The Unfinished Mystery of Ollantaytambo s Massive Stones

These stones weigh over 100 tons. Why is this alone? And somehow they were carved, transported, and fitted together with incredible precision. We're too quick to jump to conclusions, and they were able to somehow lift the stone up. The history books say the Inca built this place, but what if the site is older? Just got a lot of questions. This just doesn't make logical sense for several different reasons. And part of a much deeper forgotten civilization. What in the heck? I don't know the answers. Right now I am standing on top of the mountain behind Ollantaytambo. Now if you haven't heard of Ollantaytambo, it is the famous location of the six stone megalithic wall, which is right down there where we just came from. The question has become, how and why are they here? Who really built them? And I've come here with not a lot of experience or knowledge looking to seek the answers to those questions. You see, historians believe this site was constructed in the 1400s during the reign of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, one of the most powerful rulers in Inca history. There are a lot of mysteries about these walls. Don't get me wrong. I've come here to think for myself. I've come here to experience what it's like being in front of these stones, being on top of this mountain, seeing what's truly going on here. But when you're at the site, you quickly realize there's something unusual going on here. I'm no scientist myself. I do not have a degree, and I am not in a formal scientific position. But what I am is here. I am here at the site. You see, frankly, I'm not here to prove anything. I'm just here to experience what most people don't get to experience. I'm here to see for myself the details of this construction. And these stones are massive, much bigger than they look in photos. Logistically, it's a freakish anomaly. And this site is one of many in Peru, and even the world, that contains this type of precision stonework. Does archaeology have it all figured out, or is there something missing here? So in today's video, I'm going to bring you along on a thorough exploration of the site of Hueyantaytambo, including the megalithic structures present. And just to give a quick view of what we're going to be headed towards today, right there, Hueyantaytambo, the Inca ruins, along with the megalithic stonework that we're going to be exploring in depth today. I am extremely excited for these ruins. I think out of all the places in Peru, I'm most excited about this place. When it comes to megalithic stonework, there isn't really any better place to go. Maybe with the exception of Sacsayhuaman. Hueyantaytambo has fascinated archaeologists for decades. The Inca clearly possessed extraordinary engineering skill. But exactly how these massive stones were quarried, transported, and placed remains one of the most debated questions in Andean archaeology. So what does the evidence here actually show? This right here is supposed to be a representation of the archaeological site. Now, on top, what we're going to be finding is this right here. Famous six stone wall. But now we're going to enter. Oh my, where did you come from? Why are you here? What a crazy... I know, dude, are you with the god? Ah, what? He's back. What a small world. I will say though, it is quite impressive. When you look at what the Inca no doubt did do. All this. They were a prominent agricultural society. So this is the first real site we get at. Some of the infamous megalithic construction. Stones perfectly fitted together. And once again, basic or primitive construction on top with mortar. And obviously, it only gets better from here. As you climb higher into Hueyantaytambo, the stonework begins to change. The terraces below are built from smaller blocks. But here, the stones become larger, more carefully shaped, and more ambitious. Architectural studies of the site, such as the work of Jean-Pierre Protzen, note that the upper temple sector uses finely cut stone masonry that is very different from the construction used in the lower terraces. Across the Inca world, this kind of precision stonework was typically reserved for more important ceremonial buildings. Those grooves. Okay. To me, the variety of construction here is really the biggest question. Because logically, if you come here and you didn't know any history or backstory of anything, you would assume it was two different types of people based on the vastly different types of construction and the difference between a very advanced form of construction and primitive. It's a question that deserves a further look, I think. I'm no expert, but I've seen some of this stuff in person. And I think that we're too quick to jump to conclusions. Look at that. Look how perfect, perfectly intertwined this is. All the stones are a different shape, too. Bends up perfectly into that groove. Same right here. There's a little bump. And again, throughout the whole thing, you can see on top, completely different. This whole structure looks destroyed. Now, when it comes to Inca, they were famous for constructing in the most difficult places. Look across there, a little bit more on top and over here. And here we go. It's more of these megalithic. These ones are quite weathered compared to the others. Then you get a little bit of a glimpse right up there, that ginormous stone. That's where we're headed up to next. Possibly