Tunanmarca

Tunanmarca, also called Siquillapucara, sits on Cerro Tunun at about 3,800 metres above the Yanamarca valley north of Jauja, next to the village of Concho, and it was one of the largest settlements of the Wanka, the people who held the Mantaro valley before the Inca. What survives is extensive: hundreds of circular stone houses in walled compounds, a central plaza, three concentric defensive walls and a system of channels; it was lived in from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Its position and its fortifications reflect a period of serious inter-group conflict in the valley in the centuries before the Inca conquest. After the Inca under Túpac Yupanqui took the valley around 1460, Tunanmarca was abandoned, which is why the plan survives. In 2013 the Central Reserve Bank put its buildings on a one-sol coin in the Wealth and Pride of Peru series. The Wanka later allied with the Spanish against the Inca. The site is a steep walk up from the road, is unfenced and unstaffed, and sees very few visitors.

The main sights

• The round houses - hundreds of circular stone dwellings in walled compounds.
• The defences - three concentric walls on the west and south.
• The plaza - a wide open space at the centre, beside what may have been a temple.
• The abandonment - a site emptied after the Inca conquest around 1460.

When to go

May to September. Two to three hours including the climb. Guides can be found in Tunanmarca or Jauja; there is no site staff.

Practical notes

A steep climb to about 3,800 metres with no shade or shelter. No facilities, signage or ticket office. Stone walls are unstable in places - do not climb on them. Weather is cold and exposed on the ridge.

Nearby

Jauja and Laguna de Paca are east; Huancayo is further down the valley.

Key facts