Iskanwaya is a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

sacred site, situated on a mountain ridge above the Llica River in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, 325 km north of

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

. In its extension and its age Iskanwaya surpasses

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which ...

in Peru, but it is less well preserved.

Location

The sacred site of Iskanwaya is found on the edge of the Cordillera Real, 250 m above the Llica River and 1,672 meters above sea level. The site is located near

Aucapata Aucapata is a location in the La Paz Department in Bolivia. It is the seat of the Aucapata Municipality, the third municipal section of the Muñecas Province Muñecas is a province in the Bolivian department of La Paz. Its capital is Chu ...

, a small town in the

Muñecas Province Muñecas is a province in the Bolivian department of La Paz. Its capital is Chuma. Subdivision The province is divided into three municipalities which are further subdivided into cantons. Places of interest * Iskanwaya Iskanwaya is a ...

Site

The city of Iskanwaya was built on two platforms on an area of 0.6 square kilometers and was notable for its running water. More than one hundred large buildings of an average of thirteen rooms have survived. Mollo streets ran in east-west direction. Their houses were rectangular and grouped around patios, they were built with blocks of slate stone, joined with mud trench mortars. Agriculture patterns included terracing and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

. UN-archaeologist Alvaro R. Fernholz Jemio suggests that in its time the site was inhabited by 2,500 to 3.000 peopleIskanwaya: más antiguo que Machu Picchu
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Mollo Culture

The Iskanwaya ruins go back to the

Mollo culture The Mollo culture existed in Bolivia's altiplano area after the collapse of the Tiwanaku culture during the period of AD 1000 to 1500; it predated the Inca civilization. While the Mollo showed a continuity with Late Tiwanaku culture in both ...

which predated the

Inca civilization The Incas were most notable for establishing the Inca Empire in Pre-Columbian America, which was centered in modern day South America in Peru and Chile. It was about 2,500 miles from the northern to southern tip. The civilization lasted from 14 ...

and whose people presumably built the constructions as early as 800 BC or in their prime cultural period from 1145 to 1425.

References

External links

Iskanwaya
{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Archaeological sites in Bolivia Former populated places in Bolivia Buildings and structures in La Paz Department (Bolivia)