the coolest part of this whole place. As you move through the upper terraces, something unusual begins to appear. Scattered across the site are massive stones lying in unexpected positions. Some are cracked. Others appear unfinished. And a few seem to rest on small supporting stones at odd angles. One particularly large block even sits on a constructed platform. Yet the stone itself is heavily damaged and never appears to have been fully integrated into the surrounding structure. Archaeologists have suggested that Ollantaytambo may have been left unfinished during the Spanish conquest, which could explain why some of these blocks were never placed. But standing here among these stones, it's clear that not every part of the construction went exactly as planned. And this is where things get most interesting with the stones. That's that big one we saw earlier. Now, when you look at something like this, your question, my question immediately jumps to what is this stone that seems deformed and not a part of anything doing on top of this base right here? And they were able to somehow lift the stone up. You really just have to wonder what's going on here. Why is the stone not a part of anything? You see the same thing right here. They've lifted a stone up, placed rocks underneath. Just below the famous six monolith wall sits one of the most curious stones on the entire hillside. Archaeologists studying Ollantaytambo believe stones like this may have been part of a construction that was never completed. If work on the temple was interrupted, possibly during the Spanish conquest, some of these massive blocks may have simply been left where they were. Yeah, so when I'm looking at this, maybe this stone had fallen somehow and caused these cracks. These look like, yeah, there's another one here. It looks like this one almost doesn't go all the way, but it goes quite a bit. There's another one here. To me, this one goes really far. More down here. Maybe it fell when potentially the Inca were trying to lift it up. I'm not exactly sure how much this weighs, but I think I've heard this one in particular is close to 50 tons. That's very, very heavy. Archaeologists often suggest that the Inca moved these stones up earthen ramps with slopes of only around 8 to 12 degrees, dragging them with ropes and manpower. If that's the case, the blocks weren't being lifted vertically. They were being pulled gradually uphill. So how did some of these stones end up cracked or abandoned here on the terraces? One possibility is that they were damaged during staging or maneuvering near the temple construction area. However, considering some of the other strange things we'll see, some of these explanations can feel a bit isolated and not integrated into the bigger picture. Here, once again, similar to Sacsayhuaman, you've got these cuts. Quite interesting. Now, I found this out, but what's most interesting is the smoothness of the surface. It's not smooth on the outside, but on the inside, it is. And what this really is, what that's really saying is that something's going on there. You know, there have been stories from famous explorers and whatnot of people seeing birds deep in the Andes take certain leaves, bring them to their nest and in the rock, they rub the leaves on the stone. And after doing so, they're able to poke at the stone almost like it's malleable in some way. There are other stories like that. There have been stories of the Inca doing that and other civilizations before that supposedly doing that. So that's certainly something to think about. Let's see if we can break into this crowd and take a look at the most famous piece. And that is the famous six stone wall. There really is not anything quite like this wall in particular. And you know, you have to wonder, why is this alone? It doesn't look like it's part of anything. And beneath, you can clearly see that potentially they've managed to, potentially some of the ground was coming out. So they've placed, they've managed to put rocks under to support the structure to keep it, to keep it from collapsing. Keeping it in its place really is quite remarkable. You can see back there, Inca construction all around, all on top. That's probably the biggest, you know, we see these little knots out of all the stones, similar to how we would see in Sacsayhuaman or the stone walls in Cusco. But this particular one is enormous. It really makes you wonder what's actually going on here. At the very top of the terraces stands the Temple of the Sun, one of the most extraordinary constructions in the entire Inca world. The wall behind me is built from six enormous blocks of pink granite, each weighing many tons and carefully shaped to fit together with remarkable precision. What makes the structure even more remarkable is that the stones didn't originate here. The granite used for these blocks were quarried across the valley and on the opposite side of the Urubamba river. Somehow, these massive stones were transported across the valley and hauled up this mountainside to build this temple. As you can see, what's most incredible about this structure is how massive the stones are. And here you can see just how perfect they've been carved. For me, what's most strange about the stones is that they have these giant bumps and protrusions in them. I don't know if you can see. Yeah, you should be able to see right there that massive one, which is really incredible and