Explore the southern valley of Cusco, Cusco City as it is known today is the archaeological capital of Peru. And the oldest inhabited city in South America. In this long valley of more than 15 km, in the last stage of the Pleistocene glacial period, was occupied by a large lake, whose name comes from a researcher “Lake morkill”. The fossils found in various parts of the valley show that it was inhabited by the megafauna of the Plesitocene, such as Andean horses, giant sloths, mammoths, Paleolamas.
The first appearances of hominids in the Cusco valley date from 8,000 to 10,000 BC. It is thus that these men become from hunters and gatherers to sedentary, and then form the first local cultures as killque, Chanapata, Qotaqalli, Marcavalles. Between 200 to 500 AD, the Tiahuanaco ethnic group settled in the Cusco valley, and during 800 AD, this fertile valley was conquered by the Wari empire. They made one of the largest constructions of urban settlements and roads in southern Peru, part of this great Wari city is still possible to appreciate in the archaeological site of Pikillaqta. In 1200 possibly appears the first regional confederations of the Incas, as a local culture, centuries later would become the largest empire in South America, they made one of the hydraulic wonders still in force to this day in Tipon.
This tour of the South Valley in Cusco takes place in the morning every day from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
This is an alternative tour, where we will be able to observe landscapes of great natural beauty and ancestral architecture. We will visit the archaeological complex of Tipon, of Inca architecture, the citadel of Pikillacta of pre-Inca Wari architecture, and Andahuaylillas beautiful chapel of Colonial architecture, known as the “Sistine Chapel of America”; without forgetting the tasty gastronomy along the tour.
Archaeological group corresponding to the Inca period, in which you can appreciate an exceptional irrigation system with vertical and horizontal irrigation channels on stepped terraces, the water flows from the subsoil to a source from which it is distributed by the mentioned channels. It was an important agricultural production center.
Another important archaeological group that corresponds to a period before the Incas, would have been an administrative center of the Wari Empire, it highlights its streets that form quadrants, double-story buildings with stuccoed walls and paved floors.
Leaving Cusco to the south after a 45 minute drive we arrive at the town of Andahuaylillas, a traditional village in whose main square stands out its colonial temple, called “The Sistine Chapel of America” for the beautiful baroque painting on the ceiling and walls.
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Explore the southern valley of Cusco, Cusco City as it is known today is the archaeological capital
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