Half-Day Horseback Ride to the Viewpoints of the Cusco Valley

The Viewpoints of the Cusco Valley and Their History:

According to geological studies, the Cusco Valley was once a glacial lakebed known as Morkill, discovered by a Yale University scientific expedition in 1912. Remnants of this lake can be seen in the clay layers and «ccontay» (a clay-like substance formed by fossilized algae and lake snails) in the Qoripata hill and at the base of the Araway (Huancaro) hills, as well as along the right bank of the river. The lake drained due to geological activity that breached its natural dam at Angostura, dating back to the Pleistocene era of the Quaternary period. The Lucre-Wakarpay wetland remains as a living testament.

In 1911, Dr. Herbert Gregory, a geologist from Hiram Bingham’s team, found fossils of a «gigantic animal from the tertiary period,» possibly a mastodon or mammoth. Additional fossils of a bison, a wolf, and a paleollama were discovered beneath a thirty-meter layer of glacial clay in Ayahuayco. Dr. Jorge Eaton, an osteologist, discovered glyptodont fossils in the Huancaro area, with more found in the Qorimachaqway ravine.

Arrival of the Incas in the Cusco Valley:

Around 1200 AD, a group from the south arrived in the area, which was then inhabited by small communities like the Sahuasiray, Antasayas, Huallas, Poques, Lares, Alcavizas, and Copalimaytas. Little is known about their origins and language, though they likely spoke Aymara. Inca tradition recounts that the Ayar brothers successively conquered these areas by force or alliances, eventually settling in what became Cusco, then known as Acamama.

Chroniclers reported that pre-Inca inhabitants lived in small, humble houses and that their agricultural techniques were similar to those later employed by the Incas. The Inca ayllus sought a permanent settlement after the collapse of the Taypikala kingdom in Collao, bringing advanced knowledge and organization. Although they preserved their Puquina language as a «secret» language of the royalty, they ultimately adopted Quechua in the Aymara-speaking environment.