{"id":311,"date":"2009-09-04T22:07:27","date_gmt":"2009-09-04T21:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=311"},"modified":"2025-08-05T19:59:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:59:24","slug":"llactapata","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=311","title":{"rendered":"Llactapata"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Inca
Inca building at Llactapata facing Machu Picchu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/p>\n

As not that many people pass by Llactapata, it would be good to have any reports back on current state of ruins – pls comment below<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

UPDATE 2016: \u00a0a short video of the expedition is now available to view on Youtube<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Summary
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Thurs, Nov 6th, 2003, it was announced in London that an Anglo-American team, supported by T<\/span>he Royal<\/span> Geographical Society<\/span>, had found that the site of Llactapata<\/strong>, located in the Peruvian cloud-forest not far from Machu Picchu, was far larger and more significant than had previously been thought.<\/p>\n

Flying over the Andes, the team had first experimented with infra-red cameras to try to see through the thick jungle vegetation and reveal the outlines of stone buildings beneath.<\/p>\n

They had then travelled overland with a mule-team and cut their way through to the substantial site, which lies at around 9,000 ft in the Eastern Peruvian Andes.<\/p>\n

The expedition found that the central plaza at Llactapata has ceremonial doorways aligned to Machu Picchu, the great Inca centre which can be seen in the distance.\u00a0 There is also a two-storey temple, which faces the rising sun.<\/p>\n

The team was led by the British writer and explorer Hugh Thomson and the American archaeologist Gary Ziegler.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"Hugh
Hugh Thomson and Gary Ziegler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/p>\n

The only previous identification of the main sector of the site had been by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1912, but he left such an inaccurate account of its position that no expedition has been able to give a report of it since, although they have found other smaller sectors nearby (Thomson had himself been a member of one of those other expeditions in the early 1980s, as he described in his book The White Rock<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Thomson-Ziegler expedition both re-located this main sector and also identified and mapped as many as five sectors spread out over several square kilometres across a hillside, making the Inca settlement of Llactapata a site of some magnitude overall.<\/p>\n

In the full report they issued on the site (later published in the Revista Andina<\/em>), the team members analysed the complex set of alignments between Llactapata and Machu Picchu, which suggest that Llactapata was designed as an observatory site for its larger neighbour.\u00a0 See full report<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Llactapata from Machu Picchu mirador on Sacred Plaza: the ridge-line running back in dead centre and in half sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"sunken
sunken walkway through Llactapata site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/p>\n

In particular, a\u00a0remarkable long sunken passageway was discovered that runs\u00a0almost 150 feet back into the hillside, without doors or exits to either side, with a\u00a0 sight line to Machu Picchu at its far end directly over the various valleys in between. Further investigation by Dr Kim Malville showed that the corridor was aligned so as to be\u00a0exactly in line with sunrise at the June Solstice, and with the rise of the Pleiades constellation, used in the Andes\u00a0in the pre-Columbian era to mark the beginning of certain agricultural seasons.<\/p>\n

It therefore seems the Incas may have built Llactapata as a place from which they could both admire Machu Picchu and use it to take astronomical readings.<\/p>\n

The layout of the main buildings also corresponded in a quite remarkable way with the layout used at the Coricancha, the main Sun Temple in Cuzco.\u00a0 It is well known from the chronicles that the Incas used the Corcanca as a template for similar smaller scale buildings throughout the Empire.\u00a0\u00a0 See full report for detailed discussion of this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The well-known anthropologist and explorer Johan Reinhard, who discovered the \u2018ice-mummies\u2019, commented:\u00a0 \u2018Thomson and Zieglers\u2019 important discovery reinforces the need to expand the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary’s borders to include and protect a wider area.\u2019\u00a0 At present the Llactapata ruins lie outside the protection of any Peruvian National Park and so are vulnerable to looters.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"uncovering<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

