- Type
- Fortress
- Built
- c. 1000 · 10th century
- Location
- Amazonas, Peru
- Coordinates
- -6.4179°, -77.9233°
History
The limestone ridge above the Utcubamba valley, at about 3,000 metres, was already inhabited in the 5th–6th centuries AD, but the Chachapoya people probably raised most of its monumental structures around 900–1100 and kept enlarging the settlement for centuries. An artificial platform almost 600 metres long was enclosed by a wall up to 19 metres high, pierced by only three narrow entrances. More than 400 buildings stood inside, nearly all of them round. The Incas conquered the Chachapoya lands in the second half of the 15th century, and after the Spanish arrived the settlement was abandoned. In 1843 the ruins were described by Juan Crisóstomo Nieto, a judge from Chachapoyas. A section of the perimeter wall collapsed in April 2022, prompting extensive stabilisation work.
What to see
Since 2017 a cable car has run from Nuevo Tingo to near the ruins, with the last stretch covered on foot. A narrow, funnel-shaped entrance cuts through the massive wall onto the plateau, where the foundations of round houses can be seen, some decorated with rhomboid and zigzag friezes. The most enigmatic structure is El Tintero (the Inkwell), shaped like an upturned cone. The walls look out over the forested slopes of the Andes.
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