Marcahuamachuco

Marcahuamachuco is a site of Pre-Incan ruins in the La Libertad Region of Peru. Although less known, it has been referred to by archaeologists as "Machu Picchu of the North" and "The Jewel of La Libertad."

History

Construction of Marcahuamachuco began around 400 AD, during the Andean Middle Horizon period -- prior to the imperial expansion of the Incas and the Huari -- and continued until approximately 800 AD. Before being conquered by the Incas, Marcahuamachuco was known as Peru's most important political, economic and military center. The function of the site, although not fully clear, was that of a ceremonial oracle, as well as a religious and political center, including turning into a burial site in its later stages. Its social gravitation extended all of northern Peru and contemporary southern Ecuador. Built on top of a isolated highland 5 kilometers long and 500 meters wide mesa with a vast view of its surroundings, Marcahuamachuco contain several major compounds surrounded by curved stone walls as high as 12 meters high, with inner galleries, rooms and plazas which suggest administrative and ceremonial functions. During the later Middle (700 - 900 A.D.) followed into the Intermediate Late Horizon (until around 1,200 A.D.) archaeological evidence suggests that the walls were used for human burials contributing to the ceremonial functions of the site. Marcahuamachuco probably functioned as an oracle which attracted people from all the northern Andes of areas that today comprise Peru and Ecuador. Cult was probably related to deities, an old cult to Ataujo, and a more recent cult to Catequil. Marcahuamachuco became a prominent center at the same time that the Wari in southern Peru culture flourished (400 – 1100 A.D.). Abandonment of Marcahuamachuco was possibly in the XV century.

A result of investigations by John and Theresa Lange Topic (1991), occupation is believed to have been seasonal with a maximum population of 6,000, based upon the quantity of arable land and water availability.

Previous Investigations

Max Uhle and Julio C. Taylor explored the ruins of the city, seeking the identity of the builders. Theodore McCown in 1940 excavated several months between the monumental galleries, looking for other material that would allow the chronological determination of the residents of the city and its relationship to other better-known cultures of the Andes. One of the earliest sketch maps on Marcahuamachuco comes from the XVIII century document prepared by Bishop Baltazar Jaime Martinez Compañón. Early descriptions and drawings from the late XIX century were done by travelers. Charles Wiener provides a first topographical description of Marcahuamachuco and names its principal compounds.. Ernst Middendorf visited Marcahuamachuco in 1887, describing its principal compounds and comparing the site with Kuelap.

First archaeological research in Marcahuamachuco was conducted in during three months in 1900 by Max Uhle under the auspice of the University of California, Berkeley. He photographed the site and corrected the previous maps prepared by Wiener.. His research was followed years later, during 1941-42 by Theodore McCown, from the University of California, who in addition to reviewing Uhle´s writings and collected specimens stored at the University´s Museum of Anthropology, during two years of field work described the site in more detail, elaborated more precise maps of the archaeological site, and presented a chronological sequence to explain the cultural development of Marcahuamachuco.

In 1944 archaeologist Hans Horkheimer published photographs from Marcahuamachuco sowing stone heads similar to those of Chavin. John Thatcher, a student of McCown continued with research in the site in during 1968-69 and 1973-74 focusing on establishing phases and chronologies on the basis of ceramic styles.

Huamachuco Archaeological Project, a Canadian project has been dedicated since 1981 to study the prehistory of the area and provides some specific data and assumptions about the site and its history.

The Site

Marcahuamachuco is set atop the nexus of three mountain valleys at an altitude of more than 3,200 meters (10,000 feet). Encompassing more than three kilometres of land, the site is celebrated for its massive castillos and unique circular double-walled archaeological structures. Over many centuries, however, the ruins have been degraded by natural elements, and today face accelerating threats from grazing livestock, plant growth, lack of conservation and surveillance, and the continued effects of natural elements and weather. The site's location, in the northern Peruvian highlands of La Libertad, was until recently a difficult to access place. Today a new road makes it accessible on three and a half hours ride from the city of Trujillo, the third largest on the country´s Pacific coast, and location of major Moche heritage sites.

The domestic residences are multi-storied galleries which originally housed numerous individual families..

Conservation

The massiveness and monumentality of the Marcahuamachuco complex reveals the importance of its constructions and their function, a factor that has moved the Peruvian Government to support the conservation of this immense archaeological site by recently establishing funding a major project for conservation of what visitors have denominated “The Machu Picchu of the North”. More recently the Minister of Culture Juan Ossio denotes the importance of the site and names Marcahuamachuco, Huanucopampa and Kuelap as the major archaeological tourist destinations, at equal level to Machu Picchu.

In May 2011, Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a non-profit organization whose mission is to save endangered cultural heritage sites in developing countries, announced that it will provide funding and technical expertise for the first conservation program in Marcahuamachuco's history. This will include scientific planning, GIS and mapping, archaeological conservation, and community development and training of guides, artisans, and local conservation workers.

Marcahuamachuco is GHF's second project in Peru; the organization has also been working since 2004 to preserve Chavín de Huántar.