Marcahuamachuco, Peru
Pre-Inca City of the Dead
Much of the site exists in a collapsed and overgrown state.
Marcahuamachuco is in an extreme climate zone with cold, strong winds and a cover of shrub vegetation. Buildings are highly affected by invasion and resulting deterioration from plant growth. Large sections of the monuments have been decimated, especially in Cerro Viejo and Los Corrales, by agricultural activities where farmers have cleared monumental areas and changed the landscape dramatically by creating stone fences from pre-Hispanic constructions. The site is still used for burials and many of the site’s buildings are modified for families burying their dead.
The site is accessed via a passable road that arrives at side of the Cerro de las Monjas. This road has been extended into deeper inside the monument, where the road reaches joining the Western Front to Cerro del Castillo. While vehicular traffic is not frequent, negative impacts are noticeable with accelerated erosion of various sectors and walls which have been razed. One mound (“Huaca”) was cut by the road construction.
