Photo. Remains from the legendary Lost Inca City Paititi in Peru? Cut stones (top) and masonry walls (bottom) recently found near Lobo Tahuantinsuyo. Credits: Peru Instituto Nacional de Cultura.
On 10 January 2008 Peru's state news agency reported that "an archaeological fortress" had been discovered in the district of Kimbiri and that the district's mayor suggested it was the lost city.
Mayor Guillermo Torres described the ruins as a 430,000-square-foot (40,000-square-meter) fortification near an area known as Lobo Tahuantinsuyo.
The state media report quotes Torres as saying the area will be "immediately declared" a cultural tourism site.
Paititi is believed to have been located somewhere east of the Andes Mountains in the rain forest of southeastern Peru, southwestern Brazil, or northern Bolivia.
| Photo. The lost city Paititi? Credits: Peru Instituto Nacional de Cultura. |
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Paititi refers to the legendary lost city said to lie east of the Andes, hidden somewhere within the remote rain forests of southeast Peru, northern Bolivia, and southwest Brazil.
A commonly cited legend claims that Paititi was built by the Inca hero Inkarri, who founded the city of Cusco before retreating into the jungle after Spanish conquerors arrived.
In 1600 a missionary reported seeing a large "city of gold" in the region where Paititi is believed to have been built, according to old written sources discovered by an Italian archaeologist in 2001.
Explorers have searched for this lost city for a long time. The presumptive lost city is described in written records as a stone settlement adorned with gold statues.
Time will show if it is the ruins of the lost city Paititi, or that the stone structures are shaped by natural forces, and not by Inca stone workers.
Stein Morten Lund, 17 March 2008
Additional information
Some sources for more information about the discovery:
National Geographic: www.NationalGeographic.com
National Institute of Culture (INC), Cusco, Peru.
Information about Peru:
Peru is the home of the Incas. The country is located in western South America, extends for nearly 1,500 mi (2,414 km) along the Pacific Ocean. Peru`s neighbours countries Colombia and Ecuador are to the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and Chile to the south.
Five-sixths the size of Alaska, Peru is divided by the Andes Mountains into three sharply differentiated zones. To the west is the coastline, much of it arid, extending 50 to 100 mi (80 to 160 km) inland.
The mountain area, with peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m), lofty plateaus, and deep valleys, lies centrally. Beyond the mountains to the east is the heavily forested slope leading to the Amazonian plains.
For more information: Lonely Planet: www.LonelyPlanet.com
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