Jakarta, domclub Indonesia
—
Para
archaeologist
finally found clues about thousands of mysterious holes that stretch across the Pisco Valley, the Andes Mountains,
Peru
, which has baffled researchers for almost a century.
New research at the archaeological site located in the Pisco Valley, Monte Sierpe, sheds light on who built them and what the holes were used for.
The site, known as the band of holes, first attracted public attention after National Geographic published aerial photos of the area in 1933.
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Because no historical records have been found explaining who made the thousands of holes and for what purpose, various theories have emerged ranging from their function as defense, storage, irrigation, to even the alleged involvement of extraterrestrials.
However, new analysis using drones and microbotanical studies of pollen from inside the burrows has revealed something surprising.
According to research published in the journal Antiquity on November 10, Monte Sierpe was initially used as a barter market by pre-Inca civilizations, and then functioned as a recording or accounting system for the Inca Empire.
“Why did ancient people make more than 5,000 holes in the foothills of southern Peru? We don’t know for sure, but we found new data that provides important clues,” said Dr.Jacob Bongers, digital archaeologist from the University of Sydney, quoted from
domclub
.
Based on drone photos, the holes are 1-2 meters wide and 0.5-1 meter deep, arranged in around 60 sections separated by empty spaces.Repeating hole pattern.for example 12 rows with an alternating pattern of seven and eight holes, indicating that the layout is not random.
The research team believes that the native inhabitants of the pre-Incan Chincha Kingdom from the coast and highlands of Peru may have come to exchange goods and barter using their own goods, rather than currency.
“Perhaps other important resources such as cotton, coca, corn and chilies were put into the pits and exchanged. For example, a number of pits containing corn would be equivalent to a number of pits containing other types of goods, such as cotton or coca,” Bongers said.
Bongers said this site may have later been used by the Inca as a large-scale accounting tool, similar to ancient Excel spreadsheets.This is because the hole pattern resembles the Inca knotted rope counting system (khipu) which functions to record numbers and data.
Monte Sierpe was ideally located for bartering and accounting, close to the pre-Hispanic road network, and between two major Incan sites called Tambo Colorado and Lima La Vieja.
Bongers’ team members continued to study Peruvian khipudaries to test potential numerical connections between the Monte Sierpe design and the Inca counting system.If there is a connection, the holes may have been a way for the empire to collect tribute.
Dating of the holes at the Monte Sierpe site indicates that the area was used about 600 to 700 years ago.
The research team is still conducting additional radiocarbon dating tests to determine a more accurate timeline, but they estimate the site was built during the Late Inter-Intermediate Period in Peru (around 1,000-1,400 AD), which coincides with the period of use by pre-Inca civilizations.
Additionally, the discovery of pollen from citrus plants newly introduced to the region during the Spanish colonial period (1531-1825) suggests that the site was still in use after the fall of the Incan Empire in 1532, when the Spanish began to colonize Peru.
The site was likely abandoned because the Spanish were unable to integrate it into their colonial economic system, Bongers said.
Although this theory is interesting, some experts including Dr.Dennis Ogburn of the University of North Carolina, believes that further evidence is still needed to confirm a direct connection to the Incan system.
(fby/mic)
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