The Mystery of Sacsayhuaman

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Perched on a hilltop above the ancient city of Cusco sits an Incan fortress known as Sacsayhuaman, where it is said are situated the entrances to a network of tunnels that spread throughout the Andes, and where treasures were hidden.

---

Looking down at Cusco from Sacsayhuaman c. early 1900s

The Inca empire lasted from 1300 A.D. to the mid 15th century. The capital of the empire was the city of Cusco. The Inca conquered the area from western Ecuador, western and south-central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, the tip of Colombia and a large portion of Chile. 

Among their forms of worship was the sacrifice of humans known as huacas (wak'a). Its form of economy was described as "feudal, slave (or) socialist". The Inca nobles were a small percentage of the total population of their conquered lands. They numbered from 15,000 to 40,000 and ruled over an empire of 10 million people.

The Incas who were a Quechua tribe had a deep reverence for mountains and considered them deities, especially the goddess known as Pachamama. She offered protection but also produced earthquakes.

The Tiwanaku (300-1100 A.D.) and Wari (600-1100 A.D.) people predated the Inca.

---

Inca Garcilaso (1539-1616)

Gomez Suarez de Figueroa who used the name Inca Garcilaso (1539-1616) chronicled much of what happened in Peru after the arrival of the Spanish. He was a mestizo, born of a native mother Palla Chimpu Ocllo, who was baptized after the fall of Cuzco, as Isabel Suárez Chimpu Ocllo, and Sebastian Garcilaso de la Vega , a Spanish soldier. Since he was illegitimate, originally he was given only his mother's surname. 

When he was a child his father left his mother and married a Spanish noblewoman. Inca Garcilaso lived with his mother, her husband Juan de Pedroche and his half-sisters fathered by another Spaniard. He learned both the Quechua language as well as Spanish.

When he was 10 years old, his father took him into his household, and gave him an education. After his father's death when he was 20 years old he continued his studies in Spain. He petitioned to use his father's surname, and his paternal uncle supported him in this. He joined the Spanish army and went on to write Comentarios Reales de los Incas (The Incas’ royal comments), published in 1609, which gives a vivid account of the Inca civilization, ending with the arrival of the Spanish.

Garcilaso never returned to Peru, and fathered two sons with servants.

He wrote of the Chincanas:

---

A network of underground hallways as long as the towers themselves were all linked. The system was made up of streets and avenues that branch out in all directions, each with the same door.

Some of the tunnels reached Cusco, three kilometers away, connecting Saqsaywamán to the Qoricancha and other structures. Other tunnels reached deep into the Andes, but no one knew where they led.

Story of Bingham's expedition into Peru c.1923

In 1911, Hiram Bingham, a Yale historian led an expedition to the ruins of Machu Picchu, which opened the door for further exploration of other Incan ruins. One of these expedition was headed by the National Geographic Society.

Sitting on a hill about 800 feet above the city of Cusco, Sacsayhuaman was rediscovered in the early 20th century. The fortress was constructed in the 15th century. Stones weighing 90 to 125 tons were used in building the site. On the grounds are chincanas or tunnels, which translates to "hide" in the Quechua language. The tunnels were carved into limestone, and it's unknown who actually constructed them and the purpose they served. Especially since the Inca, and the people that predated them, did not have the wheel, draft animals, knowledge of iron or steel or even a system of writing.

Some say the tunnels allowed the Incas contact with "apus or mountain spirits". It's believed they are an entrance to the underworld where the shades of priests who adored Pachamama are found. But many suspect the tunnels were constructed for other reasons. There are stories of a network of passageways that meander throughout the Andes, and lead to buried treasures.

One of the tunnel entrances is named La Chincana Chica, which is about 500 feet from Sacasayhuaman. The second entrance is La Chincana Grande which is about 650 feet from the smaller cave.

Part of the legend is that anyone who enters the Large Chincana without knowledge of the routes will get lost.

There is a story that early in the 20th century, a group of students from the San Marcos University decided to solve the mystery of the chincana. The students took with them ropes, hooks and candles. They also anticipated booby traps that would be hidden in the darkness, ready to kill the unwary.

Months passed and no word was heard from the group. Most assumed they had died in pursuit of their adventure, that is until one day when a thump sounded out during a mass at the Church of Santo Domingo.

---

It was this portal in Sacsayhuaman known as the Sand Gate where Juan Pizarro, brother of Francisco Pizarro was killed.

From behind a recently erected wall the sound continued, and when the wall was broken down they saw a cavern that stretched away, and in the darkness sat a man with disheveled hair and grown out beard. He died shortly after being found, but not before he identified himself as one of the students, and said his companion died. He said there was a great treasure underneath, and as proof his rescuers found a solid gold corn cob clutched in one of his hands. The priests took the corn and recast and made a relic known as the crown of the virgin and the child.

Explorers from across the world came to wander inside the Chincanas with hopes of finding the treasure said to exist somewhere inside. None returned alive or sane—or so it is said.

The monastery of Santo Domingo was built on the foundations of the Inca temple of the sun, called the Qorikancha. This was the most important site in the Inca empire.

Inside was a parabolic enclosure wall used for observing the solstices, the Milky Way and Inca constellations. The same was found in temples at Machu Picchu and Pisac. Mummies were kept at the temple. Before a concave mirror the Sapa Inca (nobility) would offer burnt sacrifices that included llamas and sometimes children.

The Dominicans built the monastery in the 1530s, and again in the 1680s after an earthquake destroyed it in 1650.

Following the collapse of the Inca empire, stones from Sacsayhuaman were reused elsewhere in the colonial buildings of Cuzco.

In 1950, another earthquake exposed the Incan stonework below the foundation of the monastery. Stories are told that after the massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit in May, 1970 a series of man made tunnels were found by rescue squads. Archaeological teams found the tunnels networked beyond what they thought was possible.

---

Coricancha, Convent of Santo Domingo

Juan Anello Oliva (1572-1642) a Jesuit priest wrote of an underground labyrinth, called chincanas, which led to frontier roads, bridges, fortresses and other important buildings.

​In 2025, archaeologists announced they had discovered a chinkana tunnel system that stretches out a little over a mile under Cusco. The tunnel starts at the Temple of the Sun and extends toward Sacsayhuaman. The main tunnel has three branches.

The team used historical records from an unnamed Jesuit dating back to 1594 to gain insights of the layout.

---