Across the Andes, humans engineered entire landscapes to coordinate trade, calculate tributes, and capture elusive prey. Two recent discoveries are reshaping our understanding of how ancient mountain civilizations shaped their environment.
In Peru, researchers may have finally solved the mystery of the massive “Band of Holes” dotting a remote mountainside called Monte Sierpe — the “Serpent Mountain.” They believe the 5,000-some holes were used as a marketplace and accounting system by Chincha peoples and later expanded by the Inca.
“The drone mapping and analysis of plant remains suggest the pits once held baskets of goods and may be connected to an ancient counting method seen in knotted strings called ‘khipus.'”
Far to the south in Chile’s Camarones River Basin, satellite images led archaeologists to 76 V-shaped stone structures believed to be “chacu” — large hunting traps. Ancient peoples used the 500-foot-long stone walls to funnel wild vicuñas into circular corrals.
Together, these discoveries illustrate how Andean societies shaped the land for generations — and how much we still have to learn about the ingenuity of ancient peoples.
