The Tunnels of Sacsayhuaman
Located on a hill overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco are the ruins of a vast prehistoric fortress called Sacsayhuaman. This fortress is one of the most imposing feats of construction in the history of the world. It has been built out of gigantic blocks of stone, some of which weigh up to 200 tons (400,000 pounds). Yet these enormous blocks of stone were cut, dressed and fitted together without any form of mortar.
When the Spanish first arrived in Cuzco and saw these structures, they considered that they had been built by the Devil himself, because of their unprecedented size. When they explored the site, they found that it was laced with a network of tunnels that led under the ground. They called these tunnels chincanas.
The famous chronicler Garcilosa de la Vega, who arrived shortly after the conquest of Peru, described these tunnels in the following words:
“An underground network of passages, which was as vast as the towers themselves, connected them with one another. This was composed of a quantity of streets and alleyways which ran in every direction, and so many doors, all of them identical, that the most experienced men dared not venture into this labyrinth without a guide, consisting of a long thread tied to the first door, which unwound as they advanced.”
In his book “Jungle Paths and Inca Ruins“, Dr. William McGovern wrote:
“Near this fortress [Sacsayhuaman] are several strange caverns reaching far into the earth. Here altars to the Gods of the Deep were carved out of the living rock, and the many bones scattered about tell of the sacrifices which were offered up here. The end of one of these caverns, Chincana, has never been found. It is supposed to communicate by a long underground passage with the Temple of the Sun in the heart of Cuzco. In this cavern is supposed, and with good reason, to be hidden a large part of the golden treasure of the Inca Emperors which was stored away lest it fall into the hands of the Spaniards. But the cavern is so huge, so complicated, and its passages are so manifold, that its secret has never been discovered.”
“One man, indeed, is said to have found his way underground to the Sun Temple, and when he emerged, to have had two golden bars in his hand. But his mind had been affected by days of blind wandering in the subterranean caves, and he died almost immediately afterwards. Since that time many have gone into the cavern-never to return again. Only a month or two before my arrival the disappearance of three prominent people in this Inca cave caused the Prefect of the Province of Cuzco to wall in the mouth of the cavern, so that the secret and the treasures of the Incas seem likely to remain forever undiscovered.”
The entrances to some of these tunnels can still be seen today among the ruins above the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, and visitors are allowed to view them, as described on the following website.
