Manchac

Manchac stands high above the upper Marañón basin in the northern Peruvian Andes. Its remains include a plaza, a long hall or kallanka, storehouses and a possible ceremonial platform. Archaeologists have identified these buildings as characteristic of an Inca administrative centre, situated nearly four thousand metres above sea level, in a landscape of steep ridges and deep valleys.

The centre was connected to the Qhapaq Ñan, on a route that linked highland settlements with the approaches to Chachapoyas and the eastern forests. Storehouses and public buildings supported the organisation of movement and resources across the region. The surviving masonry shows how the Inca state established a foothold in the mountainous country overlooking the upper Marañón River and its tributary valleys.