Google Earth Community: The Cloud Forest People of Kuelap (Peru)

We don't really know that much about the Chachapoya people, the Cloud Warriors of Kuelap. We know that they had a thriving civilization, perhaps numbering as many as 300,000, in northern Peru that lasted over 700 years from about 800 AD until about 1540. The last 70 years they were dominated by the faster growing Inca Empire, who were themselves soon subjugated and wiped out by the Spanish.

It appears that when the Incas took control, they didn't destroy the Chachapoya, but some 70 years after the Inca conquest, their civilization was gone. Perhaps disease introduced by the Spanish invaders and passed on by the Incas were the reason. The Inca language remains in use in Peru, but not the Chachamoya's . Only hints of their culture remain and the name of their city is one. The fortress city of Kuelap contains many other hints, but the full story is so far undeciphered.

Kuelap was first discovered in 1841, but because of its remoteness was only partly excavated at the time. Major excavation and some reconstruction have begun again recently. The massive fortress used more than three times the volume on precisely cut limestone blocks as the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It is entered through three narrow slots in its 30-60 foot (10-20 m) walls. It has been estimated that the construction took at least 200 years to complete. The entry way would have only allowed one person at a time to enter single file. On the fortress above were about 500 round stone homes. They had peaked thatched roofs and designs on the stones which made their foundations.

A stone lookout to the north just outside the main walls had 2,500 shaped stones, ammunition for slings. Another unique building nicknamed "the inkwell" has a base with a smaller diameter than its top. It may have been used as an observatory with a shaman inside looking up through a hole in the top and measuring the passage of stars. There is another stone structure with eight points, the four longest pointing to the primary compass directions.

Image resources
Check the Layers > Geographic Web > Panoramio box for more pictures in this area.
Other picture galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/manco/image/71239619
http://jasonhamacher.blogspot.com/2005/06/kuelap-photo-set.html
http://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/~justin/SA/chacha.htm

Other resources:

The Los Angeles Times
www.viajeros.com
http://archaeology.about.com www.kuelapperu.com
http://www.inkanatura.com/kuelap_chachapoyas.asp

Edited by Hill (01/19/08 10:44 PM)

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