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It has been sought for centuries but remained a mystery, still out of reach. Now an expert has pinpointed a site that could be Atahualpa's resting place: The last Inca emperor's tomb.
"This is an absolutely important find for the history of Ecuador's archaeology and for the [Andean] region," said Patrimony Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, speaking of the ruins found by Ecuadoran historian Tamara Estupinan.
Atahualpa was the last of his dynasty. During the Spanish conquest he was taken captive in what is now Cajamarca, Peru. He had been pressed to convert to Christianity and then the Spanish executed him by strangulation, then after his death in 1533, the empire began to fall apart.
This year Ecuador's state Cultural Patrimony Institute will start work on a promising archaeological site, and Estupinan will be front and centre to raise the curtain on a massive complex sprawling over a ridge at 1 020m.
It was back in June 2010 that Estupinan, now a researcher with the French Institute for Andean Studies (Ifea), found what she describes as an "Inca archaeological site" high on the Andes' eastern flank amid plunging canyons. Nearby are a small local farm and a facility for raising fighting cocks.
But in the area called Sigchos, about 70km south of Quito, up on a hill dotted with brush, there is more: She found a complex of walls, aqueducts and stonework that lie inside the Machay rural retreat. Machay means burial in the Quechua language.
"This is a late imperial design Inca monument that leads to several rectangular rooms that were built with cut polished stone set around a trapezoidal plaza," Estupinan said.
Inside the facility, a walled walkway starts at the Machay River and one can see the shape of an "ushno", essentially stairs that form a pyramid believed to be the capac's (emperor's) throne.
"Malqui-Machay is part of a broader complex that also would have included the Quilotoa lagoon and the area called Pujili (Cotopaxi)," he explained.
Estupinan has some more specific ideas. She believes Malqui-Machay is Atahualpa's final resting place. The tomb of the last capac of Tahuantinsuyo, the trans-Andean empire.
While many experts have other theories, Estupinan believes that when Atahualpa was killed his remains could have been brought by his most loyal man, Ruminahui, to Sigchos for burial, to a place where Ruminahui based his fight for survival against the European intruders.
For the whole article, see http://www.news24.com/SciTech.
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