Ritual site or marketplace? Peru’s bizarre 5,000-hole 'Serpent Mountain' just got a game-changing explanation
For nearly a century, Peru's "Band of Holes" at Monte Sierpe puzzled experts. Recent drone mapping and soil analysis reveal this mile-long ridge, featuring over 5,000 pits, likely served as a pre-Inca marketplace for storing traded goods and later as a "landscape khipu" for Inca accounting and labor taxes.
For nearly a century, Peru's "Band of Holes" at Monte Sierpe puzzled experts. Recent drone mapping and soil analysis reveal this mile-long ridge, featuring over 5,000 pits, likely served as a pre-Inca marketplace for storing traded goods and later as a "landscape khipu" for Inca accounting and labor taxes.
