The Marcahuasi Stone Forest of Peru
Marcahuasi is a plateau in the central Andes of Peru (see Where is Marcahuasi?) on which are found dozens of what appear to be sculptures in stone depicting a variety of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures.
Marcahuasi Discovery
Discovered by Daniel Ruzo in 1953, the stone monuments look like knights, warriors, helmets, faces, llamas and more. Despite past research, these megaliths are still shrouded in mystery and in need of more ongoing study to discover their true meaning.
About Me: Luis Ruzo
I am the son of Daniel Ruzo. Since the 1970s, I have visited Marcahuasi whenever I traveled to Peru to see my family and friends. Because I was committed to my academic and later business interests, I was not able to seriously study Marcahuasi until 2010. During that year, I created ECYART, a foundation dedicated mainly to educational purposes, but also instrumental in supporting research. Several years later this website was created as a forum to disseminate the information obtained during several expeditions to Marcahuasi.
Marcahuasi Research Data
The study of the Marcahuasi ruins by the Association for the Study of Traditional Arts and Sciences (ECYART based in Lima, Peru) has been ongoing since 2010.
The goal of ECYART is to develop data that may support the hypothesis that many of thestructures in the Marcahuasi stone forest of Peru are the creation of an ancient Andean culture.
The data obtained in our recent expeditions suggests that the Marcahuasi megaliths of Peru display specific lines of sight.
Ongoing Marcahuasi Research
These lines of sight are also part of our ongoing research and they may be aligned toward important points on the horizon. Most interestingly, the alignments of certain Marcahuasi stone monuments and markers appear to reflect the geometric disposition of the stars in the Pleiades constellation.
Explore
We invite you to explore the site, our data, and to reach out if you have similar research interests.
If you’re just learning about Marcahuasi, start here, with What is Marcahuasi?
Or, read our FAQs.
If you’re interested in being a part of the Marcahuasi research, please reach out.
Marcahuasi Blog
Testing Alignments of Marcahuasi Stone Formations – Meet Abigail Schofield
January 16, 2020
Meet Abigail Schofeld, a senior at Boston University who is testing alignments of the stone formations at Marcahuasi.
2017 Expedition: Drones in Marcahuasi
September 26, 2017
At the end of August we ascended to the plateau accompanied by two archaeologists, Professors Luis Jaime Castillo Butters (Universidad Catolica del Peru) and David Carballo (Boston University). Dr Castillo conducted a photogrammetry study of the northern side of the plateau generating data which provided views of the surface from different heights, videos and orthophotos. […]
Geographic Overview of the Marcahuasi Plateau
June 9, 2017
Javier Ruzo Located in the high peaks of the western slopes of the central Peruvian Andes, the Marcahuasi Plateau, at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level- equally challenges the works of the gods and the destinies of the common man. If we draw a straight line between the mountain and the shores of the Pacific […]