The Nazca region is certainly recognized for the enormous geoglyphs carved into the nearby pampas, but have you heard about the Cantalloc Aqueducts? The ancient Nazca culture had extensive engineering knowledge, represented in these iconic hydraulic structures.
If you’ve been organizing an itinerary through southern Peru, you surely have heard about Nazca, a small town next to the mysterious Nazca lines. However, the famous civilization marked the beginning of an era which was later influenced in the succeeding societies.
The Cantalloc Aqueducts are one of the most impressive engineering works in the Peruvian desert, and here we’ll tell you all about them.
Also called ‘Puquios,’ it is a group of 46 aqueducts built near the city of Nazca about 1,500 years ago, where about 32 of them remain active since their construction.
These aqueducts are the live example of the great hydraulic engineering knowledge of the Nazca culture since they were used to supply water to their croplands and handle drought strategically.
The aqueducts were built in a spiral shape, some of them can reach 12 meters of depth and are structured with a water resistant wood extracted from an endemic tree of the area called ‘Huarango.’
Thanks to these hydraulic structures, they managed to supply water to their maize, cotton, bean and potatoes crop lands. Some of them are in current use by the local farmers.
The Cantalloc Aqueducts are located 450 kilometers away from Lima, but only 15 minutes away from Nazca. You can combine the visit to this archeological site with the flight over the Nazca lines so you don’t miss anything during your stay in the Peruvian desert.
Luckily for you, we have structured the Cantalloc Aqueduct Private Tour so you can experience it at its fullest. If you’d like to add this attraction to your travel itinerary, make sure to contact our team while you’re here!
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