“The Enduring Functionality of the 1,500-Year-Old Cantalloc Aqueducts in Peru’s Arid Deserts”

Archaeologists have finally unraveled the mystery surrounding the ancient people of Peru’s Nasca region, thanks to high-resolution satellite snapshots. The mystery revolves around a network of spiraling holes called puquios, which were carefully built into the ground in the Nasca Desert of southern Peru. These formations had previously been undatable using traditional carbon dating techniques, leaving archaeologists wondering about their purpose for centuries.

Now, Rosa Lasaponarac from the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis in Italy has shed light on this mystery by studying images taken from space to plot the distribution of the puquios and their relationship with nearby settlements that were easier to date.

According to Lasaponarac, the puquios were a cutting-edge hydraulic system used to retrieve water from underground aquifers, which allowed the communities to survive in an area continuously hit by drought. The construction of these puquios was so high that some of them still function today, and they enabled intensive agriculture of the valleys in one of the world’s most arid places.

Lasaponarac notes that the construction of such a comprehensive project would have required a deep understanding of the region’s geology, as well as an understanding of the annual variations in water supply. She highlights the fact that the maintenance of the puquios was likely based on a collaborative and socially organized system, requiring great efforts, organization, and cooperation.

In conclusion, the puquios were the most ambitious hydraulic project in the Nasca area, enabling the provision of water for agriculture, irrigation, and domestic needs throughout the year. Lasaponarac’s work on the puquios will be published in a paper called Ancient Nasca World: New Insights from Science and Archaeology, later this year.

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