News Archaeology

Peru’s Serpent Mountain sheds its mysterious past

Alien theories aside, the winding path of holes has a much more down-to-earth explanation

This aerial view of the brown foothills of the Andes shows a ridgetop series of earthen holes, part of an ancient mysterious monument that stretches 1.5 kilometers.

Monte Sierpe, seen from above, started out as a pre-Inca marketplace that became a tribute collection spot for the Inca state, a new study suggests.

J.L. Bongers

By Bruce Bower

New evidence may resolve a longstanding archaeological puzzle in Peru.

A vast line of thousands of holes dug into a ridge in the foothills of the Andes Mountains served as a regional marketplace for pre-Inca groups more than 600 years ago, researchers report November 10 in Antiquity.