Japallan

Japallan is identifiable with Japallan, also written Rapallan or Sapallan, a fortified-looking archaeological settlement above the Tantamayo River in the upper Maranon country of Huanuco. Its steep mountain position separates it from the better-known towns of the Conchucos valleys across the Maranon. Walls, circular towers, residential rooms and funerary structures survive among its stone-and-earth buildings. Some upper buildings rise through several levels, while lower parts of the complex contain numerous doorways and rooms.

The settlement belongs to the pre-Inca heritage of the Tantamayo region. Its architecture provides more direct evidence of local society than a securely dated list of rulers or conquests. The commanding position has encouraged an interpretation as a lookout or defensive centre, but it does not by itself prove a particular battle or military function for every building. The wider highland setting later entered the Inca and Spanish worlds; the surviving ruins should not therefore be treated as proof of continuous occupation throughout 1337–1837. Japallan's distinctive historical character lies in the concentration of substantial stone buildings on a precipitous summit above the river valleys.