Ninamarca

Ninamarca is a pre-Inca archaeological site in the Cusco Region, located on a hill overlooking the Pucara Valley along the Cusco-Paucartambo highway. It contains approximately 30 chullpas (funerary towers), both cylindrical and rectangular, ranging from 1.25 to 8 metres in height, built by the Lupaca people using local stone without mortar. The towers served as elite burial structures where remains were placed in fetal positions with belongings, reflecting beliefs in an afterlife. Dating to the pre-Inca period (c. 1000-1400 AD), the site preserves evidence of Lupaca social hierarchy through the varying sizes of the structures.