The expedition was supported and approved by the Royal Geographical Society<\/span> and by the Mount Everest Foundation<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The 17-strong team included an expert on archaeoastronomy, Dr Kim Malville, Professor Emeritus at Colorado University, the veteran British explorer Nicholas Asheshov, whose first expedition for National Geographic was in 1962, and the Australian explorer John Leivers, as well as Peruvian, British and American field workers.\u00a0 Many of the team had worked with Thomson and Ziegler on their research expedition to\u00a0Cota Coca<\/a>\u00a0the previous year.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Location
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Llactapata is approximately 50 miles north-west of Cuzco, the old Inca capital, and only two miles west of\u00a0Machu Picchu, in the Aobamba valley ( it should not be confused with the well-known ruins at Llactapata\/Patallacta at the start of the Inca Trail, higher up the Urubamba).\u00a0 One curiosity about the site is that it should be so close to Machu Picchu, which half a million visitors travel to each year, and yet have remained so unexplored.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Peru, the expedition\u2019s report and analysis of the site was published in Spanish in a full, illustrated 11,000 word lead article by the Revista Andina<\/span><\/em>, (#39), the leading Andeanist academic magazine, which also published peer-reviews of the findings by specialists in this field, Tom Zuidema, Vincent Lee, J\u00fcrgen Golte and Peter Kaulicke.<\/p>\n

For a translation of the full Revista Andina<\/em><\/span> article on the expedition in English\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

This is The full report on the expedition<\/a><\/p>\n

In the UK, the expedition\u2019s discoveries were reported by the Daily Telegraph<\/a>, Independent and Guardian<\/a>, and\u00a0 in the USA by the New York Times<\/a> and LA Times<\/a>, along with many other publications worldwide.<\/p>\n

See the LA Times report<\/a><\/p>\n

Hugh also wrote a personal account of the findings for the Daily Telegraph Magazine:\u00a0 See Hugh Thomson\u2019s article for Telegraph Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Illustrated article on expedition in the South American Explorers Journal<\/a>\u00a0Spring 2005<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Update 2009:<\/strong>\u00a0 One primary aim was to encourage the Peruvian authourities to restore and maintain the ruins which, as Johan Reinhard commented above, lie outside the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary’s borders and on private land.\u00a0 As a result of the expedition, some of the central Sector I has now been cleared and restored, and grass laid in the surrounding area –\u00a0although not the sunken passageway beside it, or the other sectors, which all urgently need increased conservation.<\/p>\n

Indeed one problem that has arisen from grassing the area around Sector I is that locals are now using the area as a pampita<\/em> on which to graze cattle:\u00a0\u00a0 the cattle are inflicting a great deal of damage on the buildings, particularly the sunken passageway which when Hugh Thomson returned with a PBS \/ National Geographic film crew in June of 2009 was showing significant signs of wear, as cattle were allowed to roam along it.<\/p>\n

An article in the Peruvian magazine Caretas<\/a> by Nicholas Asheshov has drawn attention to this problem:\u00a0 see translation into English<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Diagram of principal sectors at Llactapata<\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"llacsite\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
comparison of llactapata Sector 1 with cusco coricancha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/p>\n

Note the double-jambed doorway facing out at both sites at end of passsageways, with\u00a0 similar orientation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note sunken enclosed passageway\u00a0similar to Sector 1, marked as 5 on diagram.\u00a0 This sector is very close to and just above the small pampa now used by trekkers over-nighting as a camping site.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Located some 100 metres from the uphill side of Sector I and only 30 metres higher in altitude, this sector is associated with Sector I.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As of 2009 it was very overgrown and had been visited by huaqueros, who had partially destroyed the important building 4, one of the few at the site to be made with granite.\u00a0 The whole sector urgently needs conservation and further study.\u00a0 The large ushnu sructure is a 60 feet by 40 feet raised, earth filled platform, enclosed by a five feet high retaining wall. It is connected to building 4 by a 60 feet long low wall. Stone steps lead onto the platform from the northeast side. The platform is aligned 20 degrees by 110 degrees. and overlooks Sector I below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

As not that many people pass by Llactapata, it would be good to have any reports back on current state of ruins – pls comment below<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. As not that many people pass by Llactapata, it would be good to have any reports back on current state of ruins – pls comment below . UPDATE 2016: \u00a0a short video of the expedition is now available to view on Youtube . Summary On Thurs, Nov 6th, 2003, it was announced in London […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":65,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-311","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3887,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311\/revisions\/3887"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}