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The origin of terraces or andenes in the Andes is poorly understood, but they were being built by 2000 BCE. Agriculture became essential for the subsistence of a growing population after 900 BCE. People of the Huarpa culture and the later Wari culture (500–1000 CE) built terraces into the hillsides of the Andes in Peru. [4]
In the South American Andes, farmers have used terraces, known as andenes, for over a thousand years to farm potatoes, maize, and other native crops. Terraced farming was developed by the Wari culture and other peoples of the south-central Andes before 1000 AD, centuries before they were used by the Inca, who adopted them. The terraces were ...
Terraces were built to permit agriculture in the rugged terrain of the Andes. The heartland of the Inca Empire was in the high plateaus and mountains of the Andes of Peru. This area is mostly above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in elevation and is characterized by low or seasonal precipitation, low temperatures, and thin soils.
Side valleys and agricultural terraces expand the cultivatable area. [4] The valley was formed by the Urubamba river, also known as the Vilcanota River, Willkanuta River (Aymara, "house of the sun") or Willkamayu . The latter, in Quechua, the still spoken lingua franca of the Inca Empire, [5] means the sacred river. It is fed by numerous ...
A series of terraces along a river. The oldest terraces (T1) are higher standing than the younger terraces (T3). The present floodplain (T4) will soon become the youngest terrace surface as the river incises. Terraces can be formed in many ways and in several geologic and environmental settings. By studying the size, shape, and age of terraces ...
The first recorded accounts of Inca water transportation structures came from Spanish conquistadores in the sixteenth century. One such explorer was Pedro Cieza de León.In his published chronicles detailing his travels through Peru, he noted seeing a large wall as he headed east from Cuzco, which scholars argue he was referring to the aqueduct at the Piquillacta archeological site.
The plateau is located at the latitude of the widest part of the north–south-trending Andes. The bulk of the Altiplano lies in Bolivia, but its northern parts lie in Peru, and its southwestern fringes lie in Chile. There are on the plateau many towns and several cities, including El Alto and Oruro in Bolivia, Juliaca and Puno in Peru.
There are at least 14 different shapes of terrace at heights from 2,995 metres (9,826 ft) to 3,450 metres (11,320 ft) metres above sea level. Many are still in use today. The terraces closest to modern Písac are the Andenes Acchapata, which consist of up of 40 individual terraces which extend down to the valley floor and the river.