This is one of the stones which makes up the mighty zig-zagged wall at Sacsayhuaman near Cusco. Our guide stretches out to show us how huge it is, with an estimated weight of up to 450 tons. As it stands today, the wall is only around ten feet high. These enormous boulders once comprised a wall three times that height, until the walls were used as a quarry to build the city of Cusco.
None of these stones has any mortar between them, and they have withstood the force of frequent brutal earthquakes in Peru when many more modern structures have not.
In a failed attempted to re-enact bringing just one such stone from a distant quarry, many people were killed. Some theorize that the great concentration by the cone headed priests is what moved the stones into place. Yet another suggestion is that by pouring a magic plant juice on the stones, they could easily be melted and manipulated. Could extra-terrestrial assistance be the real explanation for these miraculous building feats?
