This subject began as a comparison of features at only a couple of sites, but it grew out of hand as I dug deeper. This will be part one with part two to come next week. This still represents a selection. There will be many sites I have not addressed, but you cannot include everything.
The phenomenon of stones that have been carved to represent landscapes is a fascinating one. If it is a somewhat faithful representation of a known landscape then it could be classified as a map, but maps are usually thought of as fairly low relief carvings, representing the features with lines, not in three dimensions. A high relief carving of a landscape probably needs its own category, although where the line is between high and low relief carving is certainly not definite. These can be found in a number of places, but one of the most impressive is the Sayhuite Stone in Peru.
Esther Pazstory (1998) described the Incan Sayhuite stone in her book on Pre-Columbian art. "The lower half is plain, but on the top, among all the miniature courts and steps, crouch felines and other animals. Channels flow from the top to the edge of the stone. Although no sixteenth-century account exists to explain this stone, it sums up many of the features of Andean art. There is a strong respect for the form of the natural boulder from which it is carved, the architectural forms provide the honorific manmade aspect, while the animal figures refer directly to the powers of the cosmos. Man creates the network, the system, the idea, and works through the organization and essence of things rather than through his own theatrical appearance in images." (Pasztory 1998:163) While this is a very flowery description, the Sayhuite Stone perhaps deserves such enthusiasm.
Most of the analyses of the Sayhuite Stone assume that the channels carved into the top of the stone are there for hydraulic purposes of one form or another (although one fringie I read said they were to pour liquid mercury into). This is assumed to be in conjunction with some form of ritual. There are a few students of the subject who assume it is for educational demonstrations, to teach budding Inca hydraulic engineers how water flows. This interpretation does not work for me. I imagine that they had ceremonial importance.
But the Sayhuite Stone is far from the only carved landscape in the Inca Empire. Eric Powell (2026) wrote in Archaeology Magazine of a number of carved stone landscapes in southern Peru’s Sondondo Valley. “In centuries past, the valley’s residents created stone monuments near the ancient road that commemorated their deep connection to the landscape and their claim to the densely packed terraces that they, and their ancestors created throughout the valley. Called piedras maquetas, or ‘stone models,’ these rock sculptures are maps of the Sondondo Valley’s agricultural terraces carved by ancient farmers on boulders and rock outcroppings more than 500 years ago.” (Powell 2026:37) Powell goes on to mention that “dozens of such maps, known as piedras maquetas” have been found in three Andean valleys.
One location Powell illustrated overlooking the Sondondo Valley has a grouping of boulders that have representations of agricultural terraces on them, each boulder presumable representing a different mountain which has terraced slopes.
Freddy Leon Nina and Antonio Pizarro Ñahui described the Sondondo Valley in their 2025 study. “This area is characterized by its impressive Andean landscape and its archeological richness. Located at an altitude ranging from 2,500 to 4,000 meters above sea level, the valley is surrounded by rugged mountains and deep valleys. Its precise location allows access to a variety of microclimates, which has favored the presence of various forms of agriculture and ancestral hydraulic systems. The Sondondo Valley is also known for its terraces, irrigation models and rock art.” (Nina and Ñahui 2025:162) The irrigation models that Nina and Ñahui mention are the terraced boulders that we are looking at herein.
In the Sondondo Valley itself is found a boulder or rock outcropping carved with agricultural terraces near the ancient Qhapaq Ñan, Royal Road of the Incas. (Powell 2026:39)
Another
site, in the Colca Valley of Peru has a 35 foot tall boulder that is thought to
have been carved to represent a map of the entire region. It is known as Yuraq
Qaqa with translates to ‘white rock.’ (Powell 2026:38)
Powell concludes that it is possible that once ancient heads of important families in nearby villages held annual ceremonies, pouring liquid over these maquetas “in the hopes that watering these fields of stone would ensure bountiful harvests in the year ahead.” (Powell 2026:41) Apparently something ensured their harvests because the valley has been inhabited and farmed for a very long time.
Another
impressive carved stone landscape is found at the Q’enqo Archaeological Complex
near Cusco, Peru. Q’enqo originally included carved stone tunnels and passages
as well as buildings which the conquering Spanish destroyed as much of it as
they could. But, remaining elements include a massive stone outcrop with a
carved top. This one consists of what looks like carved seats and stairways,
with basins, channels and enclosures resembling an urban scene. One feature of
this carved stone actually gave Q’enqo its name. “The (zigzag) channel has
given Q’enqo its name. The Quechua word to describe such a zigzag is q’enqo,
but the zigzag channel functioned as a paccha, which is a tool used for
channeling liquids during divination rituals. An authoritative study of pacchas
was conducted by Rebecca Carrion Cachet (1955) in which she illustrates several
portable wooden pouring devices with zigzag channels. At Q’enqo Grande, a
liquid would have flowed down the zigzag, which makes a slight turn and
eventually splits in two ends. It may have been important which direction and
which arm of the zigzag this fluid would take.” (Christie 2012:604) The
channels for liquid seems to be a necessary feature for most of these Inca
carved landscapes
Christie’s analysis relates the carved boulder to rituals and ceremonies. “I think that a similar process of replication took place in Inca rock art: the carved step patterns came to embody agricultural terraces and mountain slopes; cut channels became miniature rivers. In Quechua understanding, the carvings are the camasca, or vitalized manifestations infused by the generative camac of the actual terraces and rivers. The rock art sites - were activated by means of ritual events. Ceremonial performances would have focused on fertility-related offerings and the renewal of the cycle between life and death in which ancestors played an active role.” (Christie 2012:618) In such a case we need to remember the important role ancestors played in Inca culture. The bodies of past emperors were mummified and played a part in rituals.
A site with a very large and impressive carved stone landscape is El Fuerte de Samaipata in the eastern foothills of the Bolivian Andes. “The ceremonial sector is in the northern part of the site. It is about 220 metres (720 ft) by 60 metres (200 ft) and consists mostly of a large rock saddle almost completely covered with carvings of both Inca and pre-Inca origin. The carvings include a variety of geometric and animal figures, walls, niches, and long canal-like carvings called "the spine of the serpent" or "el cascabel" (the rattlesnake). Although not the most visually spectacular, the most important part of the ceremonial sector is the "coro de los sacerdotes" (choir of the priests) at the highest point of the rock. This consists of 18 niches, probably used as seats for individuals, carved into the rock. At the bottom of the rock are 21 carved rectangular niches which may have served as residences for priests or for the storage of ceremonial items. Other niches and alcoves are scattered around the ruin.” (Wikipedia) Other descriptions of this carved stone include water channels, and representations of planting terraces can be seen in the illustration. With forms such as niches, canals, and pumas and jaguars (Cmielewski et al., 2020:35), this sounds very much like the Sayhuite Stone.
This
article will be completed in Part 2.
NOTE: Some images in this column were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below. Additionally, some of the quotations I have included have had citations removed from their text. These can also be acquired from the original texts which will be listed in Part 2 of this column.
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