Description
Cumbemayo, 19 km south-east of Cajamarca in Peru, at an altitude of around 3,500 metres. The aqueduct is approximately 850 metres long, hewn from rocky volcanic rock, and forms part of an 8-kilometre-long canal. It was built around 1500 BC. The precisely carved zigzag angles served to reduce the flow velocity of the water and prevent soil erosion. The name Cumbemayo may have its roots in the Quechua expression ‘kumpi mayu’, literally ‘well-built water channel’. There are petroglyphs on the aqueduct and in the surrounding caves. – Peru – 1976
