Peru Guide
The Central Sierra
Tantamayo
About 150km north of Huánuco, poised in the mountainous region above the higher reaches of the Río Marañón, lies the small village of TANTAMAYO, with its extensive ruins nearby. In the village you can hire local guides (from $6–10 a day) to take you on a two- to three-hour hike to the scattered sites; Eladio Maticorena is recommended. There are some basic hostels in town.
The precise age of the remote ruins of Tantamayo is unknown. Its buildings appear to fit into the Tiahuanaco-Huari phase, which would make them some 1200 years old, but physically they form no part of this widespread cultural movement, and the site is considered to have developed separately, probably originating from tribes migrating to the Andes from the jungle and adapting to a new environment over a long period of time. It is also thought that the ruins might reveal archaeological links to Chavín de Huantar and Kotosh.
At Tantamayo, the architectural development of some four centuries can be clearly seen – growing from the simplest of structures to complex edifices. The thirty separate, massive constructions make an impressive scene, offset by the cloud forest and jungle flourishing along the banks of the Marañón just a little further to the north. Tall buildings dot the entire area – some clearly watchtowers looking over the Marañón, one of Peru's most important rivers and a major headwater of the Amazon, others with less obvious functions, built for religious reasons as temple-palaces, perhaps, or as storehouses and fortresses. One of the major constructions, just across the Tantamayo stream on a hill facing the village, was named Pirira by the Incas who conquered the area in the fifteenth century. At its heart there are concentric circles of carved stone, while the walls and surrounding houses are all grouped in a circular formation – clearly this was once an important centre for religious ritual. The main building rises some 10m on three levels, its bluff facade broken only by large window niches and by centuries of weathering.