Salapunku

Understanding the site

Salapunku lies on the right bank of the Vilcanota River within the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Archaeological research shows a history of occupation extending beyond the Inca period, with evidence from earlier societies and the colonial era. The wider complex includes several sectors; a view of its terraces represents only part of that history.

A history older than the Inca Empire

Radiocarbon research at Salapunku reveals earlier occupations as well as later activity. Its importance is therefore not confined to a single Inca building campaign. Archaeologists investigate how people repeatedly used the same landscape, distinguishing occupation deposits from the exposed buildings. A date obtained from a particular excavated context does not automatically date every wall visible in a photograph. [1]

Why this site is special

The relationship between stone and river is especially clear in these photographs. Follow the retaining walls across the slope rather than looking only for a single monumental building. They turn the landscape into the subject. The images cannot establish an original crop, a precise construction date or a ritual, but they show how much organized work lies behind an apparently quiet hillside. That visible landscape belongs to a longer human history than the surviving Inca architecture alone suggests.

Reading the landscape

Follow the narrow levels across the slope and compare their lines with the river below. The wider photograph places the masonry in the valley, while the closer views reveal the repeated walls and the vegetation growing between them.

Look more closely

• Compare the terrace pattern in all three views.
• Notice how the river and retaining walls define the lower edge of the slope.
• Distinguish what is visible in the photographs from the history established through excavation.

How does this riverside site compare with the high mountain ruins later in the journey?