Cumbe Mayo is located about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the Peruvian city of Cajamarca, at an elevation of approximately 11,000 feet (3,300 meters). The location is best known for the ruins of a Pre-Columbian aqueduct stretching approximately five miles in length. The aqueduct collected water from the Atlantic watershed and redirected it on its way to the Pacific Ocean. It is thought to have been constructed around 1500 B.C. and may be the oldest existing man-made structure in South America. The name Cumbe Mayo may be derived from a Quechua phrase, kunpi mayu, meaning “well-made water channel,” or hunpi mayo, meaning “thin river.” There are a number of petroglyphs on the aqueduct and surrounding caverns.
This remote mountainous region is also the location of a "stone forest" composed of natural volcanic rocks which have been shaped by erosion. These formations of volcanic rock are also known as Los Frailones, or the Stone Monks.
Other pages about Archaeological sites in Peru
-Aspero -Buena Vista, Peru -Cahuachi -Carajia -Caral -Chankillo -Chivay Obsidian Source -Cumbe Mayo -Cusco -Gran Pajaten -Gran Saposoa -Gran Vilaya -Huayna Picchu -Inca road system -Jiskairumoko -Kuntur Wasi -List of Norte Chico sites -Llactapata -Lord of Sipan -Los Pinchudos -Machu Picchu -Moray (Inca ruin) -Nazca -Nazca Lines -Paijan -Pikimachay -Revash's mausoleums -Sarcofagi of Carajia -Sipan -Temple of the Moon -Tucume Pyramids -Wari ruins -Winay Wayna
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cumbe_Mayo
