Beyond Symbolic Reduction: Evidentiary Filtering and the Systematic Loss of Environmental Signals in the Cusco Foundation Narrative

This study examines the foundation narrative of Cusco within an interdisciplinary framework combining ethnohistorical sources, Andean archaeology, and geological analysis. The article introduces the concept of "evidentiary filtering", arguing that current interpretive models in historiography and anthropology systematically prioritize symbolic readings of mythological narratives while neglecting empirically compatible environmental information embedded within them. Focusing on the motif of the golden staff associated with Manco Cápac, the analysis demonstrates that the narrative describes a physical interaction with the terrain that is fully compatible with the geological structure of the Cusco Basin. The study does not propose a literal reading of the myth but highlights a methodological asymmetry that leads to the production of false negatives in the evaluation of narrative evidence.