Fuerte de Samaipata Bolivia

Fuerte de Samaipata - Bolivia

Short Report

The archaeological site of city Samaipata Fuerte consists of two parts: the hill with many carvings, believed to have been the ceremonial center of the old town (14TH- 16th century), and the area south of the hill, which the administrative and residential area. The enormous sculpted rocks, dominates the downtown is a unique testimony of pre-Hispanic traditions and beliefs, and has no parallel anywhere in South America.

Wide Report

City Samaipata Fuerte still bears witness to the existence of a political culture in the Andean region with highly developed religious traditions, dramatically illustrated in the form of the dominant ceremonial function of this site, the giant rock sculptures. The site is known for its occupied and used as a ritual and residential center by people who belong to the Mojocoyas culture already in AD 300, and it was in this period that work began on the design of this great rock. It was inhabited in the 14th century by the Inca, whom a provincial capital. This is confirmed by the features that were discovered by digging - a large central square with monumental public buildings around it and construction of the neighboring hills for agriculture - which are characteristic for this type of Inca settlement. It was a bulwark against the incursions of the savage Chiriguanos in the Chaco region in the 1520s.

The strategic location of the site, which attracted by the Inca, was also recognized by the Spanish. The silver mines of Cerro Rico In The began in 1545 and the colonial settlement of city Samaipata Fuerte has become an important staging post on the highway of Asunción and Santa Cruz on the colonial centers in the High Andes such as La Plata (modern Sucre), Cochabamba and In The. With the introduction of the new city of city Samaipata Fuerte in the Valle de la Purificación the ancient settlement had no further military interest and was abandoned.

The archaeological site of city Samaipata Fuerte consists of two parts: the hill with many carvings, believed to have been the ceremonial center of the old town (14TH- 16th century), and the area south of the hill, which the administrative and residential area. The reddish brown sandstone hill is divided into a higher part, known as El Mirador, and a lower, where the reliefs are located. The sculpture in the western part are two cats on a circular base, the only examples of high-relief carving in the whole site. The remains of a stone wall of the Inca period across a number of reliefs, which indicates a pre-Inca date. These include two parallel channels, between and there are smaller channels cut in lozenges could give rise to the local name for this feature, El Dorso de la Serpiente.

At the highest point is Coro los Sacerdotes, which consists of a deep cut circle with triangular and rectangular niches in the wall. Further to the east is a structure which is undoubtedly the head of a cat. Most of the southern side of the rock was initially dominated by a series of at least five temples or shrines, of which only the niches in their walls survive. The Casa Colonial is located on an artificial plateau at the foot of the rock. Excavations have shown that proof of Inca and pre-Inca structures, and so is known as the Square of the Three Cultures. The house of the colonial period, only the lower stone walls that survival is in typical Arabic-Andalusian style, with a central courtyard.

Away from the rocky hill, there are a number of small isolated buildings surrounded by perimeter walls, a typical Inca form known as kancha. One of the two buildings and five other, arranged in a U-pattern. The main administrative and religious center of the Inca period is in a series of three artificial platforms south of the rock. The main feature is a huge building known as the Kallanka; it is on the lowest platform and faces the ceremonial part of the rock in a spacious plaza. West of the Kallanka and on the second platform is a group of at least twelve large or medium-sized properties, in H-shape, provisionally called Akllawasi. These are interpreted as remains of the textiles, woven for ritual purposes or exchange of the virgins of the sunday, whose name akllas is devoted to this group. On the third platform there is a group of seven Inca properties disposed around an open space on a man-made mound.

Historical Data

The site is known for its occupied and used as a ritual and residential center by people who belong to the Mojocoyas culture already in AD 300, and it was in this period that work began on the design of this great rock. According to the Spanish priest Diego the Alcaya, letter to the beginning of the 17th century it was inhabited in the 14th century by the Inca, whom a provincial capital. This is confirmed by the features that were discovered by digging - a large central square with monumental public buildings around it and construction of the neighboring hills for agriculture - which are characteristic for this type of Inca settlement. It was a bulwark against the incursions of the savage Chiriguanos in the Chaco region in the 1520s.

The strategic location of the site, which attracted by the Inca, was also recognized by the Spanish. It is uncertain when they moved to this region.  It was also important to build fortresses for use against the marauding Chiriguanos. What is certain is that the colonial settlement of city Samaipata Fuerte has become an important staging post on the highway of Asuncíon and Santa Cruz on the colonial centers in the High Andes such as La Plata (modern Sucre), Cochabamba and Potosí.

With the introduction of the new city of city Samaipata Fuerte in the Valle de la Purificación the ancient settlement had no further military interest and was abandoned. It was quickly covered with vegetation and only visited by treasure hunters and herdsmen directly. But the memory of El Fuerte (the Fort) was kept alive by the local population. He first came to the notice of scholars at the end of the 18th century and has been intensively studied since the beginning of this century.

Source:whc/unesco