Does the word uyo, which means “field” in Aymara, but “penis” in Quechua, contribute to the confusion?

Some articles question the authenticity of the temple in its current form, although the authenticity of the stones itself is not questioned. Someone might just have rearranged and touristified what was otherwise a broken temple. The temple had been buried and abandoned, with most of the columns removed by the locals. At some point not long ago, the good people of Chucuito decided that the site would bring curious tourists to their town. They restored the temple as part of their “business improvement plans.

Some think the precolombian phalluses of Chucuito were nothing more than ribald garden ornaments. Then someone had the bright idea to collect these and place them in the temple. Most ancient sites are blanketed in information bearing the logos of the governments or universities or organisations like UNESCO. There is none of this in Chucuito.