Stonework at Sacsayshuaman—The City Nephi Built – Part VII

Continued from the previous post regarding the fortress and more specifically grounds and structures around Sacsayhuaman.

Top: Larger area around Cuzco; Bottom: Sacsayhuaman hill and adjoining Pukamuqu hill

Pukamuqu ("red hill"). This a mountain in Peru. It is situated in the Cusco Region adjoining the hill upon which Sacsayhuaman stands. It is a natural viewpoint with panoramic views of the city and has a 26-foot high statue called Cristo Blanco (“white Christ”).
    This is likely the hill that Ammon and his friends camped on following their discovery of the city of Nephi after “wandering many days in the wilderness, even forty days did they wander” (Mosiah 7:4). And “after wandering many days, they came to a hill…and pitched their tents” (Mosiah 7:5). The next day “Ammon, Amaleki, Helem and Hem went down into the land of Nephi” (7:6).

Pukamuqu Hill adjacent to Sacsayhuaman

At an elevation of 11,800-feet, the hill has a magnificent sweeping 180º view of the entire area. This would be where Ammon looked down on the city of Shilom and also the city of Nephi. The land of Shilom borders the lands of Nephi, Shilom and Helam, with Shemlon and Nephi directly below the hill upon which Ammon camped.
    Below the hill is Shilom, an ancient city built by the Nephites before the exodus under Mosiah I. When that migration took place, the Lamanites occupied the city, but let it fall into decay. When the Nephites, under Zeniff left Zarahemla and regained possession of the land, they repaired its dilapidated walls and buildings, and king Noah greatly enlarged and beautified it.
    Later, Zeniff’s son, Noah, built a very tall tower had been built by king Noah near the temple, overlooking the lands of Shilom and Shemlon (Mosiah 11: 12; 19:5-6; 20:8).

The Moray Circles

Moray. Situated on a high plateau northwest of Cuzco and west of Maras village in Peru, the stunning Moray ruins are additional proofs of the great ingenuity of the ancient Peruvians. Located 33 miles northwest of Cusco, Moray exhibits an admirable ancient experimental farm, where a natural depression has been transformed into enormous terraces superimposed in concentric form in the shape of a coliseum.
    Moray is set apart from other ruins in their function. It is still not completely certain what their use was, but archaeologists have a pretty good idea of this site, whose six terraces in connected ellipses rather than perfect circles, surround the concentric heart of Moray, a set of eight downward terraces.
   Pollen studies of these various levels show that soils from different regions of Andean Peru were imported to each of the large terraces, which has led some to believe that the ancient Peruvians were experimenting with vegetable crops to determine which would be disseminated for domestic production by the farmers
    This suggests that the ruins were used as laboratories to experiment on different crops at varying temperatures. Others say they serve as agricultural structures to grow a different breed of corn in the cold climate of the region. This would not be surprising, since about 60% percent of the world’s food crops originated in the Andes, including hundreds of varieties of maize and thousands of potato varieties.
    Whatever the purpose was, there is no denying the fact that this archaeological site is a piece of ancient engineering wonder that one should see in their lifetime.
    Achieving up to 500-feet in height levels, this technology allowed the ancient farmers to study the effects of altitude on different plants and create diverse microclimates to experience and to obtain a variety of plants.
It is in fact an ancient agricultural laboratory. Each terrace possesses contention walls which are connected by a complex system of artificial channels of irrigation that again are a sample of incredible technology.
    The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 27 °F between the top and bottom. This large temperature difference was possibly used to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. In other words, Moray was perhaps an agricultural experiment station. As with many other sites, it also has a sophisticated irrigation system.
    The top level is often chill, but walking down to the bottom—a 98-foot deep depression—hopping from one terrace to another, to get to the bottom, which is decidedly warmer or cooler at the bottom, depending on the time of day.
    The site is located near the village of Maras and the Maras Salt mines.

The Maras salt pools

Maras. Located at 37 miles from Cuzco and 4½ miles from Moray, also called Salinas de Maras, this bizarre site was probably an agricultural center used for cultivating new crops.    The temperature varies between terraces at different levels, which would have facilitated the selection of crop strains for farming in different areas with various ecosystems.
    These layers of beige and white salt pants were used ancient to crystallize salt from the water, as they still are today are still used to crystallize salt from water. The view of this complex of nearly 3000 wells is spectacular and the ancient people channeled the salt water that bubbles to the surface from a spring called Qoripujio towards man-made wells.
    From the exposure to the sun, the water evaporates and the salt remains on the surface where the element is extracted in its natural form and transported to market to be sold. Today it is known worldwide for its great taste and nutritional value.
    The settlement of Maras was an important town anciently and the main supplier of salt of the southern highlands—the salt named Kachi Raqay—was in the form of terraces or platforms , which was crossed by a stream that feeds the pools of salt water.
    The salt was composed of about five thousand pools of about 17 square feet each, with the water seeping into the ponds and evaporating per share of sunshine, making sprout coarse salt crystals. After 1 month, the salt reaches 4-inches high and has to be harvested.
    Using Maras Salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited in each family, but is managed communally.
    The light of all the wells is spectacular. The villagers show visitors their ancestral techniques allowing them to participate in the collection, as well as festivals and Andean rituals.
    The place is highly recommended for lovers of photography. The area is ideal for trekking and mountain biking, and the views are spectacular.

Nephi building a ship which the Lord showed him how to do so beyond that done or known in his day

While we do not know all that Nephi taught the people, we know he did teach his “people how to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance” (2 Nephi 5:15). He also knew how to build a ship beyond the ability of the men of his age and far different than anything done before that time (1 Nephi 18:1-2). He also was taught many things by the Lord (1 Nephi 18:3). It might be assumed from this that Nephi was taught how to build in a land of earthquakes buildings and structures that could withstand the shaking of the earth and last for a very long time.
    Certainly the land of ancient Peru shows evidence of building unknown in ancient times, and still admired by modern engineers today—some of which is still unexplained today.