{"id":24239,"date":"2026-04-21T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispc.cnr.it\/?p=24239"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:42:23","slug":"sacsayhuaman-riemerge-dalla-foresta-nuove-scoperte-riscrivono-le-origini-di-cusco-capitale-dellimpero-inca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispc.cnr.it\/en\/2026\/04\/21\/sacsayhuaman-riemerge-dalla-foresta-nuove-scoperte-riscrivono-le-origini-di-cusco-capitale-dellimpero-inca\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacsayhuam\u00e1n emerges from the forest: new discoveries rewrite the origins of Cusco, capital of the Inca empire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sacsayhuam\u00e1n emerges from the forest: new discoveries rewrite the origins of Cusco, capital of the Inca empire<\/h1>\n

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An international project led by the University of Warsaw, with the contribution of\nCNR ISPC, uses non\u2011invasive technologies to reconstruct the earliest phases of\nthe Inca empire.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Beneath the dense vegetation of Sacsayhuam\u00e1n, one of the most iconic symbols of ancient Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, structures, road networks, and terraces that have remained hidden for centuries are gradually re-emerging.\nBringing them to light is a collaborative team of Polish researchers from the University of Warsaw and Italian researchers from the National research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Heritage Science (ISPC), working within the international research project \u201cThe Origins of the Capital of the Incas\u201d<\/strong>. The project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (NCN) under the OPUS programme (OPUS 24), grant no. 2022\/47\/B\/HS3\/03290, and is coordinated by Alexei Vranich at the University of Warsaw\u2019s Centre of Andean Studies. The research aims to reconstruct the origins of the Inca capital through an integrated methodological framework combining non-invasive surveys, targeted excavations, and archaeometric analyses.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Sacsayhuam\u00e1n and Cusco<\/h3>\n

Perched above the city of Cusco, Sacsayhuam\u00e1n<\/strong> is not merely a monumental complex: it represents a key to understanding the symbolic and urban organization of the Inca capital, described in historical sources as a city shaped like a puma. It is precisely from this setting that a new scientific challenge emerges: to move beyond the notion of a \u2018minor\u2019 Cusco in the pre-imperial phases and instead investigate the existence of an already complex, articulated, and monumental center.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>