Remains of Atahualpa Mummified Might Be in Cotopaxi

For the inhabitants of the parish Chugchilán, in the province of Cotopaxi – Ecuador-, the Inca ruins where the remains of the last Inca emperor Atahualpa would have been, are still unknown according to a hypothesis by Tamara Estupiñán, an Ecuadorian researcher who discovered the ruins a year ago after a decade of research.

The Inca site is called Malqui Machay, which in Quechua means “burial of the body of the parent of the ayllu”, and it covers approximately three acres. According Estupiñán, is a unique Inca monument with distinctive features that had never been recorded.

“(…) the ruins are not a fortress, they are not a palace. They are symbolic, where there is a square, the place where they used to sit the Inca, one bathroom; where there are underground water channels in the Inca monuments it means that we are talking about a symbolic site,” said the researcher, who also said that they will be working in the socialization with the community as well as the cleaning of the discovery spot.

Ivan Castro, INPC Regional Director, added that they will deepen in the study with a view to include it in an archaeological inventory, a task that would take about six months.(BG)

Source: El Universo Newspaper