Polish archeologists have been digging up the mysteries of the ancient Incas in South America.

For more than 10 years Polish archeologists from the Pre-Columbian Research Center of the University of Warsaw have carried out excavations on the slopes of Coropuna, Peru's highest volcano, which was regarded by the Incas as a holy mountain. Last year they identified one of the 200 buildings on the Maucallacta archeological site as an oracle. Earlier, they found a site where the Incas placed remains of burnt sacrifices.

Archeological excavations involving Polish archeologists have been carried out in Maucallacta, at an elevation of 3,700 meters in the Pampacolca district in Peru's Castilla province, since 1996 as part of the Condesuyos Archeological Project. The Poles have worked on the project in conjunction with archeologists of the Santa Maria Catholic University in Arequipa and colleagues from Germany, Spain and France. Maucallacta is the largest of the 130 sites archeologists have found in the course of the Condesuyos project. Well preserved and exceptionally interesting, the site covers an area of some 30 hectares.

According to Prof. Mariusz Ziółkowski, who manages the project, Maucallacta must have been a place of worship of great importance to the administrative and religious system of the Inca state. The archaeological research conducted so far has confirmed references in 16th-century Spanish and Inca records about the presence of a shrine - a place of sacrifices and pilgrimages - on the slopes of Coropuna.

This was one of the most important places of worship in Kuntisuyu, the fourth provincial region of the Inca empire. In Maucallacta, the Incas offered sacrifices, including human ones, and asked for counsel regarding issues important for the functioning of the whole state.

Archeologists found huge rubbish piles here which had accumulated as a result of the remains of burnt sacrifices being thrown down from a ceremonial platform. The discovery of the oracle building is further evidence that the site was used not only for religious and ceremonial purposes, but also played some administrative role. "We knew about the building from the beginning of the research, but its function was unclear," says archeologist Maciej Sobczyk. "The building consists of four rooms, including an interesting chamber with a ceiling made of huge stone slabs. For centuries it served shepherds as a temporary shelter against rain and cold." The building, and especially the vestibule leading to the chamber, had completely collapsed. Archeological and restoration work, which started there on a larger scale two years ago, led researchers to the conclusion than the vestibule contains a sacrificial altar in the form of a low earth bench, with ceramic vessels sunk into it.

According to Sobczyk, two large identical vessels were the most important artifacts found in the vestibule. One vessel, standing in the western corner, was half sunk into the altar. It was surrounded by a ring of flat stones, one of which had a hole through which the Incas poured a fermented beverage called chicha, made of maize, as an offering. Through the hole the beverage fell into the second vessel. The archeologists found more vessels on the altar and in its immediate vicinity. These also came in pairs and their contents varied.

"Inside the chamber, we also found the remains of a human skeleton, despite the fact that the chamber was extremely damaged and its contents were mixed up with rubble from the partly destroyed stone ceiling," Sobczyk says. The archeologists think that the skeleton is what has remained of a mummy the Incas regarded as an oracle or that it belonged to one of the priests linked to the site.

"One should remember that the role of an oracle was often played by a deceased ancestor, who communicated with his people. The prominent ancestor could have been a priest who continued to serve his deity after death and conveyed his answers to the people," Sobczyk says. The remains of burnt animal bones, metal objects, fragments of imperial ceramics, proximity to a huge ceremonial square where sacrifices were made and the unique character of the building compared to other structures on this site indicate that the building served as an oracle.

According to Ziółkowski, the oracle was built in pre-Inca times because the way in which the local buildings were constructed, for example the large platform where people gathered to make offerings, has nothing in common with typical Inca architecture. "It is a very special building technique, which we associate with pre-Inca cultures," Ziółkowski says. "As yet, it has not been established when exactly people started to use this religious complex."

Findings of research conducted by French paleoecologist Vincent Jomelli confirm that Maucallacta dates back to pre-Inca times. He studied lichen found on sacrificial platform stones and proved that the platform was built at least several centuries before the arrival of the Incas. He used a method for dating rock surfaces by lichen growth. Jomelli found that there was much more lichen growth on those artifacts which Polish archeologist thought were of pre-Inca origin than on walls which beyond any doubt date to Inca times. This may indicate that the Incas took over this place of worship from the local Aruni people.

Restoration work is now under way in the oracle building under the guidance of Gonzalo Presbitero Rodriguez, a Peruvian specialist and former scholarship holder from the Polish government. The work is funded by the Peruvian side, mostly from local government resources, but some contribution has also been made by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the form of a grant from a Development Assistance Fund.

