Marcahuamachuco - city of the dead, a fascinating site in the northern Peru

Site Significance
During the Andean Early Middle Horizon
(300–700A.D.) a regional highland state starts
emerging, having as one of its main principal
locations the extended monumental site of
Marcahuamachuco in the northern highlands
of Peru. Archaeological evidence shows
increased articulation of Huamachuco culture
to the neighboring northern (Cajamarca) and
southern highlands (Conchucos and Callejón
de Huaylas), and to some extent to the Pacific
Coast (with the Moche tradition).
During the later Middle (700-900 A.D.) and into
the Intermediate Late Horizons (until around
1200 A.D.), archaeological evidence suggests
that the walls were used for human burials
contributing to the ceremonial functions of the
site. Marcahuamachuco became a prominent
center at the same time that the Wari culture
in southern Peru flourished (400–1100 A.D.).
Abandonment of Marcahuamachuco was
possibly in the 15th century.

Built on top of an isolated plateau 5 kilometers
long and 500 meters wide with a vast view of
its surroundings, Marcahuamachuco contains
several major compounds surrounded by
curved stone walls as high as 12 meters,
with inner galleries, rooms and plazas which
suggest administrative and ceremonial
functions.
There is an urgent need to systematically
retrieve, digitize and organize information
from past publications and graphic material,
a good deal of which is not available in Peru.

Archeological sites on the Grand Inca Road in Peru (part 1)

 

credit: Qhapaq Nan -  Government of Peru

Moray - identified as a Buddhist 'Tricakra ' not only is the fascinating archeological site.....

Moray is a site located near Cusco, Peru at 3500 meters above sea level (11,500 feet). At first glance it seems to be a kind of an amphitheater, formed of 24 circular platforms, and it is an amphiteatr which has the name of 'tricakra' in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India. The site contains unusual pre-Inca ruins, mostly consisting of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 30 m (98 ft.) deep; their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C (27 °F) between the top and bottom level.

Tricakra refers to the “three cricles” containing the twenty-four rows of seats designed to be used by twenty-four “sacred girls” (ḍākinīs), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra; list of names of such Ḍākinīs and of their internal seats is given as well as their husbands' names who are called by the text heroes (vīra). Such twenty-four rows of seats form three circles (tricakra) i.e.:— ‘the cicle of mind’ (cittacakra), ‘the circle of word’ (vākcakra), ‘the circle of body’ (kāyacakra). The symbol which represents tricakra is called triskelion and it comes from the art represented by the LlolLeo or Aconcagua cultures from the Central Chile. A triskelion is an element of the banner of the Isle of Man,which was known to Romans; an interesting story is connected to it because speaking of the island, Julius Caesar in his Commentaries says:" In the mid sea between Britannia and Hibernia is an island called Mona." According to the wisdomlib.com 'mona' (nt.) means wisdom; self-possession; silence in the Pali language. Moray was thought to be an Incan agricultural 'research center' where experiments of crops at different heights were carried out, and thus creating different types of microclimates, and possibly it was used as such during last 500 + years. It may have served as a model for the calculation of the agricultural production This large temperature difference was possibly used to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops; it also has a sophisticated irrigation system.

A fascinating version of the Inca's fall under the Pizarro's attack.....

.....made by Michael Wood's and his documentary's crew....

bhttp://youtube/kFvBNWygyfo

Thirty-seven pre-Inca burial sites discovered in the southern Peru

Thirty-seven pre-Inca tombs,
which date back to between 800 and 1445 AD, were accidentally discovered last week while workers were digging trenches as part of the installation of a water system for the Boca del Río settlement, 60 kilometers from the city of Tacna in southern Peru.

Archaeologist Gladys Barreto, who was hired by the Boca del Río consortium to be in charge of executing the construction, said that half of the found tombs contain the remains of children. Also discovered were cerami

cs, symbolic depictions of boats, wooden harpoons and copper hooks.

... Barreto believes that the remains are from the period known as the Late Regional Development and are evidence for the exchange between the cultures on the coast and those in the Andean valleys in the Tacna sierra.

