Moray: the agricultural research station of the Inca Civilization One of the most visually stunning Inca ruins is at Moray, an archaeological site in Peru approximately 50 km northwest of Cusco and just west of the village of Maras. In a large bowl-like depression, is constructed a series of concentric terraces that looks like an ancient Greek amphitheater. The largest of these terraces are at the center – they are enormous in size, and descend to a depth of approximately 150 meter, leading to a circular bottom so well drained that it never completely floods, no matter how plentiful the rain. The concentric terraces are split by multiple staircases that extend upward like spokes of a wheel and enable people to walk from the top to the bottom of the bowl. Six more terraces, in connected ellipses rather than perfect circles, surround the concentric heart of Moray, and eight terraced steps that cover only a fraction of the perimeter overlook the site. The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but the most widely agreed theory is they used to serve as agricultural research station. One of the most remarkable features of the site is the vast difference in temperature that exist between the top and the bottom, which can be as much as 15°C. This large temperature difference created micro climates, similar to what is achieved in greenhouses in modern times, that was possibly used by the Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. It is no coincidence that the temperature difference corresponds to the natural difference between coastal sea level farmland and Andean farming terraces 1,000 meters about sea level. Another enigma is the way how drainage for water flowing through the aqueducts worked. The lowest level is perfectly drained and never gets flooded even after incessant rains. We might never know how and why Moray was built, but the agricultural research station remains as the most accepted theory; since about 60 percent of the world’s food crops originated in the Andes, including hundreds of varieties of maize and thousands of potato varieties, this is not surprising. EcoAmerica Tours - The #Peru Specialist: Creative, Personalized Travel Planning Since 1989 | Toll-Free: 888-601-8411 | ecoamericatours/peru
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 06:00:00 +0000
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