Saywite Stone

The Saywite monolith is a granite boulder about four metres across and two high, its upper surface covered in more than two hundred carved figures - stepped terraces, channels, reservoirs, buildings, pumas, monkeys, snakes, frogs and human figures - arranged as what looks like a model of a landscape. The channels connect, and water poured at the top runs through the system, which supports the reading that it was used in rituals concerning water and irrigation, possibly as a working model or a representation of a territory. Nobody knows which territory, if any. The stone sits in a wider site with terraces, carved outcrops, a stairway and bathing structures on the hillside below, which most visitors skip. It was damaged in the colonial period, with figures on one side broken off, and it is now fenced with viewing from the perimeter only.

What you actually see

• The monolith - over two hundred carvings on a four-metre granite boulder.
• The channel system - connected runnels that carry water through the model.
• The figures - terraces, buildings, pumas, monkeys, snakes and frogs.
• The wider site - terraces, carved outcrops and baths on the slope below.

When to go

April to October. Thirty to sixty minutes for the stone, longer if walking the lower sectors. A standard stop on the Cusco to Abancay road.

Honest expectations

The stone is fenced and viewed from a distance, so fine detail is hard to make out. Weathering and deliberate damage have flattened many figures. Interpretations offered on site are speculative. The lower sectors are unmarked and rarely visited.

Nearby

Curahuasi is east; Abancay and the Ampay sanctuary are west.