Sacred landscape and cultural astronomy on the Marcahuasi Plateau, Peru

Abstract

The Marcahuasi plateau, in the highlands of Huarochirí Province, Peru, is touristed today for its landscape of evocative stone formations and archaeological remains. We present ethnohistorical documentation of the cultural salience of stone features and celestial alignments to the inhabitants of the region and propose that such notions extend to the prehispanic era at Marcahuasi. Although most formations likely are wholly natural features, a preliminary analysis involving Monte Carlo simulation with analysis of statistical significance of astronomical alignments suggest the plateau combines elements of a “natural” landscape and at least partially modified “cultural” monuments that were part of an animated Andean cosmology.