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The Incas are generally considered less skilled in most arts than many of the Andean peoples who preceded them. Most of the best art forms of the Inca empire were developed and perfected by other cultures before the Incas conquered them. For example, in the Chimor kingdom of northern coastal Peru, metalwork was a key industry. Most of the metalworking skills of the Chimu culture originated in even earlier civilizations in the Lambayeque Valley. When the Incas conquered the Chimor kingdom, they took control of its crafts industry, bringing the best Chimu metalworkers to Cuzco to begin large-scale production of their crafts. However, experts believe that large-scale production probably compromised the artisans' ability to achieve the intricate beauty that earlier Chimu pieces were known for. Unfortunately, there is not much evidence to prove or disprove this theory, because few Inca metalwork artifacts are still in existence. Gold, silver, and bronze artifacts were stolen and destroyed by the Spanish conquerors and later by local looters who sold the artifacts to illegal dealers in ancient Peruvian arts.

Some historians theorize that the rigid government structure and work ethic of the Incas stifled artistic expression in the empire. However, the artisans of the Inca empire usually achieved technical perfection in whatever they produced. They especially excelled at stonemasonry and textile arts.

Along with metalwork, the Incas are known for their stonemasonry. The most elegant Inca architecture is simple and, for the most part, undecorated on the outside. Temples and palaces were constructed of precisely cut limestone or granite blocks, some of which were immense. They were pieced together like an intricate and three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. They needed no mortar to cement them together because the fit was so perfect. These buildings are still standing five centuries later, while earthquakes and the ravages of time have crumbled more-modern structures. The Incas are renowned for creating buildings that blended in beautifully with the surrounding landscape.

Inca buildings demanded precise planning. Projects generally began with a small clay model of the proposed building. Then, blocks of stone had to be broken out of the earth and transported to the building site. The Incas probably placed wedges of wood into the cracks of rocks at a quarry (a large dug-out area of earth used as a source of stones) and then soaked the wood with water. Expanded by the water, the wood would split the rocks, and a team of men could then cut and dig out a large and very heavy block. The Incas did not have wheels to help them transport the massive rocks. The blocks were probably put on a large board or frame that was pulled by hundreds of laborers. In fact, leading up to one of the major Inca construction sites that remained unfinished after the Spanish conquest of 1533, there are many huge boulders that never made it all the way to the building site. The Spanish called these boulders piedras cansadas (tired stones).

The Incas had no iron tools for cutting the stones. Once a block of stone arrived at the work site, a group of workers would begin the long process of cutting the stone to fit into the wall, probably using hard stone instruments to chip, rub, and sculpt the blocks. Copper and bronze--the metals the Incas normally used--are too soft to have helped much in this process. Because there are no written records documenting the construction process, no one knows exactly how the Inca builders created such perfectly fitting stones (though there are many theories on how it could have been done). Whatever their technique, the result was a simple and unadorned architecture. The stone buildings of the Incas have a stark beauty that remains unparalleled in history.

The creation of beautiful cloth with vivid designs and intricate weaves has a history dating back to about 3000 B.C.E. in the Andes. For the Incas, weaving was the ultimate visual artistic expression; it was universally appreciated, in the way that painting is appreciated by many modern civilizations. Making colorful textiles was extremely time-consuming for the Incas, and it required a wide variety of skilled laborers. The two most common types of cloth were woven from cotton or from alpaca or llama wool. There were different natural colors of cotton, ranging from brown to white; llama wool was either brown or white. To begin making cloth, spinners used a spindle and whorl to spin the raw cotton or wool into fine threads of various colors. Inca women throughout the empire would spin thread with a spindle and whorl even while they did other tasks. These threads were given to dyers, who were experts in preparing mineral and vegetable pigments, natural substances that gave vibrant color to the threads. After dyeing, the spun threads were sent on to the weavers. Most often, young girls and women did the weaving as part of their household tasks. Some of the finest cloth, called cumbi cloth, was produced by well-trained women in the acllahuaci, or house of the chosen women. Even women in the upper ranks of society were expected to spin and weave. Thanks to the labor of all these women, the Inca empire was filled with exquisite textiles in a bright array of colors, decorated with geometric shapes and vivid depictions of animals and humans.

Cloth was used for clothing of all sorts, but it had other uses as well. In the Inca empire, cloth was valued more highly than gold. The Incas held labor in very high esteem, and cloth took many hours of labor to make. Because it was so highly valued, it was often used as a reward for people's efforts, almost like money. For example, soldiers were given cloth as a reward for their military service, and conquered rulers were given cumbi cloth when they agreed to accept the rule of the Inca empire. Cloth made by Inca noblewomen was given to local temples or to the Inca empire. The finest cumbi cloth, which sometimes took thousands of hours to produce, was burned daily as a sacrificial offering to the gods.

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