Researchers from the Silesian University of Technology explore the Machu Picchu area

Researchers from the Silesian University of Technology participate in international studies of the Machu Picchu area in Peru. The current project, led by Andrzej Rakowski PhD, from the Institute of Physics –Science and Education Centre, concerns establishing the chronology of the Inca conquest in the Cordillera Vilcabamba region.

On Wednesday, the first working meeting of the project was held at the Centre for New Technologies at the Silesian University of Technology. Its full name is "Chronology of the Inca expansion in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba". The works are funded by the National Science Centre.

It is planned to collect about 100 samples and perform radiocarbon analysis on them. The following Polish institutions responsible for the project are the Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory of the Silesian University of Technology and the Center for Andean Studies of the University of Warsaw.

Prof. Mariusz Ziółkowski from the Centre for Andean Studies of the University of Warsaw recalled that cooperation between this unit and the Silesian University of Technology has been active for over 30 years. It was initiated by the late Prof. Mieczysław Pazdur. - It was then that we began to collect a radiocarbon database, which currently includes 5200 dates for the entire Andean area - said Prof. Ziółkowski.

The conference included also the opening of the exhibition "Beyond the visible. Remote sensing and laser scanning in Polish-Peruvian-Italian research in Machu Picchu". The exhibition consists of several display boards containing information and photographs that present the history of Polish research in the Machu Picchu area.

Dominika Sieczkowska, deputy of the Centre for Andean Studies at the UW, explained that the exhibition summarises several years of work at Machu Picchu - archaeological, documentary and remote sensing research.

- In our joint research we wanted to establish the relationship between Machu Picchu and the 60 archaeological sites surrounding it. We are now establishing the chronology of the development of the entire settlement network in the Machu Picchu area", said Dominika Sieczkowska.

One of the guests at the conference was Peru's Honorary Consul Wojciech Giergiel.

The exhibition can be vied until 10 June at the Centre for New Technologies at the Silesian University of Technology, on the second floor.

Link to photos from the conference and exhibition: Politechnika Śląska | Konferencja i wystawa na temat polskich badań w Machu Picchu (polsl.pl)