Where Are We Today?

Location

Maras salt ponds or mines are located 40 kilometers north of Cusco, in Peru.

What is it

Since pre-Inca times, salt has been obtained in the Maras area by evaporating salty water from a local subterranean stream.
The highly salty water emerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the underground stream. The flow is directed into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the water runs gradually down onto the several hundred ancient terraced ponds. These ponds form a spectacular mosaic of polygon shapes and colours.

This site is located near the town or Maras, and it is a “must see” as far as Inca archeological sites go. Here there are a number of large circular terraces, deepest of which is approximately 30 meters or so.

The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but their depth, design, and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C (27 °F) between the top and the bottom.

It is possible that this large temperature difference was used by the Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. This speculation about the site has led to discussion about Moray as an Inca agricultural experiment station.