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Wednesday 7.3.2001
Martti Pärssinen Studies the Incas
"I wouldn't change this for the world."
Martti Pärssinen, a Professor of Latin American Research, says that he was interested in foreign cultures already as a small boy.
"As a pupil in Kiikka I wrote compositions about being a researcher of South America."
Martti Pärssinen is reading the brochure of Tampere Film Festival
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Pärssinen gives lectures on Peruvian cultures and the Incas in the Studia Generalia series at the University of Tampere on 1 March and 8 March. He has a PhD in History and he is also an archaeologist and an anthropologist.
After senior secondary school, he was interested in several fields
"After the matriculation examination I started to think about my future. I was interested in several different fields: cultural research, molecule astronomy and particle physics. First came the entrance examinations to humanities. I was admitted to all subjects I applied to. After the first year I made a deal with my professor so I could do research on Latin America, and that's where the road took me."
An Explorer with a Family
For over twenty years Pärssinen has studied the history and archaeology of Peru and the area of the Andes. When asked about family and work Pärssinen answers:
"To be a professional explorer and to raise a family at the same time is difficult. It may be difficult to be together with your family. Sometimes an explorer travels for months; I have once travelled for a year and a half. My family has travelled with me. That has been the starting point. My wife Heli and my son Viljami have followed me almost everywhere."
The Land of the Four Quarters
Pärssinen has studied and published articles of the development and collapse of the Inca Empire, its climate, administration, the history of catastrophes and fortresses. He has written his dissertation on Tawantinsuyu.
"Tawantinsuyu is what Incas themselves called their Empire and it means the Land of the Four Quarters."
The Incan Empire Expands
The search on lost villages and fortresses begins from archives, followed by the search work in the terrain.
"I personally have located over a hundred lost villages, cities or fortresses. The last discovery is near the border of Bolivia and Brazil. My colleague Ari Siiriäinen went there and located the fortress, basing his search on the information we had gathered. This discovery means that the width of the Inca Empire is double the size of what was previously thought."
The Old Inca Languages Still Used
"Ketsua and Aimara are the principal languages and they are still used. About nine million people speak Ketsua and two, three millions speak Aimara. It is interesting that these languages have words that look like Finnish words. But I doubt that there has been any close contact. It probably is just a coincidence," figures Pärssinen.
Decoding Writings on Cords
Khipus are cord skeins consisting of coloured threads and knots. They have conveyed numerical information, but are they also a consistent writing system? Matti Pärssinen has an idea where the archived translations of the Spanish khipu-texts and the information collected from tomb discoveries is combined to a single file. He has also created a theory on how this could have worked. At the moment, this idea proceeds on international level.
The Greatest Experience
What is the greatest experience Pärssinen has had during his research?
"I wouldn't change this for the world."
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