Mawk'allaqta, also Mawk'a Llaqta (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

''mawk'a'' ancient, ''llaqta'' place (village, town, city, country, nation),Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary): ''mawk'a'', ''thanta'' - ''adj. Usado, -da. Gastado y deslucido por el uso. , , Antiguo, lo que ya pasó de moda. Mawk'a.'' ''llaqta'' - ''s País. Nación, región, provincia o territorio, pueblo pequeño. , , s. Nación. Conjunto de los habitantes de un territorio. , , s. Patria. Lugar, ciudad o país en que se ha nacido. , , s. Pueblo. , , s. Urbe. Ciudad, en especial populosa.'' "ancient place", Hispanicized spelling ''Maucallacta''), is an architectural

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

complex above the contemporary mountain village of San Antonio ( Pampacolca District, Castilla Province,

Arequipa Region Arequipa () is a department and region in southwestern Peru. It is the sixth largest department in Peru, after Puno, Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto, its sixth most populous department, and its eleventh least densely populated dep ...

). It is located 3,700 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, overlooking the neighbouring valley. The nearest bigger town, Pampacolca, is located approximately 170 kilometers (approx. 110 miles) north-west of the city

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...

in the southern highlands of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. The archaeological project "Condesuyos" has been carried out since 1996 by the Center for Pre-Columbian Studies (

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) represented by its director, Prof. Dr. Mariusz Ziółkowski, and Universidad Católica Santa María (Arequipa, Peru) represented by Dr. Luis Augusto Belan Franco, the director of the University Archaeological Museum and Dr. Maximo Neira Avendaño – the scientific consultant for the project. The project is being carried out in co-operation with the ''Instituto Nacional de Cultura'' of Peru and covers archaeological investigation in the vicinity of the volcano

Coropuna Coropuna is a Volcano#Dormant, dormant Complex volcano, compound volcano located in the Andes mountains of southeast-central Peru. The upper reaches of Coropuna consist of several snow field, perennially snowbound conical summits, lending it th ...

which was frequently mentioned by chroniclers of the 16th and 17th centuries as an oracle, worshipped since pre-Inca times. The architectural complex Mawk'allaqta, composed of more than two hundred stone buildings and

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

s, an

ushnu In the Inca Empire the ushnu (other spelling ''usnu'', sometimes ''usñu'') was an altar for cults to the deities, a throne for the Sapa Inca (emperor), an elevated place for judgment and a reviewing stand of military command.Hyslop, John (1990) ...

and three huge ceremonial platforms, made of stones and earth, may be considered the principal administrative,

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

and religious centre related to the volcano and the most important Inca site discovered in

Kuntisuyu Kuntisuyu or Kunti Suyu ( Quechua ''kunti'' west, ''suyu'' region, part of a territory, each of the four regions which formed the Inca Empire, "western region"; ) was the southwestern provincial region of the Inca Empire. Kuntisuyu was the small ...

, the fourth quarter of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

. Mawk'allaqta is being investigated as part of a sub-project which forms part of the archaeological project "Condesuyos". Mawk'allaqta was inaugurated and opened to visitors on August 29, 2009.

References

External links

Mawk'allaqta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mawkallaqta, Castilla Archaeological sites in Peru Inca Empire Pre-Columbian archaeological sites Archaeological sites in the Department of Arequipa 1996 archaeological discoveries