"We have promised the local community and our authorities to open at least part of the site for tourists this year," Sobczyk says. "Last year, a parking lot was built, paths marked out and information boards installed. A monitoring system is still not in place, but in August this part of the site will be ready to receive tourists. We hope they will come from Poland as well. Apart from work in the part of the site scheduled for opening this year, work is also under way in parts which we plan to open by 2010."

This year's excavation season is to start in June. Apart from work on the Maucallacta site, the archeologists have to complete an archeological survey in the area of the Solimana volcano. Ziółkowski expects to make an interesting discovery there but does not want to disclose any more details as yet. "I know what we are looking for but I cannot disclose that yet. There are things one should not talk about too early," he adds mysteriously.

This year, archeologists will also be taking part in the second season of a Polish-Italian archeological project in Tiahuanaco, Bolivia. This monumental site, which developed from around 1050-1100 BC to around 200 AD, served as the capital of a state which had existed here many centuries before the Inca expansion in the area. In their political and religious doctrine, the Incas incorporated much of the tradition of this empire. They regarded themselves as its inheritors and restored some shrines used by the people of Tiahuanaco. Polish and Italian archeologists will be conducting archeological research on the Kantatallita temple at the eastern end of the site.

"We will be working together with Italian professor Giuseppe Orefici, with whom we have worked for 23 years on the Nazca desert," Ziółkowski says.

Like Maucallacta, Tiahuanaco will also be opened to tourists. "Hence the conservation program we have coordinated with the Polish Ministry of Culture and the Polish Committee for UNESCO. We have worked with the latter to acquire funding because Tiahuanaco is on the World Heritage List," Ziółkowski says.

Polish archeologists have been working in South America since the early 1970s. However, Polish engineer Edward Kluger carried out excavations in South America as a collector 100 years earlier, in the 1870s. However, Poles did not start proper archeological work here until the 1970s, when Andrzej Krzanowski, Ph.D., and Prof. Andrzej Żaki of Cracow appeared on South American archeological sites. Meanwhile, Polish explorers Elżbieta Dzikowska and Tony Halik took part in an archeological expedition in 1976 led by outstanding Peruvian historian Prof. Edmundo Guillen. The expedition confirmed that Vilcabamba was the legendary capital of the Incas.

The year 1978 marked a turning point in Polish archeological work in South America, with the Polish Research Expedition to the Andes, led by Krzanowski, conducting archeological research in Huaura Valley to the north of Lima, as part of the Huaura-Checres project. Among the expedition members was Mariusz Ziółkowski, then a young University of Warsaw graduate. In 1985, Ziółkowski began collaborating with Giuseppe Orefici, who was in charge of the Nazca project on the Nazca Plateau in the southwestern part of Peru. As part of the project, which has continued until the present day, they studied the famous Nazca lines, or huge drawings on the ground visible from the air. At present, apart from the Condesuyos project and the Antaras Nasquenses project carried out in conjunction with the Italians on the Nazca Plateau, Polish archeologists are also involved in the Valle de Culebras project. It is being carried out in the Culebras River Valley, one of the last unexplored valleys of the Peruvian Pacific Coast, in conjunction with the Pontifical Catholic University (PUCP) in Lima. Miłosz Giersz and Patrycja Prządka of the Pre-Columbian Research Center of the University of Warsaw, and Krzysztof Makowski of PUCP are in charge of the project.

Polish archeologists are also exploring sites linked to the Maya civilization in conjunction with the Instituto de Antropologia e Historia (IDAEH) in Guatemala as part of the Triangulo project. The project is carried out in Nakum, a Maya site located 17 kilometers to the north of Lake Yaxha.

Ziółkowski specializes in Inca archeology and ethno-history, absolute dating techniques and archeo-astronomy. He is a professor at the University of Warsaw, head of the Pre-Columbian Research Center and an associate professor at the Santa Maria Catholic University in Arequipa, Peru.

Maciej Sobczyk, M.A., specializes in the archeology of pre-Columbian cultures of the Andes. He studied archeology at the University of Warsaw 1992-1998. He has been involved in the Condesuyos project since 1997 and has dealt mainly with problems related to architecture, conservation and restoration. He also conducts field research at high altitudes designed to learn about the settlement structure of areas around the Coropuna and Solimana volcanoes. Since 2006 he has been the Polish head of archeological excavations on the Maucallacta site.

Bogusława Szumielec