She explained that the progression of this culture happened in parallel with similar developments going on in the Tambo and Arequipa valley, as well as regions in northern Chile.

Jesús Gordillo, archaeologist who studies Tacna cultures, says of the society’s development: “We are talking about advanced cultures, whose principal economic activity would have been fishing.” He stressed that these remains, along with those found further north in Tomoyo, as well as other regions including the Sama valley, Vituña, the beaches Cánepa and Meca, Ite and Punta Picata shown that the Tacna coast was densely populated during that era. (adopted from Living in Peru)

The unknown camp sites of the 9,000 BC in the area of Lake Jucumarini in Peru discovered by Polish archeologists

Discovery of the cementary of the poorly known culture from 2,ooo years ago at the mouth of the River Tambo and a dozen of the unknown camp sites of the middle of the 9,000 BC in the area of Lake Jucumarini in Peru, was a suprise for the University of Wrocław's archeologists, who were working under the direction of Prof. Joseph Szykulskiego since 2008.
One of the priorities for this year was to identify the archaeological surrounding Alpine Lake Jucumarini located at an altitude of 5100-4000 m above sea level in southern Peru. This therefore is a watercourse of the same name, which continued its course becomes the Tambo River.In April of 2008, the Institute of Archaeology, University of Wroclaw, initiated a multidisciplinary research program called Tambo Project. The project work concentrates on the area of the Tambo River basin which spans borders between two South Peruvian departments, Arequipa and Moquegua. The project is intended to present an analysis of human settlement in Southern Peru in the context of climatic and environmental change in the basin of the Tambo, starting from the late Pleistocene until the modern age.

The Peruvian side is represented by the Santa Maria Catholic University in Arequipa and regional representatives of the National Institute of Culture of Peru (Instituto Nacional de Cultura), as well as of the governments of Arequipa and Islay.

The Project team is set up not only of archaeologists but also of specialists in the field of anthropology, botany, geology and geodesics. Dr. Jozef Szykulski, professor (the scientific research work), and Prof. Dr. Jan Michal Burdukiewicz (coordination of the activities) are from the University of Wroclaw; Dr Augusto Belan Franco (Santa Maria Catholic University in Arequipa) represents Peru.

Discovery of the grave of the Lord Wari forces us to rethink the history of Peru...

">Conexión Alternativa: EL HALLAZGO DE LA TUMBA DEL SEÑOR WARI OBLIGARIA A REPENSAR LA HISTORIA DEL PERU
Discovery of the grave of the Lord Wari forces us to rethink the history of Peru...

The grave of Lord of Wari found near Macchu Picchu (near Vilacabamba)

One of the most important findings since the discovery of the Senor de Sipan site in northern Peru.

Un importante descubrimiento que podría cambiar parte de la Historia Inca se hizo público. Se trata de la ciudadela del Señor Principal de Wari en el sector de Vilcabamba, en la provincia de La Convención en Cusco.

El director del Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Cusco, arquitecto Juan Julio García Rivas, confir

mó en exclusiva a RPP Noticias, el hallazgo arquitectónico de la tumba del Señor Principal de Wari que contiene incrustaciones de oro laminado prehispánico, así como bienes de plata, oro y cerámica con iconografía Wari y Nasca.

Se trata de la ciudadela del Señor Principal de Wari en el sector de Vilcabamba ubicada en la provincia de La Convención en Cusco.

Este importante descubrimiento que cambiará parte de la Historia Inca se hará público hoy ante la presencia de la directora general de la Unesco, Irina Bokova.“Este hallazgo está a la altura del Señor de Sipán y cambiará parte de la Historia Inca y de la zona”, refirió García Rivas.

Los trabajos de investigación se encuentran en la primera etapa de análisis de laboratorio y apenas concluya la temporada de lluvias se continuará con la investigación, concluyó el funcionario.

