Ollantaytambo is basically the last somewhat intact Inca period town in Peru, and is located at the northern end of the Sacred Valley, near Cusco. On the northern edge of the town we find the huge ancient complex that is also called Ollantaytambo, the town and archaeological sites being named after an Inca cultural hero called Ollanta who won the hand in marriage of a royal Inca daughter.
The massive terracing system was created by the Inca and is one of the finest examples of their technical mastery. In the above photo, on the left you can see granite blocks of great size fitted together with almost perfect joinery. Also notice that there is inferior stone work on the top; the latter is Inca; an attempt to repair the master work of this older and mysterious culture that some call the Piruhas or Viracochans. If we venture a little higher we reach the so called Temple of the Sun, the remains of which are composed of massive pink granite blocks, some weighing up to 67 tons.
The stone is not local, but from the side of a mountain, way up on the other side of the valley. Claims by archaeologists and guides alike that the Inca were responsible for this work, and that they in fact never completed it is farcical.
It is much more likely that this ancient complex was destroyed thousands of years ago by a cataclysm. The precision seen, especially in the photo above was far beyond the capability of the Inca, who had at best bronze tools. The only metal that could shape this granite, which is very high in quartz crystal content would be hardened carbon or cobalt steel, and even with those materials the work would be very difficult.
More likely, the ancient builders had technology that even we in the 21st century do not have…vibrational devices that could shape stone by disturbing the molecular structure. At the western edge of the Ollantaytambo archaeological complex we find what is know as the Temple of the Condor.
