As much as Marcahuasi has been visited over the years and is well known to the public, surprisingly little scientific research has been conducted on the plateau to determine the origin of the megaliths and mysterious monuments that represent a variety of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures.
The Original Researcher, Daniel Ruzo
Daniel Ruzo was the first to conduct research on Marcahuasi in the 1950s, using the land surveying equipment of the time. Given the challenges of the terrain for that equipment and the fact that he was looking only at the largest monuments and not the markers we know about now, his results were not sufficient evidence to conclude there was human involvement in the creation of the monuments.
In the years since Daniel Ruzo’s first report on the megalithic structures, there have not been any studies conducted with the goal of taking measurements to understand whether the relationships between the structures were coincidental.
The New Generation
We founded the Association for the Study of Traditional Sciences and Arts (ECYART) in 2010 with the goal of pursuing the study of Marcahuasi scientifically.
Now that we have access to new technology such as GPS (geo-positioning satellites) and drones, and we understand more about the markers, I have a renewed interest in learning the origins of Marcahuasi’s creation and have created The Association for the Study of Traditional Sciences and Arts (known as ECYART from its initials in Spanish) with the goal of conducting scientifically based studies of the Marcahuasi plateau.
The ECYART Team
At present, the team supported by ECYART includes:
Dr. Luis Octavio Ruzo
Dr. Ruzo is an environmental chemist originally based at the University of California, Berkeley. He founded PTRL Laboratories, which is now a Division of EAG, Inc., where he is currently a Senior Scientific Advisor.
He is also a Visiting Professor and Director of the Distinguished Visitor Program at UNALM (National Agricultural University of Peru) and Director and Founder of ECYART (Institute for the Study of Traditional Arts and Sciences, Lima, Peru).
Javier Ruzo
Javier Ruzo is a widely recognized Peruvian painter, writer and photographer.
Marcahuasi Research Collaborations
We are collaborating with two professional archaeologists, professor David Carballo (Boston University) and professor Luis Jaime Castillo Butters (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru), and with their graduate students.
Professor David Carballo at Boston University is conducting studies to explore the possibility that the alignments of markers and monuments point to significant sections of the horizon, such as sunrises and settings at the solstices and equinoxes.
Professor Luis Jaime Castillo at the Catholic University in Lima (PUCP) completed the first drone mapping (orthophotos) of the plateau in 2017. He will now obtain highly accurate geo-references for the markers already studied as well as begin the geo-referencing of the southern part of Marcahuasi.
Marcahuasi Research Funding
Our research is partly funded by the Association for the Study of Traditional Arts and Sciences (ECYART) and by Luis Ruzo directly.
Interested in collaborating with our team? Please reach out.