Incas in Santiago, Chile - The Huaca de Chena

The Chilean capital, Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, as it was called in 1541 by the Spanish founders, has on its south side an important pre-hispanic monument which until now was thought to be just a fortress (pucara) built on the hill overlooking the entrance to the Central Valley. Recent research carried out on a small hill called Cucara to the south of the Chena hills, shows an importante Inca urban development in the area, says Patricio Bustamante D., chilean archeologist. The comonly known as Pucará or fortress of Chena (Stehberg, R. 1976) would have served as an important ceremonial center and astronomical observation. Its feline form resembling a puma, similar to the layout of the capital city of the Cusco, is one of its most distinctive features. Other elements of its location, geographical orientation, cultural and urban context, and its coorelation to the celestial bodies, are pointing to the fact that the place was a "huaca", points out the archeologist. Huacas, according to Father Bernabe Cobo (1653) were "all of the sacred places designated for prayers and sacrifices, as well as for all of the gods and idols that were worshiped in these places".

Qhapah Nan, declaration in front of the UNESCO

Meeting of the International Technical Secretaries of the” Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System” - project nomination to the World Heritage list of UNESCO Paris 16-18 February of 2011.
Program Qhapaq Ñan has its origin in the year 2001, when the government of Peru has began to promote the multilateral postulation of the “Inca Trail” as a World Heritage site to UNESCO. The initiative was seconded by the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile, which soon after have begun coordinating the program with the support from UNESCO and others. The February 2011 meetings were initiated by Mr Francesco Bandarin, Director of Culture and of the Center of the World Heritage at UNESCO, and Chile was represented and its work has been coordinated by the Executive Secretary of the Council of National Monuments (SE-CMN) Mr. Oscar Acuña.
The term “Qhapaq Ñan”, which in quechua means "Main road", is used to refer to the extensive road network which enabled the expansion of the Tawantinsuyu (Inca State) into the territories which now correspond to the Andean nations of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. It covers an distance of approx. 6,000 km in the North - South direction and encompasses over 33,000 km of built-in road and trail infrastructure.
Known in Peru as “Great Inca Road” and in other countries as “an Andean Road”, Qhapaq Ñan is articulated in a form of a network of roads and infrastructure built more than two thousand years preceding the Inca’s forceful incorporation of various Andean cultures and connecting their production, administrative and ceremonial centers. Qhapaq Ñan has formed a network at the continental level which expresses most essentially the organizational spirit linking cultures inextricably associated with the most extreme environments of the planet.
The international project of Qhapaq Ñan is the most relevant in the field of cultural heritage of the region; constituting also a comprehensive, exemplary initiative and great vision, not only to protect the heritage of outstanding universal value, but also to achieve a sustainable social development preferably to the benefit of the indigenous communities. This heritage project also has a strategic factor which without precedent, is capable of strengthening relations between the involved countries.

Qhapaq Ñan, the Grand Inca road - a precolumbian road system in the South America...

Little known before the Beatles,  the international tourism has discovered it in a form of the “Inca Trail”, a small section of the road leading to Macchu Picchu from the 88 km stop from Cuzco. It  has been gradually given much more attention outside and in the neighboring countries when in 2001 Peru  proposed the international project of research and conservation of this system of approximately 40,000 km of roads and paths. It is so extensive that only the Silk Road of Asia could be compared to its size.

Peru along with Chile,  Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia have decided to work together to register the Inca Road or Qhapaq Ñan (in Quechua language means "Main road") as the UNESCOWorld Heritage site. It is the first Andean road system which was being given much attention by the archeological and historian communities since the beginning of the 20th century (Regal, Niemeyer, Rostworowski, Rowe, Hyslop, Zuidema, Nunez).

The commitment to continue funding a joint study and apply for the UNESCO status has been signed in December 2010 in Buenos Aires by the six countries’ presidents. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre (February 2011) was updated by the heads of the countries' committees on the progress of the project to be declared as the World Heritage Site. Chile demonstrated its preparedness, and in December 2011 has begun the process of the State funding for the project. It will be one of the first Cultural Itinerary and integration projecs of this kind in the World. The declaration is expected to be completed in 2014.

          Map of Qhapaq Nan entre Lima and Callao

                                                       from the Alberto Regal´s article in the 1954´s El Comercio, Peru.