:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/SPGQZTJQAJHW3KPZ72H76Z2K7I.jpg "The Inca Empire may have reached further south than previously thought due to a new archaeological find in Argentina 1")
The geographical limits of the Inca Empire or Tahuantinsuyothe great expanse of territories occupied and ruled by the Incas until the arrival of the Spaniards, continues to be redefined on the basis of new archaeological discoveries this could confirm the presence of this civilization hundreds of kilometers further southeast than previously thought.
In March last year, a group of park rangers on a routine expedition to the Diamond Lagoon Protected Natural Arealocated in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, he came across a set of architectural structures that caught his eye and seemed to point south of the Maipo volcano, near the border with Chile, at 3,700 meters above sea level.
Immediately, a group of researchers from the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cuyo (CONICET) went to study the area and indicated that these are traces that would correspond to the Inca Empire
The first hypotheses indicate that it would be chamber and enclosure foundations which could represent a geoglyph or a structure designed to be seen from the sky.
An article from the University of Cuyo indicates that in the first domain there is “more than 20 structures generated by low rock wallsamong which stand out enclosures and spaces with rectangular stone walls, one of them large (57 meters by 10)”, while the second is “an important set of structures with stone walls, but in this case those with a circular plan predominate which are distinguished by their dimensions (some of about 10 meters in diameter) and by the presence in their center of piles of rocks which must have had the shape of columns before partially collapsing”.
“Weather and topographical conditions only allow us to reach the place in summer. That’s why we are planning a new shipment for December. During this time, the recently found pieces will be studied by two international juries and will also be analyzed My colleagues from Peru“, explains the anthropologist Gustavo Corrado, member of the team studying the area and who intends to confirm the new known limit of Tahuantinsuyo.
In Lima, we spoke with Francisco Xavier Hernandez, historian from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, who explained that archeology is a science in constant transformation and will continue to bring news about the past in general.
“The discovery of probably Inca structures in this area of Argentina This can broaden the idea of the extent of Inca influence,” he said.
However, he pointed out that it would be necessary to determine what evidence exists that the structures found are Inca occupations and what type they are. “Because one thing is that you arrive at a place and another is that you make it part of your territory.”
He suggested that if it is a place that is not very accessible due to the climate, it could be an outpost in the territory with a view to continuing to expand the empire.
“The economic model that was in place in the tahuantinsuyo it required a constant widening of the frontier to obtain more labor employed for the needs of the state. It is a state that must move forward, but whose progress stops where there is not a sufficient population to allow it to value the effort of “conquest”, “he explained.
Hernández mentioned that the finds could also be part of a sacrifice to the volcano “to avoid its wrath” and not necessarily its incorporation into the territory.
Through the objects that can be found and the knowledge of the use they gave to the enclosures found, it will be possible to determine if it was indeed a territory that belonged to the largest pre-Columbian empire in this part of the world.
On the other hand, concerning the arrival of the Incas in spaces as distant as the islands of the Polynesia in Oceania, the historian mentioned that these are hypotheses that should be corroborated by clearer evidence. “It wouldn’t be strange if that happened, there are clues, but they need to be better assessed,” he said, noting that there are ways of working stone or constructions such as terraces. that one might believe to be exclusive to the pre-Columbian. Andean cultures, however, these also occur in China and other cultures. “The key is in found objects: textiles and ceramics,” he said.