Peruvian authorities forced to improvise as Puruchuco creates roadblock for rapid urban expansion
Authorities have been required to improviseto preserve 16th-century pre-Incan palace
Puruchuco, an ancient Incan complex, sits at the fast-moving edge of Lima's real estate boom, forcing authorities in the Peruvian capital to get creative as they seek to preserve the archaeological treasure.
At first glance, the site looks like an empty hill on the city's east side - a bald spot surrounded by a slum, a new university and a shopping mall scheduled to open soon.
But then, a low structure becomes visible - Puruchuco, an Incan palace with a 16th-century burial ground, and untold numbers of priceless artefacts buried within. Just 10 per cent of the 190-acre complex has been explored, but that small slice held more than 2,000 mummies and some 100 artefacts in gold, silver and copper.
"The entire Puruchuco hill has monuments, cemeteries, pre-Hispanic mausoleums that have never been explored because of a lack of funding," said archaeologist Clide Valladolid, the director of a small museum at the site.
The problem is that as the Peruvian economy has boomed in recent years - registering average annual GDP growth of 6.4 per cent in the decade to 2013 - Lima, a city of more than nine million people, has expanded voraciously, with rich and poor alike snapping up real estate.
Puruchuco sits right in the growing capital's path.