probably the biggest I've seen in Peru. So it makes you wonder, what's going on there? Why? Why are they adding these protrusions and leaving them there? Just being here, it's an incredible, incredible sight, incredible view, and you're not really sure entirely what to make out of it. Other than this, this is the most interesting piece right here. Stones that have been put under to support the standing structure, the megaliths. There appears to be some type of symbol here in the stone. This to me is interesting. We've got sort of a ladder or sorry, a staircase and then another one, but it sort of fades away because it's been obviously here a long time and you can't avoid the elements forever. Again, take another look at it. One of the earliest Spanish chroniclers to travel through the Andes was Pedro Cieza de León. Writing in the mid 1500s, he described the stonework of the Inca as so precisely fitted that it seemed almost unbelievable. A few decades later, the historian Garcilaso de la Vega, who was himself the son of an Inca noblewoman, described the same remarkable stonework. From the first Spanish explorers to modern archaeologists, Juan Tatumbo has fascinated observers for centuries. But even today, many questions about how these stones were moved and assembled remain a subject of debate. Some early Spanish accounts even record that the Inca themselves believe certain ancient stone structures had been built by earlier peoples. Whether those statements refer to specific sites like Ollantaytambo or to other ruins across the Andes is still debated today. However, in modern times, as mentioned before, researchers like architectural historian Jean Pierre Protzen have studied Ollantaytambo in detail, documenting how the stones were quarried, shaped, and transported. But whether these structures were entirely Inca or built upon even older foundations, Ollantaytambo clearly represents one of the most ambitious engineering projects in the ancient Andes. Some of these stones, they're a different animal entirely. I've only said there are unanswered questions that deserve more thorough explanation before we make any conclusions. And if you disagree with that, more power to you. But as you can see here, we've approached, I believe, the highest construction the Inca had in this particular area. And now we can see the best view of the whole site. And you actually can't even see that far down there because the hill is sort of encroaching over top. But this is Ollantaytambo. Better view of the mountains, better view of the quarry. Ah, man, I'm exhausted. Right, so the reason I like this view in particular is because, I don't know if you can see, but off in the distance over there, there is a construction in that little courtyard. Looks to me like a little bit of megalithic construction down there. I don't know if we're allowed to visit. I think we are if we take this path right here, but I'm not 100% sure. So when I get back down this giant cliff, I will proceed accordingly. So now we're headed inside one of the typical Inca buildings. You can see people are leaving things. I wonder what these are. So let's see if we can... This is quite interesting. Potentially for a rope. Yeah, it looks to be that way. Something to go through like a rope. So what is quite interesting about this is that there's some smoothness going on inside these holes right there. There's some real smooth right here. That is curious, isn't it? These parts are quite smooth. I suppose we'll keep going now. Oh, the path goes this way. Down very carefully this way. I've extended my camera now so it can reach over a little bit farther. You can see all the way over there. Why are they building this so high? This is so far away from everything else. Be extremely careful. This is a very steep hill. Definitely don't want anything to happen. All right, so I made it my way down. It was an insane view though. Now we're back to Inca buildings. Modern archaeological research suggests that the stones used in the Temple of the Sun came from a quarry known as Cachicata, located across the valley from Ollantaytambo. From this quarry, the blocks would have had to travel several kilometers, descend toward the valley floor, and cross the Urubamba River, and then climb the terraces leading up to the temple complex. Studies of the quarry site show unfinished blocks still embedded in the rock, suggesting that large stones were cut directly from the bedrock before being transported to the construction site. Once a stone had been separated from the rock, the next challenge was transportation. You see, most archaeologists believe that the Inca moved large stones using ropes, manpower, and earthen ramps with relatively shallow slopes. Experimental studies and historical descriptions suggest that teams of workers may have dragged stones on wooden sledges or rollers along prepared roads. Even with these methods, transporting blocks weighing many tons across uneven terrain and up steep terraces would have required careful coordination and enormous human effort. We're now headed to where the tired stones are located. And my understanding is that the reason they call them tired stones is because they didn't make it to the site. They got tired along the way. And we're going to be approaching some of them right here in a few minutes. Now so much of this is still Inca construction. All this. All this to the right of the road. So here we are. We made