Remnants of an Empire

Remnants of an Inca storage structure built on the side of a mountain in the sacred valley. The image was taken from the Inca fortification of Olla Taytambo, one of the many impressive Inca sites I visited in the Sacred Valley, while doing archaeological research on pre-Columbian large architecture, labor and exchange in Peru. Like many Inca sites, Olla Taytambo was nearly destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores but is now in the process of being restored. The preservation and restoration of sites like this one are important to the culture of Peruvians because it demonstrates the complexity of indigenous cultures.