Part of the route known as Tour in the South Valley, Pikillaqta is located approximately 30 km from the city of Cusco, at a height of 3250 m.s.n.m. and inhabited between the years 600 and 900 d.n.e. It was considered in its time as one of the most impressive regional centers of the Wari culture, culture that flourished in the center of the Andes between the years 560 to 1000 AD. and that covered almost the entire Peruvian coast and mountain range despite being mentioned by the chronicler Cieza de León in 1534, is not given much importance until its rediscovery by Julio C. Tello in 1931, so the archaeological investigations are recent , then it would be absorbed by the great Inca culture; these two Wari and Inca cultures are the only ones considered as "Imperial Cultures".
Finally, the word Pikillaqta derives from the Quechua Piki = Piojo or Pulga and Llaqta = Town or community, so it could be translated as the Town of Fleas, nowadays Pikillaqta is considered as one of the pre-Inca towns bigger and better conserved of the south of Peru, the constructions of Pikillaqta are conformed by more than 700 structures, 200 free spaces also known like Kanchas and 504 Qolpas or warehouses besides other buildings of varied use, these enclosures are in turn grouped in apples each of them With its own fortification and separated by roads as a defense, it is estimated that at the time of its apogee the city could have housed around 10 thousand people, historians suspect that in times of the Incas the city could have been destined to the mitimaes (tribes that moved from one place to another).
On the other hand, despite having been built many years before the Incas, it can be seen that the city was built symmetrically, had a system of very long pedestrian paths, their buildings had about 2 and 3 floors, while in defensive sectors their walls came to measure up to 12 meters high.
The walls of most of the buildings retain a trapezoidal shape in cut, having a large width at its base and thinning more and more at the top, these walls are formed mostly by mud and stone, and had a finish of approximately 9 cm of mud, later they were painted with thick plaster which gave the impression of being in front of a white city.
Very close to the road that borders the site you can also see an impressive aqueduct associated with this archaeological complex, this consists of several levels of stone which can be accessed by steps and which are linked by channels of circulation of water from of the surrounding hills for the supply of this ancient citadel, in which, in addition to everything already mentioned, an underground irrigation network was discovered, later the technology used by this aqueduct would be used and improved by the Incas, the legend tells that the construction of the aqueducts of Pikillaqta was the result of the competition of 3 warrior princes in search of the love of Qori T'ika, but that is another story ...
Do you know Pikillacta, the Wari culture that flourished in the center of the Andes? Book now !, enjoy the South Valley with the travel agency Machupicchu Travel.
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