it. They call these piedras cantadas. I guess they call them that for a reason. They didn't make it. It's like somebody may be living here. This is a massive stone though. What in the heck? Some Inca stuff going on here. Right there. What is going on? This is probably the biggest rock I think that's here. You know, maybe it makes sense it didn't make it. Maybe it was just too big for them to move. But what's interesting is this. You've got these grooves in the rock. Very clear shape. Really, I'm not sure, frankly. Just below the site, several enormous blocks lie scattered along the hillside near the road leading toward Ollantaytambo. These stones are often referred to as tired stones, believed to have been abandoned while being transported toward the temple above. Their presence suggests that the process of moving these massive blocks was not always successful. Whether these stones were damaged during transport or simply left behind when construction was interrupted remains a subject of discussion among researchers. Taken together, the quarry sites, the unfinished blocks, and the stones abandoned along the transport route all hint at the enormous complexity of the construction process at Ollantaytambo. Archaeologists generally attribute the construction of the site to the Inca Empire, particularly during the reign of the ruler Pachacuti. However, the scale of the engineering involved and the unusual features scattered throughout the site continue to raise questions about how these structures were planned and executed. Whether Ollantaytambo represents the work of a single construction phase or a site that may have incorporated earlier structures is still actively discussed by historians and archaeologists today. Back down the stairs we came up from. I think we were way across that mountain, it's pretty incredible. Some closing shots. The answer is no, I'm not taking the stairs. I want to take the rocks. I'm real like that. The other interesting thing is like on top, how everything seemed to be scattered and in no particular order. It's the same here. But clearly these stones have been moved into a certain position to appear symmetrical, but they're in no particular construction and there's no way to know where they originated from. Same with all of these. This is really incredible how smooth this is, how perfectly flat it is. Quite impressive. I wonder what this would have been a part of. Howdy partner. Hi. You got sort of this mess of stones down here. Some of them are perfect and then you can see the construction they built behind is made up of largely unshaped stones, but some of them are. This whole yard is just covered in beautifully cut stone. You can see we were all the way up there. The sun is brutal right now. You can see there's so many of these are just scattered and they've been slightly dug up to show their shape, but it's likely these were probably completely buried at one point. This is very cool. The Inca were no doubt masters with irrigation and water and utilizing stone to construct very efficient waterways for their benefit. The people could just come here and grab some water. See this is where water is flowing. Oh my god. This is pretty similar to what we see at Sacsayhuaman, only we don't see is the is the protrusions on the granite rock itself. They've also utilized some of these massive stones right there. Cuts into the end of the rock. Holy cow. That right up there. You guys see that? That is a massive stone they would have cut out of there and you really have to question how would they get it down? How? More right here. Strange. This here is almost like a like a graveyard for megalithic stones and I say megalithic sometimes I don't mean super large and what I really mean is very well cut and put together. It's just a term for the type of construction. They're just lying around everywhere. Standing here at Ollantaytambo, the scale of what was accomplished is difficult to ignore. Massive stones carved from bedrock, carefully shaped with remarkable precision and transported across the sacred valley to construct one of the most impressive structures in the ancient Andes. Studies of the Inca architecture and engineering suggest that stones were quarried in shape using stone tools and transported using ropes, manpower and carefully prepared ramps. Yet when walking through the site itself, a number of intriguing details stand out. Unfinished blocks scattered across the terraces, stones abandoned along the road below the site, large sections of bedrock that appear to have had massive blocks removed directly from the rock. These details hint at the enormous complexity of the construction process and suggest that the story of Ollantaytambo may not be as simple as it first appears. Whether built entirely by the Inca or constructed upon earlier foundations, Ollantaytambo represents one of the most ambitious engineering achievements of the ancient world. The stones themselves remain silent, but they continue to invite investigation and perhaps remind us that there is still much we have yet to understand about the civilizations of the past. And here, in the mountains of Peru, the mystery of Ollantaytambo still stands. If you guys like these types of videos and want to support the channel, you can subscribe, like and make sure to comment on this video. And I will see you in the next one, where we will be exploring potentially the most famous site in the Western Hemisphere.