Iskanwaya

Iskanwaya is a pre- Columbian archaeological site, located on a clifftop above the Río Llica in Bolivia, 325 kilometers north of La Paz. Expansion and age of the ruins surpass the famous Machu Picchu in Peru, but the settlement remains are far less well received than there.

Location

The ruins of Iskanwaya lie on the western edge of the Bolivian Cordillera Real, 250 meters above the Río Llica at an altitude of 1672 m. Iskanwaya is close to Aucapata, a small town in the province of Muñecas.

Mollo culture

The Iskanwaya ruins date back to the Mollo culture (1145-1425), which preceded the Inca domination. The construction of Iskanwaya goes back possibly to the time of the 9th century.

Plant

The settlement of Iskanwaya was applied to two paragraphs of a total of 60 hectares and was supplied with fresh water. The floor plans of over hundred buildings with average per thirteen rooms have been preserved. The streets of the Iskanwaya settlement took place in east-west direction, its buildings were rectangular inner courtyards, built of slate blocks connected by mud mortar. The terraced agricultural land possessed an irrigation system.

The UN archaeologist Alvaro R. Fernholz Jemio believed that Iskanwaya was inhabited in its heyday 2500-3000 people