Peru’s Sacred Valley usually refers to a roughly 60-km stretch of land between the cities of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Just 16 km south of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, the Sacred Valley often misses out to the more famous site of Machu Picchu – but as the following images show, quite undeservedly so as Sacred Valley offers stunning Andes Mountains views, winding roads and mind-boggling Inca architecture.Typical terrace architecture with buildings/temples at the top:
Just about 12 km northwest of Cusco is Sacsayhuaman, full of Inca ruins and a marvel of Inca construction skill. The belief today is that Sacsayuaman was mainly a military fortress. Its zigzag shape is said to resemble the open jaw of a puma, with the entire city of Cusco its body and the Plaza de Armas the navel, which the Incas believed to be the center of the world.Some of the stones weigh up to 125 tons!
Visitors to Pisac, about 30 km north of Cusco, are treated to stunning views of the Andes and an example of the Inca’s advanced masonry skills at the Pisac ruins with a Sun Temple, extensive terracing and aqueducts. The purpose of the Pisac ruins remains a mystery, but the settlement was located along a vital Inca road and connected the highlands with the Amazon rainforest just east of the mountains.The Pisac Inca ruin complex, nestled in the Andes:
About 70 km west of Pisac is the town of Ollantaytambo, best known for its fortress, which the Incan elite used for worshipping and studying astronomy. Also impressive are the terrace walls that served as an integral means of defense.Believe it or not, the stones of this wall are 3 m high!OllantaytamboImage: Wolfgang BeyerMany of the building foundations in the old townwere built by the Inca and most of the blocks used are still intact. To date, Ollantaytambo is the best surviving example of Inca town planning.Ancient and less ancient in perfect harmony:
Moray is a small village about 50 km northwest of Cusco famous for its Inca architecture. What may remind us of crop circles or Roman amphitheatres actually once served an agricultural purpose. Used more like China’s ancient rice terraces, the Incas cultivated wheat, quinoa, grain, panti and kantu flowers here – harvest season on the various levels must have been quite a sight.Giant bathtub?
The site is still fully functional with a system of irrigation canals and an aqueduct system. Until recently, locals even grew corn, but agriculture was given up in favour of preserving the site and tourism. If you ever mill about in Moray, consider this: Some of the terraces descend to a depth of around 150 m – or the height of a 50-story skyscraper – creating temperature differences between the lowest and highest levels of 15 ºC, naturally found between sea level and a mountain of 1000 m for example. Amazingly clever and beautiful, isn’t it?The whole complex is huge:
The fact that amazing sites like Moray were discovered often decades after the more famous Machu Picchu makes us wonder and hope that there may be more stunning sites around just waiting to be discovered…Tags:
Amazing, Machu Picchu, stunning, agriculture, tourism, skyscraper, Amazing, Ancient, Giant bathtub, architecture, astronomy, Believe it or notm, Cusco, Incas, Machu Picchu, Moray, Ollantaytambo, peru, Pisac, Sacred Valley, Sacsayhuaman, Urubamba Valley
Evidence of mass cannibalism, in which men, women and children were on the menu, has been unearthed in Germany.The 'intentionally mutilated' remains of up to 500 people were found in 7,000-year-old pits near the village of Herxheim in the south-west of the country.Marks on the bones show that the bodies were skinned and the flesh removed using techniques normally used to butcher animals.
Some of the bones may have been smashed to allow the living to suck the marrow out of the dead, others were chewed and one researcher even believes the victims could have been 'spit-roasted'.So far, the remains of 10 people - eight adults and two children aged around 6 and 16 - have been analysed.But with around 500 bodies already dug up and many more waiting to be recovered, the journal Antiquity reports that the true figure could be much higher.Archaeologist Bruno Boulestin said: 'We see patterns on the bones of animals indicating they have been spit-roasted.'We have seen some of these patterns on the human bones.'It is highly probable that a great number of the thousand or so individuals deposited in Herxheim were subjected to cannibalism.'
Dr Boulestin, of Bordeaux University in France, suspects the deaths - and feasts - took place over just a few decades.It is thought that the remains belong either to people eaten in victory celebrations after being killed in wars, or to people slaughtered and consumed in ritual sacrifices.It is also possible that the cannibalism was carried out when the early farming society suffered famine.Further evidence of Neolithic cannibalism comes from 6,000-year-old bones unearthed in a French cave and analysed in the 1980s.But other experts say the dead of both locations may simply have been given ritual burials, in which the flesh was removed as part of the ceremony.
Egypt's chief archaeologist has announced the discovery of a 4,300-year-old pyramid in Saqqara, the sprawling necropolis and burial site of the rulers of ancient Memphis.Zahi Hawass said the pyramid may have belonged to Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti who was the founder of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom.
Archaeologists working on the site, 12 miles south of Cairo, will only know for sure once they enter the burial chamber and find inscriptions. Two of the Pharaoh's wives are buried nearby in the necropolis.References to Queen Sesheshet have been found in ancient papyrus texts. In one of them, the queen made a request to doctors to find her a cure for hair loss, Hawass said.Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass made the announcement at the site in Saqqara today, about 12 miles south of Cairo.Hawass' team had been excavating near the world's oldest step-pyramid of Saqqara, the main burial site of ancient royal Egyptians before the pyramids of Giza.They made their pyramid discovery only two months ago after nearly two years of work.
'It's common for us to find a tomb or a statue, but to find a pyramid, that is rare,' Hawass said.'There are probably many more discoveries to be made around this site.'The base was discovered 20 metres below the sand and it appears thieves had looted the pyramid.Hawass says the new pyramid is the 118th discovered so far in Egypt.
Peru’s Sacred Valley usually refers to a roughly 60-km stretch of land between the cities of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Just 16 km south of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, the Sacred Valley often misses out to the more famous site of Machu Picchu – but as the following images show, quite undeservedly so as Sacred Valley offers stunning Andes Mountains views, winding roads and mind-boggling Inca architecture.
Just about 12 km northwest of Cusco is Sacsayhuaman, full of Inca ruins and a marvel of Inca construction skill. The belief today is that Sacsayuaman was mainly a military fortress. Its zigzag shape is said to resemble the open jaw of a puma, with the entire city of Cusco its body and the Plaza de Armas the navel, which the Incas believed to be the center of the world.
Visitors to Pisac, about 30 km north of Cusco, are treated to stunning views of the Andes and an example of the Inca’s advanced masonry skills at the Pisac ruins with a Sun Temple, extensive terracing and aqueducts. The purpose of the Pisac ruins remains a mystery, but the settlement was located along a vital Inca road and connected the highlands with the Amazon rainforest just east of the mountains.
About 70 km west of Pisac is the town of Ollantaytambo, best known for its fortress, which the Incan elite used for worshipping and studying astronomy. Also impressive are the terrace walls that served as an integral means of defense.
Moray is a small village about 50 km northwest of Cusco famous for its Inca architecture. What may remind us of crop circles or Roman amphitheatres actually once served an agricultural purpose. Used more like China’s ancient rice terraces, the Incas cultivated wheat, quinoa, grain, panti and kantu flowers here – harvest season on the various levels must have been quite a sight.
The site is still fully functional with a system of irrigation canals and an aqueduct system. Until recently, locals even grew corn, but agriculture was given up in favour of preserving the site and tourism. If you ever mill about in Moray, consider this: Some of the terraces descend to a depth of around 150 m – or the height of a 50-story skyscraper – creating temperature differences between the lowest and highest levels of 15 ºC, naturally found between sea level and a mountain of 1000 m for example. Amazingly clever and beautiful, isn’t it?
