US EditionPeru's Band of Holes May Have Been Inca Tax Ledger
The 1.5-kilometre Band of Holes with about 5,200 pits was used for barter and later for tribute accounting, reflecting complex social and economic systems of ancient Peruvians.
- Using new analyses, archaeologist Jacob Bongers and the research team argue Monte Sierpe initially served as a market and later as a large-scale accounting system, with its 5,200 aligned holes spanning about 5 kilometers.
- Radiocarbon dating results indicate charcoal from one pit dates to 1320–1405 CE, suggesting Chincha culture occupied Monte Sierpe before the Inca Empire arrived around 1400 CE.
- Using drone high-resolution imagery and microbotanical analysis of sediments from 19 holes, researchers found maize, Amaranthaceae, Pooidae, Cucurbita, basket plants, and an Inca khipu-like layout.
- Researchers suggest the Inca repurposed the holes as a tribute register and accounting device, with the team proposing the later Inca used them for tax collection and redistribution, as detailed in the journal Antiquity.
- The site consists of some 5,200 holes that have provoked many competing explanations since National Geographic Society's 1933 aerial photographs, and researchers plan a second phase of fieldwork to study local khipus.
33 Articles
33 Articles
New Theory Emerges About Peru's 'Serpent Mountain'
A mile-long stretch of mysterious holes carved into the Peruvian Andes may have finally given up some of its secrets. New research suggests the so-called Band of Holes—a monument comprised of around 5,200 indentations on Monte Sierpe, or "Serpent Mountain"—was likely used as a marketplace by the...
Science Daily
Conservative AngleArchaeologists may have finally solved Peru’s strange “Band of Holes” mystery
In Peru’s mysterious Pisco Valley, thousands of perfectly aligned holes known as Monte Sierpe have long puzzled scientists. New drone mapping and microbotanical analysis reveal that these holes may once have served as a bustling pre-Inca barter market—later transformed into an accounting system under the Inca Empire.
A study by scientists from Australia, the United States and Peru provided indications of the possible commercial and administrative use of thousands of cavities lined up in the Pisco Valley. What would they mean for the population before the Inca Empire?
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